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1:00

Brian Kemenetsky, Andy Kemenetsky, the interviews, Andy,

1:02

they are finally happening. How long will

1:04

it take for the Lakers to actually

1:06

get a coach? That's next. You

1:14

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1:16

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1:18

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free and never behind a paywall and Lockdown Lakers

1:33

on YouTube. So we're going to go hang out

1:35

with over 24,000 subscribers, Andy, all of whom are

1:37

wondering when the interview process, which

1:40

has finally started, might actually

1:43

yield some results. The

1:45

Lakers, as we

1:47

will discuss, have, they've spoken

1:49

to some coaches. They're going to speak to a few

1:51

more. They are also going

1:53

to take their time. Do you want to

1:56

let everybody know that today's episode is

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brought to you by Game Time. download

2:00

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2:02

MBA for $20 off the first

2:04

purchase terms apply. So I think people

2:06

are excited that the Lakers have

2:11

finally started moving the rock on

2:14

this whole coaching search. Yeah,

2:16

Purr, Shams and Yovan Buhaw

2:18

from the Athletic. They

2:21

have officially spoken with like in

2:23

a formal meeting slash

2:26

interview capacity with JJ Redick,

2:28

James Borrego and Sam

2:30

Cassell. There are still plans to meet with

2:32

Mike and Norrie, David

2:35

Adelman and Chris Quinn very

2:38

soon. Consistent

2:40

with all of the reporting leading

2:42

up to whenever these

2:44

official meetings have exactly taken place. It

2:46

was a little bit vague, but JJ

2:50

Redick seems to remain the

2:52

clubhouse leader and nothing

2:54

has changed since speaking with

2:57

him. If anything, it's actually grown

2:59

even more like a seeming match

3:01

quote from this report. The Lakers

3:04

are infatuated with Redick's potential according

3:06

to league sources, viewing him as

3:08

a patt Riley like coaching

3:11

prospect who could both help the

3:13

franchise in the short term and

3:15

lead it for years. So

3:17

that obviously, I mean, patt Riley

3:19

is a Lakers legend.

3:21

Those are very,

3:24

very big accolades to be

3:26

throwing around if you are talking about patt

3:28

Riley in the same sentence as JJ Redick,

3:30

indeed that is an infatuation.

3:34

It's also a really interesting comparison because

3:37

I don't know if,

3:39

because you know, Riley took over the

3:41

Lakers for the 81-82 season. Yep.

3:46

And it should be noted that he took over

3:48

a championship team

3:51

and it triggered his view in the count

3:54

of Orson's Massive I

4:00

don't, you know, obviously Riley, I was,

4:04

you know, I think would have been successful in,

4:06

in any situation. Like he, you know, he was

4:09

too good a coach over the

4:11

course of his career to have, you know,

4:14

for like only been made by the fact that this

4:16

happened to be a really good team. Excuse

4:18

me. But

4:21

that said, when you

4:23

walk into a team with Norm Nixon

4:25

and Magic Johnson and Jamal Wilkes and

4:27

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Cooper and

4:30

so on and so on. And Bob McAdoo.

4:32

They had three future Hall of Famers in

4:35

the starting lineup and two coming

4:37

off the bench. They had

4:39

won 54 games the season

4:41

before, despite missing Magic for

4:44

over half of the season. Like

4:47

the problem was that the players

4:49

and specifically Magic despised Paul

4:51

Westhead. The problem wasn't figuring

4:54

out, well, I guess the problem

4:56

was figuring out what to do with the roster

4:58

because Paul Westhead liked to do very strange things

5:00

with the roster. But to

5:02

everybody, but Paul Westhead, what

5:05

to do with this roster was very obvious.

