HOOK: Likes, dislikes, surprises and lessons

0:00Jason is an avid hiker who loves the outdoors. During what should have been a peaceful hike, that calm was suddenly broken. A mountain lion appeared on the trail just yards away. Fortunately, Jason had packed his Bernaless lethal launcher. Armed with kinetic rounds, Jason fired a warning shot, deterring the mountain lion and giving his family time to get to safety. Bernaless lethal launchers fire powerful kinetic and chemical irritant rounds designed to stop threats. Visit Berna.com That's B-Y-R-N-A, Berna.com. Purchasing shipping restrictions vary by state and municipality. Go to Berna.com to check availability at your location. Oh boy. He always seems to get involved, doesn't he? I'm telling you, too many coconuts have hit him right on top of the skull. I think Anthony will be a great acquisition. He can do it all.

1:03Every who shows us. And we're live. Welcome everybody to your favorite day of the week. I'm Anthony Erwin. Join on this fine Friday afternoon, Friday morning by Pete Zayas of the Lakerfoment podcast of the Laker collective of my hopes and dreams. Pete, how you doing? Oh, pretty good. Getting used to this East Coast schedule where I'm, you know, rubbing my eyes as the big time to get used to the thing that I'm not going to wear for the first time in a day. And we're going to have a great time. And I'm going to get used to this new schedule. But I'm really happy to have basketball back. I, it was funny. I pick up when I pick up Avery from school. There's a little park that I'll park my car at and then Avery will walk from school to this like midway point. from all this neighborhood.

2:03And so I'll walk up in one of the moms, because you look tired and I'm like basketball's back. And it's like, and it's just, yeah, because you're three hours, you're a full hour further than me. And yeah, the two hours ahead thing for these 9 PM and 9 30 PM, which are technically 9 15 and 9 45 tips, it's tough, it sucks. And then when what you're watching is like, those line up said the end of the night, Jen noticed, Jen noticed like after half time that I started like slinking into the couch and I started like, you know, further and further, just kind of like sliding into like kind of a halfway lay slash sit position. She's like, oh, you're in trouble. I was like, I have to watch Brony, like, I'm sorry. But yeah, today on the show, we are going to be doing, basically running through an exercise that I used to do back in college and then have just continued on throughout life with content.

3:04And you know, whether it's a movie, whether it's a book, whether it's an album, in this case, it's Lakers Training Camp. At various points, I'll stop and ask myself, okay, what have I liked so far? What have I disliked so far? What has surprised me to this point? And then usually I saved this last part for after I finished a book or a movie or whatever. I'll ask, all right, what did I learn from this? Either about myself or about the author or the world, whatever. And Pete and I are basically going to run through that exercise here for this episode. And the lessons, obviously, you're not going to learn a ton from three preseason games where nobody has played. But I do think over the course of the conversation, there will be some lessons to kind of glean from this and we'll run through those at the end. And then as always, if you guys have any questions or comments, you can hit us with them over the course of the show there in the chat. And I will get to as many of those and we will get to as many

4:07of those as we possibly can. A reminder before we dive in, please hit that like button, please hit that subscribe button, turn on notifications for the show, turn on notifications for YouTube. So you get the notifications for the show. And today's show is brought to you all, as always, by Price Fix, use that promo code HMA and get $150 worth of free selections. When you sign up, use that promo code and $15 line up by your own. Also, subscribe everywhere that you get your podcast preferably an Odyssey, but everywhere is fine by me. All right. So we'll start with likes. We'll start positive as I love to do here on this channel. Why do people want to look at that? Why? I don't know. And mind the right place. So mind the right show right now. What have you liked so far, Pete? What is what have what have you enjoyed? We'll run through a few of these, but what have you liked from training camp in these preseason games thus far? So I have more individual player observations

5:07than team wide observations because so many guys have sat in each game. But one team thing that I've liked is I do think they have a natural talent for defensive playmaking and creating turnovers for the other team. This is even without Kessler on the backline to sort of clean it up and get a block and protect the rim here and there. They've turned over, you know, both the Kings and the Warriors a whole bunch of times, even in that Warriors game that was something they did fairly well. And so I, that was one of the focuses, I think of training camp and of what they wanted to do and to become and the roster building right is to really kind of lean into that. And so I've, I've liked that. I've really liked a do in his training camp and his preseason game so far. There's a level of maturity that's in his game that wasn't there, you know, last season or even at the beginning of the summer league. And he's starting to couple that with obviously his amazing physical gifts. He started out on Darius A. Cup yesterday with Zeyer Williams sitting and had like three deflections

6:09and a block within the first four minutes of that game. I think at one point A. Cup was one for his first 10. And which was a big difference from the first game when they had Zeyer on them. I thought that A. Cup had a lot more success against Zeyer and then he did against the do. But even beyond that, there's been a lot of offensive possessions where I've thought a do last year would have totally tried to go up with this shot and would have missed it. And he's been very patient and coming to jump stops and pivoting out and finding the open man that is just like, oh, look at him. He's really growing up as a player. So that's one thing from the team perspective and one thing from an individual's perspective. I've been really happy about. And then I just, I like the bench unit. Like not the deep bench, but the starters out of the game, back half of the first quarter, started the second. I think that that's been the best crew. I don't think the starters have played that well so far. But I think there's a lot of potential in that group. I know, right. Right. So I'm excited about that, the bench group and all that. How about you? So for likes, I'm gonna first build off of the ones

7:11that you talked about and then kind of add a couple of my own. So I agree with you on the defensive playmaking aspect of it. The way that I kind of look at it is, what it seems like the Lakers did from a roster construction perspective and their approach to playing defense is like, if you're a natural defender, or if the players at the top of your roster are like natural defenders, you kind of look at defense as like this, you play solid defense and you just kind of wear down teams, right? And we saw this like the team that I'm thinking of as I'm talking about this is the 2019-2020 Lakers, right? Where you have LeBron, you have Anthony Davis, they're still at or near the peak of their powers. And everybody else around them was just like, and you would see from teams over the course of games, the defense that the Lakers played, yes, they turned teams over to a certain extent, yes, they blocked shots and they made exciting plays too. But they also just suffocated teams.

