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Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, Good morning, what's going on? What is going on? Thank you very much for being here? It just me or does the mic sound a little extra crispy today? Very nice, very clean today. Thank you very much for being here. Appreciate you guys being a part of the Joe Cheers to everybody here who was up last night for a seven point thirty tip off and then back here for a morning show. What do we do? What time we finished yesterday? I think we finished around eleven something like that. I do editing. Then I gotta start, you know, preparing for this show. All right, let's say we get into bed at midnight, then right back here at eight o'clock in the morning. So thank you very much for being here. We got a lot of we got a lot of good topics today, a lot of interesting stuff. I'm gonna weave in some stuff that I think we'll make this conversation this morning a good conversation. Lakers obviously with a good win last night against the Atlanta Hawks again in the rundown. In just a second, just want to call everybody here. Just a quick reminder. Two quick reminders. Number One, subscribe to the channel if if you have to subscribe to the channel number two A member show tomorrow morning at seven thirty. So tomorrow we're gonna do a seven thirty member show. I got to get some thoughts and opinions from the members about a couple changes I'm going to be making to the look of the channel. So tomorrow morning at seven thirty, I think we had a handful of people that were gifted some Hoops Talk memberships. So if if you're available tomorrow, join us at seven thirty. All right, So, no Laker game tonight, Finally get a chance to breathe here for a second. Still got what? We still got three more games? I think this week they play Friday or no, they play tomorrow, they play Saturday, and then they play Sunday. So well they'll still be filling in as many games as they possibly can. We playing Saturday Sunday on NFL weekend. What's going on here with the schedule? Who the hell set up the schedule? Let me see actually here as I have you guys, what is the NFL schedule this weekend? Do they go Saturday and Sunday or they just on Sunday? No, they go Saturday and Sunday. Probably not the smartest scheduling there from the NBA. All right, let me give everyone a quick rundown what we got going on for the show today. I'll take a look at some of the comments. We'll get the show started. Thank you very much for hanging out Lakers Dominate yesterday. I got some I got some angles from that game yesterday against the Atlanta Hawks. I think it threw a lot of people off. I wasn't expecting the Lakers to play as well as they did yesterday. I'm sure a lot of Laker fans weren't as well. So let's spend a little bit of time hitting on a few different things around the game last night. I do want to talk about some of the role players and really just how important the rest of the season is going to be if the Lakers want to have any sustained success. I'm not saying they got to play exactly like they did yesterday, but going to need your role players to obviously step up. So let's we'll spend a little bit of time on the role players. JJ Reddick. Yesterday, Lebron was what I think a rebound away from a triple double. Somebody asked him a question about you know what he's doing at this age and everything else, and he kind of went on a tangent on his own and wanted to defend Lebron, And I got the full quote that will take a look at. I think last night I mentioned I'll come back to it this morning. I got the full quote. And again, I'm not going to try to convince anybody to appreciate what Lebron is doing at age forty one, but at least I'll share with you what people internally say about what he's doing at the age of forty one. So we'll get into that. We'll spend a little bit of time on that. Is Rich Paul becoming a distraction for the Los Angeles Lakers? Is that becoming an issue? And this is the second time, you know, yesterday when I was doing my show, I didn't hit on it in the morning, and frankly, we just had other stuff going on, and I don't think I even had the full story of what rich Paul was proposing. But I was planning on doing it today. I was planning on doing it this morning, and yesterday Lebron was asked about it in regards to Austin Reeves and Rich Paul is basically making trade proposals for the Lakers, whether they want to hear it or they don't. How much of a distraction is that. I think it's got to be somewhat of a distraction. So well, again today, I think that's actually a very very interesting topic. Obviously, Rich Paul now doing a podcast with Max Kellerman, so we'll hit on that. There was an executive NBA executive talking about how the game plan for the Lakers kind of short term to long term. So I do want to read that quote actually, like if this is the blueprint for the Lakers moving forward. I'm excited about the Lakers moving forward, and it's kind of something that I've been talking about, how you just can't. You can't at this stage be in a position where you're trying to sell everything you got to compete this year. So there was a little bit more of a long term approach. We'll hit on that. Jake Larevia continues to start, Ruey is back. Should the Lakers keep Loravia on the starting lineup, Should does Ruey hotchiburrow E actually get his starting role back? We could hit on that as well. I got some NBA news Oklahoma beat the Spurs, yesterday, so they finally get a w there. I got a couple things about Anthony Davis. Let's see what else we have here. Giannis boos his own fans at home. That was an interesting one. And yeah, the one thing on Anthony Davis is are you giving a d an extension? I'm not, but maybe other teams are. Those will be some of our NBA stories. So thank you for being here. Appreciate you guys being a part of the show. Let me take a look at a couple of the comments before we get going here, and then we'll go from there. All right, let's get a quote here. Whatever you fear, whether you feared or not, disappointed, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and clarity comes conviction and true original And that's from Conan. Go work, Conan O'Brien, phenomenal stuff, right there, A fan of that. All right, I already got people saying, where's this one that I saw? Somebody said, he's already sick of Rich Paul. Let me see here if I could find that one. I'm over Rich Paul Ar's agent confronted Rich Paul. I saw that as well, Yeah, listen, I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't think over is the right way to put it. I'm curious, I'm interested. I think you could do two things with the Rich Paul stuff, and we're gonna get the show started and then and then we'll go from there. I think you can do two things with the Rich Paul stuff. Number one, the first thing you could do in regards to Rich Paul, you can kind of break down what he's actually talking about, and I think breaking down when he's actually talking about I gotta be honest with you, and a couple of times that it's been a subject. I kind of see where he's coming from. But the other piece of it is, well, how much of that is going to be a distraction and that's going to obviously be the conversation that we're happening. All right, let's do that a little bit later. I don't want to kind of jump into the show with Rich Paul. There's a couple other things I want to get into first, and then we'll gradually gradually work our way there as the show goes on. So yesterday, Lakers take on the Atlanta Hawks. They balled out. Yes, I don't know if the hell happened. I mean, I'm genuinely, I'm trying to be as honest as possible. Lakers had lost three games in a row. They lose to the Sacramento Kings. Their defense was so bad against Sacramento, and all I'm hearing everybody says, oh, well, you know, Sacramento just shot well, all right, there's a lot of closeouts where the Lakers are nowhere near any of these Sacramento Kings players. You adjust as the game goes. Malik Monk, there's still guys going below screens when Monk is hitting everything DeMar DeRozan. Lakers are coming off a loss. They got a second of a back to back coming. You don't know if Luca's gonna play, You don't know if Lebron's gonna play. You're expecting Lebron actually not to play. And you got an Atlanta Hawks team that's just sitting in La waiting for the Lakers to come. They had won a few games in a row, couple of them on the road. Yesterday just seemed like it wasn't gonna go as planned, or maybe it was gonna go as planned, And what was planned was the Lakers were going to struggle against the Atlanta Hawks. Couldn't mean that they couldn't beat the Atlanta Hawks, but I thought there were some things going against them. Game starts, and I think very early on Atlanta took a five point lead and then Lakers go on maybe a thirteen to nothing run and they go up eight. It's like, wow, okay, well that changed dramatically here in a very very short period of time. And then Atlanta would come back and I think at one point either tied the game or got within one, and then the Lakers just just blew the doors open at one point, going up thirty two. Yes, Atlanta made a run, they did, They knocked out probably eighteen nineteen points off of that deficit. But the reality is is the Lakers controlled that entire game. They led for over eighty percent of the game, and they got a much needed desperate win to just snap that three game losing streak and start putting themselves in a position where you know, obviously hopefully they can they can build from there and gain some momentum. Last night was an impressive win for the Lakers, and I haven't been able to say that in a while, whether it's in the postgame show or in the morning show. But it was a desperate, much needed w the Lakers made it happen. And now, obviously the Lake Show can kind of see what they can do from here as they got a handful of games, but they got a game tomorrow against Charlotte they can obviously take advantage of. You know, looking at the upcoming schedule, we still know January was a light month, so we'll see if the Lakers can can continue to get back on track. Here's a question all ask Laker fans, and there's a couple of things that I want to to hit on with this, but was last night just a fluke? Was it just Lakers shot really well? Everybody played well. Maybe they'd been embarrassed a couple of days in a row, and this was a prideful game for the Lakers to come back in and show that, Okay, we can have some pride guys that can hit some shots, the ball will move a little bit more. They had a lot of players that were hitting shots. What happens when Lakers don't hit shots? You know, obviously it's almost like it's a completely different team. So I'll throw that question out to those that are here on the live stream that are listening. Was last night just a fluke? Was it just a everything clicked for the Lakers? Or do you see some kind of real hope from what you watched last night? I'll tell you. For me, the only thing that matters, the thing that I take away most is there were players outside of Lebron and outside of Luca that were phenomenal. They were okay, not hey, this player was all right, that player was right. They were great. And that's not something we've been able to say too often. And if you're going to have any sustained success, I get it. Austin Reeves is out. I get it, and I try I try to value. I try to, you know, add as much value as I can to the Austin Reeves mix here with the Lakers. I think he's wildly valuable to the Lakers as of right now, this team, this roster, they are desperate to get Austin Reeves back. But him not being there is not an excuse for Aton to be bad three straight games, or Marcus Smart to be no shows in some of these games, or Jake Laravia and Marcus Smart to have a game where they combined for three points, or you know, go down the list of all the different role players. The role players have been so inconsistent for the Lakers. I mentioned this yesterday, you know, yesterday I did a whole segment on this where the hell the role players? And maybe last night's game actually falls in line to what I've been saying. I have no idea what these role players are gonna give the Lakers every single night. Well, last night, I had no idea that DeAndre Ayton was going to give you seventeen and eighteen. I had no idea last night that Marcus Smart was gonna give you sixteen points, five rebounds and four assists. I had no idea last night that Jake Laravio is gonna give you seventeen four and three. And Marcus Smart shot four, only took five field goal attempts, he shot four or five from the field, still had sixteen points. La Ravia shot sixty percent from the field. I had no idea that all these players were going to contribute for the Lakers yesterday. That's kind of gonna be the pulse of the Lake Show. The rest of the way. They're gonna win games because they have four, five six guys contributing or they're gonna lose games because they're dependent on one or two players, and last night they got help from everybody and they dropped one hundred and forty one. Can we expect that every night? Of course not. Can you expect six guys to score in double figures every every night? Of course not? But can they get two or three dudes to step up on a night at night? Out basis, you're asking for too much to get two or three players to step up. I don't think we are, or maybe we are. If it's not happening consistently enough, then I think, you know, obviously we're getting our own answer. But I you know, I'm gonna hesitate, and I'm not trying to be you know, negative or anything like that. But it's very difficult for me to watch every single Lakers game this year, every single minute of every Lakers game this year, do a daily podcast on the Lakers, see some of these other opponents that they're facing, and think what we saw yesterday is gonna be the norm. It's not gonna be the norm. But they don't need six players to step up every night. I need four. That's kind of the goal for the Lakers, and some Knights have five, some Knights have three, whatever the case is. But if they're gonna have a chance against some of these other teams in the league, they need this beautiful distribution that they had yesterday in points and rebounds and assists. Everybody contributed, and that to me is I think what really really stood out from last night's game. So I'll throw that question out again. Was last night more of a fluke or do you think there's something sustainable that you saw from the Lake Show last night? You know, obviously, only time is going to tell and I don't have an answer for you, but you know, I can kind of give my assumptions here from what I've seen so far. I'm gonna need a lot more of some of these role players to do it on a consistent basis to feel like, Okay, hey, the Lakers got something here. Shout out to Brad Wallace and the Wallace Firm, official injury attorneys of the Channel of Hoops Talk, obviously the postgame show, the Morning Show. Shout out to Brad Wallace. I've known for about six years serious injury, wrongful death case. He can help anybody in the state of California. I know this is not you know, one of those partnerships where you pick up the phone and you call every single day. I hope you never need him, but things are going to happen in life. And if if you can use some guidance, please go to Wallacewins dot com slash sliwa again if you need guidance, If you're hoping for somebody to kind of point you in the right direction, him and his team will be able to do so. If you live in the state of California, we created this UURL you can fill out an absolutely free consultation Wallace wins dot com slash sliwa. Thank you to Brad Walls and the Walls for appreciate them being partners of the channel and of the show. All right, let's let's keep moving on here. Let's look at a couple of the comments here. What are what are people saying in regards to what I just mentioned Laker. Laker's offense is Lucas shooting thirty shots a game and if he gets free throws, they win. Here's what I'll tell you. We're talking about this a little bit in the postgame show. Talked about this a little bit in the postgame show. I don't think the way they have Luca playing right now, Luca puts up monster numbers, He's a top five player in the league. You know, you obviously got to get the right team around him, and the Lakers they don't have the right team around him. And the big question is going to be what do they do between now and the trade deadline, between now and the summer and by the time next season starts. Is the team starting to look a lot more like a team that's built around Luca. But I will say this, and I talked about it a little bit yesterday in the postgame show. I'm not a fan of isoball. I don't think isoball works. I do think there needs to be more ball movement with the Lakers. I don't think, and I think there's probably some possessions where guy's got to be kind of standing around saying to themselves, well, so is Luca just going to dribble the ball for the entire shot clock. That's not good basketball. And that doesn't mean Lucas not good enough to get any shot that he wants. This that whatever the case is, And maybe Luca doesn't have the confidence that some of the players that are around him. But if you're gonna have success in the NBA, you can't have success