5:07

Play like you did a season before when

5:09

you won a championship. Right. And

5:11

you know, Mad, you had a Magic Johnson who

5:13

was certainly sensitive to the idea that

5:16

he got Westhead fired and

5:18

was motivated to deliver

5:20

for whomever the next coach was going to

5:22

be. And so, like, you know,

5:24

I get what they're getting at with the guy

5:27

who was a broadcaster,

5:29

guy with very little coaching experience,

5:31

you know, all that stuff steps

5:33

in and becomes, you

5:35

know, a very successful leader

5:39

on a very good team because that's a different deal

5:41

than taking over a rebuilding thing where you got lots

5:43

of young players and you're building it up and you

5:45

have a lot of time to learn on the job.

5:47

And I understand what they're getting at here. There's

5:50

also an implication, to

5:52

some degree at least, whether intentional

5:54

or not, that when

5:57

you start to compare context, that

6:00

The Lakers roster now is

6:02

somewhat comparable,

6:06

that you're taking over a situation that

6:09

is Riley-esque in that way.

6:11

And that's the part

6:14

where, because we don't know how

6:16

good, somebody's gonna hire JJ Radek at some point,

6:19

and we don't know how good of a coach he's gonna

6:21

be. What we do know is that the roster

6:25

of the 1981-82 Los Angeles Lakers is

6:30

a lot better than the

6:32

roster of the 23-24 Lakers, and

6:38

is probably going to

6:40

be better than the 24-25 group. Yeah,

6:44

I mean, this is a, this

6:47

is, I mean, whether the Lakers ran

6:49

it back, or if they were able

6:51

to bring in, say, Donovan

6:53

Mitchell, or I'm not wild about

6:55

Trey Young, but Trey Young is

6:58

a name, Darius Garland, Dejante Murray,

7:00

whatever, this is a good roster.

7:03

Whether or not it can be a great

7:05

roster remains to be seen. There

7:07

are a lot of people who thought that

7:10

the biggest, the biggest obstacle

7:12

for this past season's Lakers

7:15

team from being truly great was

7:17

actually Darvin Hamm, as

7:19

opposed to the roster itself. I

7:23

think there is some validity that Darvin

7:25

prevented the roster from being as

7:29

close to great as it possibly could

7:31

have been. That being said, I'm not

7:33

convinced that it was great at the level that

7:36

it needed to be, regardless of who

7:38

was coaching it, but either

7:40

way, that tangible difference between

7:43

this roster that JJ Radek,

7:45

or whoever, would be taking

7:47

over, needs to be

7:49

taken into account by the front office,

7:52

but also with the Riley comparison. What

7:55

I think they need to remember is, Riley

7:59

often gets taught. talked about as getting

8:01

plucked from the booth and getting

8:03

put right on the

8:05

bench with the clipboard and all of a sudden

8:07

they end up winning a championship. And what people

8:09

forget, I mean, honestly, I think a lot

8:11

of people forget and sometimes I wonder

8:14

if the actual organization remembers this.

8:18

Riley had been an assistant for

8:20

a couple years before going to

8:22

the booth, then getting taken

8:24

out of the booth. So he actually went assistant

8:27

booth coaching, but

8:29

also to the organization did not

8:31

have just automatic confidence

8:34

in Pat Riley. The original

8:36

plan was for Riley and

8:38

Jerry West to co coach

8:40

the team. And Jerry

8:43

West because he hated coaching, said

8:45

during a live press conference in so many

8:47

words, F that I'm not coaching this team.

8:50

And he basically told

8:53

Dr. Bus, no,

8:55

live. Yeah, on live TV during a

8:57

press conference. F that I'm not doing

9:00

that. So Pat Riley and

9:02

what Riley was well

9:04

prepared. He clearly had the mind

9:06

and the temperament and the connection

9:09

power and all of that

9:11

stuff. I mean, neither, neither one of

9:13

us would ever even attempt

9:15

to try to disparage the inherent

9:18

credentials of Pat Riley. My point

9:20

is, the Lakers didn't even see

9:22

that at the time because they

9:24

were in the beginning giving him

9:27

essentially Jerry West in the form of a binky. So

9:30

the point being, they need to remember the organization,

9:38

all of these different

9:40

contextual elements

9:42

that separate what Pat

9:44

Riley stepped into and

9:47

how he eventually stepped into

9:49

that situation versus what we'll

9:53

say JJ Rettick, because this is where the

9:55

comp comes from. JJ Rettick would be stepping

9:57

into even acknowledging Rettick may damn well be.