8:12And over the course of games, those teams which is like, by the time you would get to the fourth quarter, you would see some like white flag, three point shots going up, you know? And obviously like with Luca and Austin being at the top of this roster, you're not gonna approach defense the same way. So what I think the Lakers have essentially done is like, you know what, we aren't, we are gonna have to play the passing lane a little bit more. We wanna spend less time basically on defense and try to get back to offense as quickly as we possibly can. And I think that's why sometimes the defense has looked as kind of ragged at times, you know, because Kessler hasn't been back there to clean up some of these things. I'm really curious to see what this looks like when he is back there to clean up some of these mistakes of co-mission to kind of balance out this approach. I see what the Lakers are doing there. And we'll see how well it works basically.

9:14The next thing you talked about there was a do. You said a do? Yeah, so a do, if I were one of those wings, you know, if I were Jake, if I were, well Vando is a distant memory anyway. But if I were Jake, if I were Zaire, if I were one of these guys that the Lakers are, that have kind of, you know, leaders in the clubhouse to start going into this season, I'd be a little nervous watching it do. He's just, he looks the part, I hope he can stay healthy. I hope he learns to land. My God, every game there's one that is just terrifying. Austin's gonna get him killed. Austin's like that quarterback that throws the ball over the middle, like, yeah, for the receiver to tee up. Yeah. Yeah, man, like, I'm worried about that. But it's cool to see him alongside both Austin and Luca,

10:18by the way, like a lot of the minutes that he's gotten so far in his career, if you either been garbage time or when enough players are out where like you put him next to a couple of creators, like I thought him and Austin had some kind of natural chemistry there that I was excited about. Yeah, I, I, I also, the other thing that I enjoy about Adu is there is an audacity that he kind of carries himself with. You know, we're like, not just because like he is built like an Avenger and you know, can jump however high he kind of sort of needs to, but he kind of like, he walks out there like, yeah, this is gonna be my spot. And I really enjoy, Cam Carr has that to him too. Yeah. You know, we're like, the both of those guys, they kind of, they kind of walk out there. There's this confidence, but there it's, it borders on arrogance, but it's, it's earned. I think both of those guys are talented enough that I think eventually they'll back up that vibe. And what was the third one, the bench units,

11:19the kind of staggered bench units. Yeah, I guess part of that I think has to do with the fact that it's the kings and the warriors are a mess. You know, like I think you and I might have some success out there. The other thing that I would add as far as the likes go is I know this is gonna be stayed in the obvious, but holy fuck, Luca looks incredible. Like, oh my God, this guy looks like he's gonna have one of those seasons. And I'm really excited, you know, we as Lakers fans have been blessed with a few of those seasons. And I think we're gonna, like if he can stay healthy and all those things, but he is toying with guys out there. Like he had the three where he was pointing it at you right afterward. He had the logo three that essentially looked like a turnaround fade away. Like it's just what this guy is getting ready to do

12:19looks really, really exciting. Of a similar level on the roster, I was told going into camp that Austin really focused heavily on his body. And, you know, really trying to bulk up, really trying to give himself a little bit more padding to why I'll not be coming heavy, but just give himself a little more month. And I thought he looked kind of rusty out there. He looked like somebody who was playing in his first preseason game, but I also noticed guys kind of bouncing off him a little bit more, which started to happen last year. But I thought really started to look like it was happening last year or last night. So that was kind of, that's really exciting. I think that's really important for his abilities as a catch and shoot threat is that overall strength. What have you seen from Luke and from Austin? Luke, I actually think Luke is kind of, he doesn't seem quite as sharp to me as he was last year coming off of Eurobasket. But I do think that he'll be just fine. We've obviously only seen him in the Sacramento games. But I feel like there have been some possessions

13:24where he comes off of a screen looking for someone other than Cavan Looney to pass the ball to. You know what I mean? I've noticed the lack of role man next to him. And like I said, in that first game against Sacramento, we were down when the starters came out of the game. And yesterday the offense was kind of rough to start. Like, girls were down a little bit in that first quarter as well. And I just didn't, and then that third quarter, I didn't think they played particularly well either. I think having Kester there, that's one of the big separators is that he's not some out of this world pick and roll player. But he's a good deal better than Cavan Looney in that situation. And so I think that'll bring some things together. But like Lucas, Lucas, like the least of my worries that he's just so phenomenally talented that I do think we've lost a decent amount of strength on this team. And I think his rebounding is going to be important come regular season. So I don't want him wrestling with precious attua and Dylan Cardwell, big dudes like that in the preseason.

14:25But when, as we get to our dislikes, rebounding is right near the top of that. And like Luca being in there and mixing it up the boards is going to be important to wear. Like sort of that, we don't have as many guys that can wrestle with those, those stronger type of players that think Luke is going to be important there. But super excited about him. I thought Austin passed the ball really well last night in the role. Looks very rusty in terms of a, as a shopmaker. That's something that has almost every time he's come back from injury in his career, that's kind of how it's gone is that it's taken a couple of games for him to look like himself again. And so that's part of the reason why I'm a little annoyed that there are several guys that have sat for so often is that it's going to take a little bit to sort of get up and running. And I would love for there to be a couple of preseason games where they have all of their guys. So that by the time they get to the regular season, they're not going through that process of just not being rusty. Well, I guess that does offer us that opportunity to talk about some of those dislikes. And you mentioned rebounding.

15:25I am really nervous, Pete, about the backup center spot. Really, really nervous about it. And I know that the 77 games at Walker Kessler Miss last year are kind of a reflection of Utah tanking their asses off and stuff. And they were very quick to tell them to go get surgery. Just like they told, didn't use of Nirkets get facial reconstructed? Someone got it done. Cosmic surgery. BBL. Send a guy to get BBLs. But with Kessler, not necessarily playing in a ton of games over the last couple of years, I would really like to not be as thin as the Lakers are behind them. And I said this in the slack last night while I was watching the game, it's like everybody's ranting and raving about the screens that Cavan Lune sets. And it's objectively true.

