Lakers Face Nuggets in Potential Playoff Preview

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What's up, Laker fans?

Welcome to the Laker Filmroom Podcast, I'm Pete, joined by Darius, and it's looking

increasingly likely that the Lakers will be facing one of three opponents in the first

round of the playoffs.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, the Houston Rockets, or tonight's opponent, the Denver Nuggets,

a common playoff opponent for the Lakers in the 2020s.

So looking forward to tonight's game.

But before we get into details about that, and I'm going to talk about Austin a little

bit later in a recent front office hire, Dee, I think it's important to contextualize

this kind of where we're at in the standings.

After tonight, we'll have 20 games left in the season, and the Lakers and Nuggets are right

there neck and neck.

They're tied in the lost column, Pete, and Denver has one more win than the Laker.

So Denver has already played their 62nd game.

The winner of this game is going to be the fifth seed.

The Nuggets have long been positioned as the team that has the best chance to, like,

seed thrown the thunder in the West.

Now San Antonio has, like, become more and more real, particularly because of their singular

success against OKC as well.

But Denver has fallen on some hard times in terms of injury stuff, and they've gone from

fighting Houston for the third seed to potentially now being in sixth if they lose tonight

against the Lakers.

And that's one of the big stories right now, Dee, is it's a big old clump between three

and six.

Four teams that could end up in any one of those seeds.

The Lakers are only two games back in the lost column from Houston and one back from Minnesota,

right?

So Houston is the third seed at 38 and 22.

Minnesota is fourth at 39 and 23, and then it's the Nuggets and Lakers, right?

Nuggets are 38 and 24, and the Lakers are 37 and 24.

And so as we approach the last quarter of the season, the idea of where the Lakers fall

in the standings and what games like tonight mean for their push to move up in the standings,

my guess is they want home court advantage in the first round.

And if they went tonight's game, they also clinched the tiebreaker over Denver.

They're one to know against them.

They only played three times.

They already have the tiebreaker against Minnesota.

They do not have it against Houston so far, but two more games up against them.

Yeah, the Lakers lost against Houston on Christmas Day, but they've still got a couple

of games against them.

They also play OKC again later in the year as well.

I circle games like this, not only because, oh, Denver, a good team and how do you fare

against them and possible playoff opponent, yada, yada, yada, right?

But also beating the team who's right in front of you and how much value that has at this

point of the year versus, oh, it's game five for sure.

I guess I have a question of how much does it matter overall, right?

Denver's won this battle last year in a similarly positioned type of way and that we're all

kind of bunched up together.

But as you pointed out several times, Lakers had the tiebreaker against most of those teams

and it's trending toward that at least at this point.

But then they go out there in the first round of the playoffs as the three seed and very

much look like it was Minnesota that was the three seed and not us.

And so like, how much does this even matter?

I think qualitatively these teams are very close to each other, even if that's not necessarily

the way it's been framed.

I think Denver is more in this mix because of the injury stuff, but I know even earlier

in the season, we had tagged them as a team above the Lakers and I know that you were very

high on them coming into the season.

A very much so.

I have this sort of sneering attitude toward this assumption that every team that basically

has the same record that we do is better than the Lakers, right?

It's like, why is that?

They're the one team that has a little bit of playoff credibility and all of that.

And now Minnesota's gotten to the conference finals a couple of times, but Denver, like,

there's a lot of champs on that team.

There's a lot of guys that really know how to turn up and yes, they've had injury issues,

but so have the Lakers so accused and right?

Minnesota's been pretty healthy, but I guess that's sort of my addition.

Denver has a little bit of credibility built up over time.

Well, playoff pedigree is super important when the goal is to win the NBA championship.

And so this is one of the reasons why I often wondered about like these views of the Lakers

as if some of their best players don't also have a bunch of playoff pedigree, right?

And so like, I get that LeBron is old, but he's also a player who's been to what like

10 finals or something crazy, right?

Even smart, even eaten, right, has made a deep playoff run, they've got a few guys.

They've got some guys who have been critical components to high level teams.

