Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - 5 Reasons the Lakers are Better Equipped for This Year's Playoffs

Starting point is 00:00:00 Luca Donchage is comfortable and the supporting cast is better. We'll tell you why this year's Lakers are better suited for a deeper playoff run than last. That's next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for joining Locked on Lakers. I'm Brian Kemenisky with Andy Kaminetsky.

Starting point is 00:00:31 Do want to let you know that today's episodes brought to you by FanDuel during the tournament, FanDuel is offering $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. Head to FanDuel.com to get started. We'll break down what's coming up Friday night in terms of injuries and who's going to play and who might not. We'll talk about a shift in the odds for MVP, Andy. That's a Luca conversation in case you haven't been following along.

Starting point is 00:01:03 But first, let's talk a little bit about Luca and the supporting cast in something. It's even more important than MVP, the postseason, because we felt pretty good last year going into that first. Everybody forgets, but when the Lakers were going into that first round matchup against Minnesota last year, the vibes were on the side of the Lakers, not the wolves. And so this year, we were all feeling pretty good, but that is not necessarily different than what it was a year ago.

Starting point is 00:01:33 Yeah, I remember last year, I'm pretty sure, the preview shows that we did with Ben Beacon from Locked on Wolves and for my weekly ESPN LA 7-10 show Lakers talk, John Krasinski, who covers the wolves for the athletic. If memory serves, both predicted the Lakers would win that series. Definitely Ben, and I'm pretty sure John as well, and the Lakers with a higher seed, if I had to guess, they were the betting favorite and not simply just because the money always comes in on the Lakers. And that is one reason that they're often, they often get pretty good odds for a lot of different things just because they have such a massive fan base. Other than I think a recognition that Jackson Hayes had cooled off a bit from a period where he was looking like he actually was capable of maybe permanently taking over starting center.

Starting point is 00:02:32 duties for the Lakers, not just for that season, but moving forward. You know, his April slowed down a bit. That aside, though, there had been a ton of optimism heading into the series so much so that JJ opted, and we discussed this for a Thursday show, the idea of giving these guys additional rest as opposed to maintaining what they were doing in practice. He just figured the best thing we can do is try to get them healthy. And while health obviously matters, that led to a super flat game one that ended up an omen for the wolves. To be fair, that that was the belief that would be like you never know if they'd practice hard if they'd come out the same way.

Starting point is 00:03:23 But like that was absolutely, that was what JJ attributed that flat performance to. to whatever saying you can measure that stuff. Yeah. I am not saying this as a criticism of JJ. I'm saying just as a matter of fact statement, they prioritized getting everybody's body right over keeping everybody in a rhythm and practicing with any real urgency. And they decided in retrospect it was a mistake.

Starting point is 00:03:54 Yeah. Whether that was the, you know, what A to B caused, the direct. caused of the performance or not. I think it definitely was very clear that they believe that from a, from a tactical standpoint, from a sharpness standpoint and all that stuff, that it didn't. I mean, it was a reasonable, it was a reasonable choice in time, but they clearly attributed to that.

Starting point is 00:04:20 I don't think it's that difficult to land on that. You can't obviously prove a negative. I don't know how game one plays out on Earth two where they practice all week. But they were unusually flat for game one of the playoffs at home. Sure. I don't think it's that big. My point is just like, you know, a lot of times these things are built on kind of, you know, the performance dictates the evaluation of it.

Starting point is 00:04:50 But I think it doesn't matter. Right. From a personnel standpoint, though, you know, when you look at the difference between last year and this year, You know, the vibes were really good. The Lakers were favored to win that series, and obviously they didn't. You know, the group that they have now, though, at the risk of, I mean, I'm falling into some of the same traps, it is when you compare this year to last year, to me, there are a lot of, and why, some of the other reasons that they lost. series, even after game one with that flat performance, you know, what was the problem in game two, three, four, and five?