10:00

really good coach. It's

10:02

one of these deals where it's

10:04

hard to know exactly what

10:06

the Riley comparison is meant

10:09

to evoke. Which

10:11

parts of like you said... Great hair. Great

10:13

hair. And they both have good hair.

10:16

Like JJ Ricks, phenomenal head of hair.

10:19

Pat Riley was the inspiration for

10:21

the Kurt Russell character in the

10:23

movie Tequila Sunrise with Mel Gibson

10:26

and Michelle Pfeiffer. The role was

10:28

originally offered to Pat Riley.

10:31

He turned it down and Kurt Russell

10:33

took his leftovers. How much of

10:36

a god Pat Riley was.

10:38

There is a weird sliding doors universe

10:40

in which he took that role. We

10:42

wonder what happened. I'm just saying like

10:44

Pat Riley was... That dude was

10:47

a G in his day man. Michael

10:49

Douglas copied the hair from Wall Street too. I mean

10:51

like the man's hair is iconic. We'll

10:54

break here in a sec because I want to get into

10:57

this redic thing. It was some of the stuff that I

10:59

know you and Harrison talked about with LeBron. But

11:03

maybe the Lakers forgot some of the stuff.

11:05

When you say Pat Riley it evokes certain

11:07

things. It evokes obviously excellence. And I think

11:09

that's the part they're really leaning into. It

11:12

evokes oh guy without a lot of

11:14

coaching experience who is very successful. Pat

11:16

Riley is the ultimate aspirational

11:22

level for that. But

11:24

it also evokes guy who

11:27

won quickly. Guy

11:29

who won with stars quickly.

11:33

And that's the part where you have to start

11:35

comparing rosters and it doesn't totally pan out. Like

11:37

I said there is a dynamic

11:39

at play here with this whole LeBron

11:41

JJ Redick Lakers

11:44

front office thing which I find amazing.