And Lucas has been the best player, right?

Just like LeBron has been the best player, I would argue even Austin in the experience

he got when they went to the Comforts finals.

That's important just in terms of he held it, win them games during that run.

Now he's got to continue to prove it.

And that's how it goes when you've been in three playoff series or four playoff series

or whatever.

I guess in zooming back out towards the standing discussion and where we are this year,

your question to me, how much does it matter?

I want the Lakers to have home court advantage.

So it matters to me from that perspective.

Yes, they lost as the three seed to the 60.

They got their butt kick in a manner in which I didn't see the matchups clearly, right?

Hindsight revealed where I was wrong.

I didn't have the foresight that I would have preferred to have had.

But now I know better.

And I also learned about like what the head coach would do in a playoff series.

And I learned this is why Jackson Hay struggled in this specific way against this specific

opponent.

You bank all of that information, Pete.

And so do I have more respect for Minnesota now than I did before?

Yeah, I do, right?

And so they are also a team that, okay, well, this is how they will be a problem for the

Lakers if they see them again, just like I know how Denver will be a problem for the Lakers.

I even envision how Houston can be a problem for the Lakers.

I have clear eyes about this bunch of teams.

What I will say though is that I think the Lakers health permitting are also going to be problematic

for some of these teams as well.

And this is one of the reasons why I'm very interested in this matchup with Denver tonight.

Denver is banged up.

And so they don't have Aaron Gordon.

They don't have Hayden Watson.

Those are critical figures, I think, in a matchup with the Lakers specifically because

of their size and athleticism, particularly in how you deal with Luca and LeBron defensively.

But the idea of how the Lakers can attack a Denver defense that hasn't been much better

than the Lakers defense in the aggregate, that's a huge talking point that isn't really

discussed a lot when talking about how the Lakers match up with a specific team.

And their matchup with Denver, we did a pod earlier this year talking about how Denver

has a Luca problem.

And this is a key part of this matchup.

And it's something that I'll be looking at tonight when the Lakers play them.

And you talked about a possible playoff matchup.

If the Lakers continue to win in Denver, finds their floor at number six, this could be

a matchup where the Lakers are playing Denver, but not in the way that we thought.

It might be a month and a half ago, right?

Lots of moving parts, Pete, but I wanted to make sure that this is a game that to me

when you zoom out, the real standing's implications matter.

All right, let's go to break here.

Want to come back, want to talk about some of the common threads of the teams that can

guard us and the teams that can't widen for struggles against the Lakers defensively.

And then transition into some talk about Austin.

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The common thread that I see aside from teams that have a level of personnel that has

athleticism and length is the ability to switch and play aggressively on the perimeter.

So there are different styles of switching.

Some you kind of switch and hang back and you want to play a level of containment defense.

There are others where you jump switch, you really jump out onto the ball handler and

that's the version that I think the Lakers have struggled the most with and I think it's

in part because for when LeBron's ball handling is taken a step back this year and really

over the last couple of years as his athleticism is declined, you see a lot of LeBron like just

coughed it up kind of turnovers over the last two, three years.

And then Austin has had some difficulties with this as well and so there are two main

coverages that I see the Lakers struggling with that are the biggest puzzles to solve

on the offensive and I believe to end this season.

One is that aggressive switching type of coverage and then the other is the deep drops.

I think they have tools to be both of them but I think how they go about it is super important.

Denver cannot switch all the time because they have Yokech.

Yokech's got to play 40 minutes for them right?

And so they can't do what is really hard on the Lakers all of that often.

Now they can run some deep drop and they're similar to the Lakers overall design and that

they need to be good enough on defense because their offense is awesome that they can get

a couple of wins here and they're deep but they just can't do some of the fundamental

things that we struggle with.

They can run a deep drop but they don't.

That's not what Yokech wants to do defensively.

Yokech likes to be at the level at the level of the screen.

And this is one of the reasons why I think the Lakers are uniquely positioned to challenge

them, particularly if Gordon is banged up or if Gordon has to defend Luca, then who's

on the back line?