16:26He's a really good screen setter. But it doesn't matter if you can't roll. If your own guys are looking you off while you're rolling, the defense is certainly going to look you off. And that loses a big advantage gained by those screens. And I like Mom who a lot. I've really enjoyed this game. I was thinking about having him in my likes as that chaos compounder. But he can't be the primary backup. They were getting killed on the boards last night. So yeah, this is one of those things that isn't going to be addressed until it's literally addressed in roster construction, I think. But the center position has me nervous, in terms of let alone not just the minutes that Kessler isn't playing in games that he's available, but let alone those games that when he isn't available at all, I think that almost becomes an auto loss. I'm really nervous about that. Yeah, we identified that spot as being sort of a single point of failure of.

17:26There are other spots where they have players that can kind of step in if somebody goes down. And at least carry things for a little while. In this respect, it's really a compounding failure in a lot of ways when Kessler is out. Because to cover those 48 minutes, it's very difficult for them to play Looney and Mamo at the same time, both of whom, I think, make lives easier. It's sort of cover up the deficiencies of the other in some way. And that, I have been encouraged by Looney in that. I think we can get by in terms of backup minutes with him on the floor. He's like, not as, I was worried that he was washed. Like he couldn't play and wouldn't have any value. I think he could give us some serviceable minutes. But if Kessler isn't playing, it's not like Looney, even in a regular season game, it's going to give you 30 minutes at that spot. So you pretty much have to play Mamo at almost all of his minutes at that five spot, where that's got to be way more of a pick and choose against the right matchup, against the right lineups. Then Mamo plays at the five. And then you've got athletic forwards.

18:27You have to be, it has to have pretty specific circumstances, I think, for that to be viable, where if Kessler is out, it becomes a necessity that he plays a ton of minutes there that your rebounding is bad, your rim protection is bad. And Mamo, what was the first thing that Reddit brought up in terms of what he was excited about him was the versatility that he brings to the table and that he really unlocks a lot of that. You lose that if he has to play the five spot no matter what. And so I'm definitely concerned about Kessler staying healthy. And hopefully we get to see him start on Tuesday. What else have you disliked? What would you like to see the Lakers improve on from here before the beginning of the regular season? So yeah, the rebounding is a concern. I don't know if there is, and obviously Kessler is our best rebounder and we'll help with that. But it's not just him that concerns me there, but I don't know if it is that improvable, frankly, there are little in the weeds details of improving your sandwich rebounding and things like that.

19:28But I think at the end of the day, it's trying to take, just trying to mitigate a weakness and make it not as bad, but it's going to be a weakness. I have disliked the ball handling outside of, obviously we haven't seen sexton, Austin and Luca, that's what they do and they're great at that. But the Grimes, Hardy, Bronny, crew, their ability to dribble the basketball is pretty disappointing. And they're just not able to get into the offense. And I view it a little differently. And so Grimes, for example, I was hoping that could be, if one of those guys are down, go down of that trio, then Grimes could be sort of that fourth guy, where if you need me in the pinch, we can kind of, you can get by. Last night he had zero assists and six turnovers and just making terrible decisions with the ball that I just worry about that. And with him, it's more of a decision-making thing. Bronny's always had kind of a weak handle. I'm already way over Jayden Hardy.

20:30He's nails on a chalkboard to me, his game. And so I way more than I was supposed to be on the roster. I don't think he was supposed to be here right now. What's the line from Clerks? Where the whole movie is supposed to be here. It's supposed to be my day off. Every time I see Jayden Hardy play, I'm like, he's not supposed to be here. Yeah. Yeah. But it makes me worry if one of those guys goes down, do we need a two-way guard, for example, we've had the last couple of years just to dribble the ball up court. Literally, bro, we've turned the ball over a ton of times, just trying to make the initial pass or bring the ball up court. I mean, to be honest, this is a concern even when Luca and Austin are on the court. Because they, I don't mean it from the standpoint of, those guys are going, once the ball crosses half court, they are going to be perfectly fine. The offense is in good hands. Those guys are going to be overwhelming offensively. But we've seen Austin struggle with ball pressure

21:31and 94 feet up the court. Do you want Luca bringing the ball up against ball pressure and 94 feet up the court? And I was hoping, one of the things that I liked about Marcus Smart on the roster last year was that there were times that he could just get the ball across half court and initiate the offense. Literally get the ball to Austin, to Luca so that things could start. Even LeBron was really good with that stuff. And they don't really have that safety valve with that kind of pressure. I was actually going to look at this in a slightly different way and talk about the lesson and talk about this during the lessons aspect. But I guess we'll just address it now. What I've learned is that Colin Sexton is actually a really important signing. Yeah. Because like you're talking about, his absence has been really glaring in this one regard where, you know, this having played, you know, you were a point guard, I was a point guard. And but like the way that you beat pressure

22:34is to literally beat pressure. Take that guy off of the dribble and like basically teach him over the course of the game. You aren't going to guard me way back there, you know? And the Lakers like Bronnie isn't really wired like that. Grimes, like you said, isn't really wired like that. Sexton is and he will basically go by guys just to get them off of him. And yeah, one of the lessons that I've learned is and I'm a little nervous about how I've learned it is like how critical Sexton is going to be. He really can't miss time. Or the Lakers are going to have to, yeah, like you said, use a two-way spot on a guard who can, you know, a Scotty Pippin Junior type who can just get the ball up the court from time to time. The other thing that I would like to see, I mean, this is kind of a macro point anyway. We've alluded to it a couple of times. But just the general approach organizationally to preseason games, whether it's scheduling, whether it's just who plays,

23:34who doesn't and stuff like that. I think these are just, this is now been a trend. Is it just a run and we joked about this two weeks ago. We said that I was going to be annoyed about this. Well, guess what? No. No. But like, I don't know, because it's different in the preseason, right? In the regular season, the NBA has schedule makers. They handle the schedule, all teams. But in preseason, the teams are in control of their preseason. And then you got to like partner with teams. That's why the Lakers play the warrior so frequently and body play the King so frequently and they don't play the Clippers. Like they, you know, you work with teams and you try to build out your schedule that works for that team, where it's for your team. And you try to basically piece the puzzle together as it's moving. But man, like three games and four nights in a preseason slate. Why? What are you doing? It's just like last year when they, when they traveled all the way to Milwaukee to play a preseason game, it's like, who's making these decisions?