11:47

I want to get into it next. Lockdown

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today. I

14:14

know you and Harrison talked about this

14:16

and I think it's very

14:19

indicative of where the team is. This

14:21

whole back and

14:23

forth where the

14:27

leaks simultaneously talk about how much

14:29

the Lakers love JJ Redick and

14:32

also simultaneously seem

14:34

to want to pin the idea of hiring

14:36

JJ Redick on LeBron just

14:39

in case. LeBron clearly

14:41

thinks that JJ Redick is a

14:43

good candidate because if

14:45

he didn't, JJ Redick wouldn't

14:47

be being interviewed. The notion that the Lakers

14:52

are going to hire a coach that LeBron and AD

14:54

and we haven't had a chance to talk about

14:56

how all the reports really

14:59

put AD at the center. This is

15:01

why James Borrego is being interviewed. It

15:03

was interviewed because he has a connection

15:05

to Davis not because of LeBron and

15:09

how much of this coaching search is really centered

15:12

around AD and we can get back into that. I

15:15

think this dynamic where then

15:17

LeBron basically comes flat

15:19

out and says through Rich

15:22

Paul directly quoted

15:24

like don't

15:27

say this is my guy. We do a

15:29

podcast together. It does not mean LeBron James

15:31

wants JJ Redick as

15:33

the next head coach but

15:36

obviously he doesn't dislike the

15:38

idea or they wouldn't interview

15:40

him. What this says to

15:42

me is that ultimately the

15:44

Lakers in terms of not even

15:47

so much like the

15:49

experience of playing with the Lakers which I think

15:51

he genuinely likes and being a Laker and being

15:53

in LA but like the

15:55

relationship and the trust and the synergy

15:58

with the front office. is

16:00

still very much a

16:03

marriage of convenience, because

16:05

both sides are simultaneously trying to

16:07

take credit for the idea of

16:09

hiring JJ Rettick and absolve themselves

16:12

of blame if Rettick doesn't

16:14

turn out to be good before Rettick

16:16

even gets hired. That's

16:18

how I read this dynamic, and I think

16:20

it is, to say the least,

16:23

interesting. Yeah, in a lot

16:25

of ways, too, I feel if we look

16:27

at this logically,

16:30

pragmatically, and

16:33

with any form

16:35

of accountability attached to it, this

16:38

shouldn't be happening at all, because by

16:40

the time, let's say, Rettick got

16:43

hired, it became truly apparent, he's

16:45

got to go. LeBron is

16:47

probably not going to be with the team

16:49

anymore anyway, so to some degree, who cares?

16:51

There's a really good chance that by the

16:54

time this thing goes

16:56

bad if it did go bad, if it

16:58

ended up Rettick getting hired, LeBron's not even

17:00

here to pin it on anymore. If you

17:02

want to pin it on him while he's

17:04

retired, who cares? And then in

17:06

the case of Polinka, or

17:10

front office messaging

17:12

this stuff, this

17:14

only happens if you

17:16

think you can actually get away with it. You

17:19

know what I mean? It speaks to the accountability

17:22

that isn't attached to

17:24

Rob Polinka, or Kurt

17:26

Rambis, or whoever, because

17:30

either genie gives them no

17:32

support whatsoever to not

17:34

do LeBron's bidding, and

17:36

for what it's worth, there's been enough

17:39

evidence that that isn't the case, because

17:41

there have been things LeBron wanted that

17:43

he didn't get. We're having a conversation

17:45

because they didn't hire Tyloo. Right, exactly,

17:47

and they didn't move heaven and earth

17:49

to bring in Kyrie Irving. There were

17:52

different times where LeBron was

17:55

very non subtly letting

17:57

the world know, I would really

17:59

like them to. trade Russ like now

18:02

and it didn't happen. So

18:04

like there's plenty of evidence that

18:06

you can get away with telling

18:09

LeBron no, there's also a

18:11

lot of evidence that you can get away with

18:14

not being able to hire the

18:16

right coach and still keep your

18:18

job. Because this will be Rob

18:20

Palenka's third coaching hire since

18:22

2019. And to

18:24

the best of my knowledge, he's

18:26

the one doing these interviews. You know what I

18:28

mean? So like in a lot of ways, this

18:31

is just wasted effort by

18:33

everybody involved because probably

18:36

nobody's gonna be held accountable if this

18:38

doesn't work. I

18:41

don't know if that may be true. That

18:47

may absolutely be true. This is why I guess

18:49

why Davis being at the center of this makes

18:51

the most sense. But you

18:54

know, the problem, maybe this is why

18:56

I took a minute to fire Darwin.

18:58

Like the I just I feel

19:00

like there there's so much of what they do with

19:02

all this stuff. They being

19:04

the Lakers less more the Lakers and

19:06

LeBron because I think LeBron the only

19:08

thing LeBron really cares about with

19:11

this stuff is am

19:15

I going to be am I being seen as

19:17

the guy who's hiring the coach? I do not

19:19

want to be seen as the guy hiring the

19:21

coach. GM LeBron

19:23

lady and works out. Right.

19:27

I'll do a lot of back channel messaging that this

19:29

was really me pushing my idea and all that stuff

19:31

like leg M and all that

19:33

stuff is like, he has

19:36

been pushing against that hard

19:39

since he got here.

