Luka Drops 44 on Pacers In Lakeres' Win!

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Hello Lakers Nation. Welcome into the Lakers Nation.com live post game show the Lakers. Get the win 128 to 117

over the Pacers. Frankly, it was not that close until the end till garbage time. The

Pacers, the Pacers went on a little run. Luca dongech. What a performance. The efficiency.

44 points on 14 of 25 shooting seven of 14 from deep nine of 10 from the line. Nine boards

five assists and get this three steals two blocks. Just an all around phenomenal performance by Luca

dongech. In fact, let's just get this out of the way early here. Superstar of the night.

Luca dongech. Superstar of the night. What a night for Luca. 44, 9 and 5 with five stocks.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable stuff from Luca. He was excellent and helped carry this Lakers team

to win over the Pacers. Let me get into something real quick here before we even really start

start the show. Luca was great. Everything we talk about tonight. Everything we talk about during

this show, you could say, but it's the Pacers, right? Luca dropped 44. Oh no, but it's the Pacers.

The Lakers want no, but it's the Pacers doesn't count, right? We can do that on every single

thing that we talk about here tonight. But I think a couple of things are true. Yes, it's the

Pacers. Yes, it's a tanking team. This does not change the Lakers status in the NBA. This does not

mean the Lakers are suddenly a contender, but it was also an incredible performance at a fun win.

And most importantly, it was a game the Lakers needed to win. The schedule is very difficult coming

up and you had to win this game. You have to win a game against a tanking team like this.

So we know that this does not change what the Lakers are. This doesn't change their fortunes.

This doesn't mean suddenly they've figured something out and they're moving on in the next

level. But it's an important win nonetheless, an important win because they had to win it,

trying to keep pace in the Western Conference. Denver lost tonight to the team. The Lakers

are going to play on Sunday, which is the New York Knicks. So it was a fun game. Luca Wentnuts

had a phenomenal performance. There was some great moment. There were some funny moments.

Jared Vanderbilt saying, oh, no, wait. And letting Drew Timmy shoot instead of Hisha in him shooting.

Overall an enjoyable game. But yes, it was the Pacers. We know that. Everyone understands that.

It was a win. That's the important part. It was a win and a win that they needed.

All right, let's see what we've got here. To go through the stats. Rui.

13 points, five of eight shooting, efficient two of three, three boards, one assist.

Jackson Hayes didn't have to do as much. He was phenomenal last night. Remember,

this was second night of the back to back for the Lakers. Nine points, four boards, two assists

for Jackson Hayes. Marcus Smart with 11. A couple of it. He was three and four from three.

A couple of his threes were, shall we say adventurous, but he knocked them down.

We'll take it. Three boards, three assists. Marcus has actually shot the ball pretty well. I know we

think about the two threes missed in crunch time last night, but he was still three or six on the

night. He shot the three fairly well lately. Luca, of course, Austin Reeves still only got 14 shots.

He's been in that like 11 to 14 range, even without LeBron playing in this game. No LeBron,

no DeAndrea, no Maxi Cleba for the Lakers tonight. Austin Reeves still only 14 shots. 19 points,

six of 14 shooting, one of four from three, six or seven from the line. Five of says found out

of this game. Six fouls on Austin Reeves. 15 points for Luke Canard, who was three of five for

three off the bench. Seven boards, three assists for him. He had a really nice performance. Luke

canard. Like we saw him even helped rebound in the basketball did well there. Jared Vanderbilt got

21 minutes, not something that we typically see, but with the Lakers again, short-handed, no Maxi,

no Vando, no LeBron. Vando had eight rebounds, three assists, two points, but the eight boards were

were helpful. Drew Timmy got 23 minutes with the other centers in front of him out with the

exception of Jackson Hayes, four points for him, two boards in those 23 minutes. Jake Laravia,

oh, Jake, what is going on with the three ball? Jake had eight points, three of seven shooting,

but O of two from three and he didn't hit the rim on either one of his three point attempts. And

one of his other misses was a missed open lap that he just kind of slammed off the backboard.

It was weird. And then he also calmly sank two free throws. No problem. Had a really tough finish in

the paint. I don't know what's up with that, but I do know that teams are going to completely run

away from Jake Laravia behind the three point line right now. He's got to get that sorted out

for sure. All right, let's get into the chat. Yeah, unfortunately, I do the only player who did

not play for the Lakers tonight. The Lakers effectively ran a nine man rotation with Vando Timmy,

LaRavia, and Canard coming off the bench. But a due hero is the only one who didn't even get

in garbage time. And he was the one that I thought is the most important to put into the game,

but nonetheless, he didn't play in this one. It still would have only been three or four minutes,

but would have got him into that game. And didn't see him. Let's go here. It's Indy,

but I'll take it. Bank these because there's a storm coming. We all know it. Let's show him

we're still purple and gold. Yeah, look, the Lakers schedule from here coming up on Sunday,

the Nix. And thank you, New York took out the Denver Nuggets tonight. The Nix took out the Nuggets,

and the Lakers play the Nix. I hate the time in this game. Hate it. It is going to be a 12 30

Pacific time game. That's an early game. Then you've got Minnesota, Chicago, okay, got to win

that Chicago game, Denver, Denver on Saturday. Then you head out on the road. So look at that.

New York, you're three of your next four. New York, Minnesota, Minnesota, Denver. If you continue

the trend of not being able to beat the true like contending tier teams, then you're going one in

three in your next four games. You're going one in what five in your next six games.

Because after that is two back is two games in a row against Houston on the road.

Obviously, you can't do that. If you go one in five over the next six, you're falling far in the

West. The next six games, they have have have to break this stretch where they are not getting wins

over the contending tier teams. They have to they can't get one win in their next six games.

That will not work. So New York, Minnesota, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Houston, and then get this

Houston twice and then Miami on the second night of a back to back after playing in Houston.

That's a long flight. Houston to Miami. And you've got Miami the next night,

second night of a back to back. And Miami just had one of the best performances. I thought one of

the better I should say of the season when they beat the Hornets earlier tonight, then add

Orlando, then at Detroit. That is brutal. The Lakers have got to figure out how to beat some of

the better teams in the NBA. Otherwise, it's going to be a rough stretch here coming up. So

important that they bank this win. Now they've got to get ready for Sunday against New York,

Tuesday against Minnesota. They get Chicago. You better win that game against Chicago. That's a

must. If they go 500 against New York, Minnesota, Denver, Houston, Houston, you got to take that.

But right now they they haven't beaten one of those teams, one of that level of team in a while.

So the Lakers have a task ahead of them. And it was important that they got the win in this

tonight because you got to bank the wins that you know that you can. And now they've got a tough

test ahead of them. Now the Lakers right now still the six seed in the West. Phoenix unfortunately did

come back and beat the Pelicans. So the Lakers are two games up on the Suns. But remember, the

Suns have the tiebreaker over the Lakers. So they can't finish tied with the Suns. Otherwise,

the Suns go ahead. So the Lakers are up two games on the Suns. They are a half a game behind the

Denver Nuggets. And Saturday's gaming in Denver will determine the tiebreaker between the Lakers

and the Nuggets. Whoever wins will own the tiebreaker over the other team. The Lakers do not

own the tiebreaker right now over Houston. But if they win both games coming up in this next

week, then then they will have the tiebreaker. They right now have the tiebreaker over the wolves.

So that's where the Lakers are at right now. They're sitting in the six seed. They are two games

back of Minnesota. They are a game and a half back of Houston and a half game back of the Denver

Nuggets for the five seed. But only two games up on the Phoenix Suns. Now Phoenix doesn't have a

super easy schedule either. So that's something to remember to Phoenix does have. In fact, when we

look at the remaining strength of schedule, Phoenix has the 10th most difficult remaining

schedule. The Lakers now with this game off their books against the Pacers. The Lakers have the

eighth most difficult remaining schedule in the NBA. So that's where we're at right now.