24:35Yeah. Like, who do I write my letter to management about? You know, like, can we get somebody different doing this? Like that, that I think really kind of sets the Lakers up for failure. And like we've seen there, we haven't seen Walker Kessler at all. We haven't seen their starting five together at all. And this is a team with like nine new rotation players, essentially. Right. It's just, it's, it's difficult to basically go into a stretch of games that the Lakers need to win a bunch out, right? It's a soft opening to the season. You need to rack up wins early and, and you're going to be learning on the fly in, in, and that's, that's kind of a bummer. But the other thing that I wanted to talk about really quickly before we go to surprises is the, I don't know if it's necessarily a dislike, but I was hoping to see more of it. I, the grimes thing, I was hoping to like his game more.

25:36Like, I was hoping, like, he was a really big part of the Lakers off season four years, $60 million contract. And I, I think he's pretty good at a lot of things. I don't think he's as good as I need him to be it, it, like, at a few things. What have, what have you thought about that? We've talked about him a second ago, but what have you thought of the overall grimes experience? I mean, I really liked his first game against the Kings. I thought he was very good on both ends of the floor in that game. He's been awful these last two games. And he's a guy that I, I've been skeptical on is this guy's starter on a contending type of team. We are way too early for me to be making definitive conclusions on that either way. But I do think that we've seen some of the reasons why teams are like, yeah, we're fine, but what's this 15 that he's on? Yeah. And talented guy had some, he's by a free agency had some sweet, you know, backdoor cuts for a dunk.

26:39And you see the combination of like the elevation, he gets on his jump shot. And kind of I think he's got really nice form on his jumper. And that that athleticism can defend a little bit, although I'll say that part for the surprises section. Hey football fans is Von Miller, Dallas Cowboys, linebacker and host of the free range podcast. Come hang out with me and my guy TJ Banks, as we give you the best analysis insights and guest interviews from around the league each and every week. New episodes drop each and every Wednesday. Be sure to follow or subscribe to free range wherever you get your podcasts. But just a lot of you made the wrong read and drove into traffic type of stuff that yeah, as you get into the higher levels of the playoffs and things like that, those are killer things. And I've ultimately thought that he's best as a good bench guard on a title

27:42contending team. And that's one of the reasons why I think that we've got three starters. And it's actually the starting group that I'm a little concerned about. Like I think this might be a season where the starters have to sort of tread water and then it's the bench that can extend a lead. Yeah. But yeah, Grimes, he reminds me a little bit of Jordan Clarkson. And maybe a little bit better defensively there, but hasn't been taking on that primary responsibility there. But remains to be seen. But I think we've seen some of the reasons why I'm like, I like him, but not like really certain about him as a starter. Yeah, that's that's how that's probably how I put it. Like I like aspects of this game. I think I like him overall just not as much as I wanted to like him. You know, like I was hoping to, you know, I was hoping that he would be kind of a. Epiphany over, you know, over the course of training camp, because I wasn't sure about the signing and all that I've kind of seen is like kind of confirming why I wasn't sure about the signing.

28:42What is what's surprised you? Let's move on. Let's try to steer back. Keep the vibes good on this Friday morning afternoon. This is more of a tactical thing, but I think it is very much. Defines where the Lakers are trying to go defensively, but that first game and even this past game with the do on a cuff, I thought Grimes would be the guy that was assigned to the Darius Acuffs of the world, that's all ball handling type of guard. They've chosen to go way bigger with that, that forward point of attack defender, that forward sized guy being the sort of head of the snake defensively, that surprised me and the flip of that. And I think that that's what makes it for me almost certain at this point. The zyers going to start because they may be similar quality players and we got to bring up Jake. I think Jake's had a really good preseason so far. Although he was brutal on defense in the Golden State game, again, bit of a throwaway game. But you know, Jake's played well in the two games against Sacramento, but that's not really what Jake does. He's not a pick up full court or guard a shifty type of one.

29:45And even Zaire, I thought had a little bit of difficulty with a cup that I thought a dude did a good deal better. But I think both Zaire and a dude being assigned that way more than anybody else. That really surprised me that that's the direction that he's going in. There's arguments for it. There's arguments against it. It's just not something that I saw coming. A dude's poise again is something that I'm really pleasantly surprised by. Let's see what else you got. I've really liked the man-owned minutes. Not necessarily a surprise, I guess, though, that he's been really good defensively. Can we have a conversation about money on because Twitter's angry at me right now because I kind of rude him off. It's not that I don't like Man-owned's game. I love the way that he defends. He's probably pretty easily the lake, like him and Matisse. Matisse is obviously two-time all-in-be-a-defender. So he kind of is over there in a class of his own. Then there's the Man-owned tier and then there's everybody else as far as defensive

30:47presences. Like he is really effing good there. My only thing is, as we've learned by how JJ treats Van Vando, even in a preseason, like I'm not saying this because I think that Man-owned shouldn't get an opportunity. I'm saying based on what we know about JJ, we know he's not going to get an opportunity. We have evidence of this over the course of the last season. So I really hope he learns to shoot a little bit better so that we see him a little bit more. But yeah, there's this talk of like, oh, he should just get Bronny's minutes. And it's like, JJ's never going to play him instead of Bronny. It's just not going to happen. I don't think so. Like, Bronny is at least a willing shooter. When Man-owned shoots, it's like, God, are you sure? Like, he's catching the boys. Like, you know, I don't think you did see Little Giants because of how surprised you were with my annexation of Puerto Rico. But there's like a scene there where like the ball finds this guy.