by relying on a player or two, and sometimes Luca falls into that. So Lakers offense thirty shots a game in him getting to the free throw line. That's not a winning recipe against good teams. That's not if you're playing the San Antonio Spurs and you think that's how you're gonna beat san Antonio, I think you got a nothing coming for you. All right, let's see, let's get another one here. I want to see some more of these comments, specifically about if yesterday was a fluke or not. Love from the UK, Thank you, brother, I appreciate that. You know this is a There's two things that's awesome about doing this show. Number One, you can have listen from anywhere. That's how YouTube obviously operates. And number two, the Lakers brand is so big. You got Laker fans that are everywhere. How many trades do you realistic think the Lakers make before the deadline. I'm gonna hold onto this. I'm gonna do something about the front office in a little bit. There was an executive that had said something in regards to the Lakers game plan that I think this will tie too, so I'll come back to this. I don't want to get into that topic without giving it its true time. Okay, let's see what else we have here. Lakers basketball skills is like Houdini. Now you see me? Now you don't, all right? Fair? You know you want something on a more consistent basis. And if you're not getting something on a consistent basis, I think that's obviously a you're going to hesitate. All right, Let's get another one here. All right, Imagine going to work and you had no idea what your role would be day to day. Here's what I would do. And I don't know if you guys are talking about eight In or you're talking about somebody else, And we should get into Aden, because I think Ayton was, you know, obviously phenomenal yesterday, which sometimes makes me even more frustrated about DeAndre In because of that. Here's what I would do if maybe I didn't know what my role was day to day. And I'm not telling you this is an easy thing to do. And if we're using eight In as an example, what I wouldn't do is not bring in the proper effort commitment. You know, I'm still clocking in from nine to five. I'm still making sure that I'm useful when I'm there. I'm not wildly different day to day where I come one day and it's like I'm an emotional wreck and I don't want to do anything, and the next day I'm beaming with confidence and I want to, you know, I want to power through a ten to eleven, twelve hour day. And I would tell you this, and I heard it yesterday on the postgame broadcast. I heard them kind of saying this a couple of different times, and I was talking about it. How Worthy really goes out of his way to say, you gotta get eight in involved. And if you can get it in involved, then maybe there's other ways that it can be a benefit. Because he feels like he's getting involved. Maybe that's part of the game plan for the Lakers as well, and part of that I would put on on Luca Luca to get him involved. All right, let me read this here, Slee. Can you make a call in segment Maybe down the road, maybe not yet, but it's not a terrible idea, but nothing at the moment. And I appreciate the super and I appreciate you asking that question, So, thank you, wasn't a fluke. Just like the law of averages. They missed all them shots against the Kings, and they went in against the Hawks. They all went in against the Hawks. They shot over fifty percent from the field and over fifty percent from the three point line. And we know the Lakers. That doesn't typically happen. That doesn't typically happen. Okay, I'm gonna keep moving on here because there's other things that I want to get into, and then we can go from there. Let me see this. Somebody put something, all right, I have an answer for you. It wasn't a fluke. Because the Hawks are not a good team. They're better than I think you think they are. I don't think their record truly represents some of the talent that they have. But we'll leave it at that. Not a big deal either way. Okay, let's keep it moving on here. So Lebron had a night last night. I'm gonna do Lebron, and then I'm gonna do the Rich Paul conversation, and then there's some other topics that we can get into as well. Lebron had a night last night. I thought yesterday, you know, is he gonna play second of a back to back. Is he not to be honest with you, I didn't think he was gonna play. And then there was some momentum there where I'm like, maybe Luca's not gonna play as well. So I actually thought that the Lakers were not set up well against Atlanta. They both end up playing. Obviously we know what happens. Lebron for the first time this year, played a second of a back to back and was pretty damn good ten thirty one, ten and nine, And I thought this was interesting, you know, for what it's worth. And I'm there's gonna be people and it's not just you guys. I mean, this is just comes with the territory. This is this is just kind of how the business works. There are some people that still love and appreciate Lebron James, like, unbelievable. The guy's doing a twenty three years old and there's a huge camp as well. That's like I can't wait for Lebron not to be a Laker, or I want Lebron to retire, or you know, I can't stand this guy. Lebron is one of the more polarizing sports athletes we're ever gonna watch or we're ever gonna cover or whatever the case is. People are kind of all over the place on Lebron. I've said this before. You guys don't have to take my you know, obviously, my opinion on this or my advice on this. I'd rather just I know, Lebron's a laker today, and let's see how much longer he's a laker. And I think there's probably a good chance that if he comes back next year, it's certainly not going to be at the same structure. And a lot of people who do who are frustrated with Lebron, what they claim to say is, well, it's because he's taken up fifty two million dollars, all right, Well, last night he was worth fifty two million dollars, and he's not going to be worth fifty two million dollars every night. Last night, thirty thirty one to ten and nine. And it's actually gone through a stretch here over a handful of games where he's been good. JJ Reddick was asked yesterday about Lebron and then just kind of went on a little bit of a tangent. Let me just read to you a couple of the quotes here that came from JJ Reddick and then we'll react to it. He said, it's remarkable his competitive stamina is off the charts. Okay, leave it at that. Nothing too crazy there. Like I said, Lebron forty one was. He said at one point last week that all back to backs are going to be to be determined just because of his age and everything else. Here's what JJ said about Lebron. I don't take for granted the Lebron stuff. It's unfortunate. Actually not to go on a little tangent here, but it's actually unfortunate how much this guy puts into it and how much he cares, and the way certain people talk about him. It's crazy. Come be around him every day and see how much this guy cares. It's off the charts. Okay. Then he went on a little before or he went on a little bit more. I'm gonna read a little bit more here. The first thing what he's saying is, you know, people don't appreciate what he's doing. You can't be forty one years old and playing in the NBA unless you're doing unbelievable stuff. Once the game is over, before you go to bed, what you do when you wake up, What you're putting in your body, what your pregame routine is, all that stuff. Obviously, this is somebody that played in the league, and nobody's ever played in twenty three seasons in the NBA, and it is absolutely absurd that Lebron's still putting up numbers like this. You don't have to like Lebron. I'm not here trying to convince it any one to say I love Lebron. What I'm trying to tell you is, okay, you can probably have a little bit of appreciation what the man is doing at this age. Here's what JJ continues to say. That's the nature of envy. It's the nature of envy. You're not going to get a click. You're not going to get a response by saying something nice about somebody, by acknowledging someone's greatness, by acknowledging how much they care and how much they work, and how much they've accomplished and continue to accomplish and continue to go after something. I mean, you got to say something bad about him, you got to go on TV and knock him, you got to go read into oh he did this pregame and he did this. It's all just nuts be around him every day. He's unbelievable. All right, So he is defending he's defending Lebron, but defending him in a little bit different of a manner. He's not talking about extras and o's. He's not talking about Lebron being perfect on the basketball on the basketball court. He's basically going after those who use Lebron as an opportunity to go get whatever it is clicks this, whatever the case is, all right, JJ kind of goes into a little bit of a tangent Lucas said yesterday. For me, he's one of a kind of being his twenty third season to play back to back. It costs everybody, but for him it's probably even more difficult. It shows how much he cares. I'm gonna The purpose of me doing this is because last night he did have thirty ten thirty one, ten to nine, Lakers did win the game. He has still putting up some great numbers at this age, and that's all. There's nothing more to it. I don't need to read anything further into it. It's remarkable that he's doing what he's doing at forty one. Do I want to see a chapter sooner than later that has a Lakers team that's completely built around Luca. Yeah, I think that's what they're gonna need. Do I want to see, you know, a team that's that makes sense and every resource is used around a twenty six year old? Yes? Do I think it's going to be difficult for a twenty six years old twenty six year old and a forty one year old one guy that's been the greatest, one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and one player that's currently one of the best players in the league. Is that going to be tough to mold those two together for a championship run? Yes? Do I feel like that's going to happen? Probably not, But I can also still kind of just appreciate that, at age forty one, he's still making it happen. And last night was a good example of that. And I don't know why JJ Reddick decided to go on a rant last night about Lebron, but he did. And the rant that he went off of obviously ties into criticism that others give around Lebron James, and he's not wrong about that. I think, you know, stylistically, we are a society that is more interested interested in talking about what's wrong. Go watch the news for ten to fifteen minutes. Nobody's talking about what's good. It's this happened and that happening, and they're shooting and a fire and at this. That's kind of how our society works. I wish it wasn't that way, but that's just the reality of it. All right. I'll take a look at a couple of the comments here and then we can stop start hitting on some of the Rich Paul stuff. All right, ummm, let's see. Um, I'm trying to see here. If they're specific. Okay, here's one king James is teaching Luca how to get everyone involved, and he's running the offense. Worthy is calling out JJ. Maybe you're talking about in regards to what I was saying about eight and listen, I'll go back to this. If if the Lakers are going to have some success, and if this is a message you're you're kind of pointing out to on the Luca front that he's got to involve others and everything else, I'm not here to argue with you. I'm really not. I think that ball does have to I really do. And because here's the reality, you can drop forty five and still lose. He had forty two against Sacramento, they still lost. He had forty through the first three quarters and they were down what fifteen eighteen or something like that. So I agree with this. I mean, I'm not going away from that. I think there's a lot true to that. Yes, but Lebron a minus twenty in big games and playoff games, so it doesn't matter. I'll ask this question, and again I'm all good with all the comments. If you guys disagree, that's all right. We'll have that conversation. But do you think the Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves because of Lebron? Is that the argument here? Is the argument that the Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves because of Lebron. I mean, if that's the analysis that came out of that playoff series, I don't know what to tell you. Le Bron and Luca Max and Ar makes less than twenty million. Rob sucks. Really, Ar and Luca will lead this team. Le Bron doesn't lead. He takes and leaves leftovers. Okay, get another one in here. If he does play, Lebron's got to take a pay cut next year playing and simple, I really really don't think they're going to give him the I really think that. I really don't think they're going to give him another fifty two. You know, if I'm being honest with you, I am. I got no idea what the Lakers are going to do this offseason. I have no idea, and I don't know if Lebron is going to want to keep going. Is this is last year? If the Lakers say, hey, we're not going to we're not paying you big money. We got to start making some decisions around Luca, does that turn Lebron off? Does Lebron say, hey, I don't care give me nine to ten million dollars, just keep me on the team. I want to keep going. I don't know, And I think that's, you know, obviously fair questions to be asked. All right, let's let's keep rolling here. I got a couple other topics that I want to get into. I want to I want to spend a little bit of time on this Rich Paul stuff. All right, So let me catch everybody up to speed here of what's going on with Rich Paul and why this is a conversation, and then we'll come back to I think there's a couple of different ways to break this down. I think one way to break it down is to take the actual context of what Rich Paul is saying. And then I think the other thing to break down is, well, if Rich Paul keeps talking about the Lakers and trading Austin Reeves, you know, is that going to be a distraction to the team, the organization. Obviously that's Lebron's boy, and yesterday Lebron was asked about it, so I think it's impossible for it not to be a distraction. Let me catch everybody up to speed here. Here's where we are. Rich Paul, we know, is the CEO of Clutch Sports. He's now doing a podcast with Max Kellerman. We've talked about it. Game Over is what the podcast is called. I've listened to a couple of the shows. I've said this before. I'm a big fan of Max Kellerman. You know, obviously worked with him back in the days on radio as well. So I'm a big fan. I mean I have been. And if you told me stylistically, what is my Do I like the style of a Steven A. Smith or do I like the style of a Max Keleman. I'll take a Max Keleman all day, that's my cup of tea. Doesn't have to be your cup of tea. But I like the kind of the long form conversation. I like that, that nuance of I think it's less hot taksh and that's the that I like. So he teams up with Rich Paul. They do a podcast together, and there was a time when that podcast was just released, which was what a month and a half ago, two months ago tops whenever it was, and Laker conversations were coming up, and Rich Paul was having those conversations, and Austin Reeves's name came up, and there was kind of this, yeah, here's what I would do if I the Lakers. And I don't think Rich Paul saw a vision where Austin Reeves can be with Luca or be with Luca on lebron and compete for an NBA championship. And can I tell you something that's not a stretch of a conversation. I mean, I think a lot of people, there are probably a lot of Laker fans that would agree with that. I think that that question is still in the air. Lakers going to have to pay Austin Reeves in the offseason. I think Austin Reeves is a baller. Of course, he's not the most ideal back court mate with Luka Doncic. How can you be when you got two players to focused on offense. But I don't think Austin Reeves is going to go anywhere. Okay, Rich Paul had an episode recently. He's talking about Jared Jackson. I'm gonna read some of what he said here, and you know, I'll share my screen with you guys here so we can kind of look at it together. So I'm not just you guys aren't looking at it blindly. If you're listening a little bit later, you'll obviously be able to look at it. If you're listening on the podcast on the iHeartRadio network, I appreciate you listening. But I'm gonna go through this so that we can look at this together. Okay, So here's what Rich Paul said, some of the stuff that Rich Paul said. First thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give it some context of what he's actually talking about, and then we'll talk about the distraction piece of it. If I was a Lakers, I'd probably be targeting the Memphis Grizzlies as a trade partner for Jaren Jackson some way, somehow, I'd be trying to get Jaron Jackson, maybe get back Gig Jackson. Jackson and Jackson associates because he's a young player that can develop, God, has good size, can shoot the ball. But I think if you if you're building around Luca going forward, which they are, you need that anchor. And Jaren doesn't want to be a part of a rebuild. They just put John Moran on the market saying that they're willing to trade him, et cetera. So I think they would be. I think they would be a trade partner for me. Okay, I'm gonna come down here a little