Starting point is 00:05:37 A lot of the things that were problematic in that series should be less problematic this season. Yeah, I only raised the game one thing just to illustrate how confident they felt heading into the series, not to relitigate causation versus, you know, whatever. It just, it illustrates what they were thinking at the time. But contextually, if you look at last year versus this year, last year's eight-man rotation heading into the playoffs was Luca LeBron, Austin, Jackson Hayes, Ruy Hachamora with the prime bench guys, Dorian Finney Smith, Jared Vanderbilt, Jordan Goodwin. And down the stretch, and Gabe Vincent, sorry, and Gabe Vincent. That was your nine men. And by the time the series ended, JJ looked only confident in five of those guys.

Starting point is 00:06:33 This year, the rotation, just to reset the stage, Luca, LeBron, Austin, Dandre Ait, and Marcus Smart with Rui, Jake Laravia, Luke Kinnard, and now Jackson Hayes coming off the bench. Just the first thing that pops to mind is two center options. That's before you even get into what JJ will not do with. Maxi Claiba, just two center options as opposed to last season, either playing Jackson Hayes or not playing a center at all. Like that in and of itself speaks to just more depth, more optionality and something I know I want to get into, more pitches in general that JJ can throw. Yeah, for sure. And, you know, so it's twofold. We'll start with this center question, because there are a few places where the Lakers are better off, I think, for sure.

Starting point is 00:07:30 Center is a key one. Aiton is, it's that you have two, not just centers that you can play, two different stylistic centers. So you have, like you say, a few more pitches that you can throw, depending on the matchup, depending on the game situation, depending on what you need. but also too like DeAndre Aitin is the way he especially the way he's played over the last month a legitimate starting center in the league like is he the best one you're going to find no but

Starting point is 00:08:02 is he you know high quality when he's playing like this yes he I mean he is he is arguably not the best center between whatever matchup the Lakers are going to go in the first round between Minnesota Denver and Houston you could argue that he is at best the third best center, maybe the fourth best center, but that doesn't change the fact that he is a legit starting center. And the gap, the gap between what that was this, what it is this year and what it was last year is significantly small. Yes, absolutely.

Starting point is 00:08:35 So, you know, you have that. And then now you factor in Jackson Hayes, who just in isolation is a better player now than he was at this point last year. I realized, you know, Jackson was playing well. You kind of, everybody had their fingers crossed that, you know, maybe he could handle, you know, the starting position in the playoffs. He's really all they had post-trade. And, you know, he was playing well.

Starting point is 00:09:03 There was some optimism. And then we saw what happened. He's a better player now. And so you factor that with assuming Aiton is healthy and assuming he's playing like he is now, Jackson now plays against backups. He's going to look even better. And so he is properly slotted to play against where he should. The center position just elevates in a huge way compared to last year.

Starting point is 00:09:33 That is a major weakness that I don't want to say necessarily turns into a strength. But at the very least, the Lakers are far less exploitable there. I mean, you argue about it being strength, weakness, whatever. It's not a weakness anymore. And I think that's critical. I mean, I think it is actually a strength because the two of them, if they are both playing at the top of their game and the way they've been playing over the next month, it is a strength in the sense that you've got two centers that you can put out on the floor

Starting point is 00:10:06 that you feel pretty good about, both of which, both of whom work well with the stars on the team. And both of them can provide very, different utility, you know, a very specific utilities, different skill sets. And it makes it too. So when the Lakers opt to go small, unless DA or Jacks or both falls off, in which case you've got a whole set of other problems to deal with, it means that JJ's implementing going small strategically as opposed to a survival mechanism, which it was last year. And that is a massive, massive contextual difference.

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Starting point is 00:13:47 Check it out, see if it's for you. If it's not, we love you just the same. I want to start kind of at the bottom of the rotation, at the back of it, I should say, and work our way back up. Another thing that is significantly different about this year than last year, I think, is the presence of Luke Kinnard.

Starting point is 00:14:05 And I know, you know, in the playoffs, the Lakers are going to have to be careful about how they deploy Kinnard, when, against whom, you know, and all that, because he is exploitable defensively. I mean, you wouldn't talk about guys who get picked on. It's, he is one of them. The flip side to that is the Lakers have not had ever, really, I think,

Starting point is 00:14:32 a shooter, maybe since the days of Vlad Rodmanovich, that is reputationalally this effective, where the gravity fundamentally changes how defenders you're trying to think of shooters. I don't know. but like, um, I mean, it's interesting.