31:47This guy, like they call a play for this kid in like the big game. And he's like, like, he's hearing the play in the Huddled, he's hearing the play in the Huddled, and he hears like his number call. And he's like, that's my number. Are you sure? Are you sure? And like, that's how every time Man-owned is like open for three. It's like, I, okay, I'll shoot. He wants to drive. I don't think JJ's going to shoot. I don't think I don't think JJ's going to play a guy who isn't going to shoot. I don't, I might just come down to neither Bronny or Mon-owned play. Well, I don't think either of you guys supposed to be in the rotation, right? Like, Man-owned's a two-way guy and Bronny is, you know, deep in the bench. I think we've got probably an 11-man rotation. That's one thing that I think I expect if everybody were healthy. And then with with Kar being the 12th guy that with the exception of the Biggs, if any of the other guys are hurt, Kar is the next guy that steps into that role for me, whether it's a guard or a wing. Yep. So he should essentially be in the rotation because how many nights are we really

32:48going to have all 11 in the rotation healthy at the same time? That's just not the way it really works in the NBA anymore. And so he'll get plenty of minutes. And then like, I think Vando should be the next guy up. I think Vando should be the 13th guy. Like, I think Vando should play before Bronny. And I think that that Man-owned should. But it is a little tricky with the two-way stuff and all of that. And so I get your point about him being a little gun shy from three. But I do think he's been aggressive on offense. He's attacked the basket and he's gotten to the free throw line a good deal. But you are right that Reddit has sort of given guys like that a dimmerid if you don't have the ability to do that. So we'll see. The Vando, you mentioned Vando. He's been one of my surprises in that. I thought that with switching less and like you talked about earlier with having a forward be the head of the snake defensively, like those things lead me to believe that Vando should be a part of this rotation. And yet all three games, it hasn't been until you know, it's really clear that they are no longer

33:53playing rotation level players any longer. Vando comes in with Dalton, Vando comes in with Hardy and that has really surprised me. I flat out disagree with it because of what we've talked about to this point. I don't know. I even Texas somebody is Vando about to get traded? Are they saving him because he's going to get traded? Well, I think part of the rationale is that Vando at one point or another will be traded. And so I don't think they're trying, I think they're trying to put the roots of something long-term in place. And so I don't think Vando is going to be a part of that. And so there is a certain degree, I believe, of why bother if he's not going to be here and yet at all. Who would you play him in front of that that is likely to be in the in the rotation? That's a fair question. Going into the camp, I would have said a do. But given what we've seen from a do, I can understand why the Lakers are like,

34:55they're roughly six, seven basically and we're just going to go with the guy that's going to be here long-term. So I understand that. That's a fair question. I guess if I let's see. So he's not, yeah, I think he's the brake glass of incase of emergency. Type player there. Yeah, that's right. That's fair. Any other surprises before we move on to lessons? surprises. It has been nice to see, I know they wanted to get some three-point volume up. But I looked at the sort of individual players on the roster. It's like, we've got a lot of not really willing shooters between Jake and you know what do. Several guys that they're just not going to take a lot of them. But nice to see them get the amount of three-point volume that they were looking toward. Then a negative surprise, I just,

35:57I don't think the offense has clicked that well with with Luke on the floor especially. I think that'll be fine eventually, but yeah, that's that's about it for me. You got any other ones? Yeah, it's hard to be surprised by half a team right now. You know, it's kind of difficult. Oh, I did want to go back and as far as this lights go, the Sacramento Kings as an organization and as a basketball team, what are you doing? Like, I hate, I, A-Cuff is really, really good. And I know they're going to screw him up or they're going to trade him or something. And it's like, I just find myself watching the Sacramento Kings. My best man in my wedding was a Kings fan growing up. Now he's kind of over Lakers fan because he really, really liked Luca with Dallas and then he couldn't continue to root for Dallas. So we kind of made the trip, the trek over, which is wild to go from Kings. I was going to say, yeah. But also like, it's not that wild because the Kings have treated

36:58their fans so shitty. They were getting ready to leave California. It took like a legit movement to keep them in California. They, you know, they had this really fun, exciting core with deer and fox Tyree's Halliburton and they turned it into the most depressing basketball team I have ever seen assembled. And then they didn't improve basically at all this summer. Like they drafted Darius A-Cuff and it's just, it's just this giant. And it like, I happen to follow some people who cover the team and they're like, waiting breathlessly for Ben Simmons to return. And I just, I just, I really, really, really love it when the Kings are good and they hate the Lakers and those Kings Lakers games are so much fun. And I'm watching this Kings organization just be such a shell of itself that I can't even get myself to really make fun of them on Twitter. It just feels like, you know, you're, you're beating, you know, it's like when, when I would, my was like seven years older than my, my, my little brother and he would try to like fight me. And I'd be like, no,

38:02like, I don't want to have to do this, you know, and that's where the Kings are. They're just complete cast of losers and Doug Christie might be the worst coach I've ever seen. But anyway, that's it for the dislikes. So I like all the, I like that. To me, that's the natural order of things is the Kings are embarrassing. It's true. It's true. I just think it's really, I don't know, I'm a weirdo in that like I like it when my rivals are also good because it makes those games that much more fun. You know, or, or I guess it gets to a point where it's like, I can only make the same joke so many times and I just get bored of, of, of making the same joke. And I can, I can only poke fun at it, like the loser dumb that is the Sacramento Kings so many times. And here we are. But other surprises, I would say surprises. I have been, I had a feeling I would like, Mamu. I've been even more impressed by him. And I really, I really can't wait to see him

39:08next to Kessler. What do you say with Mama? What, what stood out to you? So I love the quick decision making that has always been one of my like, you know, traits in a basketball player that I've really enjoyed, the ability to operate in different sized windows. I love like he had to play yesterday where like he is small ball center sized, but he got out and ran the wing. And he finished on the right side of the, like you know what you plan on talking about where, where, where Lakers got a rebound. He ran on the right side, finished on a right handed, right footed. Yes, that's right. It's a left handed player exactly for a player that big. That's a very skilled shot. Yeah. And, and I was just like, holy shit, like his skill really jumps off of the screen. And I do think he'll be, he'll, he'll need to be protected a little bit defensively, but, but like just the, the, the things that he can do for lineups offensively, I can see why analytically his impact numbers have always popped the way that they have. What,