bit further. Let me withhold that this comes with a very unemotional attachment because Austin Reeves is beloved, which he should be. He's an underdog. And here's the thing. There's a world where you can do what's best for your team and do what's best for Austin because Austin deserves to get paid. Right now, Memphis would definitely pay Austin. Okay, that's what he said. All right, let me take the substance of what he said, and then I want to kind of get into the distraction portion of this. What is he really saying, what Rich Paul is saying is I believe the Lakers are better off trying to get a big that can compliment Luka Doncic, that's also a threat from the three point line, that is a good defensive big. You know, there's some areas of Jaron Jackson, probably not the best rebounder, is not this you know, big six' eleven seven foot guy that can completely hold it. Down but the concept of what he's talking about is The Memphis grizzlies are already you, know they're gonna probably Trade Jahn morant at some point, here and they can kind they can bring in a, guy AND i Think Austin reeves can be you, know he shouldn't be the best player on your, team but a face of your, franchise one of the. Faces he can get, paid get the money that he's looking. For lakers can Get Jaron, jackson they can kind of work it out from. THERE i don't think it's a CRAZY i don't think it's a crazy, argument. RIGHT i think there's there's some substance to what he's talking. ABOUT i think he's again he's doing a podcast and his goal in doing the podcast is to bring up. Conversations you, Know i've heard them talk about THE, Nfl i've heard them talk about all these different. Subjects he's a Big Ohio state. Fan i'm most interested With max And Rich paul are TALKING, nba and a lot of it has to do with Because Rich paul is obviously so closely associated with THE. Nba so the concept of what he's talking about About Jaron Jackson, junior it's not a crazy. Concept let me give you an. Example if IF i came on here or another reporter or somebody that does a, podcast, Said, hey you know WHAT i think The lakers should. DO i think they should consider Trading Austin reez For Jaron. JACKSON i wonder if both of these, teams if it could be a win win for both of these. Teams it's not going to be a crazy topic or a. Subject it's just going to, be all, right that's. Interesting here's a kind of a trade, proposal and you would kind of get some of the reasons why both of those things would be. Considered here's why it's a. Distraction and for someone like, ME i don't mind any of this. Stuff let's talk about. It, let's you, know let's have that. Conversation is it a good? Idea is it not a good? IDEA i like all, this this is this is. Great here's why it's a. Distraction it's a distraction Because Rich paul is Obviously lebron's. Boy yesterday after The lakers beat The Atlanta, Hawks lebron has a great. Game he does everything he's. Doing there's the conversation about the role Players DeAndrea and doing this, that everything. Else what do you Think one of the questions were in the postgame. Show one of the questions were About Rich paul and this possible trade involving one of his teammates In Austin. Reeves here's What lebron. SAID i think you all know by Now rich is his own, man and What rich says is not a direct reflection of me and HOW i. Feel AND i hope people know. THAT i hope people know. That if they're not sensible to know, that THEN i don't know what to tell. Them is it not just naturally a? Distraction If lebron's got to address. It could it be a little bit odd That lebron is addressing Something and who knows how Close Austin. Reeves is he's in the locker room that he already. Leaved Is Austin reeves listening in the. Background there was a report out there That Austin reeves agent went to talk To Rich. Paul by the, WAY i don't know what he's going to go talk To Rich paul. ABOUT i, Mean Rich paul is doing a. Podcast the guy's going to say whatever the hell he. WANTS i, mean this is just my. Opinion but, yes it is a. Distraction of course it's a. Distract how could it not be a? Distraction Anytime Rich paul opens his mouth about The Los Angeles, lakers it's going to get, clicks it's gonna get. Views and, AGAIN i don't think What Rich paul is saying is. CRAZY i think there's a lot Of laker fans out there that if you take the actual the concept of what he's referring to and what he's talking, about no one's gonna sit here and, say, well you, Know Rich paul is just trying to get. CLICKS i Think Rich paul is looking at The lakers and, Saying, okay if you're gonna build Around, luca wouldn't you want to big maybe someone who stretches the, floor maybe somebody that has more of a defensive. Presence, okay that's not, crazy but it's the fact that he's talking about A laker With lebron still on the, team and then yesterday Obviously Rich paul getting asked Or lebron getting asked some questions About Rich paul's. Podcast it is a. Distraction it's not gonna. STOP i, mean who's gonna pick up the phone and, say, Hey rich, listen we're gonna need you to back off of talking about things on an hour long form podcast that you want to talk. About Rich paul thinks he's got some ideas for The lakers or The nicks or the The Memphis grizzlies of Where John moran should. Go he should say, it but it's gonna be a. Distraction SO i THINK i think obviously there's a lot to kind of come in regards to. THAT i think for, ME i think there Is Uh, AGAIN i kind of go back to. This it's an interesting dynamic that you didn't think was gonna kind of become a conversation Until Max kellerman And jade And Rich paul started a podcast. Together and this is a couple of times now that he has brought Up Austin. Reeves So Austin reeves kind of getting targeted By Rich. Paul BUT i don't think what he's bringing up is. CRAZY i, don't, RIGHT i think The, AGAIN i go back to the concept of. IT i don't think it's crazy what he's. Saying all, right let's, uh let's see what we got. Here, Okay remember When lebron approached Stephen a For bronnie. Talk wasn't Stephen a allowed to say what he wanted About? Bronnie If i'm right on, THIS i think it was. MORE i think it was more of a personal. THING i think it was If i'm, RIGHT i don't remember off the top of my. Head but wasn't it something Like lebron didn't like Steven a basically saying how he should be parenting his? Son it was something more about That Rich paul. Stuff this's got nothing to do with any of. That The Rich paul stuff, Is, hey if The lakers are going to build Around, luca this is WHAT i would. Do AND i like What Rich paul said. Too he said. Unemotional this is an unemotional. Trade that's what he's talking about. Regardless if you Like Rich, Paul TRIPLE j is a perfect fit for Our. Lakers that's WHY i tried separating the. Two if you, know if you Heard i'm making up something, here BUT i don't even know IF i have anything on. This if if If Rich paul, said, hey Trade Austin reeves For Shake Goldess, alexander you'd be, like what are you talking? About, yeah that ain't gonna. Happen nobody's doing. That that's, stupid that's. Dumb that doesn't make any. Sense this is one where you're, Like, okay you, know maybe there's something. There maybe The Memphis grizzlies are looking to just kind of rebuild. Completely so, ANYWAYS i think the concept of, it people just want to be mad nowadays for no. Reasons, LEE i agree with. THAT i agree with. That all, right let's get another one. Here he can say, it but shouldn't say. It should he not say it for The lakers? Convenience, yes he shouldn't say, it but he doesn't worked for The, lakers SO i don't have a problem with him saying. It and, again if you're going to GO i really mean, This if you're gonna go do a, podcast AND i don't know how many days a week they're recording and they're doing their. Thing but if you're gonna be active in the podcast, game and you're gonna have an hour hour and a half long form, podcast, uh and you're very very closely tied to The lakers because Of Lebron. JAMES i, mean come, ON i mean that that's we're gonna say he shouldn't say. It what if that's his actual. Opinion all, right let's get with this. One so if you're Mad Rich paul Said lakers should trade ar game And, ruie, well, duh welcome to the real. World that that's that's part of the reason. Why that's definitely part of the reason. Why you, KNOW i mentioned from the, beginning there are also a lot Of laker fans that sit back and you, know have said way before this, Conversation, HEY i don't Think Austin reeves is gonna work with The lakers long. TERM i think there are more people that have said that than said that this is a you, know obviously this is a perfect fit or anything like. That All, RIGHT i got a couple of supers here THAT i got to get. Into so let's, uh let's do. That i'm gonna kind of change gears as. WELL i did want to talk about a conversation about The lakers front OFFICE i mentioned as, Well so we're going to do all that BEFORE i. Do. So wherever you are In Southern, california you're about an hour hour and a half two hours away From Harris Resort SoCal harrissocal dot. Com i'm not actually planning my trip out there Late. January i'm gonna be out. There i'm going to meet with some of the marketing. Folks i'm looking forward to getting back out. There certainly going to enjoy my time at a beautiful. RESORT i think they got one of the best restaurants In Southern, california and At Hell's, kitchen, uh which which Is Gordon ramsey's. Restaurant be my second time meeting. There WHEN i get get out there in Late, January i'm gonna stay the night. There i'm gonna do my morning show from, there working on some stuff With harris as, well to do a broadcast from there and everything. Else so love this. Partnership this, is you, know this kind of another old school partnership of. Mine i've known the folks over there At harris for about ten years or, so we're able to put something. Together this is part of My iHeart, program part of my five seventy program THAT i got as. Well if you're looking for a, staycation harrissocow dot, com go to that, website give them a, shot give them a. Try they're located In North San, Diego Palomar. Mountain beautiful mountains all around. You if you go look at some of the hotel, rooms you could see the mountains in the. Background it's really really pretty and it's a Great it's a great way to get away for a couple of. Days but do it. Efficiently you don't have to get on a. Plane you don't have to go pay for a round trip ticket, somewhere drive your car to the, airport the headache of the, airport don't do any of. That harrissocol dot. Com go to the, website start your process, there and Then i'll keep you guys posted on what we're going to be doing together moving forward as. Well, okay let me get to a couple of these, supers and THEN i want to talk about The lakers front office game, plan which somebody had, mentioned WHICH i think would be. Phenomenal all right, too we got. Here you are becoming a Real Lebron paul. Apologist, John thank you for the. Comment CAN'T i say the same about you being A lebron? HATER i, mean If i'm an, apologist you're a. Hater let's meet in the. Middle can we find a way to meet in the. Middle tell me Where i'm becoming an. APOLOGIST i would like to read that. COMMENT i want to know where you Say i'm becoming an. Apologist so let me see. It love to all the comments. HERE i got no issues in, it but just give me a little more, Context give me a little bit more context Where i'm becoming that yes or? No when the playoffs come and there are no back to, backs Will lebron be capable of this stat? Line, yes they lost because Of lebron in THE nba. Playoffs, brother you really believe. That you really believe they lost in the playoffs because Of. Lebron you don't think they lost because they didn't have a big. Man you don't think they lost because they were relying on five. Players you don't think they lost Because Austin reeves wasn't the player that he was in the regular. Season injury or. NOT i, mean come, on is that really what you? Believe that The lakers lost in the postseason against The Minnesota timberwolves because Of Lebron, JAMES i don't know what to tell. You these are the conversations THAT i have with certain fans where you just can't find a way in your soul to give credit where credits. Due that's a tough middle ground to try to make with. People that's a tough middle ground to try to make with. People rich can Trade lebron For TRIPLE. J all, right that's a creative one right. THERE i see what you're doing. There if he wants TRIPLE j on The, lakers so, bad trade Trade lebron for. Him thank you for the. SUPERS i really appreciate all the. Supers, OKAY i want TO i want to get into a couple of things. HERE i want to get Into that's WHY i didn't even MENTION Jj reddick and his coaching in the playoffs not exactly the greatest coaching performance as. Well let me read. THIS i saw this article. Yesterday this is an un you, KNOW i don't know WHAT nba executive it, is But i'm gonna read something for. You guys, HERE i saw this. Article this is AN nba executive talking about The. Lakers here's what he. Said they're not going to, rebuild but it looks like they want a soft. Rebuild they don't want big future financial, commitments cap space and draft. Picks they want to reset things and they can't do that without cap space and draft. Picks that's where a lot of teams are heading, now and The lakers are right there with the rest of. Them earlier in the, WEEK i THINK i was talking about this THAT i hope The lakers are approaching this trade deadline where any move they make maybe this is WHY i was kind of, like, hey if you can Get Keon, ellison you're not giving, up you, know a first rounder or multiple first rounders or whatever the case. Is that's kind of been the asking price now FOR Irb jones Trade murphy the, third and Then New orleans, Says, nope these guys are off the. Table we're not going to be trading. Anybody but we're talking about The Keon ellis. Piece it was, like all, right you can give up a second, Rounder dalton, connect no, harm no. Foul but the main kind of point That i've been trying to. Make is any move The lakers, make it's all got to be about the, future and it's all got to be around building Around. Luca and if you're going to give up one of your first rounders at this trade, deadline the only first rounder that you have for, Now, yes you can restockpile when you could restock once you get into the, summer but you got one first rounder to give up at this trade. Deadline if you're giving up that first rounder for a short term, solution or you're giving up that first rounder because you're still worried about The lebron, window THEN i think we got bigger. ISSUES i don't think this front office will do. THAT i don't think new ownership will do. THAT i think what THIS nba executive said about it's not a, rebuild but it's a soft. Rebuild they reset things without cap space or they can't do it without cap space and without draft. PICK i do think is the right approach for The. Lakers you, know Whether laker fans want to hear this or, Not AND i think part of my job is to be as objective AS i possibly. Can the biggest goal for The lakers right now is not what they could do this season BECAUSE i think we have you, know, look we got an. Idea i'm gonna go through ESPN's power rankings they had this. Morning it's gonna tell you a lot of what the league thinks of where The lakers are right. Now but part of the thing that The lakers have to worry about more than anything. Else if you're not truly knocking on the door of potentially competing for a, championship or you think you're one of the top two to three teams in The Western, conference you got to be really smart how you use some of these. Assets and WHAT i don't want The lakers to be is to be. CARELESS i don't want them to be. DESPERATE i don't want them to be chasing something that isn't. Realistic and we've seen that before with previous. Ownership and it's not just The. Lakers there's a lot of front offices that are like, that a lot of teams in all sports where they think they're closer than they really. Are The lakers are not that close to winning a. Championship they're. Not and that doesn't mean they can't make a run this. Year it doesn't mean they shouldn't make a trade at the trade. Deadline it doesn't mean that they can't get hot again and can get healthy and role players step, up and maybe The lakers some things go their, way matchups go their, way maybe they can find themselves in The Western conference. Finals but you're gonna need a lot of things to go your way and a lot of things to go right in order for that to. Happen but here's what they can. Control what they can control and new ownership can, control is this is a couple of year. PLANNED i mean their goal should be everything moving forward is how do we put together the best roster Around. Luca that's, it and every move they make and every decision they make should be based off of. That and trading first round like it's nothing to me is a sign of, desperation AND i hope The lakers don't fall into that. Now doesn't mean you can't trade a first round or at this trade, Deadline but whoever it is that you're bringing, over it's got to be a player that is part of The lakers'. Future is gonna be around With, luca is gonna Compliment luca And Austin? Reeves if that's your future