19:41

And I think LeBron is well

19:44

not since he got here. He

19:46

was plenty willing to take credit for a D being

19:48

here in the

19:51

in this only when it

19:53

works. Right. I mean, to

19:55

be fair to LeBron, this is the

19:57

way this stuff works for powerful people across across

20:00

many, many different. And I don't like,

20:02

I do not like being blamed for

20:04

my ideas that don't work either. Most

20:07

people don't. This happens across different

20:09

industries. Yes. It's

20:11

very common. And I think, you know,

20:13

obviously LeBron was a big, you

20:16

know, proponent of the Russell Westbrook deal. So

20:19

is Anthony Davis because these things don't

20:21

happen without the approval of your stars.

20:25

Or the approval of Rob Polinka. That's the point.

20:27

And the approval of Jeannie Buss. Right.

20:30

And that's the point. I think what LeBron

20:32

resents is how, I

20:36

think on balance, the

20:38

rust thing is seen as something

20:40

LeBron got the Lakers to do.

20:43

You and I have noted since it happened

20:45

that it does not happen without the

20:48

enthusiastic participation of Rob Polink. But I

20:50

think. Or if it didn't, that's

20:52

even worse. That's even worse. Right. That's

20:54

actually worse. If they thought it was

20:56

a mistake, they didn't

20:58

have the stones to tell LeBron and

21:00

A.D. no. That's actually worse

21:02

than just making a mistake. A

21:05

healthy way of this getting

21:08

out is where all the Leagues basically

21:10

say the Lakers are working as

21:13

all good organizations should

21:16

in consultation with their best

21:18

players and their core stars

21:21

or however you want to phrase it. Ultimately,

21:24

the hiring decisions will be left at

21:26

the front office and ownership.

21:29

But it's a collaborative process.

21:32

And the core players that means

21:34

so much to this team rightly

21:37

should have input. Something to that effect

21:39

should be the gist of every leak

21:41

that comes out. You should be talking

21:43

to LeBron and A.D. It doesn't mean

21:45

they necessarily should get to pick

21:47

the coach, but you'd be stupid.