And so let's just say that Gordon has to defend Luca or Gordon has to defend LeBron.

Either way, you run a ball screen and now Yokech is at the level.

Your two biggest defensive players are now at the ball.

Luca then, to me his best trait as a pick and roll ball handler is if you try to pressure

me at the level, I have every pass in the arsenal.

To beat pressure and he's such a good shopmaker that if he strings you out or if you decide

like if there's any confusion at the level, he can step back and shoot the three or he

can drive and get into the mid range and hit floaters or get all of the way to the basket

to score a layup.

But this to me is the fundamental challenge that Denver has with Luca specifically is that

he requires a certain size at the point of attack to defend him and Denver wants to play

at the level with Yokech and the pass can beat that if you're skilled enough passer and

Luca is.

This is to me the number one challenge that Denver has two things.

I think that the way they want to play defense against the Lakers would require Gordon and

Watson to have Yokech at the level of the ball.

Yes.

Because if you had Watson in the game, you'd have some level of rim protection.

He's a good week side shop blocker.

I would also say too that even with Michael Porter Jr.

Yep.

610 guy.

Uh huh.

And he's a good backside rebounder as well.

And so the idea of just having a second bigger player out there, but Cam Johnson is not

as big as Michael Porter Jr.

And so even if Johnson is a better like defensive player overall, like even if you believe

that, the area is where he's weaker in terms of just his general size, his athleticism.

He's not as good on the backboards just that sort of thing matters in the construct of

this specific style of defense.

And that to me is one of the reasons why Denver hasn't been like, would they redo the

trade?

Would they make this trade trade again, right?

No, it's a fascinating conversation.

And I think with Watson breaking out, I think they absolutely would not.

It has been a harmful trade for them long term.

The other component I wanted to bring in aside from Denver needing an additional backline

defender to make the way that they want to defend work against the Lakers is, I think

Jackson is a great counter to this style of defense as well.

Not only because is he a lob threat, is that he's a good pastor.

So if you're putting two on the ball on Luca or playing more at the level, the higher

up your big guy is in a pick and roll coverage, the more vulnerable the space behind that

big guy is.

So if a guy can quickly get behind him and then be available for a lob, that player is

a big time threat.

You need somebody else to rotate over and tag, which then leaves, maybe Rui, maybe Canard

open in the corner.

It really leaves a lot of bad choices there.

And so I think Jackson is an important figure within this as well.

He is an important figure and Aten is too on the sleeve because the same space that Jackson's

going to get Aten's going to get to and so can Aten pay off those same passes in ways

that benefit the Lakers offense.

You highlighted the ways that Jackson can.

He can put his foot in the ground.

And if there's no one there, he's going to elevate and dunk the ball.

If someone steps up, he's a good enough passer within those reads to spray to the corner,

either corner or even spray back above the break, like he can make those reads Aten can

make those passes too, but he's not as instinctive.

He doesn't make them as well.

And he's way more of a finisher out out of that.

But if Aten is able to roll into eight foot little pop a shot jumpers and he makes those,

and that's two points all of the same Pete, I also think D.A. is going to be important

in the switch beating story of against the teams that do switch and can do it.

Well, I think he's going to be more important in those, whereas Jackson will be a little less.

So we touched on that a little yesterday.

We did.

And this is where I want to pivot to the idea of like the stuff that actually gives the

Lakers more problems than what Denver has shown to give the Lakers this season from a defensive

aspect, right?

And that's in the types of defenses like Minnesota, where Minnesota can play that deep drop

because they've got the guards who can fight over the top and can really try to envelop

Austin.

And they've also got one of the great drop big men of all time, like stand by the rim and

block shots is what Rudy Gobert does.

And we can often talk about Gobert's challenges in defending Lucas specifically, but it's

not like Lucas, the only player who's going to create offense for the Lakers that they're

going to rely on Austin, just like they're going to rely on the brawn.

And very similarly, though not to the same, same extent, you're also going to see some

of these challenges against like Houston as well, right?