moving, forward for at least the next couple of. Years that's when you trade one of your first. Rounders if that's not the, case and don't trade your first, rounder keep it and let this year play, out do as best as you possibly, can and then start the process of, saying all, right we're gonna build a. Contender but a contender can't be built. Overnight you can't just SAY i got this cake THAT i want to, bake but Instead i'm gonna throw it in the. Microwave can't do. That can't do. That AND i think for The, lakers it's more about planting as many seeds as you can and waiting for that plant to. Grow all, Right i'm gonna take a look at a couple of the comments and, then, Uh i'm GONNA i want TO i want to kind of give everyone an idea BECAUSE i thought it was interesting this power ranking thing FROM espn showing kind of where The lakers are in regards to. That let's get this one. Here we are Cooked laker fans Unless yiannis is, coming which heard he is going to. LEAVE i got no idea Where janis. Is every two Weeks giannis has got a different quote out. There i'm kind of over The yannis. Stuff to be honest with, YOU i don't think The lakers are. COOKED i think what they need is new ownership to really really start that process of get a better scouting. Department if you've got to hire a general manager Under Rob, polenka get more basketball minds in the. Room they got to just bring in some personnel that understand the game of basketball and start loading. Up from a front office, perspective that's what they need to. Do they got to. Go if in two three years we're not talking about The lakers having one of the best front offices in THE, nba Then i'll be disappointed in new ownership because that's where new ownership can really really put their fingerprints on this. Organization and it's not gonna happen. Overnight it's just not gonna happen. Overnight that's not how it. Works laker fans always looking for other teams to help them, win develop some of your draft. Picks by the, way, THIS i could agree with this. More you Know i've said this. BEFORE i love THE. NBA i WATCHED i got THE Nba League, pass so there's certain teams THAT i get interested in. Watching by the, Way atlanta is one of those. Teams and we watched. Yesterday Jalen johnson wasn't. Good they got some, players they didn't play all that. Well but look how long and athletic players that they're, developing drafting and. Developing go you want to go see an, interesting interesting, Team go watch The Boston celtics play half of their. ROSTER i don't even. Know and these guys are, dogs playing every single night like It's game. Seven they got a culture. There lakers don't have that. Yet they. Don't they, gotta you, know they got a waste to go go, Watch go Watch phoenix. Play phoenix went out and gave Up Kevin. Durant Bradley beal got rid of all that stuff and, said LET'S i mean one of those players Is Jordan goodwin THAT i enjoy. Watching there's teams out there that it's not just, talent it's not just free. Agents they're also developing their own players or they have built a foundation and that foundation just continues to. Grow all, right good stuff, here great great. Comments by the, way let's see what we have. HERE i need to find me another team to. Watch but after being A lakers family with TWENTIES i don't know IF i can watch that. Team, no it's not that much. Different, mean maybe you have AN nfl, team maybe you. Don't you don't watch OTHER nfl. Games if your team was eliminated this past, weekend or your team didn't make the, playoffs you're not gonna watch THE nfl. PLAYOFFS i think there's also just a also just a appreciation of just watching the. GAME i find, MYSELF i don't have a problem doing it BECAUSE i love, OBVIOUSLY i love THE, nba SO i love, basketball SO i can watch it and not get blinded by. IT i guess you could, say all, right final couple of things we're gonna do, here and then we're gonna call. TODAY i did see, this AND i think this kind of tells you a little bit about how the rest of THE nba feels about The. Lakers so let me share my screen with you, here and we're gonna look at where The lakers are on this latest power. Rankings and then there's a question being proposed should The lakers Keep Jake laravia on the starting. Lineup so let's take a look at this here real. Quick all, Right so this is THE Nba Power rankings gives you an. Idea, okay see back at number. One obviously they beat The spurs. Yesterday Finally detroit at. Two i'm gonna name off all the teams in The Western conference in front of The. Lakers you got The, thunder The, spurs The Denver, nuggets The Minnesota. Timberls four of the five teams top five teams in the, league four of them are in The Western. Conference so that's four already named off in The. West who? Else did they Have phoenix at number, Eight houston at number? Nine they got The lakers at number. Thirteen, okay here's WHY i wanted to show you. This The lakers are thirteenth in The power. Rankings, basically WHAT espn is saying is there are six teams in front of The lakers in The Western. Conference remember HOW i was talking about how their sixth squad or there's seven squads fighting for six. Spots the playing tournament is the seventh. Spot ESPN's got The lakers as the seventh best team in The Western. Conference AND i gotta be honest with, YOU i can't really argue that right. Now if you, know you told me who's better today Between phoenix And, MINNESOTA i mean some of these teams are just playing really good. Ball they've won seven of their last ten or eight of their last. Ten other teams have. Momentum that has not been the case for The. LAKERS i, mean they got a good win, yesterday but obviously we're on a three game losing. Streak the other question here THAT i think is interesting is this portion that, says this is A dave mcmanhamon piece right here WITH jj declaring That Ruy hachimo will come off the bench upon his. Return obviously we know. That the question here Is Jake. Laavia this is what he's done in his first six games of twenty twenty six as a, starter fourteen, points five rebounds to, assist while shooting fifty one percent from the field and thirty eight percent from the three point. Line the question is should The lakers Keep Jake laavia on the starting? Lineup ruby came off the bench. Yesterday should they keep him in the starting lineup or do they go back To ruey hot. Chamorrow here's WHAT i would. DO i go back To rui and let me let me tell you. Why AND i think this is what The lakers will. Do, ANYWAYS i don't think you lose your starting spot because of an. Injury but here's WHAT i will. Say IF i feel like that's not, WORKING i go back To Jake. Laavia you. Don't it doesn't have to be In, stone. RIGHT i think one of the Things Jake laravia does do well he plays defense and he, rebounds something that that starting lineup. Needs SO i would say THIS i would like to. See AND i don't know When Austin reeves comes back how much that changes, things BUT i think they're gonna give ruly an opportunity to keep his starting. Spot but it doesn't have to be In. Stone and if things aren't going as, planned then go ahead and make your move and make your you know move again and allow uh allow obviously For Jake laarravia to go back into that starting. Lineup but most of the, time you don't lose your starting spot if if it's injury. Related that's how it typically works in regards to. That all, Right i'm gonna read a couple of. Comments we got our TOP nba stories we're gonna get. Into we'll call today appreciate you guys being a part of the. Show i'll see what we got. Here all, Right let's see what we got, Here jake should. Start jake does way more THAN. Rui by the, Way i'm gonna tell you guys, this that's a good sign that people feel that way Because ruey is on an expiring contract AND i don't know what's gonna happen after this. Year And Jake, lravia you got for another year after this at a very very minimal price at six million a. Year So La. RAVIA i know he's been all over the place Against. Sacramento we saw he didn't do all that, much but no one ever questions his. Effort no one ever questions him crashing the. Glass no one ever, says oh my, god this guy's shooting too. Much the guy kind of understands his, role AND i think it's just getting more and more comfortable on a night, in night out. BASIS i think it's a great sign if people are saying, no, no, NO i THINK i think you got to stay With. Jake so that to me is a good. Sign hello From, SPAIN i appreciate. IT i, mean here WATCHING i don't get one invite To, spain not. One you come on, here you listen to my, show AND i can't get an invite To. SPAIN i mean last NIGHT i was Watching Real Madrid barcelona. Highlights i'm basically From. Spain thank you for tuning, in, brother appreciate you very. Much let's see we, Guys, slee that's old. School now you stay with who's ever, producing it's. Not let me put it this. Way you can convince me, otherwise AND i think you. Are you're not wrong in, Saying, slee that's old. School and maybe The lakers don't have the luxury of, saying, well we're gonna go back to something you know, this and that maybe they don't have that. LUXURY i do think they'll Keep rui in the starting. Lineup facts over. Feelings rui is not starting, material especially playing out a. Position let's put it this. Way I'm i'm not going to go down swinging on this. ONE i could be convinced That Jake lavia should be a starter for The. LAKERS i could be convinced that maybe that also tells you that it also tells you that the lack of depth that The lakers have maybe that has something to do with it with it as. Well BUT i have not had an issue With Jake. LAREVIA i really haven't The rava is a bench. Player, guys for now he should be the first guy coming off the bench For. Lebron we'll see what. Happens we'll see what. Happens lakers obviously got some stuff that they're going to be figuring. Out couple of stories around THE. Nba The Oklahoma City thunder finally beat The San Antonio spurs kind of handed it to them yesterday too one nineteen ninety. EIGHT i thought last night was going to be a very interesting game for The Oklahoma City. Thunder they're kind of starting to work their way back on, track but we know they were. Struggling they've won four games in a row. Now BUT i thought they had to not just beat The San Antonio. Spurs they had to sa send a little bit of a message to The San Antonio. SPURS i thought that was gonna be. KEY i thought that was gonna be, important and they. DID i, mean if you're gonna be the best team in the in THE nba and you're gonna go zero to four against one, squad you got some. Issues remember they started out the season twenty four and one and then started obviously getting some, losses and yesterday they were able to kind of get back on, track they end up. WINNING i got A yannis story for, everybody even Though i'm sick of The yanna. Stories here's the cover ON. Espn Jiannis attenttakoumpo booze fans back As bucks drubbed at. Home So bucks got their asses kicked yesterday by The Minnesota. Timberwolves and The minnesota Timber wolves, fans by the, WAY i haven't got their asses. Kicked they lost one thirty nine to one oh. Six they got ran at, home almost gave up one hundred and forty. Points so naturally your fan base is gonna boo you with the Territory. Giannis WHENEVER i get, BOOED i boo. Back, okay y, honest it doesn't. MATTER i play basketball for my. TEAMMATES i played basketball for myself and my. Family when people don't believe in, ME i don't tend to be with. THEM i tend to do What i'm here to do What i'm good. At it won't change home or. Away but, Yeah i've never been a part of something like that, before AND i don't think it's. FAIR i, Don't but everybody has their opinion to do what they want to do A is it just? Me or Is yiannis starting to annoy? ME i Think giannis is starting to annoy. Me here's a quote maybe you want to do after the. Game we got our asses. Kicked that would have boded me as. Well we lost by thirty plus at home in front of our home. Crowd what do you want them to do with the cheer for? Us we got our asses. Kicked we're trying to make a playoff. Spot we're trying to make a playoff. Push we got. Ran it's. Unacceptable, Instead giannis booed The bucks fans. BACK i never Seen i've never seen someone double down on a. Boo i've never seen. That it's. Interesting that's. Interesting i've also never said boo that many times in this short of a. SPAN i got another story for. Everybody it's a crazy. One Anthony davis is gonna forego. Surgery he's out six, weeks all. Right So Anthony, davis we kind of saw this. Continuing he injured his left hand and he's not gonna have, surgery all. Right THEN i saw. This Bleacher report had an article it Says Anthony davis trade rumors updated BY Nba insider very. Clear Rich paul wants deal at the. Deadline tim McMahon was talking, about it's very clear That Rich paul is trying to get a deal For Anthony davis out Of. Dallas what is part of the reason why he's doing? That financial? Reasons he wants to get an. Extension CAN i ask somebody a quick question? Here is anybody Giving Anthony davis a big time? Extension let me play some numbers for you guys here real. Quick first, Off Anthony davis can't even stay on the, Floor. Okay The Athletics Christian clark And Sam amick reported On january seventh That davis is seeking a massive extension this. Summer he's owed fifty eight point five million in twenty twenty six twenty twenty, seven and has a sixty two point eight million dollar player option for twenty twenty seven twenty twenty eight on his current. Contract let me get this. Straight ad can't stay on the. Floor he's owed fifty eight and a half next year in sixty two point eight the following. Year who's gonna give him a massive? Extension is? That is that? Real maybe they just add a year to it or something along those. Lines but you're a front office out there saying we got to Give Anthony davis a massive extension past the two years that he already has and the guy can't stay healthy at thirty, two thirty three years. Old it doesn't seem like a good. Idea and just to give you guys a heads, Up i'm not an, executive so you KNOW i don't get paid the big bucks to make those. Decisions but seems like a bad. Idea real, quick last Thing i'm gonna, Mention i'm gona look at a couple of, comments and then we're done for the. Day if you're looking for some good games in THE, nba, Tonight calves and The sixers play each. Other maybe not a great, game but just let me give everyone an. Idea if you're looking to see if The lakers can catch some ground On, Denver they're At dallas. Tonight nicks are playing The, Kings wizzard are playing The. Clippers clippers are playing much better. Basketball what are they in their last Ten let's see what The clippers. Are they're winning. GAMES i, mean IF i list off how many losses they have, one, two, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, eleven, twelve they're ten and two in their last Twelve So clippers are getting back on. Track all, Right let's take a look at a couple of the comments and we're gonna call it a. Day AND i appreciate everybody chiming in. Here slee just say you want to trade ar what are we getting? Back, Listen i'm open to every. Conversation if you're one hundred percent building Around Luka, doncic THEN i think you have to consider. Everything got to consider. Everything But i'll also tell you WHAT i think is going to. HAPPEN i think he will be re signed and get damn good money in the, summer AND i think they're gonna give him And luca a chance to, work to play together and kind of build a team around. Them let's see what we got. Here sounds like something The clippers would. Do, okay let's get a couple more in. Here hawks still want a D i saw. THAT i know that was part of the conversation before the. Injury that was part of the reason why they were doing. That. Listen If Anthony davis is, healthy, awesome love. It good for, That Atlanta. Hawks but you, truly, truly you truly truly can you? CANNOT i don't know you could take chances like that With Anthony davis at this stage of his, career and he's still guaranteed two more. Years you want a contract, extension you still got two years left on your. Deal you're still making over the course of the next two years over one hundred and ten million. Dollars yannis won't take disrespect for. LONG i don't. KNOW i. LISTEN i Think jannis. Is he's also said things that he's got to make a decision with his future as. Well he's he's keeping The Milwaukee bucks in limbo as. Well my sympathy has decreased For Jannis attentakupo when it comes to his trade request or he's never really actually had a trade, Request yannis. Unraveling he might be, okay then just request the trade and, leave then get out of. There this thing is just kind of. LINGERING i think with the honest, right we've got a couple of the supers here THAT i gotta get. Into what DO i have? Here it's Me north Bro. Slee this show was, solid so balanced to surf to. Diversified you are one of. One keep. Going appreciate, you, Brother thank you very, Much thank, you thank you, buddy thank you for the tense as. WELL i appreciate. It, okay nothing left for the rest of the. DAY i gotta be honest With i'm kind of Glad lakers to have a day off kind of pumping in these. Games sometimes that, turnaround you. KNOW i got to get a couple of these in me to keep it. Going but today was a really fun show and it was appreciate all the comments that were. Involved appreciate everybody obviously tuning in tomorrow, morning got a member. Show i'll promote this. Again please consider being a member three dollars a, month great way to support the, channel AND i do obviously do content just exclusively for the. Members. TOMORROW i got a couple of Things i'm going to be showing to the members as far as kind of a some changes that are going to be coming to the, channel So i'll get their opinion for. Members that's how it, works all, right go behind the curtains when we're doing the members. Show thank you very much for being. Here shout out to everyone that threw in a super thank you To Harris, resorts So, CaAl thank you To Brad, watson the walls From i'm back on tomorrow morning at eight am for members at seven. Thirty have a great rest of Your wednesday
Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, Good morning, what's going on? What is going on? Thank you very much for being here? It just me or does the mic sound a little extra crispy today? Very nice, very clean today. Thank you very much for being here. Appreciate you guys being a part of the Joe Cheers to everybody here who was up last night for a seven point thirty tip off and then back here for a morning show. What do we do? What time we finished yesterday? I think we finished around eleven something like that. I do editing. Then I gotta start, you know, preparing for this show. All right, let's say we get into bed at midnight, then right back here at eight o'clock in the morning. So thank you very much for being here. We got a lot of we got a lot of good topics today, a lot of interesting stuff. I'm gonna weave in some stuff that I think we'll make this conversation this morning a good conversation. Lakers obviously with a good win last night against the Atlanta Hawks again in the rundown. In just a second, just want to call everybody here. Just a quick reminder. Two quick reminders. Number One, subscribe to the channel if if you have to subscribe to the channel number two A member show tomorrow morning at seven thirty. So tomorrow we're gonna do a seven thirty member show. I got to get some thoughts and opinions from the members about a couple changes I'm going to be making to the look of the channel. So tomorrow morning at seven thirty, I think we had a handful of people that were gifted some Hoops Talk memberships. So if if you're available tomorrow, join us at seven thirty. All right, So, no Laker game tonight, Finally get a chance to breathe here for a second. Still got what? We still got three more games? I think this week they play Friday or no, they play tomorrow, they play Saturday, and then they play Sunday. So well they'll still be filling in as many games as they possibly can. We playing Saturday Sunday on NFL weekend. What's going on here with the schedule? Who the hell set up the schedule? Let me see actually here as I have you guys, what is the NFL schedule this weekend? Do they go Saturday and Sunday or they just on Sunday? No, they go Saturday and Sunday. Probably not the smartest scheduling there from the NBA. All right, let me give everyone a quick rundown what we got going on for the show today. I'll take a look at some of the comments. We'll get the show started. Thank you very much for hanging out Lakers Dominate yesterday. I got some I got some angles from that game yesterday against the Atlanta Hawks. I think it threw a lot of people off. I wasn't expecting the Lakers to play as well as they did yesterday. I'm sure a lot of Laker fans weren't as well. So let's spend a little bit of time hitting on a few different things around the game last night. I do want to talk about some of the role players and really just how important the rest of the season is going to be if the Lakers want to have any sustained success. I'm not saying they got to play exactly like they did yesterday, but going to need your role players to obviously step up. So let's we'll spend a little bit of time on the role players. JJ Reddick. Yesterday, Lebron was what I think a rebound away from a triple double. Somebody asked him a question about you know what he's doing at this age and everything else, and he kind of went on a tangent on his own and wanted to defend Lebron, And I got the full quote that will take a look at. I think last night I mentioned I'll come back to it this morning. I got the full quote. And again, I'm not going to try to convince anybody to appreciate what Lebron is doing at age forty one, but at least I'll share with you what people internally say about what he's doing at the age of forty one. So we'll get into that. We'll spend a little bit of time on that. Is Rich Paul becoming a distraction for the Los Angeles Lakers? Is that becoming an issue? And this is the second time, you know, yesterday when I was doing my show, I didn't hit on it in the morning, and frankly, we just had other stuff going on, and I don't think I even had the full story of what rich Paul was proposing. But I was planning on doing it today. I was planning on doing it this morning, and yesterday Lebron was asked about it in regards to Austin Reeves and Rich Paul is basically making trade proposals for the Lakers, whether they want to hear it or they don't. How much of a distraction is that. I think it's got to be somewhat of a distraction. So well, again today, I think that's actually a very very interesting topic. Obviously, Rich Paul now doing a podcast with Max Kellerman, so we'll hit on that. There was an executive NBA executive talking about how the game plan for the Lakers kind of short term to long term. So I do want to read that quote actually, like if this is the blueprint for the Lakers moving forward. I'm excited about the Lakers moving forward, and it's kind of something that I've been talking about, how you just can't. You can't at this stage be in a position where you're trying to sell everything you got to compete this year. So there was a little bit more of a long term approach. We'll hit on that. Jake Larevia continues to start, Ruey is back. Should the Lakers keep Loravia on the starting lineup, Should does Ruey hotchiburrow E actually get his starting role back? We could hit on that as well. I got some NBA news Oklahoma beat the Spurs, yesterday, so they finally get a w there. I got a couple things about Anthony Davis. Let's see what else we have here. Giannis boos his own fans at home. That was an interesting one. And yeah, the one thing on Anthony Davis is are you giving a d an extension? I'm not, but maybe other teams are. Those will be some of our NBA stories. So thank you for being here. Appreciate you guys being a part of the show. Let me take a look at a couple of the comments before we get going here, and then we'll go from there. All right, let's get a quote here. Whatever you fear, whether you feared or not, disappointed, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and clarity comes conviction and true original And that's from Conan. Go work, Conan O'Brien, phenomenal stuff, right there, A fan of that. All right, I already got people saying, where's this one that I saw? Somebody said, he's already sick of Rich Paul. Let me see here if I could find that one. I'm over Rich Paul Ar's agent confronted Rich Paul. I saw that as well, Yeah, listen, I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't think over is the right way to put it. I'm curious, I'm interested. I think you could do two things with the Rich Paul stuff, and we're gonna get the show started and then and then we'll go from there. I think you can do two things with the Rich Paul stuff. Number one, the first thing you could do in regards to Rich Paul, you can kind of break down what he's actually talking about, and I think breaking down when he's actually talking about I gotta be honest with you, and a couple of times that it's been a subject. I kind of see where he's coming from. But the other piece of it is, well, how much of that is going to be a distraction and that's going to obviously be the conversation that we're happening. All right, let's do that a little bit later. I don't want to kind of jump into the show with Rich Paul. There's a couple other things I want to get into first, and then we'll gradually gradually work our way there as the show goes on. So yesterday, Lakers take on the Atlanta Hawks. They balled out. Yes, I don't know if the hell happened. I mean, I'm genuinely, I'm trying to be as honest as possible. Lakers had lost three games in a row. They lose to the Sacramento Kings. Their defense was so bad against Sacramento, and all I'm hearing everybody says, oh, well, you know, Sacramento just shot well, all right, there's a lot of closeouts where the Lakers are nowhere near any of these Sacramento Kings players. You adjust as the game goes. Malik Monk, there's still guys going below screens when Monk is hitting everything DeMar DeRozan. Lakers are coming off a loss. They got a second of a back to back coming. You don't know if Luca's gonna play, You don't know if Lebron's gonna play. You're expecting Lebron actually not to play. And you got an Atlanta Hawks team that's just sitting in La waiting for the Lakers to come. They had won a few games in a row, couple of them on the road. Yesterday just seemed like it wasn't gonna go as planned, or maybe it was gonna go as planned, And what was planned was the Lakers were going to struggle against the Atlanta Hawks. Couldn't mean that they couldn't beat the Atlanta Hawks, but I thought there were some things going against them. Game starts, and I think very early on Atlanta took a five point lead and then Lakers go on maybe a thirteen to nothing run and they go up eight. It's like, wow, okay, well that changed dramatically here in a very very short period of time. And then Atlanta would come back and I think at one point either tied the game or got within one, and then the Lakers just just blew the doors open at one point, going up thirty two. Yes, Atlanta made a run, they did, They knocked out probably eighteen nineteen points off of that deficit. But the reality is is the Lakers controlled that entire game. They led for over eighty percent of the game, and they got a much needed desperate win to just snap that three game losing streak and start putting themselves in a position where you know, obviously hopefully they can they can build from there and gain some momentum. Last night was an impressive win for the Lakers, and I haven't been able to say that in a while, whether it's in the postgame show or in the morning show. But it was a desperate, much needed w the Lakers made it happen. And now, obviously the Lake Show can kind of see what they can do from here as they got a handful of games, but they got a game tomorrow against Charlotte they can obviously take advantage of. You know, looking at the upcoming schedule, we still know January was a light month, so we'll see if the Lakers can can continue to get back on track. Here's a question all ask Laker fans, and there's a couple of things that I want to to hit on with this, but was last night just a fluke? Was it just Lakers shot really well? Everybody played well. Maybe they'd been embarrassed a couple of days in a row, and this was a prideful game for the Lakers to come back in and show that, Okay, we can have some pride guys that can hit some shots, the ball will move a little bit more. They had a lot of players that were hitting shots. What happens when Lakers don't hit shots? You know, obviously it's almost like it's a completely different team. So I'll throw that question out to those that are here on the live stream that are listening. Was last night just a fluke? Was it just a everything clicked for the Lakers? Or do you see some kind of real hope from what you watched last night? I'll tell you. For me, the only thing that matters, the thing that I take away most is there were players outside of Lebron and outside of Luca that were phenomenal. They were okay, not hey, this player was all right, that player was right. They were great. And that's not something we've been able to say too often. And if you're going to have any sustained success, I get it. Austin Reeves is out. I get it, and I try I try to value. I try to, you know, add as much value as I can to the Austin Reeves mix here with the Lakers. I think he's wildly valuable to the Lakers as of right now, this team, this roster, they are desperate to get Austin Reeves back. But him not being there is not an excuse for Aton to be bad three straight games, or Marcus Smart to be no shows in some of these games, or Jake Laravia and Marcus Smart to have a game where they combined for three points, or you know, go down the list of all the different role players. The role players have been so inconsistent for the Lakers. I mentioned this yesterday, you know, yesterday I did a whole segment on this where the hell the role players? And maybe last night's game actually falls in line to what I've been saying. I have no idea what these role players are gonna give the Lakers every single night. Well, last night, I had no idea that DeAndre Ayton was going to give you seventeen and eighteen. I had no idea last night that Marcus Smart was gonna give you sixteen points, five rebounds and four assists. I had no idea last night that Jake Laravio is gonna give you seventeen four and three. And Marcus Smart shot four, only took five field goal attempts, he shot four or five from the field, still had sixteen points. La Ravia shot sixty percent from the field. I had no idea that all these players were going to contribute for the Lakers yesterday. That's kind of gonna be the pulse of the Lake Show. The rest of the way. They're gonna win games because they have four, five six guys contributing or they're gonna lose games because they're dependent on one or two players, and last night they got help from everybody and they dropped one hundred and forty one. Can we expect that every night? Of course not. Can you expect six guys to score in double figures every every night? Of course not? But can they get two or three dudes to step up on a night at night? Out basis, you're asking for too much to get two or three players to step up. I don't think we are, or maybe we are. If it's not happening consistently enough, then I think, you know, obviously we're getting our own answer. But I you know, I'm gonna hesitate, and I'm not trying to be you know, negative or anything like that. But it's very difficult for me to watch every single Lakers game this year, every single minute of every Lakers game this year, do a daily podcast on the Lakers, see some of these other opponents that they're facing, and think what we saw yesterday is gonna be the norm. It's not gonna be the norm. But they don't need six players to step up every night. I need four. That's kind of the goal for the Lakers, and some Knights have five, some Knights have three, whatever the case is. But if they're gonna have a chance against some of these other teams in the league, they need this beautiful distribution that they had yesterday in points and rebounds and assists. Everybody contributed, and that to me is I think what really really stood out from last night's game. So I'll throw that question out again. Was last night more of a fluke or do you think there's something sustainable that you saw from the Lake Show last night? You know, obviously, only time is going to tell and I don't have an answer for you, but you know, I can kind of give my assumptions here from what I've seen so far. I'm gonna need a lot more of some of these role players to do it on a consistent basis to feel like, Okay, hey, the Lakers got something here. Shout out to Brad Wallace and the Wallace Firm, official injury attorneys of the Channel of Hoops Talk, obviously the postgame show, the Morning Show. Shout out to Brad Wallace. I've known for about six years serious injury, wrongful death case. He can help anybody in the state of California. I know this is not you know, one of those partnerships where you pick up the phone and you call every single day. I hope you never need him, but things are going to happen in life. And if if you can use some guidance, please go to Wallacewins dot com slash sliwa again if you need guidance, If you're hoping for somebody to kind of point you in the right direction, him and his team will be able to do so. If you live in the state of California, we created this UURL you can fill out an absolutely free consultation Wallace wins dot com slash sliwa. Thank you to Brad Walls and the Walls for appreciate them being partners of the channel and of the show. All right, let's let's keep moving on here. Let's look at a couple of the comments here. What are what are people saying in regards to what I just mentioned Laker. Laker's offense is Lucas shooting thirty shots a game and if he gets free throws, they win. Here's what I'll tell you. We're talking about this a little bit in the postgame show. Talked about this a little bit in the postgame show. I don't think the way they have Luca playing right now, Luca puts up monster numbers, He's a top five player in the league. You know, you obviously got to get the right team around him, and the Lakers they don't have the right team around him. And the big question is going to be what do they do between now and the trade deadline, between