That's where the Lakers are headed. Got to stack up some wins for sure.

How can I do ever develop if he doesn't get any run? Well, he's playing for South Bay.

That's you can still develop that way. But yes, I would prefer I would have preferred to seed.

I thought this game was an opportunity to get a new theorist of minutes. And instead, he was

literally the only Laker to not play. That's disappointing to me. I think one of the most important

things for the Lakers is developing a new hero. No, not more important than Luca or Austin or

LeBron or any of course, right? But they need to figure out what they've got with a new

thorough and they need to fast track his development as much as possible. A new thorough developing

means more to them, frankly, than Coppy Bufkin, then Brony James, then any true Timmy that anybody,

any of those other guys that are not normal rotation players, a new theorist development is

more important than any of them because it was skill set because he is an athletic wing.

Who if he hits should be able to play defense at a decently high level and provide a lot of

athleticism. The team needs those things. A lot of teams, the NBA need those things. So fast

tracking a new theorist development is a very important thing. Now, again, we're talking about

big picture. It's like three minutes. Is that the end of the world that he didn't play there?

No, but how realistic is it that he's going to get on the floor against the nicks

or against the rockets or against the wolves? Probably not happening, right? Unless you wind up

it up low out in one direction or another, probably not getting on the floor in those kind of

matchups. So this one was a bit frustrating that a new theorist didn't get out there on the floor

because you need him to get those minutes. I've said it before, but I want to see a new

theorist go into the summer where he's really going to, I think, grow is the summertime.

He didn't get a summer last year to develop. He didn't get a summer league. He didn't get a

preseason. He didn't get a training camp. None of that excuse hurt. I want to do theory to go into

the summer with as much information as what it is like to play in an NBA game as possible.

So he knows what he doesn't know. And he's not going to get that if he's not getting

on to the court. Now, I don't think you put him on to the court in competitive portions of games.

Not saying you do that. You still need to win games. But there were opportunities to get him into

this game. And the Lakers chose to again, everyone else played, but him. I think that's backwards.

I think a new theorem needs to be the priority over everybody else. That's the garbage time

guys that they put in there. A new theorem has to be the priority. Now, that's it. Maybe there's

a reason why he didn't play. I don't know. Maybe maybe at the last practice, he wasn't running hard

or something. And that took them to there could be a reason for it. There could be a reason for it.

But I do think the development of a new theorem is an important thing. And I was disappointed

that he didn't get to play tonight in this one.

Why the need for JJ to keep pleasing LeBron by giving Brownie a standing ovation by substituting

him first rather than making it all the bench? Why do we jump to the conclusion that JJ is trying

to please LeBron? I don't, JJ wasn't going to sub-Bronie in. Austin Reeves fouled out.

I don't think JJ was like, hey, LeBron, look, look, I'm going to do you a favor. Let's sub in

Brownie by himself so we can get an ovation. Austin Reeves fouled out.

Brownie is the next guard on the list. He's next man up. I don't think there was anything that

was like trying to get Brownie around a plaza or trying to be in LeBron's good grid like that's

a, that's a big leap there. Austin Reeves fouled out. He had to put another guard in.

He put in Brownie later. He subbed in the entire bench.

It would be different if it was a situation where like JJ calls a timeout or it subs in just Brownie

and for no reason other than just to do it, right? But Reeves fouled out. He had to sub in another guard.

He put in Brownie. I don't know. It's not that, to me, it's not that big of a deal.

Not that big of a deal. And again, I think we're jumping to the, like we're looking for malicious

intent here. Like, oh, this is, see, this is proof that LeBron has too much control over the

Lakers or something like we're looking for stuff to be mad about. Why? Like Luka shoots too much.

The dude was 14 to 25. Can't ask for better efficiency. I'm not going to complain about

Luka shooting the ball tonight. He had to go and even banked in another three second game in a

row. He's done that. I don't know. We're looking for things to be mad about. Does it make sense?

Take care when he comes to Luka and LeBron. We see a lot of that. Looking for things to

be upset about them for

all right. Let's go here.

I honestly think the Lakers play better without LeBron. The energy demeanor and the movement

is better. Just remember back when LeBron was injured at the beginning of the season.

So, I mean, you can point to the beginning of the season. I do think the Lakers played with

better energy. Now, a big part of that is Austin played much better at the beginning of the season.

Austin was phenomenal. He was one of the better players in the NBA to start the year.

So, I think that is a huge factor in that. Let's also remember, too, that Deandre Aiton

was much better to start the year than the version of Deandre Aiton. We've seen over the last

few months. Now, Austin got injured. Aiton started to struggle or not, but not play as well.

That coincided with LeBron returning to a degree, so round the same ish time.

But his correlation causation, right? It did Aiton start playing

less effective basketball because LeBron returned or did Aiton start playing less effective

basketball and LeBron returned. Did Austin stop being as effective because LeBron returned

or did Austin stop being effective and LeBron returned? I think sometimes we're equating those

two. We're trying to pin that on LeBron. It's like the Lakers play better without LeBron James.

They were playing better basketball as a team. There was better energy. It's better spirit.

We saw the team competing. We saw the Lakers pulling off these big wins. Austin hits the

buzzer beater against Minnesota. The guys are hitting big shots. Luca was playing better to start

the year too. Luca has not been as consistent as he needs to be. I don't know that we can put

that on LeBron though. I think we're twisting things and going through gymnastics to try to say,

they're better off without LeBron James. Is LeBron performing as a maximum salary player this year?

No, he's not. This is the first year of his career. I think that he's not performing at a maximum

salary level. He's still done some very good things for this team. I think it's a stretch to

get to. The Lakers are simply better without LeBron James or that LeBron is the cause of Austin

not playing as well or, you know, Deandre Aiden not playing. LeBron is part of the team.

And there's a lot of different context and nuance. There's a lot of things to dive into with all

of that. But I especially don't think we can take a game against the Pacers in which Luca goes for

44 and shoots 14 of 25 from the field and goes nuclear as evidence that see the Lakers are better

without LeBron James. Now, if the Lakers were without LeBron for the next month and they

rattle off wins and suddenly they look awesome and they're beating New York and they're beating Denver

and they're beating Minnesota and they're just keep winning and they're a machine and suddenly

everything is clicking. Okay, that's a very different situation than LeBron misses a game against

the Pacers and Luca goes nuclear. You know what I'm saying? Like we jump to the conclusion that

it's on LeBron for the Lakers not performing as well as we would like. And we remember when they

played well at the beginning of the season, we said, well, what change? Well, LeBron's there,

but there's a lot of other things that are happening too. So I just, I don't think it's

necessarily fair. I'm all about criticizing players when criticisms do. I'm not saying LeBron is

perfect, but I also don't think it's necessarily fair to put all of it on LeBron and jump to the

conclusion that LeBron James is the reason why they're not playing as well and that they play better

without him. Ultimately talent wise, they need LeBron. Talent wise, they need him. Otherwise,

they don't, I don't think I'm telling on the roster to compete with some of these other teams.

They need to get to where they're playing. They played their best basketball, frankly,

early on in the season. They need to get to where they're playing their best basketball with

LeBron James. That's where they get to another level. That's where the ceiling really goes up.

Can they get there by playoff time? I don't know. The clock is ticking.

But will the ball move a little bit differently with LeBron then went out? Yeah, there's

different things that are going to happen. But again, gaming gets the Pacers in which Luca

goes nuclear, shooting the ball. It's hard to draw a conclusion from that as far as LeBron

being injured at the beginning of the season. Yes, but I don't know if I want to pin

Austin killing it at the beginning of the season, not being as good right now on LeBron.

All right, let's see what else we got here.

I don't know. So look, somebody said stop being so sensible Trevor. So look,

when I look at the way people watch basketball, the way people are taking in the game right now,

there's a lot of people who watch the game and I know they're just trolling and all of that,

but they're just waiting. They're just waiting for Austin to go over for to start the game

and immediately start running around telling everybody see it's not LeBron, see it's not LeBron,

see it's it's this it's that right it's the other like waiting for something negative to happen

so they can prove some point that they're trying to make. And it's it's just it feels like just

a mired in negativity way to watch the game and enjoy an amazing game. It does not make sense to me.