And it's just like, are there going to be possessions where I'm on Thompson is on Austin

Reeves?

And they're also going to try to play in deep drops like with Adams gone and Capella

in.

I think that they're a little bit more exploitable in this exact way.

That said, it's just like their formula is not going to be so different.

Shenguin is going to do this too.

It's just like they're going to keep trying to be big around the basket and pressure you

coming off off of screens.

It's one of the reasons why Udoca hasn't even leaned into re-chepered probably as much

as he should to boost their offense because he's just like, well, no, man, like I want

the defensive guys.

Yeah, I can't do what I want to do on the defensive end if we've got shepherd on the

floor.

And Houston into the conversation now that I think a bit like Shenguin kind of has to

play into his mobility as well.

And he's not the best rim protector.

He's not go bare out there.

He's much closer to Yokech and that he can move his feet on the perimeter a little bit.

He's smart and instinctual and good hands like good hands.

Right.

Yeah.

Can get some deflections the way that Yokech does.

But if you get him in a drop and you got Luke coming down here and Jackson roll into

the rim, like Shenguin is not going to be able to backpedal into that and hang with

that.

This is why they're going to then try to put size at the point of attack players like

DFS outside of Thompson, Tari eason, those sorts of dudes that are just like we're big.

We're physical.

We're strong.

We're going to try to manhandle you.

We're going to try to bump you off so you can't screen us.

And if you do screen me, we're going to try to create back pressure with guys who are

just big.

And if they switch one through four, if Kevin Durant ends up on Luca, Kevin Durant's

tall and long and this is like, and if he's able to stay in front, he's going to contest

high.

But if you're looking for Kevin Durant on back pressure coming behind you, that's a challenge

too.

Like you're going to feel that behind you, even if it's Jabari Smith, very similar type

of dude, where it's just like, okay, this guy's big.

And that's been Houston strategy all season.

And so this idea of the rock paper scissors, some of these teams are like, yeah, man, like

we're going to bludgeon you.

And they play this style and multiple teams are going to try to do this to the Lakers

Pete, particularly in the Western Conference.

And the type of players that you mentioned there with guys like KD and Smith, there's

another style of player like that that tries to envelop you with their length, right?

And that's different.

I think there are three main ways that you beat somebody on a basketball court outside

of your skill level.

You can go around them.

You can go through them or you can go over them.

And which one of those that you can do is sort of the rock paper scissors to me up basketball.

And those type of guys are the length, right?

They can envelop a player.

And so I want to go to break here and come back and talk about that with respect to Austin

and the rock paper scissors of On-Ball Play.

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I think Austin is very much dependent on the going around you type of part.

There are some ones that he can bully a little bit.

However, he's not going to go through many players.

In fact, on the other end of the court, he's off in a target from a strength perspective

of teams trying to go through him.

He's also not somebody that's going to want to step and elevate over the top.

That's an advantage that some guards have is that even if they don't get a ton of separation

at the end of the play, they can be like, okay, I'm going to go over the top of you before

you've landed and been able to collect your weight and elevate yourself.

And I've just got this small window of time where I can elevate and knock down the jumper.

Austin doesn't really do that.

I think he's got some of it in him that I, again, goes back to that.

I think he could utilize more from the mid-range, but I think this is fundamentally why against

these teams that are switching aggressively and pressing up onto him.

If the drive that he makes doesn't work, you'll see him pick up his dribble around the

basket and pivot a few times and be like, crap, what now?

And Lord knows his teammates aren't helping him relocating and things like that half of

the time, right?

But that is something that I think speaks to what I was saying a moment ago about.

At the end of the play, there isn't a, I can shake you with my strength or I can elevate

over the top of you that makes Austin super reliant on the front end of the play to create

separation.

That I think those things are kind of clashing in some of his on-ball play.

He has the biggest role change, Dee, with all of the big three back.

And so I'd love to get your thoughts on just kind of where he's at.

Yeah, I was going to ask you about this, Pete.

So Austin's played seven games since the Lakers have come out of the All-Star break.