21:50

I mean, the Lakers eons

21:52

ago, when they were

21:55

hiring Phil's replacement and they

21:57

went with Mike Brown over Brian Shaw, which, for what

21:59

it's worth. Both of us thought they should

22:01

have picked Shaw, but the real mistake was they

22:04

left Kobe out of the process

22:07

Kobe shouldn't necessarily have gotten the vote

22:10

But he absolutely should have been in the

22:13

loop the whole time and felt like his

22:15

voice was being heard Because he's

22:17

Kobe and he earned it and

22:19

if you piss off Kobe you

22:21

feel it Yeah

22:26

it's in it This

22:29

to me feels

22:31

like sort of polinka,

22:33

you know, it's a very Rob Polinka

22:36

vibe of Both

22:38

wanting credit and deflecting blame at the same

22:40

time and this

22:42

is I think part and parcel to

22:44

how he's able to maintain the

22:47

level of Power

22:51

and control over the basketball

22:53

operations in With

22:55

the franchise Without the level

22:58

of accountability that that you would associate with

23:00

a team like the Lakers especially

23:02

considering how fast they've turned through coaches

23:04

late is He's

23:08

very good at this sort of thing

23:11

and or at least in terms of

23:13

the audience that matters which is genie and

23:18

I don't think polinka is

23:20

I mean, I don't think polinka is to To

23:24

pile on the guy in ways that are unfair

23:26

but Lakers fans will understand what I mean the

23:28

Darvin ham of general managers but

23:31

I don't think he's great and I

23:34

think he struggles with the hard stuff like

23:36

most of these guys do and would benefit

23:38

from a much larger

23:41

Operation around him, but I don't think he

23:43

wants a larger operation around him Because I

23:45

don't think he wants to have people who'd

23:47

replace him next to him in the front

23:49

office There's

23:53

a there's another aspect of sort of looking ahead to

23:55

the offseason and what the Lakers might get into with

23:58

a coach that I want to run by you

24:00

because we also didn't get a chance to talk about

24:02

the end of the Minnesota Denver

24:05

series which I think surprised a lot of people

24:07

so I want to talk a little bit about

24:09

that next. Lockdown

24:14

Lakers brought to you by BetterHelp. We

24:16

sometimes need the opportunity to get things

24:18

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24:27

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24:31

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24:51

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26:26

Denver, like most people, once Denver came back

26:29

and tied that series to 2-2, I

26:32

thought they were going to win. I mean, I assume you were

26:34

the same? We don't really talk about it. If

26:38

I had to bet on it, I would have

26:40

bet on Denver just because they were the more

26:42

experienced team with home court

26:45

advantage. But I

26:47

was not counting out Minnesota just

26:49

because they've been a

26:51

really good in these playoffs and b

26:53

really they've had success against Denver this

26:55

year and they didn't match up well

26:57

against Denver and they were the healthier

27:00

of the two teams. So

27:02

I had not counted out Minnesota,

27:05

but if I had had to put money on it, I would have

27:07

put money on Denver. So

27:10

I remember

27:12

when there's

27:15

beyond the whole like as a fan who

27:17

you want to win, I

27:19

always think it's better when the team that beats you goes

27:22

on and wins a title. There

27:24

was a certain

27:28

easiness to looking

27:30

at the case. What now?

27:32

Denver beats Minnesota, they

27:35

go to the finals. You can look at

27:38

everything you need to do in the off

27:40

season through the

27:42

prism of Denver. You've made the

27:44

point about looking don't

27:49

make me laugh. Looking

27:51

at players like how

27:53

do you deal with Michael Porter Jr. because

27:56

you know Porter Jr. particularly

27:58

as the series went along certainly era. and Gordon

28:00

at the beginning of it, these guys were

28:02

really problematic for the Lakers. Um,

28:04

and ultimately, you know, made a difference

28:07

even beyond guys like Murray and Jokic,

28:10

um, once

28:13

Denver loses

28:15

though, that goes

28:17

away and you

28:19

can no longer be like, okay, how do

28:21

we beat the nuggets? Like to get to the

28:24

Western conference finals, we got to beat the

28:26

nuggets. And how do we compare

28:28

to them? How do we do this? How do we build a roster

28:30

that all this stuff now it's like, well,

28:32

wait a minute. Do we have to go through Minnesota?

28:35

Well, wait a while. Is the roster going to

28:37

be something that we have to beat Dallas? And

28:39

by the way, we should probably revisit both of

28:42

our thoughts on the Kyrie thing at some point

28:44

in the soft season. I could see

28:46

an argument that this makes things

28:49

easier for the Lakers because they no longer

28:51

have to just look at Denver and, you

28:53

know, I could see how it makes it

28:56

harder, like who do you compare yourself to?

28:59

Um, what kind of roster do you try to

29:01

assemble? Since you're not sure who the

29:03

dominant team in the Western conference is going to be

29:05

over the next couple of years. I,

29:08

I'm wondering how you think about that

29:10

because I, it's

29:13

really hard to project. Like Denver could absolutely win

29:15

again next year. Like they're that good. It's hard

29:17

to repeat. They get real tired. You

29:19

know, Minnesota is ascending. Memphis

29:22

is ascending. Um, Oklahoma

29:25

city is ascending. Houston is ascending. What

29:29

do you do if you're the Lakers looking at trying

29:34

to construct something that sets you

29:36

up to take this level

29:38

of competition? Honestly, I don't

29:41

know because I think

29:43

the issue is twofold. I think one is the

29:46

match ups and some

29:49

degree, I think you have to just think

29:51

about broadly how you may match

29:53

up well against the entire West because with

29:55

the West being, I think

29:58

fairly wide open if we're not. other reason

30:00

than there are a lot of good teams

30:03

and we've already seen Denver get

30:05

taken out and look if you

30:07

think about the biggest problem area

30:09

for the Lakers specifically in

30:12

the series they got eliminated in it was

30:14

the Michael Porter Jr. matchup Michael Porter Jr.