And it doesn't make sense to me and always trying to you know defend a specific player or put all the

blame on one specific player or something like fighting this imaginary battle that we'll never

end. We'll never win or lose or anything. Always just looking for more accolades to try to put

towards a whatever player they're in support of. Strange to me just not the way I view the sport.

But you guys know that and I'm not going to spend a bunch of time my time talking about

Stan culture and all that stuff. Jake has underperformed offensively this season. He was shooting 42%

from three last year hoping it's back on track. Yeah, the thing about Jake is like at this point

it's got to be in his head. I mean, he's missing so badly. He shot two threes and he didn't hit the

rim on either one. The layup he shot. I mean, he just fired it off the backboard.

If you guys ever seen the movie, an old movie like 20 years old called a long came poly

with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston are the the leads in it.

But Philip Seymour Hoffman's in any places character that goes out on a basketball court at one

point in the game. He's taking shots with Ben Stiller and he's just screaming. He's just going make

it rain and throwing the ball off. I mean, just missing the most horrible misses you've ever seen.

Just slamming the ball off the backboard is uncordinated, coordinated as it gets. That's

that's Jake Loravia shooting the ball right now. And I don't know what the hell's going on.

And he has not been this way the entire season. I mean, go look at the month of January. The

dude shot 37% from deep on four and a half attempts per game on decent volume.

So at this point, it's got to be it's in his head. He shot 33% last month, which is not good,

but not, you know, not like the end of the world. He's at 12.5% right now.

0 for five in his last five attempts. One for two of the game before that. And then 0 for three

against Sacramento. I know he's a better shooter than this. We know he's a better, he did shoot 42%

from three. It wasn't on the highest volume, but we know he's a better shooter than this. 26% though

in December, 26% in November. Teams are running away from shot 48% in October. Like,

teams are running away from him behind three point line. He's got to get things sorted out because

he hustles every play. He flies all over the place. He competes for rebounds. He's got good size,

but he's got to get this sorted out with the three ball. We know he's a better shooter. Whatever

this phone, he's in. It's clear he's not comfortable taking the shot. Like, it's not like he's in

rhythm and he's just had a bunch of shots go in and out like that happens sometimes. Even a good

shooter will go through a stretch of the season where three games, four games, five games,

whatever, everything's just going in and out. And that's just the way that it goes sometimes.

And then they'll go on a stretch where for five straight games, they can't miss or whatever.

Everybody has ebbs and floats to their shooting. But Jake, it's not like his form is fluid. It's

not like he's stepping into these shots. And they just happen to be rimming out unlucky. And

you know, they're going to fall eventually. He doesn't look comfortable shooting them right now.

I think it is in his head based on what I'm seeing right now. It looks like it's in his head. He

doesn't look comfortable taking the shot. It looks like it got to him. And, and I hope he figures

that out sooner rather than later because he is a better shooter, obviously, than what he's been

doing lately. But right now, for the time being, until he starts knocking those down, teams are

going to absolutely dare him. They are going to treat him like Jared Vanderbilt behind the three

point line. They are not going to defend him at all at this point. And they're going to dare him

to take that shot. And the only way out is for him to knock them down. That's the only solution

is for him to knock them down. If he knocks them down, teams will stop defending him that way.

Now, if you're the Lakers and he's not figuring it out, then maybe you're not allowing him

to take that shot for the time being. You say, let's figure this out whenever in the off season or

something like that because frankly, you don't have the margin for error against the next, the wolves,

whatever, to let Jake the radio figure out a shot if he just, it's not there. You can't give him 20

attempts from three to sort it out and live with him missing a bunch of them in the early going.

So how J.J. Reddick manages this situation will be interesting. I still firmly believe Jake

the radio at some point will be a better shooter. Do I buy this is simply what Jake the radio is

from here on out? No, no. But he's got to get it sorted and hopefully get it sorted sooner rather than later.

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Let's go here. Sean said, Lucas, such a ball hog made this win so ugly, really?

I thought it was entertaining. Thought he played extremely well.

Shot the hell out of the ball. I mean, look, in general, do I think the Lakers need to move the

ball more? Yes. Yeah. They're one of the lower pass teams in the NBA. I would like to see the move

the basketball more. But on a game like this, I can't really complain. Look at 44 points on insane

efficiency. I mean, isn't that the goal? Not the goal offensively right now in the NBA, especially

in today's NBA. The goal is to put the ball in the basket very efficiently, right? You want as

many points per possession as you can possibly get. That is the job on the offensive end of the ball.

Well, how that happens? Well, that could be a lot of different ways. If you get all layups,

well, that's very efficient playing. If you hit all threes, if you shoot 40% from deep and you

shoot 103, threes, you're feeling pretty good. It's all about efficient scoring. If you get to

the free throw line up bunch and you're an 80% free throw team, that's efficient scoring.

Putting the ball in the basket efficiently is the goal. Luke was 14 of 25. He was 50% from three,

90% from the free throw line. I'm not going to complain about Luke is shooting the ball when he's on

a heater like this. Now, again, big picture. Do I think we need to see more ball movement from the

Lakers? Yes. But let's also remember there was very specific context through this game that

LeBron James is not available. Deandra Eaton was not available. And so Luca took it upon himself

to score the ball more. He also talked about how he didn't want to play in the fourth quarter. He

talked about that to Mike Trudell after the game. How glad he was coming off the second night of

a back-to-back to not have to play in a fourth quarter. So did Luca maybe take it upon himself

to score a bunch of points and make sure that the Lakers had a big lead going in the fourth? Yeah,

and I don't blame him for that. So I can't be mad at Luca and not when he drops 44 and does it in

a hyper efficient way that's better than anything you could ask for from a team offensively.

He scored very effectively on Sunday against the nicks. Are they going to need to move the ball?

Yes, they're going to need to move the basketball for sure. But sometimes it's fun watching

Luca go ahead and hit like what do we do? We did like if if Kobe went out and dropped 50

and took 25 shots, we'd be saying oh man, he needs to pass the ball. No, people would be

celebrating like like Kobe's awesome. And he took all these pull-up jumps. You see that jumper

Kobe hit with that guy in his face. People be so fired up. As long as the scoring is

happening efficiently, that's what matters. And I also think the context of this game was such that

we don't need to be too worried about the ball not moving as much. Some of the weapons that he

would have thrown the ball to weren't available.

Brainwashed fanboys love the show. Hey, like I said, well, we'll take everybody. It doesn't

matter. Be whatever kind of fan you want to be. I don't have to agree with it, but be whatever kind

of fan you want to be. At least every Laker be on standby knowing Lepron can pass. Lepron will pass.

Luca can pass too. I think Luca's a phenomenal passer. Again, he can pass more. But then

all that matters is that Luca and Lepron are Lakers. Do we care which one is better? No, that doesn't

matter. That doesn't matter. They're both Lakers. That's all that matters.

If Luca goes for 50 and Lepron goes for 10 and the Lakers win fantastic. If Lepron goes for 50 and

Luca goes for 10 and the Lakers win fantastic. The third part of that is the only thing that matters.

The Lakers win. Which one scores the point which one passes the ball? Who cares?

Why does that matter at all? It doesn't. It doesn't.

Where do you think Luca will rank in the Laker grates? So

Luca ranking him in the grates like there's a lot of. Luca's been a Laker for a year.

The Lakers have a long history of amazing players from the very best players to have ever

played this game have put on Laker's jerseys. We are way early to start ranking him among Laker's

grates. He's a phenomenal player. There's plenty of things to be critical about with this game.

I mean, look, I've just pulled the stat earlier today for the Lakers collective.