And he's only scored over 20 points once, which was his 29-point effort against the

Clippers in the first game out of the All-Star break.

And since then, he's only shot over 50% once, which was the seven out of 11 game that

he had against the Warriors, which was also a win.

You rattle off his point totals, 15 against Boston, 18 against Orlando.

He had 14 against Phoenix, he had 12, and then 15 in the most recent wins against Sacramento

and New Orleans respectively.

One of the things that we're also seeing, Pete, is his shot attempts are just down, right?

And so in February, his shot attempts were 12.4 per game.

And that's for the season, he's averaging almost 15 a game, right?

So two and a half shots down in March, in these two games, it's down again.

He's only taken 12 shots a game, right?

He went three for nine against the Kings and four for 15 against New Orleans.

And so Austin's very much been an efficiency hound his entire career.

And that's one of the things I've noticed in this recent stretch of games.

It's like a four for 10 game, a three for nine game, a four for 15 game.

And like his shot making hasn't been there to the degree that it's been earlier,

even in the games where the Lakers have been winning.

I'm wondering what you're seeing in terms of the efficiency landscape,

even outside of like the shot attempts being being down.

Because normally his shot attempts might be down,

but it would be like the Warriors game.

Well, he went seven for 11.

Yeah, he only took 11 shots, but he made more than half of them.

And he was awesome, right?

But that's not quite been what's there for him lately.

Totally. I think it's a few factors.

And yeah, let's zoom away from the point that I was making about the on-ball type of stuff

and just talk shot making in general, which is inclusive of that, but not entirely that.

I think Austin can press a little bit.

You know, the old saying mad player is a bad player.

And so is a frustrated one.

That's just a different way of being mad.

And different players react to being frustrated in different ways.

Some sort of kind of go into their shell and will refrain from taking shots.

Different guys just sort of have different reactions to struggling.

And my observation with Austin is that he wants to do it again.

Like if he's cold from three, he can't wait to get his next open shot.

Because that's going to be the shot, damn it.

Whenever he does make the first shot out of seven threes that he makes,

he very similar to Luca will be like, God, finally, I made the shot.

You know, that I think that he can sort of ride in the quicksand sometimes, D,

in that like, I'm struggling with this.

I'm going to struggle more to get myself out of this,

that sometimes that's the right thing to do,

but sometimes that actually makes your life even worse.

That I think there's a small element of that.

Yeah, I agree with that.

I will also say that the persistence can pay off like in the New Orleans game for,

for example, he was ice cold.

But when he got that rhythm three in the corner,

he took that shot with confidence.

Same on the kick out play that we highlighted in the last pod,

where it's just like, these are the shots he's got to take.

And I don't want him turning, turning down these looks at all.

Absolutely not.

And you called it a rhythm three.

And that was the other point that I was going to make is when you get to have

the on ball reps that he had when it was just two players,

you just get into a certain rhythm that is different than the I get a shot every two,

three minute type of rhythm that like we were talking about this prior to the pod.

And I loved your reaction was I want to write about this,

but I want to give it a few more games to sort of settle in.

Like not everything needs a overblown reaction in the first five, six games.

I do believe certain things, you know,

the Peter principle and all of that with Austin,

that I think the more we ask Austin to be just a really good overall player,

that's a championship team.

If you ask him to be just your second offense of engine,

and this is more of a future conversation, I think,

then I think you can run into some issues.

But we were talking about Denver a moment ago.

There were great example in that there was always a great discussion around

who's the second best player on Denver?

Is it Murray or is it actually Aaron Gordon?

They're certain basketball people that I respect that tell you that it's very much Aaron Gordon.

Gordon couldn't be a second offense of engine the way that Murray is.

Even if you hold that position that Gordon is overall a better player,

Murray is the number two guy on the nuggets in ways that I just view them as different jobs.

You know what I mean?

And so Austin's gone from being that number two offensive engine,

which a decent amount of the time you're the number one guy,

because Luca is on the bench for his normal rotation minutes type of thing,

that he's going through a roll change right now,

that I think that's a big factor that it's just a totally different rhythm.