now and the summer and by the time next season starts. Is the team starting to look a lot more like a team that's built around Luca. But I will say this, and I talked about it a little bit yesterday in the postgame show. I'm not a fan of isoball. I don't think isoball works. I do think there needs to be more ball movement with the Lakers. I don't think, and I think there's probably some possessions where guy's got to be kind of standing around saying to themselves, well, so is Luca just going to dribble the ball for the entire shot clock. That's not good basketball. And that doesn't mean Lucas not good enough to get any shot that he wants. This that whatever the case is, And maybe Luca doesn't have the confidence that some of the players that are around him. But if you're gonna have success in the NBA, you can't have success by relying on a player or two, and sometimes Luca falls into that. So Lakers offense thirty shots a game in him getting to the free throw line. That's not a winning recipe against good teams. That's not if you're playing the San Antonio Spurs and you think that's how you're gonna beat san Antonio, I think you got a nothing coming for you. All right, let's see, let's get another one here. I want to see some more of these comments, specifically about if yesterday was a fluke or not. Love from the UK, Thank you, brother, I appreciate that. You know this is a There's two things that's awesome about doing this show. Number One, you can have listen from anywhere. That's how YouTube obviously operates. And number two, the Lakers brand is so big. You got Laker fans that are everywhere. How many trades do you realistic think the Lakers make before the deadline. I'm gonna hold onto this. I'm gonna do something about the front office in a little bit. There was an executive that had said something in regards to the Lakers game plan that I think this will tie too, so I'll come back to this. I don't want to get into that topic without giving it its true time. Okay, let's see what else we have here. Lakers basketball skills is like Houdini. Now you see me? Now you don't, all right? Fair? You know you want something on a more consistent basis. And if you're not getting something on a consistent basis, I think that's obviously a you're going to hesitate. All right, Let's get another one here. All right, Imagine going to work and you had no idea what your role would be day to day. Here's what I would do. And I don't know if you guys are talking about eight In or you're talking about somebody else, And we should get into Aden, because I think Ayton was, you know, obviously phenomenal yesterday, which sometimes makes me even more frustrated about DeAndre In because of that. Here's what I would do if maybe I didn't know what my role was day to day. And I'm not telling you this is an easy thing to do. And if we're using eight In as an example, what I wouldn't do is not bring in the proper effort commitment. You know, I'm still clocking in from nine to five. I'm still making sure that I'm useful when I'm there. I'm not wildly different day to day where I come one day and it's like I'm an emotional wreck and I don't want to do anything, and the next day I'm beaming with confidence and I want to, you know, I want to power through a ten to eleven, twelve hour day. And I would tell you this, and I heard it yesterday on the postgame broadcast. I heard them kind of saying this a couple of different times, and I was talking about it. How Worthy really goes out of his way to say, you gotta get eight in involved. And if you can get it in involved, then maybe there's other ways that it can be a benefit. Because he feels like he's getting involved. Maybe that's part of the game plan for the Lakers as well, and part of that I would put on on Luca Luca to get him involved. All right, let me read this here, Slee. Can you make a call in segment Maybe down the road, maybe not yet, but it's not a terrible idea, but nothing at the moment. And I appreciate the super and I appreciate you asking that question, So, thank you, wasn't a fluke. Just like the law of averages. They missed all them shots against the Kings, and they went in against the Hawks. They all went in against the Hawks. They shot over fifty percent from the field and over fifty percent from the three point line. And we know the Lakers. That doesn't typically happen. That doesn't typically happen. Okay, I'm gonna keep moving on here because there's other things that I want to get into, and then we can go from there. Let me see this. Somebody put something, all right, I have an answer for you. It wasn't a fluke. Because the Hawks are not a good team. They're better than I think you think they are. I don't think their record truly represents some of the talent that they have. But we'll leave it at that. Not a big deal either way. Okay, let's keep it moving on here. So Lebron had a night last night. I'm gonna do Lebron, and then I'm gonna do the Rich Paul conversation, and then there's some other topics that we can get into as well. Lebron had a night last night. I thought yesterday, you know, is he gonna play second of a back to back. Is he not to be honest with you, I didn't think he was gonna play. And then there was some momentum there where I'm like, maybe Luca's not gonna play as well. So I actually thought that the Lakers were not set up well against Atlanta. They both end up playing. Obviously we know what happens. Lebron for the first time this year, played a second of a back to back and was pretty damn good ten thirty one, ten and nine, And I thought this was interesting, you know, for what it's worth. And I'm there's gonna be people and it's not just you guys. I mean, this is just comes with the territory. This is this is just kind of how the business works. There are some people that still love and appreciate Lebron James, like, unbelievable. The guy's doing a twenty three years old and there's a huge camp as well. That's like I can't wait for Lebron not to be a Laker, or I want Lebron to retire, or you know, I can't stand this guy. Lebron is one of the more polarizing sports athletes we're ever gonna watch or we're ever gonna cover or whatever the case is. People are kind of all over the place on Lebron. I've said this before. You guys don't have to take my you know, obviously, my opinion on this or my advice on this. I'd rather just I know, Lebron's a laker today, and let's see how much longer he's a laker. And I think there's probably a good chance that if he comes back next year, it's certainly not going to be at the same structure. And a lot of people who do who are frustrated with Lebron, what they claim to say is, well, it's because he's taken up fifty two million dollars, all right, Well, last night he was worth fifty two million dollars, and he's not going to be worth fifty two million dollars every night. Last night, thirty thirty one to ten and nine. And it's actually gone through a stretch here over a handful of games where he's been good. JJ Reddick was asked yesterday about Lebron and then just kind of went on a little bit of a tangent. Let me just read to you a couple of the quotes here that came from JJ Reddick and then we'll react to it. He said, it's remarkable his competitive stamina is off the charts. Okay, leave it at that. Nothing too crazy there. Like I said, Lebron forty one was. He said at one point last week that all back to backs are going to be to be determined just because of his age and everything else. Here's what JJ said about Lebron. I don't take for granted the Lebron stuff. It's unfortunate. Actually not to go on a little tangent here, but it's actually unfortunate how much this guy puts into it and how much he cares, and the way certain people talk about him. It's crazy. Come be around him every day and see how much this guy cares. It's off the charts. Okay. Then he went on a little before or he went on a little bit more. I'm gonna read a little bit more here. The first thing what he's saying is, you know, people don't appreciate what he's doing. You can't be forty one years old and playing in the NBA unless you're doing unbelievable stuff. Once the game is over, before you go to bed, what you do when you wake up, What you're putting in your body, what your pregame routine is, all that stuff. Obviously, this is somebody that played in the league, and nobody's ever played in twenty three seasons in the NBA, and it is absolutely absurd that Lebron's still putting up numbers like this. You don't have to like Lebron. I'm not here trying to convince it any one to say I love Lebron. What I'm trying to tell you is, okay, you can probably have a little bit of appreciation what the man is doing at this age. Here's what JJ continues to say. That's the nature of envy. It's the nature of envy. You're not going to get a click. You're not going to get a response by saying something nice about somebody, by acknowledging someone's greatness, by acknowledging how much they care and how much they work, and how much they've accomplished and continue to accomplish and continue to go after something. I mean, you got to say something bad about him, you got to go on TV and knock him, you got to go read into oh he did this pregame and he did this. It's all just nuts be around him every day. He's unbelievable. All right, So he is defending he's defending Lebron, but defending him in a little bit different of a manner. He's not talking about extras and o's. He's not talking about Lebron being perfect on the basketball on the basketball court. He's basically going after those who use Lebron as an opportunity to go get whatever it is clicks this, whatever the case is, all right, JJ kind of goes into a little bit of a tangent Lucas said yesterday. For me, he's one of a kind of being his twenty third season to play back to back. It costs everybody, but for him it's probably even more difficult. It shows how much he cares. I'm gonna The purpose of me doing this is because last night he did have thirty ten thirty one, ten to nine, Lakers did win the game. He has still putting up some great numbers at this age, and that's all. There's nothing more to it. I don't need to read anything further into it. It's remarkable that he's doing what he's doing at forty one. Do I want to see a chapter sooner than later that has a Lakers team that's completely built around Luca. Yeah, I think that's what they're gonna need. Do I want to see, you know, a team that's that makes sense and every resource is used around a twenty six year old? Yes? Do I think it's going to be difficult for a twenty six years old twenty six year old and a forty one year old one guy that's been the greatest, one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and one player that's currently one of the best players in the league. Is that going to be tough to mold those two together for a championship run? Yes? Do I feel like that's going to happen? Probably not, But I can also still kind of just appreciate that, at age forty one, he's still making it happen. And last night was a good example of that. And I don't know why JJ Reddick decided to go on a rant last night about Lebron, but he did. And the rant that he went off of obviously ties into criticism that others give around Lebron James, and he's not wrong about that. I think, you know, stylistically, we are a society that is more interested interested in talking about what's wrong. Go watch the news for ten to fifteen minutes. Nobody's talking about what's good. It's this happened and that happening, and they're shooting and a fire and at this. That's kind of how our society works. I wish it wasn't that way, but that's just the reality of it. All right. I'll take a look at a couple of the comments here and then we can stop start hitting on some of the Rich Paul stuff. All right, ummm, let's see. Um, I'm trying to see here. If they're specific. Okay, here's one king James is teaching Luca how to get everyone involved, and he's running the offense. Worthy is calling out JJ. Maybe you're talking about in regards to what I was saying about eight and listen, I'll go back to this. If if the Lakers are going to have some success, and if this is a message you're you're kind of pointing out to on the Luca front that he's got to involve others and everything else, I'm not here to argue with you. I'm really not. I think that ball does have to I really do. And because here's the reality, you can drop forty five and still lose. He had forty two against Sacramento, they still lost. He had forty through the first three quarters and they were down what fifteen eighteen or something like that. So I agree with this. I mean, I'm not going away from that. I think there's a lot true to that. Yes, but Lebron a minus twenty in big games and playoff games, so it doesn't matter. I'll ask this question, and again I'm all good with all the comments. If you guys disagree, that's all right. We'll have that conversation. But do you think the Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves because of Lebron? Is that the argument here? Is the argument that the Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves because of Lebron. I mean, if that's the analysis that came out of that playoff series, I don't know what to tell you. Le Bron and Luca Max and Ar makes less than twenty million. Rob sucks. Really, Ar and Luca will lead this team. Le Bron doesn't lead. He takes and leaves leftovers. Okay, get another one in here. If he does play, Lebron's got to take a pay cut next year playing and simple, I really really don't think they're going to give him the I really think that. I really don't think they're going to give him another fifty two. You know, if I'm being honest with you, I am. I got no idea what the Lakers are going to do this offseason. I have no idea, and I don't know if Lebron is going to want to keep going. Is this is last year? If the Lakers say, hey, we're not going to we're not paying you big money. We got to start making some decisions around Luca, does that turn Lebron off? Does Lebron say, hey, I don't care give me nine to ten million dollars, just keep me on the team. I want to keep going. I don't know, And I think that's, you know, obviously fair questions to be asked. All right, let's let's keep rolling here. I got a couple other topics that I want to get into. I want to I want to spend a little bit of time on this Rich Paul stuff. All right, So let me catch everybody up to speed here of what's going on with Rich Paul and why this is a conversation, and then we'll come back to I think there's a couple of different ways to break this down. I think one way to break it down is to take the actual context of what Rich Paul is saying. And then I think the other thing to break down is, well, if Rich Paul keeps talking about the Lakers and trading Austin Reeves, you know, is that going to be a distraction to the team, the organization. Obviously that's Lebron's boy, and yesterday Lebron was asked about it, so I think it's impossible for it not to be a distraction. Let me catch everybody up to speed here. Here's where we are. Rich Paul, we know, is the CEO of Clutch Sports. He's now doing a podcast with Max Kellerman. We've talked about it. Game Over is what the podcast is called. I've listened to a couple of the shows. I've said this before. I'm a big fan of Max Kellerman. You know, obviously worked with him back in the days on radio as well. So I'm a big fan. I mean I have been. And if you told me stylistically, what is my Do I like the style of a Steven A. Smith or do I like the style of a Max Keleman. I'll take a Max Keleman all day, that's my cup of tea. Doesn't have to be your cup of tea. But I like the kind of the long form conversation. I like that, that nuance of I think it's less hot taksh and that's the that I like. So he teams up with Rich Paul. They do a podcast together, and there was a time when that podcast was just released, which was what a month and a half ago, two months ago tops whenever it was, and Laker conversations were coming up, and Rich Paul was having those conversations, and Austin Reeves's name came up, and there was kind of this, yeah, here's what I would do if I the Lakers. And I don't think Rich Paul saw a vision where Austin Reeves can be with Luca or be with Luca on lebron and compete for an NBA championship. And can I tell you something that's not a stretch of a conversation. I mean, I think a lot of people, there are probably a lot of Laker fans that would agree with that. I think that that question is still in the air. Lakers going to have to pay Austin Reeves in the offseason. I think Austin Reeves is a baller. Of course, he's not the most ideal back court mate with Luka Doncic. How can you be when you got two players to focused on offense. But I don't think Austin Reeves is going to go anywhere. Okay, Rich Paul had an episode recently. He's talking about Jared Jackson. I'm gonna read some of what he said here, and you know, I'll share my screen with you guys here so we can kind of look at it together. So I'm not just you guys aren't looking at it blindly. If you're listening a little bit later, you'll obviously be able to look at it. If you're listening on the podcast on the iHeartRadio network, I appreciate you listening. But I'm gonna go through this so that we can look at this together. Okay, So here's what Rich Paul said, some of the stuff that Rich