Luca was a plus 17 when on the court for the Lakers last year. He's a plus 3.8 plus probably

a little bit higher than an hour for today's game this year. There's areas of Lakers game that

need work. He needs to run back on defense and not complain to referees. That has to be a more

consistent thing. It's okay to criticize players where criticisms do. It's okay to praise players

where praises do. Luca dropped 44. That's amazing. Enjoy that. He had nine boards, phenomenal,

five stocks. That's just as impressive as the 44 points. I thought he even defended very well

in this game. Absolutely praise him for that. Same time, if Luca wants to be one of the Lakers

grates, there's a lot that he's going to have to accomplish. He's going to have to bring home.

I think an MVP award because he can accomplish that. It's going to have to win championships

as a Laker. And that will require him, I think, to take his game to another level, to get back to

a higher level. I think he played a little bit better as a Laker last year than this year.

Long way to go, of course. But Luca's an incredible talent. And so any criticism that's

loved at Luca for his game, it's under the understanding that he can legitimately be the best

player in the NBA, be a top three player in the NBA, top five player, whatever you want to call it,

he has the ability to do it. That's the point. It's not like you're asking Jared Vanderbilt to become

a 45% three point shooter. Like that's never going to happen. It's never going to happen.

If you're asking Luca to become a better defensive player, if you're asking Luca to not turn the

ball over as much, if you're asking Luca to be one of the most efficient superstars in the NBA,

that is within the realm of possible outcomes for him. And that's why I think some of the criticism

of Luca is also just because you're looking to take his game to that next level. And in order to do

that, he's going to have to do certain things. He needs to get back defensively. He needs not spend

his time complaining so much. There's times where he doesn't put in the effort on the defensive side

of the ball, where you can see him just kind of slump his shoulders and you know, slog. If we're

going to complain about Deandre eight, not jogging down the floor, not sprinting down the floor to

get back defensively, we also need to be able to complain about Luca when he's doing those

things. There's things Luca can do to improve his game. He's not perfect. Celebrate the good.

We can talk about the bad too. All of that is just truthful analysis of who a player is.

And what they are right now and what the growth of the player is while also understanding that a

player is not static. Players not the same thing year in, year out. Lumping them into this guy has

trashed. This guy is great. Makes no sense when inherently basketball is ever changing.

It's part of what makes it so exciting and so fun. Would you expect to happen from one play to

a next to the next may not occur. It's every evolving. Players change their games all the time.

How they grow. What the journey looks like. That's what makes this sport so amazing.

Luca would be one of the Laker greats. He's got the potential to be. He's got the potential to be,

but we're a year in. And there's a lot. There's a lot that he still has to accomplish because he has

the ability to accomplish those things. And we'll see.

All right. Let's go.

Here.

Most of us don't hate, but we critique players just like, yeah, that's totally fine. No, no issues with that.

It's okay.

Let's go to this. Let's go to the star in your role.

Star in your role. Who is it? Who's the star in your role?

Everyone critiques Luca Laker's podcasters should defend him.

Luca took a lot of flack in the media lately. Like over the last week or so.

But in general, people are paranoid. Nobody's out to get your guy.

And they're constantly looking for evidence that everybody's against everybody's out to get LeBron.

Everybody's out to get Luca. It's, it's okay. It's okay to say a player's game needs to get

better somewhere. Sometimes there are people who go overboard with it, but not everything has to

be positive about a player. Dylan Brooks star in your role. Come on.

And Jake.

Yeah, I would go here. I would go with Luke and Art.

I would go with Luke and Art. Luke and Art.

15 points, even rebound to the ball very well. Seven boards, three assists.

I thought Luke and Art was fantastic.

I'm going with him for star in your role. I've been very impressed with his game.

I am more determined than ever that the Lakers cannot allow him to leave this summer.

You can't lose the second round pick on half a season of Luke and Art.

He fits very well. The problem with Luke and Art is he doesn't solve your defensive problems

or your athleticism problems. Now Luke and Art competes defensively. He gives you everything he's got

defensively. That's not always enough. There are moments where his lack of athleticism becomes a

weakness, but the man knows how to play the game on the offensive end. He knows where to go,

knows how to dissect a defense. He's the best shooter in the league.

Yes, you'll have to be careful surrounding him with the right players defensively in order to

have him out there in a group, but the Lakers are going to need to find athletic defensive players,

for sure. What we know is Luke and Art can play. His shooting is not unsustainable. We look

at the way he's shooting the ball because this is just what he's done for his career. It's not like

this is just since he became a Laker. He's been hot or it's a contract year heater that he's on

or something like that. This is what he's done for his career. I think he fits very well in the

Lakers offense. I think he fits very well with this team. He's a ball mover, not a ball stopper,

and I think that helps keep a lot of players involved. I'd like to see him be a little more aggressive.

Luke even mentioned it after the game. Luke Adonchich mentioned it after the game that

he'd like to see Luke Bernard shoot even more. He said, Rui and Luke and Luke like to see them shoot

even more. He's not wrong, but he's been a fantastic fit. He is my star in your role. I thought he

did an excellent job tonight, was where he needed to be, made the shots he needed to make,

manipulated the defense as he can with three and five from deep. I think he's been a fantastic

addition. And the big thing for the Lakers is he's much better than Gabe Vincent. He's a huge,

he is a big step up from what they were getting out of Gabe Vincent.

Kikli because Gabe despite trying defensively,

wasn't really giving you a lot anyway. And Canard has afforded himself even better than I expected

on the defensive side of the ball. And then you add that to the clear offensive upgrade.

And that's it's been a big win for the Lakers, the way he's played so far. Now you have to keep

him this summer. You can't have half a season of Luke Canard cost you a second round pick.

But hopefully they can come to terms out of deal here because he's really fit well

with the Lakers offense of what they're trying to do out there.

We'll see exactly what the Lakers are made up of or the next six games. Yep.

We certainly will. We certainly will.

It's not going to be an easy stretch. That's for sure.

Right. I mean, I know we lean into this whole idea that everybody forgets how to shoot when they

become a Laker. But really, isn't it, isn't it kind of refreshing to have somebody put on a

Lakers jersey and just continue being what they are as a shooter? I mean, he's, you look,

49.7% from three as an Atlanta Hawk, 51.4% from three as a Laker.

Right in line with what he's been as a shooter. He's shooting 60% from the field as a Laker.

But I'd also expect with the Lakers having better offensive creators for the shot quality to go

up a bit for Canard so to expect the field goal percentage to come up. It's just right in line with

what he's done. And he just didn't skip a beat. He came a Laker and just keep shooting the

hell out of the ball. Love it. Over 50% since eight, right? He's literally the best three point

shooter in the NBA percentage wise. You would love, you would love it. If he could shoot 10,

three's a night, 15, three's a night. But he's not, he's not really a, you're going to run him off

of five screens or three screens. I should, that's an exaggeration. But three, you know,

going to run him off of three screens and he's going to come around a curl and come up firing.

That's not really what he is. He's more of a set shooter. It's a little more difficult

getting him those looks and teams will not leave him. They'll do everything they can to stay with him.

So getting him the higher, higher volume that you want is tough. But even when you can't get

him volume, his gravity is still a benefit to the Lakers. I would, I would like to see him average

north of four threes a night. I would like to see him average. I think anything more than that

is just not realistic to create those that many looks for him. But four point something attempts

per night. I think would be fantastic. And he had five tonight. You'll take that. You'll take

that. Anything, anything over four. I'm happy with that for Connard. What you can't do is what we

saw a few games ago where he had we had none. Yeah, against Orlando zero attempts in 15 minutes,

one attempt in 20. Now these are two of the faster, more aggressive perimeter defenses. So maybe

that's a little bit concerning. But then the game after that against Golden State, seven attempts,

five attempts, three attempts, three attempts, five attempts. Yes. This what we've seen the last five

games. This is what we need to see seven attempts, five attempts, three attempts, three attempts,

five attempts. That's it right there. That volume consistently, that will get it done from Luke

all right. Let's see what else we got going on here. Luke equals Danny Green with less defense.