And Austin suffered a pretty significant injury.

He hurt his calf and then he sat for like a week and a half or whatever he sat for,

came back and then like a game later got hurt again.

And so then he was out like another five weeks.

And so over the span of a two month period,

he might have played in three games.

The level he was at before he got hurt coincided with LeBron being out.

And it was like the rhythm that you were talking about was like accelerated and accentuated

because it was just him in Luca.

And yes, they played very well when they were on the court together,

but Austin got entire shifts where it was just like it's just him as the primary ball handler.

And he got to bring the ball up a bunch,

but he also got to play off the ball and bringing him to the ball,

then screen and roll action, getting him on the move in ways where the entire offensive focus

was built around getting him into the flow because that's exactly how the team was going to score.

Going from that to now sharing possessions with Luca to a reprioritization of LeBron

who looks like he's very much in ramp up mode and getting ready for the playoffs,

it is a shift.

And I just want to see is this a temporary thing where Austin is sort of like taking

a purposeful step back in order for the other players to find their flow,

or is this a more permanent thing, which I don't know which is going to be,

or even which is better for the Lakers, but I'll be interested to see how it plays out,

but I do want a bigger sample of this.

Very much so, and I think a big factor is who are they playing that night?

What kind of defense do they run?

I think that based on matchups and personnel, there are going to be some nights where

LeBron is the number two engine and there are going to be some nights where it's Austin.

I think this Denver matchup actually is a good shot for Austin to make a little progress.

And I also think that the team would be wise to intentionally go out of their way to get Austin

in a rhythm. We talked about the Warriors game and he started out four for four in his first shift

there that Luca can always get to his, but getting Austin into the flow, I think, is important.

That said, especially the last game, I don't think it's a matter of Austin getting iced out

or anything. I think, of course his touches are down, his shots are down, but if you just

portray it that way, I don't think you're telling the whole story.

It's not because I don't even think that's the story at all.

Pete like basketball is a very organic game and he's played with LeBron his entire career.

And now this is year two of him playing with Luca.

The idea of like feeling your way into a game or what possessions are going to look like,

what a defensive coverage looks like, who's defending me versus who is defending someone else.

We're going to see, I would imagine against Denver, Christian Brown is going to get a bunch of

time on Luca. And I would imagine that LeBron is going to also get like whatever is the next

best defensive player. And Austin will probably see a fair amount of like Jamal Murray.

And so it wouldn't be a shock to say, well, yeah, let's get Austin going on second side,

side actions, attacking Jamal Murray and pick and roll. That said, the whole idea of like

the sprint that we were talking about earlier in the pod, that isn't a sprint for every single

player in every aspect of their game. Go go go go go. There's only so much usage to go around

in any given game and the rotation shift that we've been talking about where LeBron is now playing

more by himself while Austin plays more with Luca. Well, Luca's usage has remained the same.

And so if Austin's also not getting ball handling chances in the LeBron lineups,

because he's not playing with LeBron as much in those groups, then it's going to be a different

look for him. So it is an adjustment. Before we wrap up, Pete, did you want to hit the front office

stuff? Yeah, just a quick, quick little hiring Lakers named Michael Spetner as the chief

strategy and growth officer. This is on the business side. New president of business operations,

Lon Rosen said that as we look to redefine what's possible across the sports landscape for fans and

partners, we will build on the Lakers legacy and orient toward the future to consider what's next.

Michael's leadership will help us optimize our business to ensure long-term value.

Corporate speaking, a lot of that. Yes. One of the things that I was hoping for was

higher for positions that did not exist before. Like, I don't know who Michael Spetner is.

I know that he's already familiar with some people working for the Lakers, so he's not like

an outsider in a lot of ways. I view this as sort of the partitioning of Tim Harris' job.