Paul said. First thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give it some context of what he's actually talking about, and then we'll talk about the distraction piece of it. If I was a Lakers, I'd probably be targeting the Memphis Grizzlies as a trade partner for Jaren Jackson some way, somehow, I'd be trying to get Jaron Jackson, maybe get back Gig Jackson. Jackson and Jackson associates because he's a young player that can develop, God, has good size, can shoot the ball. But I think if you if you're building around Luca going forward, which they are, you need that anchor. And Jaren doesn't want to be a part of a rebuild. They just put John Moran on the market saying that they're willing to trade him, et cetera. So I think they would be. I think they would be a trade partner for me. Okay, I'm gonna come down here a little bit further. Let me withhold that this comes with a very unemotional attachment because Austin Reeves is beloved, which he should be. He's an underdog. And here's the thing. There's a world where you can do what's best for your team and do what's best for Austin because Austin deserves to get paid. Right now, Memphis would definitely pay Austin. Okay, that's what he said. All right, let me take the substance of what he said, and then I want to kind of get into the distraction portion of this. What is he really saying, what Rich Paul is saying is I believe the Lakers are better off trying to get a big that can compliment Luka Doncic, that's also a threat from the three point line, that is a good defensive big. You know, there's some areas of Jaron Jackson, probably not the best rebounder, is not this you know, big six' eleven seven foot guy that can completely hold it. Down but the concept of what he's talking about is The Memphis grizzlies are already you, know they're gonna probably Trade Jahn morant at some point, here and they can kind they can bring in a, guy AND i Think Austin reeves can be you, know he shouldn't be the best player on your, team but a face of your, franchise one of the. Faces he can get, paid get the money that he's looking. For lakers can Get Jaron, jackson they can kind of work it out from. THERE i don't think it's a CRAZY i don't think it's a crazy, argument. RIGHT i think there's there's some substance to what he's talking. ABOUT i think he's again he's doing a podcast and his goal in doing the podcast is to bring up. Conversations you, Know i've heard them talk about THE, Nfl i've heard them talk about all these different. Subjects he's a Big Ohio state. Fan i'm most interested With max And Rich paul are TALKING, nba and a lot of it has to do with Because Rich paul is obviously so closely associated with THE. Nba so the concept of what he's talking about About Jaron Jackson, junior it's not a crazy. Concept let me give you an. Example if IF i came on here or another reporter or somebody that does a, podcast, Said, hey you know WHAT i think The lakers should. DO i think they should consider Trading Austin reez For Jaron. JACKSON i wonder if both of these, teams if it could be a win win for both of these. Teams it's not going to be a crazy topic or a. Subject it's just going to, be all, right that's. Interesting here's a kind of a trade, proposal and you would kind of get some of the reasons why both of those things would be. Considered here's why it's a. Distraction and for someone like, ME i don't mind any of this. Stuff let's talk about. It, let's you, know let's have that. Conversation is it a good? Idea is it not a good? IDEA i like all, this this is this is. Great here's why it's a. Distraction it's a distraction Because Rich paul is Obviously lebron's. Boy yesterday after The lakers beat The Atlanta, Hawks lebron has a great. Game he does everything he's. Doing there's the conversation about the role Players DeAndrea and doing this, that everything. Else what do you Think one of the questions were in the postgame. Show one of the questions were About Rich paul and this possible trade involving one of his teammates In Austin. Reeves here's What lebron. SAID i think you all know by Now rich is his own, man and What rich says is not a direct reflection of me and HOW i. Feel AND i hope people know. THAT i hope people know. That if they're not sensible to know, that THEN i don't know what to tell. Them is it not just naturally a? Distraction If lebron's got to address. It could it be a little bit odd That lebron is addressing Something and who knows how Close Austin. Reeves is he's in the locker room that he already. Leaved Is Austin reeves listening in the. Background there was a report out there That Austin reeves agent went to talk To Rich. Paul by the, WAY i don't know what he's going to go talk To Rich paul. ABOUT i, Mean Rich paul is doing a. Podcast the guy's going to say whatever the hell he. WANTS i, mean this is just my. Opinion but, yes it is a. Distraction of course it's a. Distract how could it not be a? Distraction Anytime Rich paul opens his mouth about The Los Angeles, lakers it's going to get, clicks it's gonna get. Views and, AGAIN i don't think What Rich paul is saying is. CRAZY i think there's a lot Of laker fans out there that if you take the actual the concept of what he's referring to and what he's talking, about no one's gonna sit here and, say, well you, Know Rich paul is just trying to get. CLICKS i Think Rich paul is looking at The lakers and, Saying, okay if you're gonna build Around, luca wouldn't you want to big maybe someone who stretches the, floor maybe somebody that has more of a defensive. Presence, okay that's not, crazy but it's the fact that he's talking about A laker With lebron still on the, team and then yesterday Obviously Rich paul getting asked Or lebron getting asked some questions About Rich paul's. Podcast it is a. Distraction it's not gonna. STOP i, mean who's gonna pick up the phone and, say, Hey rich, listen we're gonna need you to back off of talking about things on an hour long form podcast that you want to talk. About Rich paul thinks he's got some ideas for The lakers or The nicks or the The Memphis grizzlies of Where John moran should. Go he should say, it but it's gonna be a. Distraction SO i THINK i think obviously there's a lot to kind of come in regards to. THAT i think for, ME i think there Is Uh, AGAIN i kind of go back to. This it's an interesting dynamic that you didn't think was gonna kind of become a conversation Until Max kellerman And jade And Rich paul started a podcast. Together and this is a couple of times now that he has brought Up Austin. Reeves So Austin reeves kind of getting targeted By Rich. Paul BUT i don't think what he's bringing up is. CRAZY i, don't, RIGHT i think The, AGAIN i go back to the concept of. IT i don't think it's crazy what he's. Saying all, right let's, uh let's see what we got. Here, Okay remember When lebron approached Stephen a For bronnie. Talk wasn't Stephen a allowed to say what he wanted About? Bronnie If i'm right on, THIS i think it was. MORE i think it was more of a personal. THING i think it was If i'm, RIGHT i don't remember off the top of my. Head but wasn't it something Like lebron didn't like Steven a basically saying how he should be parenting his? Son it was something more about That Rich paul. Stuff this's got nothing to do with any of. That The Rich paul stuff, Is, hey if The lakers are going to build Around, luca this is WHAT i would. Do AND i like What Rich paul said. Too he said. Unemotional this is an unemotional. Trade that's what he's talking about. Regardless if you Like Rich, Paul TRIPLE j is a perfect fit for Our. Lakers that's WHY i tried separating the. Two if you, know if you Heard i'm making up something, here BUT i don't even know IF i have anything on. This if if If Rich paul, said, hey Trade Austin reeves For Shake Goldess, alexander you'd be, like what are you talking? About, yeah that ain't gonna. Happen nobody's doing. That that's, stupid that's. Dumb that doesn't make any. Sense this is one where you're, Like, okay you, know maybe there's something. There maybe The Memphis grizzlies are looking to just kind of rebuild. Completely so, ANYWAYS i think the concept of, it people just want to be mad nowadays for no. Reasons, LEE i agree with. THAT i agree with. That all, right let's get another one. Here he can say, it but shouldn't say. It should he not say it for The lakers? Convenience, yes he shouldn't say, it but he doesn't worked for The, lakers SO i don't have a problem with him saying. It and, again if you're going to GO i really mean, This if you're gonna go do a, podcast AND i don't know how many days a week they're recording and they're doing their. Thing but if you're gonna be active in the podcast, game and you're gonna have an hour hour and a half long form, podcast, uh and you're very very closely tied to The lakers because Of Lebron. JAMES i, mean come, ON i mean that that's we're gonna say he shouldn't say. It what if that's his actual. Opinion all, right let's get with this. One so if you're Mad Rich paul Said lakers should trade ar game And, ruie, well, duh welcome to the real. World that that's that's part of the reason. Why that's definitely part of the reason. Why you, KNOW i mentioned from the, beginning there are also a lot Of laker fans that sit back and you, know have said way before this, Conversation, HEY i don't Think Austin reeves is gonna work with The lakers long. TERM i think there are more people that have said that than said that this is a you, know obviously this is a perfect fit or anything like. That All, RIGHT i got a couple of supers here THAT i got to get. Into so let's, uh let's do. That i'm gonna kind of change gears as. WELL i did want to talk about a conversation about The lakers front OFFICE i mentioned as, Well so we're going to do all that BEFORE i. Do. 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Well, okay let me get to a couple of these, supers and THEN i want to talk about The lakers front office game, plan which somebody had, mentioned WHICH i think would be. Phenomenal all right, too we got. Here you are becoming a Real Lebron paul. Apologist, John thank you for the. Comment CAN'T i say the same about you being A lebron? HATER i, mean If i'm an, apologist you're a. Hater let's meet in the. Middle can we find a way to meet in the. Middle tell me Where i'm becoming an. APOLOGIST i would like to read that. COMMENT i want to know where you Say i'm becoming an. Apologist so let me see. It love to all the comments. HERE i got no issues in, it but just give me a little more, Context give me a little bit more context Where i'm becoming that yes or? No when the playoffs come and there are no back to, backs Will lebron be capable of this stat? Line, yes they lost because Of lebron in THE nba. Playoffs, brother you really believe. That you really believe they lost in the playoffs because Of. Lebron you don't think they lost because they didn't have a big. Man you don't think they lost because they were relying on five. Players you don't think they lost Because Austin reeves wasn't the player that he was in the regular. Season injury or. NOT i, mean come, on is that really what you? Believe that The lakers lost in the postseason against The Minnesota timberwolves because Of Lebron, JAMES i don't know what to tell. You these are the conversations THAT i have with certain fans where you just can't find a way in your soul to give credit where credits. Due that's a tough middle ground to try to make with. People that's a tough middle ground to try to make with. People rich can Trade lebron For TRIPLE. J all, right that's a creative one right. THERE i see what you're doing. There if he wants TRIPLE j on The, lakers so, bad trade Trade lebron for. Him thank you for the. SUPERS i really appreciate all the. Supers, OKAY i want TO i want to get into a couple of things. HERE i want to get Into that's WHY i didn't even MENTION Jj reddick and his coaching in the playoffs not exactly the greatest coaching performance as. Well let me read. THIS i saw this article. Yesterday this is an un you, KNOW i don't know WHAT nba executive it, is But i'm gonna read something for. You guys, HERE i saw this. Article this is AN nba executive talking about The. Lakers here's what he. Said they're not going to, rebuild but it looks like they want a soft. Rebuild they don't want big future financial, commitments cap space and draft. Picks they want to reset things and they can't do that without cap space and draft. Picks that's where a lot of teams are heading, now and The lakers are right there with the rest of. Them earlier in the, WEEK i THINK i was talking about this THAT i hope The lakers are approaching this trade deadline where any move they make maybe this is WHY i was kind of, like, hey if you can Get Keon, ellison you're not giving, up you, know a first rounder or multiple first rounders or whatever the case. Is that's kind of been the asking price now FOR Irb jones Trade murphy the, third and Then New orleans, Says, nope these guys are off the. Table we're not going to be trading. Anybody but we're talking about The Keon ellis. Piece it was, like all, right you can give up a second, Rounder dalton, connect no, harm no. Foul but the main kind of point That i've been trying to. Make is any move The lakers, make it's all got to be about the, future and it's all got to be around building Around. Luca and if you're going to give up one of your first rounders at this trade, deadline the only first rounder that you have for, Now, yes you can restockpile when you could restock once you get into the, summer but you got one first rounder to give up at this trade. Deadline if you're giving up that first rounder for a short term, solution or you're giving up that first rounder because you're still worried about The lebron, window THEN i think we got bigger. ISSUES i don't think this front office will do. THAT i don't think new ownership will do. THAT i think what THIS nba executive said about it's not a, rebuild but it's a soft. Rebuild they reset things without cap space or they can't do it without cap space and without draft. PICK i do think is the right approach for The. Lakers you, know Whether laker fans want to hear this or, Not AND i think part of my job is to be as objective AS i possibly. Can the biggest goal for The lakers right now is not what they could do this season BECAUSE i think we have you, know, look we got an. Idea i'm gonna go through ESPN's power rankings they had this. Morning it's gonna tell you a lot of what the league thinks of where The lakers are right. Now but part of the thing that The lakers have to worry about more than anything. Else if you're not truly knocking on the door of potentially competing for a, championship or you think you're one of the top two to three teams in The Western, conference you got to be really smart how you use some of these. Assets and WHAT i don't want The lakers to be is to be. CARELESS i don't want them to be. DESPERATE i don't want them to be chasing something that isn't. Realistic and we've seen that before with previous. Ownership and it's not just The. Lakers there's a lot of front offices that are like, that a lot of teams in all sports where they think they're closer than they really. Are The lakers are not that close to winning a. Championship they're. Not and that doesn't mean they can't make a run this. Year it doesn't mean they shouldn't make a trade at the trade. Deadline it doesn't mean that they can't get hot again and can get healthy and role players step, up and maybe The lakers some things go their, way matchups go their, way maybe they can find themselves in The Western conference. Finals but you're gonna need a lot of things to go your way and a lot of things to go right in order for that to. Happen but here's what they can. Control what they can control and new ownership can, control is this is a couple of year. PLANNED i mean their goal should be everything moving forward is how do we put together the best roster Around. Luca that's, it and every move they make and every decision they make should be based off of. That and trading first round like it's nothing to me is a sign of, desperation AND i hope The lakers don't fall into that. Now doesn't mean you can't trade a first round or at this trade, Deadline but whoever it is that you're bringing, over it's got to be a player that is part of The lakers'. Future is gonna be around With, luca is gonna Compliment luca And Austin? Reeves if that's your future moving, forward for at least the next couple of. Years that's when you trade one of your first. Rounders if that's not the, case and don't trade your first, rounder keep it and let this year play, out do as best as you possibly, can and then start the process of, saying all, right we're gonna build a. Contender but a contender can't be built. Overnight you can't just SAY i got this cake THAT i want to, bake but Instead i'm gonna throw it in the. Microwave can't do. That can't do. That AND i think for The, lakers it's more about planting as many seeds as you can and waiting for that plant to. Grow all, Right i'm gonna take a look at a couple of the comments and, then, Uh i'm GONNA i want TO i want to kind of give everyone an idea BECAUSE i thought it was interesting this power ranking thing FROM espn showing kind of where The lakers are in regards to. That let's get this one. Here we are