30:16

may very well not be on Denver next

30:18

year because they're starting to get

30:20

them some economic decisions and

30:22

there's a lot of speculation that they may

30:24

try to get around them by moving Porter

30:27

so if you plan too much for

30:30

how do you offset that one thing that

30:32

killed us you may be over correcting for

30:34

a problem that is all of a sudden

30:36

in the Eastern Conference you know what I

30:38

mean so like I think broadly

30:41

you think about you know

30:43

Denver really big team

30:45

Minnesota really big team you know some of

30:47

these other teams super athletic how do you

30:49

find the best version of

30:52

yourselves to combat that and also

30:55

play into what you think your biggest strengths are

30:57

and for what it's worth I

30:59

think the Lakers often play at their

31:01

best when they are biggest most physical

31:03

and most most athletic the

31:05

other issue though and this is something I've talked about

31:07

a lot that I think is going to be one

31:09

of the biggest problems for the Lakers

31:12

in the LeBron era is

31:15

the West is so difficult

31:17

that the pacing of yourself

31:20

if you're LeBron that has become

31:22

necessary for him to get through

31:25

the season and be the best version of

31:27

himself in the playoffs becomes

31:29

very problematic when it comes

31:31

to trying to a

31:34

build into the best

31:36

version of yourself throughout the 82

31:39

games because that's where you

31:41

put in the reps that's where you build the

31:43

habits that's where despite

31:45

you know what a lot of what

31:47

we hear about the Lakers and you know we

31:49

only play for championships the regular season actually does

31:52

matter but also too you

31:54

want to try to put yourself in

31:56

the best position possible entering the

31:58

playoffs when it comes to your your seed, like the

32:01

idea of just you

32:03

drop LeBron into the playoffs and it doesn't matter.

32:06

Them days are long since gone. They don't

32:08

exist anymore. And especially now

32:10

with the play in like,

32:13

if you want to make sure you get into

32:15

the playoffs to begin with, you got

32:17

to be shooting for six or higher. And if

32:19

you're shooting for six, you might as well shoot

32:21

for four for practicality standpoint, give yourself at least

32:24

one home court series like that.

32:26

There's a lot of stuff that I think

32:29

is complicated right now for the Lakers in

32:32

building a roster that is

32:34

specific to LeBron as

32:37

high of a level that LeBron is still playing

32:39

at and with all respect

32:41

and acknowledgement that it's unprecedented

32:43

what he's doing. It's unprecedented

32:45

but it's really complicated.

32:48

And that that's a difficult needle to thread.

32:51

I mean, it makes it by the way really

32:53

quick where I can see, you know,

32:56

the argument for grabbing a third star and

32:58

I can see an argument for as much

33:00

depth as possible, like specifically

33:02

because of the

33:05

LeBron factor. I

33:08

think ultimately,

33:11

this probably helps the

33:13

Lakers just because

33:16

they don't have the I think the

33:18

flexibility to sort of make

33:22

really targeted something

33:24

really really targeted like trying to build

33:26

a roster specifically targeted to take down

33:28

one team. I don't think they have

33:30

the resources for that. I think they have to just decide

33:36

what is the best like because

33:38

of all the complicating factors you're talking

33:40

about. I think they just have to

33:42

say what is the best team

33:45

we can possibly construct out

33:48

of the things that we've got. And

33:51

like you say, the matchups are going to change a

33:53

little bit because Denver is going to have something a

33:55

little different next year and you know Memphis is going

33:57

to look a little bit like you can't exactly anticipate.