40:13what have you seen from Mama? I love me, some Mama. He's just such a hooper. Again, it's, that's one of the big questions of the season is, can you find a defensive role for him? Can you find lineups where just overall it works on that end of the floor because he is such an accelerant to the offense and to the speed of the group? That's one thing about this Lakers squad so far is I felt when they've been at their best, they've been fast. And I think that he really, we think of speed is, I feel like we can associate it more with the defensive end and sort of like these athletic type of players, but Mama just is fast on the offensive end in ways that can really break down a defense. Even for example, there was a play where he got the ball on a skip pass and he went to rack the clothes out, but a manual sharp, the guard for the Kings was matched up on him and kind of cut him off. And just the mental decision to go like, okay, I'm just going to go into all back down right here. Yeah, skips it across to I think Luca on the other side of the court to get a good ball reversal. Ball swings to Matisse up top of the key. Matisse misses the top of the key

41:18three, but Mama had relocated and gets the tip in, right? That it's just like that boom, boom, boom, type of basketball. He really facilitates going from one action to the next that a super fun player. We got to find a defensive role for him because you can really play. I think he's going to have to be in Austin lineups with like Zaire and Adu or like some combination of wings that that enhances his ability to play fast makes up for the the the the the foot speed deficiency defensively and then you know, like it's hard. It's hard. It's hard for him and Luca to play at the same time because they take up so much similar space defensively. Unless he's I guess at the small ball five, which is really like it's really intriguing. I like I do think the lakers are going to have that like knuckleball almost like they're there they're they're small ball five units are almost going to be like bringing in a knuckleball or out of the pin, you know, out of the

42:22and you know, because I think they're going to be so good in those minutes offensively and so overwhelming in those minutes offensively. I don't know how frequently you could throw it just like I don't know how frequently you could throw a knuckleballer, but yeah, I'm really intrigued by him. Actually, we got a super comment about him. So I'm just going to go ahead and address that with the most important sound on the show. The football season is heating up and every week feels bigger with draft kings. Draft kings is now live in all 50 states. One app, all the football nationwide. New Draft Kings customers sign up with code 2400 spend five bucks to get $150 in rewards within 14 days includes all markets. That's code 2400 in partnership with Draft Kings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem called 1-800-Gamber, 1-800-My reset. Connecticut called 888-789-7777 visit ccpg.org. On behalf of boot hill casino in Kansas,

43:23Betax Pasley, May applying Illinois 21 and over, void in Canada. Bed with Draft King sportsbook to get bonus bets that expire in seven days or trade with Draft Kings predictions to get predictions dollars that expire in one year. Event contract trading involves risk of loss. Predictions offer void in New York. Non-withdrawable rewards issued as $50 click to claims every seven days for 14 days. Terms at decayng.co slash offer, limited time offer, nationwide based on sportsbook predictions and free to play sports contest availability varies by state. Let's run UNLV rights. Seems like the Lakers media and the organization are falling for the it's new so it must be better trap. Like why is momu better than Rui? I think a better example of that is Grimes over smart. But I think that like I don't even know that I would say momu is definitely better than Rui. I think they're just very different. There's a natural comparison because they essentially swapped one for the other. But I think they're just very different players. Like Rui went out and played really well for the Clippers in that first game. And I saw people were fighting on Twitter over it. I just sidestepped it and went about my evening or whatever.

44:27But I think they're very different. And I think momu's quick decision ability fits better, more sustainably more consistently than Rui's shooting ability. What do you say about this topic? Yeah, I think JJ Redick wants to play a certain way that is a dribble drive motion, read and react type of basketball that is more conducive to a player like momu because he's able to make those reads a little bit faster rather than being just a straight up finisher. But yeah, in that more stagnant style where that player is going to stand in the corner a lot more and there's less of that ball movement. Like you're not going to do any better than Rui is a catch and shoot guy. And I think Rui's a good deal better as a perimeter defender than momu is. And so I think you have to have some of the same conversations with Rui of like, okay, how are we going to make this work defensively? But it's not nearly as severe as it is with momu. And it's not nearly as like, gosh, can he play with Luca? For example, I do think that Rui could play with Luca. And it's a little less, you know, stepping on each other's toes. I thought

45:30where it got complicated was when it was Luca and LeBron and Rui. It's like those are three power forwards on defense, you know. And so I think it's a fair comment. I just, I think they want to play a different way offensively. And they think that facilitating that style has a greater chance of having top end success. And we'll see. I think if you are going to play that way, momu is the better, the better fit. But yeah, I think it's fair comment. I forgot. One of my surprises. I agree with everything that you said there. And I honestly, like, there's parts of that comment that I find myself agreeing with, you know, like it's just, it's a tough, it's a, it's a tricky conversation to have off of three preseason games where we haven't seen one of the like three cornerstone players in it. But what I was going to say, or one of my surprises, in this one blew me away. But I find that the way that people are talking

46:35nationally about the Lakers isn't as maddening as it has been while LeBron was on the Lakers. It's not as like blatantly disingenuous. And like last night, I, I don't know if you watch the local broadcaster if you watched the national broadcast last night, but I watched the, I was there even a local one because Danny was on the, on the national one. Yeah, there was Stu was back for was this first game back in a while. I did watch the national broadcast, but it was a home game. Stu was back. Yeah. So I, but I stuck around for half time a little bit because the whole family had fallen asleep. And I was surprised to find out. I enjoyed the way that that panel talked about the Lakers. I really liked, I think it was a month Shumper was like the main like former player. And then Vinny Goodwill was off to the side. And he was asking questions about like how are they going to like piece together to the roster, given some of its holes. And