Yeah, a lot less. I mean, Danny Green was legitimately one of the best defensive guards in

the NBA, right? Now, as a Laker, he'd slip a little bit, but yeah, very different. I mean, Danny

Green, he was one of the pioneers of the three and D play style, at least in the modern era.

He was one of the guys that popularized the three and D model of player and why it fits today.

So Luke is a in terms of Danny Green, not being a guy you're going to have as a movement shooter,

being more of a spot-up shooter. Yes, but also say Conard has more playmaking ability than Danny

Green had. He's a little bit better with the ball. And he said he reads the floor very, very well,

understands spacing, where to, where to slip in his face and where he can find his passes and

get the little 15 footer off. He's got some craft to him at the rim. So I think there's,

there's a number of differences offensive and offensively and defensively between Conard and

Danny Green. But 54 million for three years, the contract, where we got, I'm concerned with

giving a big, big deal to Conard. Part of it is his age, but you also know he's not going to

fulfill you as a two-way player. He's not going to give you the defense that you certainly need.

But I think it's not out of the question for him to actually get a raise off the 11 million

that he got last year. Now he got 11 million out of one year deal from Atlanta in part in exchange

for taking a one year deal, right? He got 11 million dollars. If the Lakers are going to give him a

multi-year deal, you got to be careful with how much you give him because he is limited in some

ways defensively. But he's such a great fit. You also can't lose him. So how you negotiate that

with Conard will be very interesting. Now again, we're only what, 12, 13 games into Conard's

Laker tenure here. So that's something we have to remember as well. He hasn't played a

ton of games with the Lakers. So I think what he's doing is sustainable. But again, players are not

static. We'll see. What does, what does Conard look like? Come play with that. What does he look like

for the remaining whatever it is? 19 games or so. How does that go?

So far though, he's been obviously, he's been great. I kind of think that's a lot to give him to

go that high on that three year deal. Conard in terms of how old Blue Conard is. What is he? 29, 30?

Yeah, he'll be 30 before he signs his next contract. He'll be 30 June 24th.

Yeah, like two years, 20 million. No problem there.

Keyhan said, what 30? Never mind. Yeah, he is. He is. He said, I mean, there's not a lot of his

game that's based on athleticism, though. So I think he'll be fine. And we're seeing guys play

long. I mean, the prompts 41 right now. Obviously, he's an outlier, but still we're seeing guys play

later. But I'm just saying it's not like you're getting Luke Conard and thinking man, this is our guy

with Luca for the next, you know, are one of our players with Luca for the next 10 years on this

team or something. Well, he's already 30, right? So we're going to be 30 in June. So that's that's

something to consider when you're looking at the next con. Do you want to do a four year deal

or something for a guy like like Conard? Maybe not.

Sean, I'm not even going to put up your your latest check comment. Doesn't matter.

Luca fans, Braun fans, they're both on the same team. They are both on the same team.

What's your confidence scale on of one to 10? The Lakers can win a playoff series.

Five. I mean, that that sounds like a cop out, but let's be real here. Let's be real. Let's

look at this. Let's say the Lakers, they finish if they finish as a succeed right now, Minnesota

would be round one. Would the Lakers go into that series as the favorite? Nope.

Let's say the Lakers finish as the Seventh Sea. They drop into the play-in. They struggle. San Antonio

would be round one. Are they the favorite? Nope. Let's say they move up to the five seed right now

and Houston is round one. Would they be the favorite? Nope. What if they wind up matched up with

Denver? Would they be the favorite? Nope. Now, does that mean that they could not that could

Luca go nuclear? Four out of seven games in a series? Yeah. Could LeBron step it up and say,

man, I'm pushing all the way down on the gas pedal. Yeah. Could Austin get back into form? Yeah.

The Andreate and Jacksonate, right? Could these guys play well? Could they beat one of those

teams? Yeah, they could. I wouldn't have them as the favorite, but they could beat those teams.

Now, the problem is we haven't seen them do it this year. We saw the beat Minnesota at the beginning

of the year. They haven't beat Houston. They just lost to Denver. They won the first time against

Denver, but that was without Yokech. Phoenix has had them had their number. They beat Phoenix once,

but that was an outlier game, offensive rebound wise. They continue to struggle with teams that

put a lot of perimeter pressure on defensively and have a lot of switchable wings. So just being

realistic, I'm not super confident the Lakers will survive the first round. I think they are a

second round team. I think that's their ceiling with this group. Because of those teams that we're

talking about comparing them to, I think the Lakers have the most obvious weaknesses.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have less obvious weaknesses. The Houston Rockets may be kind of their

ish with the Lakers. Just because they're half court offense, especially in the fourth quarter,

really runs into problems. And now without Stephen Adams, their superpower of offensive rebounding

isn't the same. So the Houston Rockets are the one team that I look at and say they have that glaring

weakness, right? The Lakers clearly defensively, there's an athleticism deficit and a defensive

deficit that they're at. They struggle with hyper active perimeter defensive teams that put a lot

of pressure on them. They struggle with those kinds of teams. That is a clear weakness for them.

Denver, I think, is going to be there. Defense has not been good, but I think when Denver's

fully healthy, Aaron Gordon's playing and all of that, they can be a good defensive team.

I think the Lakers of that tier of team have perhaps the biggest weakness now. Maybe I'm omitting

Phoenix in there who's got some concerns. But that's why I think the Lakers, if they do

survive one round of the playoffs, they probably get tripped up in the second round because they've

got a lot that they're trying to cover up. It would be out of the question though. No, they've got

some good players. They could certainly go on a run offensively. I still think the offensive

ceiling for this team is very, very high. They have not hit it yet, but the offensive ceiling is high.

But just being realistic, I don't think this is a team that's going to make it a deep run this

year because I think they have enough weaknesses and come playoff time, weaknesses get exposed. They

get picked that over and over and over again. Teams figure out what your weaknesses are and they

go right after them all game. That's playoff basketball. It's why you have to have a lot of players

that are two way players. No, Lakers don't. They have a lot of one way players still. It's been a part

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And during the regular season, you can kind of cobble pieces together. Okay, well,

three offensive players, two defensive players, two two offensive players, three defensive players,

whatever the mix is going to be. We can make it work and get through some regular season games.

That can playoff time that that changes when teams are prepping just for you.

So just being real, but I hope I'm wrong. I hope the Lakers go win championship 18 this year. I hope

they prove everybody. I hope that I hope that in June, I'm saying I'm the biggest idiot ever

in the Lakers are awesome and just went on this huge run. But being real, do I see it right now

from terms of a deep playoff run? No, no, I don't. I hope they do. I think they I think they can

cause some problems. And if they get to the level offensively, then I think they can.

Okay, then, then they can, I think do some things. But we haven't seen that. And we haven't seen

the statement wins. We haven't seen them play well against the teams that I'm talking about against

that caliber team. They've not been able to get over the hump and beat them. Until we see those

teams, I'm not going to get optimistic that they're going to be able to do a complaint on

the team. Let's go here. By the way, big gaming gets the next on Sunday. The next are good

team. I hope D.A. is available for that because they're certainly going to need size against

cat and Mitch Robinson. That's a good team. New York. They play great tonight beating the

nuggets. That that will be a real challenge, just like the last game against the nuggets is a

real challenge, real challenge for the Lakers coming up on Sunday.

Yeah, the issues that the rocket still has size and athleticism for the, yeah, again,

I wouldn't make the Lakers favorite some of the rockets just saying the rockets have a weakness

where in crunch time and a game in the half court, their offense can really bog down and they

can have problems trying to score. I would not have them be the favorite though, the Lakers.

Sean said, if the Pacers can do it last year, the Lakers can do it this year. I love the

optimists and I hope you're right. Yeah, I mean, look, that's what I was just talking about earlier

when I was on my soapbox. I was talking about the unpredictability of sports and how things

are constantly evolving and constantly changing. It's not a static thing.