And I think there's probably going to be a couple of other hirings that this should have

all along been split amongst three or four people that just focus on this. I'm super excited

for what the Lakers business can be. And it has been I think kind of a stagnant thing for a very

long time due to leadership that there are a lot of possibilities that I'm just excited that

they're kind of partitioning this amongst multiple people. I'm glad that you framed it that

way because that's where my thoughts are as well. We should say too that Spetner comes to the Lakers

from the Dodgers. Oh, thank you. Yes. It's not like when you talk about he has familiarity with people.

He sure does. Rosen came from from the Dodgers and so did Mark Walter, right? It's so to me,

this is another indicator of bringing in people who you know are competent and good at what they've

done in other spaces and continuing to drive that success. You talked about a stagnation within

like the Lakers business stuff or where is the growth and the Lakers are a multi-billion dollar

organization, super successful. I don't want to make it sound like oh well they were down in

dumps and now they have to know that but it's easy to rest on your boroughs on previous successes.

Yes, I will also say say too that in this next era, one of the things you have to do to justify

the purchase price that the Lakers just sold for is like, well, how do we grow from a business

side, right? And there's a five or 10 year plan to me that probably does not include the richest

local TV network revenue stream coming into you consistently, which is what the Lakers did. That

was the crown jewel for Tim Harris. It was like, it's still pays off. And it's like one of the things

that pays for the Lakers payroll pretty much all by itself. It's one of the four major revenue

buckets for the Lakers. One of the four major ways that they make money is still off of the

spectrum deal and it's really the only of its kind in basketball. Yeah, and it's a huge deal but

you have to forecast years down the line that where maybe that's not the same. And so what does that

look like? How do we grow when I was reading up on Spettner, one of the things that they talked

about that was under his purview with the Dodgers was really expanding globally. And like,

tapping into the Japanese market, like obviously you get the sort of like high level players that

the Dodgers have that already naturally tapped into that market. So it's like ending glove,

right? But you still have to go into that market and build it out. And I think the Lakers are a

global brand and that they've long been positioning themselves to try to be a global brand. They have

a global superstar in Luca Donge. And one of the most famous players in the history of the game

in LeBron. So I think they've always wanted to be like going back to Kobe and even Magic Johnson.

Like, how can we tap into these markets overseas and be the world's team from an NBA perspective?

And I would imagine that that's probably right at the top of Spettner's list, right? Of like,

we want to continue to grow that out and be as big as we can everywhere because that's how you

enhance those revenue streams as well. I am so excited to see what they're doing with it. There's

all sorts of possibilities in terms of building out internationally that I just love that mind

toward that type of expansion. And there's just so much potential for the Lakers from a business

perspective that if they can really nail that can really change the on court product and sort of

where they can spend and I think they can organizationally be one of the monsters really

of the league that is where they belong in my Lakers exceptionalist opinion. All right,

we're going to wrap up here. Big game tonight against the Nuggets. We'll be back tomorrow to

discuss how it went. But until then, you've been listening to the Laker Film Room podcast.

We'll catch you guys next time.

We'll Lakers win the game. The Lakers win the game.

You're bound to rob him three seconds left. That next one will win him. It's on the left.

That's 408 points, 16 revolts, right?

We're going to drop from the ties and NBA finals right now.

A lot of Laker fans are there for this. You're seeing something that's very rare indeed.

A Laker to get MVP chance in Boston of all places. Are you kidding me?

Toby, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

Lakers looking to push Ryan spinning in the lane, back for Gasson, ready pass,

and it's back to a three point game.

Toby Bryant picked up by Bell.

There's the move. Two are scored.

This is it.

Got popped out of five.

Remember the little top tower of the country.

And it's on the injury, Toby. I mean, one is shot.

I mean, you can't defend that. Are you kidding me?

2.1 seconds remaining. Denver filed a give.

Trying to disrupt Rondo. He puts it in.

Here's Davis for three in the win.

Oh, it's gone. Anthony Davis has wanted for the Lakers.

James again. Oh, he hits another one. LeBron James putting together a closing corner

against the Nuggets.

This historic 2020 NBA championship belongs to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers conquer the bubble.

And banner number 17 will soon hang in the rafters.

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