47:37I thought Malika did a really good job of facilitating a conversation that like frankly, last year, I did not hear nationally, you know, and especially on on game day broadcast, I would turn it, I would take that as an opportunity like, all right, I'm going to go fix another glass of wine or I'm going to go use a restroom or file some taxes, anything other than listen to that. And last I really enjoyed that. I don't know if you've noticed that as well. I've noticed a couple people that made me sort of turn my head of like they seem to have a little less stink about the Lakers. I'm not as plugged into what they are saying. But yeah, there have been a couple of places where I've been like, okay, at least that's fair. Like I don't need them to kiss the Lakers' butts and say every now is going to be great or anything like that. It's just people can be really weird, just down right weird about the Lakers that I think has a different energy than any other team to it that I have noticed a reduction in that. All right, let's wrap up with some lessons. Just

48:37want to make sure yeah cool. Let's wrap up with some lessons. And I already used one of my lessons earlier talking about one of the things that I have learned is why they signed Colin Sexton. I think the absence of LeBron has really created some of that creativity. And we have seen that. And I think Sexton is actually a critical piece to this puzzle here moving forward. Any I'll try to think of another lesson while you maybe talk about one of yours. My biggest one is one we seem to learn, which apparently we don't learn too much. And I am as guilty as anyone on this. But the Lakers as an organization see the value of the preseason differently than you or I do. And that we see it as an opportunity to get some rest or get some reps, work out some kinks and they see it as rest. Yeah, they see it as an opportunity to get some rest. Yeah, for sure. And it is it is easy from our couches to be rare and to go and be like,

49:41you guys go out there and play your asses off in the preseason. Yeah, I don't think the Lakers have had some sort of unusual preseason. It's not like I mean, Lakers played the Kings last night. And there was no Sibonus, Murray's out. There hasn't been Simmons, right? Like this happens all over the league in the preseason. There's it's not unique to the Lakers. But I do think that there is a Lakers approach of, you know, like Cameron, Cameron Carr has a contusion. They just played it back to back. Like, sure, you sit tonight. No big deal. It's it's preseason. They value that way more than the opportunity to get reps. And I think that there's they view really the beginning of the season as the time where the team really comes together on the court and that just that the overall perspective, which I do agree with that it's a very long season. And that they're just operating at a different pace than we are with as enthusiastic as we are for basketball to start back up. It's just sort of that annual reminder of like you're all excited for the preseason to start and the games to start. It's like hurry up and wait, you know. So that's one of my biggest takeaways

50:44from this preseason. Yeah, I think the one the one place where I would for one thing you're right in pointing out that this is not unique to the Lakers. If anything, this is the norm. Like it's like this is a very modern and we see it in the NFL too where forget who made this point. Shoot, I'm sorry, but they were basically making this point as it pertains to the NFL where instead of televising or as an addition to televising the NFL's preseason games, which like you might get a quarterback for a quarter and then you know, you're playing guys with three digits on their on their jersey. But instead of doing that, can we televised the joint team practices? Because those are the things that you know teams seem to take more seriously. And I'm not saying,

51:44you know, can we televised more of the Lakers practices, their scrimmages or whatever we know we're never going to get that. But I wish there was another opportunity to learn a little bit more about this team than we are given. Because I don't think that like I don't think that they are like by way of foregoing these opportunities in these preseason games, they're just basically being like, well, guess we're not going to learn until the first game, you know, like I think they're doing a lot of their learning in in scrimmages more than anything. That's why um, reddick has split up Austin and Luca. I think the way that he has. But yeah, it means that we don't get to learn those things. And I would like to do a little bit of that learning as they are. Let's see, another lesson that I have learned here is that and you kind of talked about it at the top, but I don't think the Lakers are going to be as bad as I thought they were going to be defensively. Now I'm still nervous about

52:52the rebounding because at the end of the day, the only way that you close out a stop is getting that rebound and you can't expect to turn a team over 30 times night in, night out. Um, but like I said at the top, I can see kind of where they were going with what they could accomplish this offseason. And I think there's obviously a lot more work to do. They know that there is more work to do. Um, but I think that like the wing by committee approach intrigues me a little bit. And, and we've kind of seen this across the league where a lot more teams are playing these deeper rotations. And they're basically telling role players like the thunder or kind of the entry example of us. Yep. We're there saying like go out there and play on infinite turbo mode and then come on out when you're tired and we'll swap you out with another guy who can go out there and play on infinite. And I think that's essentially what the Lakers are doing. And I, I'm, I'm intrigued. I find myself, I find myself intrigued. I'm super into it. Yeah, I think

53:55the O.K.C. model is very aligned with what the Lakers are trying to do. And just one guy I wanted to shout out just from a, it's not surprised, but like Matisse's talent for getting deflections and jumping passing lanes and all of that. Like I knew he was good in my mind. And like you said, at two time, all defense type of guy, but holy crap, he's just, he's, I, I really hope he can stay healthy because he's going to be hugely valuable. Even if it's just playing 18 minutes a night to keep him healthy, you know, and hopefully get that 60, 65 plus type of games. But what a talented defender and somebody that doesn't do a ton on the offensive end, but hit a nice no dip three out of the corner yesterday. Like pretty reliable catch and shoot guy at this point that I agree that wing by committee approach. I feel like that's oddly, they don't have like a high end starter by any means at that spot. But they've got a lot of solid guys that I think that they should throughout all 48 and even throughout all 82, they've got an adept there to where if certain

54:59guys are hurt, somebody else can step into that role that can totally competently do the job. So it's more for me the backup five spot and even that backup one spot, those three ball handlers and then falling off of a cliff. That's one of the surprises for me, you know, this season, but the wings, I think we've got some depth there that can, you know, carry us through injuries and stuff like that. Yeah, I, I actually get like excited when Matisse steps onto the court. Me too. Like I, I, it's just like it's like, okay, cool. He's he's back in, you know, and I'm with you. Like if I, like Matisse is maybe the most, I think Marcus had this to him too, but like if I could turn off injuries, like it would be for those two guys specifically, you know, not just because like, you know, because obviously you don't want to see anybody get hurt, but I want to see what it looks like. Like I can't wait to watch Matisse play defense in the playoffs because what we've seen from him so far has been like preseason Matisse, he's doing a lot of coaching out there defensively where

56:02like, you know, he'll get it, the deflection, the ball goes out of bounds, he immediately turns around and tells so and so, hey, you know, right here, right here, this is spot, you know, um, but in the playoffs, like when the intensity, like dips up even, you know, jumps a little higher, and it's, it's time to really lock somebody down. I don't think we've seen that really from him so far. I can't wait to see that. I think he's still really, I think he's got that. He's only 29, right? So, or no, yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think he's trying to 30. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I think Matisse, I actually wouldn't be surprised with the way that they are going about, um, like defense and stuff like that. And, and if Grimes doesn't really like super overwhelmed, there are moments where I'm going to be wondering like, why isn't Matisse starting over Grimes? Like is there? Is it? Are we like, you know, but we will see. Um, let's see. We did get one other question that I wanted to address and then I'll let you get out of here, Pete. Um, let's see.