Starting point is 00:14:50 When you're talking about, well, this is what I think is interesting about it. When you talk about reputationally, because for example, like KCP was a really good shooter with the Lakers in the year that they won the, uh,

Starting point is 00:15:04 championship. He was very good then. Um, you know, they, they've had, Dorian Finney Smith last year, as much as I thought his overall play tailed off over the

Starting point is 00:15:14 course of the season with the Lakers, he's, he shot like 40% from behind the arc. Like he did a good job as a three-point shooter, but I don't think reputationally you think of them in the same way. Like Rui has been one of the best three-point shooters in the league, frankly for the last couple of seasons. But Rui, I don't think, is thought of in the same way

Starting point is 00:15:39 in terms of like an oblipe, we cannot leave him open, even if you really shouldn't let you really shouldn't allow Rui to be open. Like you shouldn't let DFS be open. Like there's a different kind of thing to your point with somebody like Luke Kinnard who if you even want to reduce it this way is thought of as someone who's only in the league to shoot.

Starting point is 00:16:03 Right, which isn't fair to him. He's a better player than that, but you are correct. It's unfair to Rui to think of him as a guy that you don't need to worry about cover. Right. And I will say, like, Rui is starting to change a little bit of the gravity there. But there's something that's different about those types of guys where the skill set is so pronounced that it, you know,

Starting point is 00:16:28 it really does change the way that teams defend and how, what the spacing looks like on the floor. And when you have some combination of Austin Reeves and LeBron James and Luca Dantzich on the floor, on the floor and the extra half step or full step that defenders have to honor because they need to be able to close on Karnard and make sure he doesn't have an open look. That makes a huge difference. And beyond that, then you also have the guy, as like we saw at the end of the game earlier in the week, or last week I should say, where you know, you have a dead eye shooter. to put on the floor for specific situations like this,

Starting point is 00:17:14 where you need a three-pointer, you want a three-pointer, it's a game-winning shot, whatever it might be. It's just, it is a skill set that the Lakers have struggled to find and packaged that way. It's a different kind of weapon. It's something that the Lakers go into the playoffs that did not have last year.

Starting point is 00:17:35 Yeah. There are two sets where, I was going to say just you can have sets where, depending on the situation, you can have Rui and Kinnard out there with Luca LeBron and Austin. And then it really becomes difficult to figure out who to cover. And you have two different types of shooters in Rui versus Kinnard and some of the sets that you can run that I think even are different than the difference between Rui and DFS being out on the floor at the same time last year. There's a set option of having a legitimate floor space or out on the floor at all times. And so that makes a huge difference.

Starting point is 00:18:09 continuing to slide our way up to the rotation. We did a short trip about him. I don't remember if it was earlier this week or at the end of last week. But Marcus Smart. The Lakers went into the playoffs last year with DFS as kind of that wing stopper, three and D.D sort of person. DFS was not healthy. His play was tailing off.

Starting point is 00:18:32 And even then, his strengths defensively were, bit of a mismatch because he still was a guy who was more of a guy who would guard up so to speak bigger players at that point is this point in his career than guard down where smart is a guy who can pick up he's strong enough to guard players who are bigger than he's done in his whole career but he can also run around with with twos and stuff like that in different ways it is a much better fit and they are elevated defensively with smart and in ways that DFS, particularly by the time you got to the playoffs, just wasn't set up to do.

Starting point is 00:19:16 It makes a massive difference. Well, I mean, there is a lot more positional redundancy, especially defensively with last year's version of DFS, Luca, LeBron, and Rui on the floor at the same time, where you would want them arguably guarding the same type of player, like a four, or at, you know, and between the three of them, DFS, Luca and me, excuse me, DFS, LeBron, and Rui.