All season, it looked last year. It looked like it was dead set, no doubt Boston versus Cleveland

in the Eastern Conference finals. They were on a freight train path towards each other

and neither team made it there and it looked like there was no chance that anybody else

would upset them. Got to the playoffs and neither team made it there. I will say that's a

rarity in general in the NBA. The teams that have been playing the best tend to win. Be a different

if it was like a one game series like March Madness or something, just one game winner you're out,

but that's not the way this game played. It's a seven game series. The better team tends to go

through Boston dealt with some injuries, Cleveland dealt with some injuries, knew the team wound up

making it and and they weren't really playing the best basketball come playoff time.

But there is still even a seven game series. There's a level of unpredictability to it.

So you never say never. Never say never. Sports are full of great

moments where the underdog winds up getting the win. I just wouldn't expect the Lakers to do that

this year based on what we've seen so far. I hope from here they go on a tear. They they slice

through New York through Denver the next time they see him through Minnesota and we come out

two weeks from now and we're like whoa the Lakers are the Lakers are crushing some of the best teams

of the league. I hope that's the world we're living in in like two weeks. But that's not what I've

been predict because that's not what history has shown us so far this season.

All right. Let's go. You know what? Let me mention Austin Reams.

So Austin started very poorly in this game shooting the ball couldn't get anything to drop.

I think Austin there's a degree where he's a little off as well.

Not to the same degree as LaRavia but that was the biggest thing I noticed about Austin a few

games ago. It felt like he was unsure where his shots were coming from. Not sure when to shoot,

when to pass. I don't want to go as far as they like you like confidence but he was he was struggling

a bit with his decision making struggling of course with a shot making. I think there was some

frustration picking up there. Austin I thought in the fourth quarter of this game started to look

like himself again, cut into the basket, finishing on crafty lambs, stuff like that. I think part of

it is he isn't getting calls the way they went. In fact, there was a play he got frustrated early in

the game. He drove, missed a shot and the Pacers you saw it on the replay just grabbed his arm

and there was no whistle, nothing like that. I think there's some frustration built in with that.

It was surprising that he was that he only got 14 shots in this game without LeBron. Now again,

Luca was on a heater but no LeBron, he's still only got 14 shots, six of 14 shooting. That's not

horrendous but that's not Austin, LeBelie there. You'd expect seven for 14 or something but that's

not that's 50%. Six for 14 is not horrible. One of four from three, six of seven from the

free to line did up five. It says continues to turn the ball over when he's trying to cross over

into a crowd and that's been a little bit of an issue but he's just been not the same guy that we

saw back in November who was just about unstoppable who had all these big scoring games and got into a

rhythm. I did think he got that going a little bit in the fourth quarter. We saw a couple of times

where he sliced it was like you blanked and suddenly he had like he had gone from like 11 points

or something to 19 and it just did a really fast. So I hope that got him going because they're

going to need him to get going here. Since coming back from the injury, he's not been, he's not

anyone. His usage has gone down significantly. He's not gotten as many shots. You see most nights,

he's at 14, 11, 15, 9. I mean, you go back a couple of months, go back October, 16 shots, 15

shots, 22, 22, 24, 14, 22, 17, right? I mean, now that's without LeBron, that's Luca, miss some

games, things like that, but the volume has not been there. Even in December, you know, by this

point LeBron had come back, 21 shots, 18 shots, 16 shots, 16 shots, he had a couple of low,

I mean, he got hurt this game, but 11 shots against Phoenix. That was a down one. But since then,

we've been pretty consistently lower shot totals. I mean, 12.4 shots per game in the month of

February, 11.7 so far in the month of March, you go back to December, almost 15 shots per game,

you go back to November, 16 shots per game, October, 18 shots from 19 shots per game. So

part of it when we're looking at, you know, Austin hasn't had very many 20 plus point games, he'd won

February 20th, he had won February 5th. Other than that, we got to go all the way back to December

5th and I miss games due to injury there. So that's part of why there's such a big gap. But still,

we're not seeing as many shot attempts from Austin, only 33% from three so far this month,

but that's only four games. He was 50, the important thing, 50%, 41% from the field and from three last

month. Still scoring pretty effectively. Getting to the six free throw attempts with his usage last

month is pretty damn good. You'll certainly take that. It's not the Goddy 8.6 attempts that we saw in

November. It's not the 11 attempts that we saw in October, he had a 22 free throw attempt game

that obviously that was a big deal and led that. But I was at least encouraged by it seemed like

he got into a bit more of a rhythm in the fourth quarter. He, that's a big part of this Lakers team

too. Austin needs to get into a new rhythm and frankly, you probably need north of, you know,

12 shots of game on average. You want him more up around 15 or so. You need him living in the

pain. You need him getting into the free throw line. You need all of those things. And like I said,

I think he's been a little out of rhythm. I don't know how much of that may have been from coming

back from the injury or what have you. Part of it, of course, is Luke Canard is coming in and I think

he's taken some of these offensive possessions in terms of just acting as another creator out there.

We're not seeing as much of Austin by himself on the court as the main creator and there isn't really

anybody else to create around them. So he just has to go. But getting him into rhythm, even if

it's a lower volume, he's going to be really important for the Lakers here, moving forward. If

they're going to get to where they want to go, they've got to get even if he's not taking as many

shots as he wants to start the season, they've got to get higher volume from Austin Reeves. They've

got to get more production out of them. And that's going to be interesting to see how the rest of

the season plays out. Obviously, it's very important, not just for for the Lakers, but also important

for Austin. What is he's in a contract year? What does that all look like? That's going to be

important. But for the Lakers, they you're going to need him to be playing like one of the top,

I mean, let's call it top what 25 players in the NBA. He certainly was that to start the year.

Where this goes from here is going to be something worth keeping an eye on, especially when we're

going up against some of these match, you know, defensively, you look at New York, you look at

Minnesota, you look, I mean, these are some of the teams that in the past, he's had some struggles

with. Now, we had a some played pretty well against Minnesota earlier on in the season.

You look at what he did. I mean, nine for 24 on the 29. That wasn't great, but he also hit the

game winner in that one. So I'm not going to be too upset there. But for that nine for 15 against

Minnesota, I mean, for 25 points, 11 assists, seven boards, two of five from three, five and five

at the line and he crushed that game. So not only do the Lakers need to get Austin going, but I

think in terms of proving, right, a lot of the criticism of Austin has been that in the big

matchups, he can struggle, especially if there is that athleticism on the perimeter, the Lakers

are going to have a chance over the next couple of weeks to prove that they can beat some of the

better teams. Austin Reeves will also have a chance over the next couple of weeks that he can

play well against some of the better teams. Both Austin personally, the Lakers, Deandre

Eaton as well, when he gets back, they're all going to have opportunities to prove some of the

criticism of their games wrong or prove it right. Hopefully they don't. But there's a there's a lot

on the line in the next couple of weeks here. We're going to learn a lot about a number of

individual players, but also about this team in general.

Point said, we need a culture changer to come to LA, a high energy guy like Dylan Brooks.

And now it's probably not the time to campaign for Dylan Brooks to come to the Lakers.

Hopefully everything works out for him. But yeah, not a positive story in the news today,

regarding Dylan Brooks. Hopefully everything works out for him. But could they use a

an energy guy? Could they use somebody? And I think to a degree, Marcus Smart does that. He

sets the tone defensively. But yeah, I mean, they need a team culture that locks in defensively.

And it's probably going to require changing out something or adding at least some defensive

oriented players. Most important thing to happen over the next few games is Luca not getting a

tech. Yeah, Luca gets another tech. He is suspended for a game. So not ideal.

Is Braun out for an extended time? No, LeBron sounds like he is a go for for Sunday.

And I think DA is very possibly in as well. Maxi will see with the back thing. But LeBron,

they sounded pretty confident. He'll be good for Sunday.