57:04Tuga France writes, Herb Jones started the first game and yesterday was moved to the bench after City Bay. Do you think he fits on the Lakers? Yes, I do. Um, I'm just always concerned with the Pelicans of it costing an arm and a leg more than a player should cost. So if her, and I'm not the biggest Herb Jones fan, but that was more when the rumors were like, you know, Herb Jones is going to cost you two first round picks. And I'm like, what? But if we could get Herb Jones for the assets that we have to trade like L. Yeah. Yeah. I, I think they're priced out because I think it's still, they're still going to ask for one first round. At least for her. It won't be, it won't be the two that they're always talking about. But it, I think it'll cost at least one. Um, yeah. But I, the funny thing is though with this like wing bike, I want to see this in practice first. I go, want to see not just over the course of the regular season, which I think it's really going to work well. But I want to see how this goes in the post season two because when you get to the post

58:09season and rotation shorten and it is more about like the most talented you could put on the court at any given time than it is just surviving 82 games. Yeah. But I want to see like I'm, I have an open mind about this going in there because we've seen some teams keep that longer rotation all the way through the post season. So long as those guys are still playable. Um, and I want to see that first before the Lakers because like Herb Jones makes it like 17 off the top of my head. So I think in a perfect world for the Lakers, Zaire becomes basically Herb Jones type of player, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think a do is going to pop hopefully not like literally with the way that he lands, but like, you know, I think he's going to pop. I need to see a little bit more from Zaire. I live like some of what I've seen, but I've also been like I can kind of see

59:10why he's on the minimum. But yeah, I mean, like the big question here for the Lakers moving forward is going to be what they turn Vando's contract into. What they turn that contract slot into. I think we, you know, I have I have lost hope or faith, not hope. Nope, not faith hope. In them turning the combination of Dalton and Hardy's contracts into something, I don't think that's going to happen before the end of the the preseason. But like, what can you turn that that $14 million that Vando has on the books for him next year in that player option? What does that become eventually? And I think that player has to be in the running for starter. Like that player has to start absolutely. And the question that's tagged along with that is when, when can you make that trade is like, how much value does Vando have at this trade deadline with one more year on his contract? Does it spike up this next summer instead? Or do you have to wait all

1:00:16the way until next trade deadline? What that trade deadline of 28 right to really get value out of Vando's deal. So when he's able to be traded is as big of a question for me of if and who he gets traded for. Yep. All right. Well, this has been fun. The next time you and I talk we'll be previewing actual NBA games, right? You and I in 14 days from now. Shit. Dude, 14 the next time you and I talk I'll be 40. Really? Happy birthday. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, it's 14 days from today. But, um, oh, that's your birthday is when the day will be on the pot. All right. Yeah. But, but like it's, uh, but I can't wait though, man. Like, you know, we've made it here. These games, yeah, they're a little frustrating and that like we haven't been able to see the whole rotation as we would like to see it. Right. I don't, I never expected it because of what we talked about with how little acres and modern teams seem to feel about preseason. But, um, I do think we'll get one.

1:01:16I, I'm probably stupid for hoping this, but I do think we'll get one dress for her soul. I think we'll get like of the next couple of games. I don't think we'll get it the last game of preseason. You never get it then, but maybe Tuesday, right? Tuesday is the second to last game. And then they play again Thursday and then that's it. So, fingers crossed for Tuesday. We'll see Walker out there. We'll see, like, I think it'll be really telling who starts if Walker plays, you know, and how JJ feels about that. Who would you start? Like, based off, you said Zaire, but like, that's what you think is going to start. Who, like, who have you seen enough from to start? I mean, it would be Zaire just based off of what the job is. I actually honestly, Zaire or a do, like, who's the guy that can pick up full court that's that big ranger athlete that can, that's not how I necessarily would have constructed the defense, but that is how the defense is constructed. So it's like, if you're going to run a three, four defense, play your three, four outside linebacker,

1:02:16you know what I mean? As opposed to the guy that's more suitable for three type of scheme to make a football analogy. So I'm almost certain it's going to be Zaire. Like, I don't know, like I said, I like to do on I cuff better, but I like, I think it do, if it do's the guy and is better than Zaire, this will know fairly early on in, and so as well as Jake has played in this preseason, I still don't think he's a contender for that spot anymore after seeing kind of what they're looking for out of that spot of picking up full court and just guarding the main ball handler on the other team. I also wondered to what extent the role Jake has been playing has made him a better player. Coming off of the bench, being kind of a more solid wing, you know, like he was way underqualified to start last year. And I think not only starting, but also playing 82 games just absolutely broken by the postseason. And I think playing in a smaller maybe narrower role makes a lot more sense for but Pete, anything that you want to plug for we get you out here.

1:03:18Now just doing Lakers collective a little bit later with Trevor Njolvan, got the LFR pod would be hilarious. And I should have a video, I'm working on a video this weekend on the Lakers kind of new defensive approach and all of that. So check that out on YouTube, but yeah. All right, everybody have a great rest of your weekend. Make somebody else's please hit that like button. Please subscribe here to the channel, subscribe to Pete's channels. And until the next time, we hear from you. Be safe out there and Lakers, please take Tuesday somewhat seriously.