Cooked laker fans Unless yiannis is, coming which heard he is going to. LEAVE i got no idea Where janis. Is every two Weeks giannis has got a different quote out. There i'm kind of over The yannis. Stuff to be honest with, YOU i don't think The lakers are. COOKED i think what they need is new ownership to really really start that process of get a better scouting. Department if you've got to hire a general manager Under Rob, polenka get more basketball minds in the. Room they got to just bring in some personnel that understand the game of basketball and start loading. Up from a front office, perspective that's what they need to. Do they got to. Go if in two three years we're not talking about The lakers having one of the best front offices in THE, nba Then i'll be disappointed in new ownership because that's where new ownership can really really put their fingerprints on this. Organization and it's not gonna happen. Overnight it's just not gonna happen. Overnight that's not how it. Works laker fans always looking for other teams to help them, win develop some of your draft. Picks by the, way, THIS i could agree with this. More you Know i've said this. BEFORE i love THE. NBA i WATCHED i got THE Nba League, pass so there's certain teams THAT i get interested in. Watching by the, Way atlanta is one of those. Teams and we watched. Yesterday Jalen johnson wasn't. Good they got some, players they didn't play all that. Well but look how long and athletic players that they're, developing drafting and. Developing go you want to go see an, interesting interesting, Team go watch The Boston celtics play half of their. ROSTER i don't even. Know and these guys are, dogs playing every single night like It's game. Seven they got a culture. There lakers don't have that. Yet they. Don't they, gotta you, know they got a waste to go go, Watch go Watch phoenix. Play phoenix went out and gave Up Kevin. Durant Bradley beal got rid of all that stuff and, said LET'S i mean one of those players Is Jordan goodwin THAT i enjoy. Watching there's teams out there that it's not just, talent it's not just free. Agents they're also developing their own players or they have built a foundation and that foundation just continues to. Grow all, right good stuff, here great great. Comments by the, way let's see what we have. HERE i need to find me another team to. Watch but after being A lakers family with TWENTIES i don't know IF i can watch that. Team, no it's not that much. Different, mean maybe you have AN nfl, team maybe you. Don't you don't watch OTHER nfl. Games if your team was eliminated this past, weekend or your team didn't make the, playoffs you're not gonna watch THE nfl. PLAYOFFS i think there's also just a also just a appreciation of just watching the. GAME i find, MYSELF i don't have a problem doing it BECAUSE i love, OBVIOUSLY i love THE, nba SO i love, basketball SO i can watch it and not get blinded by. IT i guess you could, say all, right final couple of things we're gonna do, here and then we're gonna call. TODAY i did see, this AND i think this kind of tells you a little bit about how the rest of THE nba feels about The. Lakers so let me share my screen with you, here and we're gonna look at where The lakers are on this latest power. Rankings and then there's a question being proposed should The lakers Keep Jake laravia on the starting. Lineup so let's take a look at this here real. Quick all, Right so this is THE Nba Power rankings gives you an. Idea, okay see back at number. One obviously they beat The spurs. Yesterday Finally detroit at. Two i'm gonna name off all the teams in The Western conference in front of The. Lakers you got The, thunder The, spurs The Denver, nuggets The Minnesota. Timberls four of the five teams top five teams in the, league four of them are in The Western. Conference so that's four already named off in The. West who? Else did they Have phoenix at number, Eight houston at number? Nine they got The lakers at number. Thirteen, okay here's WHY i wanted to show you. This The lakers are thirteenth in The power. Rankings, basically WHAT espn is saying is there are six teams in front of The lakers in The Western. Conference remember HOW i was talking about how their sixth squad or there's seven squads fighting for six. Spots the playing tournament is the seventh. Spot ESPN's got The lakers as the seventh best team in The Western. Conference AND i gotta be honest with, YOU i can't really argue that right. Now if you, know you told me who's better today Between phoenix And, MINNESOTA i mean some of these teams are just playing really good. Ball they've won seven of their last ten or eight of their last. Ten other teams have. Momentum that has not been the case for The. LAKERS i, mean they got a good win, yesterday but obviously we're on a three game losing. Streak the other question here THAT i think is interesting is this portion that, says this is A dave mcmanhamon piece right here WITH jj declaring That Ruy hachimo will come off the bench upon his. Return obviously we know. That the question here Is Jake. Laavia this is what he's done in his first six games of twenty twenty six as a, starter fourteen, points five rebounds to, assist while shooting fifty one percent from the field and thirty eight percent from the three point. Line the question is should The lakers Keep Jake laavia on the starting? Lineup ruby came off the bench. Yesterday should they keep him in the starting lineup or do they go back To ruey hot. Chamorrow here's WHAT i would. DO i go back To rui and let me let me tell you. Why AND i think this is what The lakers will. Do, ANYWAYS i don't think you lose your starting spot because of an. Injury but here's WHAT i will. Say IF i feel like that's not, WORKING i go back To Jake. Laavia you. Don't it doesn't have to be In, stone. RIGHT i think one of the Things Jake laravia does do well he plays defense and he, rebounds something that that starting lineup. Needs SO i would say THIS i would like to. See AND i don't know When Austin reeves comes back how much that changes, things BUT i think they're gonna give ruly an opportunity to keep his starting. Spot but it doesn't have to be In. Stone and if things aren't going as, planned then go ahead and make your move and make your you know move again and allow uh allow obviously For Jake laarravia to go back into that starting. Lineup but most of the, time you don't lose your starting spot if if it's injury. Related that's how it typically works in regards to. That all, Right i'm gonna read a couple of. Comments we got our TOP nba stories we're gonna get. Into we'll call today appreciate you guys being a part of the. Show i'll see what we got. Here all, Right let's see what we got, Here jake should. Start jake does way more THAN. Rui by the, Way i'm gonna tell you guys, this that's a good sign that people feel that way Because ruey is on an expiring contract AND i don't know what's gonna happen after this. Year And Jake, lravia you got for another year after this at a very very minimal price at six million a. Year So La. RAVIA i know he's been all over the place Against. Sacramento we saw he didn't do all that, much but no one ever questions his. Effort no one ever questions him crashing the. Glass no one ever, says oh my, god this guy's shooting too. Much the guy kind of understands his, role AND i think it's just getting more and more comfortable on a night, in night out. BASIS i think it's a great sign if people are saying, no, no, NO i THINK i think you got to stay With. Jake so that to me is a good. Sign hello From, SPAIN i appreciate. IT i, mean here WATCHING i don't get one invite To, spain not. One you come on, here you listen to my, show AND i can't get an invite To. SPAIN i mean last NIGHT i was Watching Real Madrid barcelona. Highlights i'm basically From. Spain thank you for tuning, in, brother appreciate you very. Much let's see we, Guys, slee that's old. School now you stay with who's ever, producing it's. Not let me put it this. Way you can convince me, otherwise AND i think you. Are you're not wrong in, Saying, slee that's old. School and maybe The lakers don't have the luxury of, saying, well we're gonna go back to something you know, this and that maybe they don't have that. LUXURY i do think they'll Keep rui in the starting. Lineup facts over. Feelings rui is not starting, material especially playing out a. Position let's put it this. Way I'm i'm not going to go down swinging on this. ONE i could be convinced That Jake lavia should be a starter for The. LAKERS i could be convinced that maybe that also tells you that it also tells you that the lack of depth that The lakers have maybe that has something to do with it with it as. Well BUT i have not had an issue With Jake. LAREVIA i really haven't The rava is a bench. Player, guys for now he should be the first guy coming off the bench For. Lebron we'll see what. Happens we'll see what. Happens lakers obviously got some stuff that they're going to be figuring. Out couple of stories around THE. Nba The Oklahoma City thunder finally beat The San Antonio spurs kind of handed it to them yesterday too one nineteen ninety. EIGHT i thought last night was going to be a very interesting game for The Oklahoma City. Thunder they're kind of starting to work their way back on, track but we know they were. Struggling they've won four games in a row. Now BUT i thought they had to not just beat The San Antonio. Spurs they had to sa send a little bit of a message to The San Antonio. SPURS i thought that was gonna be. KEY i thought that was gonna be, important and they. DID i, mean if you're gonna be the best team in the in THE nba and you're gonna go zero to four against one, squad you got some. Issues remember they started out the season twenty four and one and then started obviously getting some, losses and yesterday they were able to kind of get back on, track they end up. WINNING i got A yannis story for, everybody even Though i'm sick of The yanna. Stories here's the cover ON. Espn Jiannis attenttakoumpo booze fans back As bucks drubbed at. Home So bucks got their asses kicked yesterday by The Minnesota. Timberwolves and The minnesota Timber wolves, fans by the, WAY i haven't got their asses. Kicked they lost one thirty nine to one oh. Six they got ran at, home almost gave up one hundred and forty. Points so naturally your fan base is gonna boo you with the Territory. Giannis WHENEVER i get, BOOED i boo. Back, okay y, honest it doesn't. MATTER i play basketball for my. TEAMMATES i played basketball for myself and my. Family when people don't believe in, ME i don't tend to be with. THEM i tend to do What i'm here to do What i'm good. At it won't change home or. Away but, Yeah i've never been a part of something like that, before AND i don't think it's. FAIR i, Don't but everybody has their opinion to do what they want to do A is it just? Me or Is yiannis starting to annoy? ME i Think giannis is starting to annoy. Me here's a quote maybe you want to do after the. Game we got our asses. Kicked that would have boded me as. Well we lost by thirty plus at home in front of our home. Crowd what do you want them to do with the cheer for? Us we got our asses. Kicked we're trying to make a playoff. Spot we're trying to make a playoff. Push we got. Ran it's. Unacceptable, Instead giannis booed The bucks fans. BACK i never Seen i've never seen someone double down on a. Boo i've never seen. That it's. Interesting that's. Interesting i've also never said boo that many times in this short of a. SPAN i got another story for. Everybody it's a crazy. One Anthony davis is gonna forego. Surgery he's out six, weeks all. Right So Anthony, davis we kind of saw this. Continuing he injured his left hand and he's not gonna have, surgery all. Right THEN i saw. This Bleacher report had an article it Says Anthony davis trade rumors updated BY Nba insider very. Clear Rich paul wants deal at the. Deadline tim McMahon was talking, about it's very clear That Rich paul is trying to get a deal For Anthony davis out Of. Dallas what is part of the reason why he's doing? That financial? Reasons he wants to get an. Extension CAN i ask somebody a quick question? Here is anybody Giving Anthony davis a big time? Extension let me play some numbers for you guys here real. Quick first, Off Anthony davis can't even stay on the, Floor. Okay The Athletics Christian clark And Sam amick reported On january seventh That davis is seeking a massive extension this. Summer he's owed fifty eight point five million in twenty twenty six twenty twenty, seven and has a sixty two point eight million dollar player option for twenty twenty seven twenty twenty eight on his current. Contract let me get this. Straight ad can't stay on the. Floor he's owed fifty eight and a half next year in sixty two point eight the following. Year who's gonna give him a massive? Extension is? That is that? Real maybe they just add a year to it or something along those. Lines but you're a front office out there saying we got to Give Anthony davis a massive extension past the two years that he already has and the guy can't stay healthy at thirty, two thirty three years. Old it doesn't seem like a good. Idea and just to give you guys a heads, Up i'm not an, executive so you KNOW i don't get paid the big bucks to make those. Decisions but seems like a bad. Idea real, quick last Thing i'm gonna, Mention i'm gona look at a couple of, comments and then we're done for the. Day if you're looking for some good games in THE, nba, Tonight calves and The sixers play each. Other maybe not a great, game but just let me give everyone an. Idea if you're looking to see if The lakers can catch some ground On, Denver they're At dallas. Tonight nicks are playing The, Kings wizzard are playing The. Clippers clippers are playing much better. Basketball what are they in their last Ten let's see what The clippers. Are they're winning. GAMES i, mean IF i list off how many losses they have, one, two, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, eleven, twelve they're ten and two in their last Twelve So clippers are getting back on. Track all, Right let's take a look at a couple of the comments and we're gonna call it a. Day AND i appreciate everybody chiming in. Here slee just say you want to trade ar what are we getting? Back, Listen i'm open to every. Conversation if you're one hundred percent building Around Luka, doncic THEN i think you have to consider. Everything got to consider. Everything But i'll also tell you WHAT i think is going to. HAPPEN i think he will be re signed and get damn good money in the, summer AND i think they're gonna give him And luca a chance to, work to play together and kind of build a team around. Them let's see what we got. Here sounds like something The clippers would. Do, okay let's get a couple more in. Here hawks still want a D i saw. THAT i know that was part of the conversation before the. Injury that was part of the reason why they were doing. That. Listen If Anthony davis is, healthy, awesome love. It good for, That Atlanta. Hawks but you, truly, truly you truly truly can you? CANNOT i don't know you could take chances like that With Anthony davis at this stage of his, career and he's still guaranteed two more. Years you want a contract, extension you still got two years left on your. Deal you're still making over the course of the next two years over one hundred and ten million. Dollars yannis won't take disrespect for. LONG i don't. KNOW i. LISTEN i Think jannis. Is he's also said things that he's got to make a decision with his future as. Well he's he's keeping The Milwaukee bucks in limbo as. Well my sympathy has decreased For Jannis attentakupo when it comes to his trade request or he's never really actually had a trade, Request yannis. Unraveling he might be, okay then just request the trade and, leave then get out of. There this thing is just kind of. LINGERING i think with the honest, right we've got a couple of the supers here THAT i gotta get. Into what DO i have? Here it's Me north Bro. Slee this show was, solid so balanced to surf to. Diversified you are one of. One keep. Going appreciate, you, Brother thank you very, Much thank, you thank you, buddy thank you for the tense as. WELL i appreciate. It, okay nothing left for the rest of the. DAY i gotta be honest With i'm kind of Glad lakers to have a day off kind of pumping in these. Games sometimes that, turnaround you. KNOW i got to get a couple of these in me to keep it. Going but today was a really fun show and it was appreciate all the comments that were. Involved appreciate everybody obviously tuning in tomorrow, morning got a member. Show i'll promote this. Again please consider being a member three dollars a, month great way to support the, channel AND i do obviously do content just exclusively for the. Members. TOMORROW i got a couple of Things i'm going to be showing to the members as far as kind of a some changes that are going to be coming to the, channel So i'll get their opinion for. Members that's how it, works all, right go behind the curtains when we're doing the members. Show thank you very much for being. Here shout out to everyone that threw in a super thank you To Harris, resorts So, CaAl thank you To Brad, watson the walls From i'm back on tomorrow morning at eight am for members at seven. Thirty have a great rest of Your wednesday