All right, everybody, let's get to the master lock of the night. Let's do that.

Whatever is the most annoying thing from this game. Oh, talk about Pablo. All right, I'll talk about

that too. Talk about what's going on with that situation as well. I'm going to get to that in

just a moment, just a real quick one minute shout out to a sponsor. And then we'll do the master lock

that I will talk about. Pablo Torrey, the Clippers, the mess they're in. Most annoying thing from

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All right, let's go to the master lock of the night. The most annoying thing from this game.

Fire it off. Let's go. Master lock of the night.

What is the master lock of the night?

Oh no. Dylan. Dylan Brooks got master lock master lock. Do you eyes? Yes.

Hopefully that's that all that situation all ends up okay for him. Master lock and do

thorough not getting burned. Yes. Jake Laravia. Airball. Yes. That one counts.

Laravia airball. Laravia airball. Like of defense on transition plays and transition defense. You

know what? He's really been annoying me. It's when the Lakers score a lap and the other team runs

down the floor and scores a layup going the other way when they they get a run out on a made basket

that drives me crazy. And it seems like it's happening like at least once or twice a game.

Those just, oh, they feel so unnecessary. And it's and it's happening frequently and

after where you know teams see it happening. And so they know they can do it against the Lakers.

So they take the ball out of the basket on a made layup and they just go running the other way

and they get right to their that drives me insane.

Siakum was too good. Pascal Siakum finished with 26 points, five boards, three assists, two steel,

10 to 20 shooting. Then his threes Pacers is 23% from three in this game.

Forget about the layup. The missed open layup from the Luca assist. Yeah.

The energy in the game in general, not just today. Yeah, I mean like they they were sluggish to

start the game against the nuggets and then that ultimately caused them the game. I think the first

three minutes. Yeah, I'm going to go I'm going to go Jake Loravia. They whatever's going on.

Jake's got to figure it out and be able to to competently hit those those threes. The way he's

missing them tells you it's in his head. Miss the the the layup as well. Jake's got to get that

sorted out. And I think he will. He's a better player than that. Better shooter than that. But

there's improvements to be done there for sure. For sure. Okay.

Somebody I wanted to talk about the public Torrey thing. So I was doing a live thing over on

the basketball ball. It's in and I have not watched the entire clip of public Torrey and

what's going on with the clippers. My understanding. Again, I have not dug in depth into it. I've

just seen a little cursory glance at it so far. My understanding though is that there was a a

a sworn report under penalty of perjury. Someone accused the clippers of

circumventing salary cap and funneling money to quiet letter through respiration and that happened

back in 2023 that this was done. It was done through the SEC like highlight like you're going to

get yourself arrested if it turns out that you are lying like not not like you've got an axe to

grind. You there's some sour grapes because you're mad at your employer or something like that

and you're throwing something out there to try to get back at them like if it turns out you're lying

you're in big big trouble right like that type and under those conditions more intel about the

clippers doing this and that that kind of being common knowledge. I am surprised at this point

that we still haven't gotten a ruling on that aspiration thing. It's obviously a deeply rooted

issue with the clippers. I'll say what I've always said though if and we don't know for sure

but it feels like there is a mountain of evidence. Now is any of that evidence necessarily

damning? Is there anything that is that is specifically saying hey we're going to circumvent

the salary cap doing this this and this or something. Is that the burden of proof? Do you need

like an email from Steve Bommer to aspiration with the head with the topic salary cap circumvention

or something in order to prove guilt? Is that the burden of proof? I don't have a full understanding

of that. I took one class in college called constitutional law and that was mostly history based

and that that's the closest to a law class that I've that I've taken. So that is not my forte at all

keep that in mind. I don't even watch like legal television shows but whatever the burden of

proof is if it's determined and it sure feels like watching and all this unfold feels like it's

hard to deny that something bad happened here. There's a lot right now to suggest that

this was not all on the up and up that this was there was some stuff that was violating NBA rules.

If that's ultimately where the investigation lands and remember the NBA is not conducting the

investigation but the firm conducting the investigation they're going to rate make their

recommendation to the NBA when that's going to happen again I'm kind of surprised it hasn't happened

already. I don't know when it's going to happen but if guilt is indeed established that they funnel

funds through a third party to Kauai Leonard as a way of compensating him beyond the salary cap

for him playing as a Los Angeles clipper Adam Silver has to go nuclear on that team and I'm not

saying that because it's the clippers right obviously there's going to be inherent bias in that but

you cannot cannot have an NBA we're coming out of that situation have any owner any team look at

what happens and say oh that wasn't that bad that's worth it can't have that you cannot have that

happened if the clippers let's say it was a couple of second round picks and you get fined

$500,000 right I mean laughable stuff let's say that's it you know what would happen around the NBA

a bunch of other owners will go they got a superstar and that was the that was the only punishment

to hell I'll do that that's worth it can't have that can't because then you're going to create a

whole mess of other problems cannot have that happen this would be one of the most egregious

violations of the salary cap that we have ever seen in the NBA the league would have to come down

on the clippers Adam Silver would have to come down on the clippers drop meal near the hammer on

them I'm talking draft pick Scott and you would have to hurt them in a way that's not financial

you can hurt them financially but Steve bomber has infinite money the way you're going to hurt

them is the same idea that we're seeing with the collective bargaining agreement we're looking at

the apron system the whole idea behind the apron system was we've got this team these teams

just keep spending and spending and spending because these owners don't care about luxury taxes

okay well they don't care about luxury taxes how else can we dissuade from spending let's take

away their ability to actually build out their team so that's why you see all these restrictions

for second apron teams as part of why we only have one second apron team in the NBA right now it's

the calves same concept you need to void quiet's contract quiet is not plainless in this by the way

he should face punishment as well void the contract leave the money on the clippers books draft

pick should be gone all kinds of things need to happen again void quiet's contract but don't take

the money off the clippers books don't give them cap space there should be no portion of the

punishments from this situation that in any way could be construed as a positive and removing

quiet's money from their books could be construed as a positive that can happen they have to drop the

hammer they want to make sure that everyone else looking at this situation comes away from it saying

oh my god we're never messing around with anything like that that's devastating that's what they

have to do anyway that's my thoughts on the situation that's my thoughts if and again if guilt

is established this has to be a punishment like we've never seen because you never want to see

this again all right

you don't want you don't watch judge Judy not a long time

all right everybody that's my thoughts on that

again I I have not that's that's just surface level stuff I need to go and see what else came

out earlier tonight and get into all of that so again keep that in mind this will be an interesting

story that'll be talked about for a while yep yeah I mean this people were talking about Joe Smith

and that was what 25 years ago something like that this is going this will set precedent

in the NBA like this is a big deal this will set precedent for how these types of situations are

handled in the future and hopefully they don't have to be handled in the future

Trevor if you were commissioner what's a rule you'd change and make salary contracts I'll be post

taxes that's interesting because what that would effectively do is it would eliminate the

advantages of certain clubs that are in states that don't have state taxes that puts you more

on an even playing field interesting idea obviously the those teams that are in states that don't

have state taxes would protest against that I you could could say I would try to change the

playoff seating so it's one through 20 I would still leave the play internment one through 20 rather

than by conference I think East teams would protest against that although it's been much more even

this year but I'll tell you one thing that I would change if I if I had power to just wave a

magic wand and fix anything I would take away the rule because there's always unintended consequences

so you do something crazy like hey let's let's give every team three option three amnesty provisions

they can use or something like that like you go too far and there's going to be a bunch of unintended

consequences what I would do is I would shift the way the apron system works because the rule

that if you are above the first apron you cannot take back more salary than you send out in a trade

makes it very difficult for two teams that are above the first apron to trade with each other