33:59

everything that's going to be there when

34:03

the new season rolls around. Not

34:06

having to look like you can liberate

34:08

yourself from that idea of it

34:12

has to our roster has to be

34:14

shaped this way because it

34:16

might just be you know I

34:18

think the way the playoffs have gone like it does

34:20

make a little bit of an argument for the

34:23

legs of a Donovan Mitchell as much

34:26

as I don't love the three stars

34:28

and I think the robbing yourself of

34:30

depth you know can do

34:32

it better than Phoenix did but

34:34

you know if your stars match together

34:37

and Mitchell Davis LeBron absolutely

34:39

is a better setup than what

34:41

within what Phoenix has. Like

34:44

that guy you can create and make his own shot

34:46

like it's gotten so hard to score in the playoffs

34:48

but they also need to build a better defense and

34:52

they need to be able to have the flexibility of

34:54

saying you know what the best team we can build

34:56

this offseason is one that shoots the ball really well

34:59

and you know we're gonna have to run a little bit and

35:01

we're gonna be a little undersized where we have great depth in

35:03

the back whatever it is we're gonna have great size up front

35:06

and we're gonna lose a little shooting like this is the

35:09

best thing that we can do to protect LeBron to do

35:11

it and this is how it's gonna have to be. That's

35:14

the kind of approach they're gonna need to

35:16

take because they are I just don't

35:19

see how Andy how they have this space to

35:22

tailor a

35:24

roster construction to one specific

35:27

kind of attack. Well

35:31

I mean Oklahoma City was a by

35:33

percentage the best three-point shooting

35:35

team in the conference and

35:39

they stopped shooting the ball in the second

35:41

round. Did they do that because their

35:43

model was bad like regular season

35:46

three-point shooting fails in the playoffs

35:48

or did they just get unlucky because their

35:50

shooters didn't hit any shots like I

35:53

don't know or did they get unlucky that a guy like

35:55

this stuff from a year to year. Look

35:57

did they get unlucky because a guy like Darin Jones Jr.

36:00

who is not really a three-point

36:02

shooter got extremely hot. Did they

36:04

get fortunate that someone

36:06

like P.J. Washington, who's been

36:08

a he's been a solid three-point shooter

36:10

but was coming off a bad three-point

36:13

shooting season in Dallas, got

36:15

really hot at the right time? Like

36:17

they managed to get by despite Luca

36:21

not always being himself and

36:23

Kyrie often exploding

36:25

in certain quarters and being

36:28

really, really quiet. In

36:30

others. So these things can be unpredictable.

36:32

We have been lost because Porter Jr.

36:34

who was incredible

36:37

against the Lakers was a

36:39

lot less incredible against Minnesota. Now some of that's

36:41

because Minnesota is a much better team defensively than

36:44

the Lakers are. But some of that's just,

36:46

you know, ebb and flow, you

36:49

know, of how this stuff goes. And so

36:51

I hope

36:54

that's the lesson they take. We'll

36:56

see. But, you know, we didn't

36:58

really get deep into this idea of what the

37:00

Lakers really need this offseason, but we certainly can

37:02

over the rest of the week. We'll

37:05

also get more into the the interview process

37:08

and and some

37:10

other stuff that's come up. Yeah. Also,

37:12

real quick, I want to make sure to let

37:14

people know in the community section

37:17

of the YouTube page. Oh, right.

37:19

We left a mailbag call. Leave

37:22

your questions there. We are going

37:24

to start incorporating them regularly

37:26

into the show. Didn't

37:29

do it today just because Brian's been gone for a little while.

37:31

So we wanted to just catch up with some

37:33

of the stuff that he and I didn't get into. Also,

37:35

to make sure people knew Anthony

37:37

Davis was officially named first

37:40

team all defense. Very,

37:43

very well deserved. And

37:45

also speaks to the lift that he had

37:47

all season. Not a single

37:50

other Laker got even a vote. You know,

37:52

maybe that changes if Jared Vanderbilt had been healthy

37:54

more this season or I guess gave Vincent had

37:56

been healthier this season, but it

37:58

was Anthony Davis. First team all

38:01

defense, rest of the team,

38:03

not a single vote. So hats off

38:05

to the work he did this year. All

38:09

right, well, All-Time Likers on YouTube is

38:11

where over 24,000 subscribers are hanging out

38:13

and you can leave these mailbag questions.

38:16

We will be back tomorrow and we'll

38:18

see everyone then. Just

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