I think that goes too far now teams have been very creative finding ways around it by looping

in a third team but nonetheless I would loosen that rule and I would make that restriction a second

apron restriction that if you're above the second apron you cannot send out more salary than you

take back in a trade it already is one of those second apron restrictions but I would loosen

that restriction on the first apron and just make it that you have to be within x percent of the

other deal because otherwise there's a number of first apron teams in the NBA it makes it that much

more challenging for any first apron teams to trade with each other because neither side can take

back more money than they send out so unless you're sending back to exactly two of the dollar even

contracts then you've got to get a third team involved and it just gets way more complicated

so I would take that rule remove it from the first apron and have it only as a second apron

restriction that's something I would change

what's you take on how to address the league's tanking debacle they're going to do it Adam Silver

said today that they're going to substantially change things to try to address tanking what

they're going to do I don't know I'm worried I'm worried they're going to do too much because frankly

you know what you know what they could do nothing they could do nothing the problem would solve itself

at least in the short term they cannot rush into this if they rush into this and say oh my gosh

and overreacting nine teams right now are tanking that's nearly a third of the league oh my gosh

let's let's drastically change everything guess what's coming unintended consequences

unintended consequence the problems about to fix itself it's going to fix itself next year

because the draft sucks next year and the year after that teams are incentivized teams are

tanking like crazy this year because the draft is awesome it's not going to be as big of a problem

next year just naturally because there aren't as many good players to tank for next year

so you've got to be careful don't overreact right now what is a big problem right now in this

moment won't be next year that's my concern is that they go and tear down the system and do

something crazy and you wind up again with unintended consequences for something that I don't

think is going to be nearly as big of a problem next season

and my hope is that if they do something about tanking it's not going to be until July or August

that they make a ruling on that competition community comes together and makes a decision on

something there because again you can very quickly over-correct you can over-correct and

you can drastically change things just gotta be careful that's all what about the year after that

yeah but look right whatever changes you make but let's say they do let's say they do change

things this this summer and they change something significant let's say they I don't know they flatten

the lottery odds cross all 14 lottery teams which would have its own consequences for doing

something like that so they do that they would be able to shout from the mountaintops hey it worked

look we don't have as many teams tanking anymore teams are playing to win blah blah blah blah that

was gonna happen regardless that was gonna happen regardless because the draft class isn't as good

next year you wouldn't really know whether your changes worked or not until you got to another good

draft class and you're not gonna have that for a couple years so there's no reason to rush it

is what I'm saying you need to really have a sense of not just what are you doing and why what

effect is it going to have but what unintended consequences are going to be because teams will

look for a loophole for anything teams will find them it's their jobs they will find loopholes

you have to really take time and consider everything that can happen if you make a change do not

rush it don't rush it because what's a problem right now you're not going to change anything

right now you're not going to pull the rug out from under teams right now and say well no never

mind now we changed our our whole system and changed the way it all works not going to do that now

mid-season not for this year's draft changes you make will be for the future

but the draft class isn't nearly as good so that buys you time to not rush into any changes

okay everybody appreciate you joining obviously not not a hyper competitive game but good to see

the Lakers get a win over the Pacers big game coming up 12 30 specific time gets the nicks on

Sunday can the Lakers finally get a win over one of the top clubs in the NBA going to be important

that they find a way to start winning some of these games so big big game coming up Sunday afternoon

game 12 30 p.m. Pacific time appreciate all of you for joining I don't have yeah history lesson

I don't have anything prepared I've thought my head for history I try to do something that was

kind of cool that I that I can do from memory what could we do we talked about Pearl Harbor

last time how important that was the mobilization of the U.S. manufacturing

wartime propaganda all that kind of stuff I don't know I don't have a good topic up the top

my head I don't want to try to force one

great depression is an interesting time period great depression is an interesting time period

oh okay I've got one I got one sorry took me a minute there okay so take a couple things

during the during the great depression so 1929

stock market crashes wasn't just the stock market crash there were a number of different things

that were that were happening but ultimately faith in the banking systems part of it is the banking

system starts to collapse bank start to close people felt like during that time period there was a

general thought that you were safer bearing your money in the backyard that putting into a bank

because of a bank closes your money that you had in that bank is gone it's part of why we have

the FDIC now which ensures your money up to a certain amount always make sure you know how much

is actually insured but the federal government now ensures your money in a bank says hey you can

feel safe if the bank fails we will cover it we will give you your money because people need to put

their money in banks so the banks have money to loan out which can fund businesses and around

around you go so the FDIC was created but the initially when the economy first started collapsing

I think this is relevant we talk about the lakers right and the need for them to get help right

now but when things first started to collapse Herbert Hoover was the president yes the guy they

named their Hoover name after Herbert Hoover is the president and he was reviled because he didn't

do much he was told at the time his top economist told him don't do anything to fix the economy it

will fix itself this is cyclical it happens it's going to fix itself don't worry meanwhile people

are struggling people are starving people are without jobs without incomes losing everything

they're drowning right metaphorically they're drowning and they're wanting the government to step in

and help them and save them and Herbert Hoover sitting there saying well no I'm not doing anything

so he became very very hated very disliked not all that dissimilar from people being mad at

Rob Polenka for not making a trade at the deadline or not adding enough pieces to this team

you've got the ability to go get something done help this team save them right now so Herbert

Hoover became very disliked because of that and culturally that affected us in some kind of

funny ways what they started doing was taking Herbert Hoover's name and putting them into things

as a way to mock the president for not helping and he's in not helping contributing to the decline

of the the wealth of the country so for example people would walk around at the time with their

pockets pulled inside out right so their pockets hanging out of their pants and the message that

you're sending of course is that you have no money well the term for that at the time was called

flying a Hoover flag that was flying a Hoover flag a Hoover blanket was someone who's using a newspaper

to sleep under a Hooverville was a group of shacks that the homeless had assembled to stay in

rather than name it the name of a town or something they called them Hooverville's so all of it

adding Hoover to the name that people who were down on their luck had to turn to in order to take

a little shot at the president and Herbert Hoover again was very hands off at first he did some

things towards the end of his term trying recognizing uh-oh I need to start doing this stuff

the the country started paying to put people back to work the works progress administration things

like that in order to pay people to build bridges and dams and all sorts of things it was too

little too late and Franklin Roosevelt winds up winning the the presidency in a landslide and

Franklin Roosevelt well he was the president during World War II of course but he was also known

during the Depression for having what was called fireside chats and that was at the time the

communication was not television that wasn't a big a thing at that point instead it was radio and

so what he would do is he would go on the radio and speak directly to the American people and he

would talk about his programs and talk about what the effect was going to be so contrast that

the Herbert Hoover who was very hands off and it's going to fix itself Roosevelt was talking step by

step to the people not everybody agreed with everything he was doing but nonetheless he was

explaining his plans to a country that had a lot of people that were struggling and were scared

and it was an important reminder of how huge communication is and how comforting it can be to

have someone speaking directly to you and preparing you for what to expect that was the power of

Roosevelt's fireside chats and comparison to Herbert Hoover who had newspaper blankets and

these towns that the homeless were assembling to named after him because the country began to

revile him and his lack of help during the Great Depression okay there it is that's a little bit

on the Great Depression there's a lot more that we could talk about of course on that but

Hoover flags Hoover blankets and of course Hooverville's always something that I thought was a

clever and kind of funny way that people at the time changed some of the the language used during

the during the time to take a little dig at at the president all right everybody appreciate

all of you and the fireside chats came because FDR was literally sitting next to a fire I think it

was in the East Room at the White House while he was doing these radio broadcasts very very cool

all right all of you by the way FDR also the only president that has taken more than two terms in

office George Washington set the precedent that you would only have two terms in office and everybody

else followed along even though it was not a law FDR had four terms actually passed away during

his fourth term fourth four year term in office then after that they made the law I can't remember

which why is it escaping me which amendment number it is but they made the rule the presidents can

only have two terms in office so that was FDR was the only one to have four terms in office

all right everybody appreciate all of you once again you guys are awesome hopefully the

Lakers can get a win on Sunday till next time see you and stay safe

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