Starting point is 00:19:44 One of them is guarding the closest thing to the other team's center, if not just an actual center. But you've got four guys out there that are best suited to guard either big wings or fours, as opposed to one of the other two guards on the floor. And typically, that was often Rui's job. And Rui would try. But you're putting him in a position to fail because he's not. going to be able to keep up with and check guys like that the the man or you end up with

Starting point is 00:20:14 austin having to do a lot more of that you know yeah but even then he can only guard one of two guards i mean but you know what i'm saying like sometimes austin ended up having a guard yes a player of kind of above his station so to speak defensive yeah and marcus addresses both of those issues he bridges both of those problems in one player and just to be totally honest he has been better this year than DFS was last year, certainly better than DFS has been this year. Oh, yeah. It's not DFS's fault that he's been injured for a lot of the year and seems like he is not fully recovered from, I believe, what was it, off-season knee or ankle, one of the other

Starting point is 00:20:55 procedure that he had. Yeah, I think might have been both. He had knee issue too. Regardless, he does not seem fully right. He has not been as impactful as Houston hoped for. And clearly, Rob Polinka made the better call in, you know, if nothing else letting DFS walk. I have no idea how in the loop he was about the possibility of Marcus Smart at the time. But his impression was that they could do better than DFS and he was correct. Two more comments about that from the chat for people who are watching along and the live broadcast on the YouTube channel. Mr. TD 331 says even J.

Starting point is 00:21:37 chase his wings better than DFS did, which I think there's some truth that. But as another defender too, like L'Ravi has been very disappointing as a shooter, but he has kind of found a niche in their defense. It'd be interesting to see as a guy who sort of gets by in part on just working really, really hard, those advantages tend to be mitigated in the playoffs, but you know, that would probably be what Jake, how he contributes. And then J. High Scott, 9882 says point of attack defender was needed last year. Smart will be key in closing lineups.

Starting point is 00:22:16 All of that stuff is 100% true. As we continue to move up the rotation, Andy, there is certainly one other guy that I think is very much worth talking about in terms of why the Lakers are better off this year than last. Excuse me. And we'll explain what that means next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandil, the tournaments here, one of the best times of the year. Brackets, buzzer beaders, upsets,

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Starting point is 00:23:51 I don't think Rick Carlyle was specifically referencing this, but he noted just how challenging it is to game plan LeBron under normal circumstances, doing it under these where he's getting the ball in it really advantageous positions. He's not something you can just stick your best defender on him and it becomes much more challenging. There is the fact that the Luca Donchich

Starting point is 00:24:23 that the Lakers are going into the playoffs with this season, very different guy than the one they went into last season. Luca was really good last year. But this Luca is more comfortable. I do think the weight loss and all that kind of stuff and the fitness. We're seeing some of that kind of carry through and the effects of that in terms of how he is closing the season. And, you know, he's just elevated and is putting up offensive numbers particularly that are just flat better than what he was doing last year.

Starting point is 00:25:02 Yeah, he obviously just more time with his teammates, more time under JJ, more comfort and no longer dealing with the sucker punch of getting traded, which he has acknowledged took him a while to wrap his head around. He had pictured being a Mav for life. He was in the process of buying a second home in Dallas when he got traded. So there was a lot for him just to wrap his head around and wrap his arms around. And he's clearly there right now as a Laker. It's ironic that we're talking about also just this better version of Luca. He is presumed. presumably healthier than he was entering the playoffs last year, although he is questionable for Friday's game versus the net's hamstring.

Starting point is 00:25:49 Luca has looked at times like he is working his way through some discomfort, playing through it, as frankly most guys are at this time of year. But on balance, even with Knicks and Nax and whatever, I do think Luca is in a better physical, to say nothing of mental state now than he was last year. It's interesting. You went to Luca and saying one more guy that's different. I didn't know who you were going to say. That's actually not who I was thinking of.

Starting point is 00:26:24 I was actually thinking about LeBron because LeBron is not only in a different role right now than he was playing. last year. It is less of a taxing role for LeBron, who I thought as the playoffs went along, not just last season, but the previous playoff run in 2024. I thought he looked increasingly tired as those playoffs went along. This lower usage role that allows him to often operate either in transition or just getting early deep seals by the basket, getting fed. I've said many times, and I firmly believe this, it is impossible to predict anything with LeBron, simply because we are in such uncharted waters with a guy of his mileage this many seasons, say nothing of his postseason minutes.

Starting point is 00:27:23 You don't know how things are going to be 24 hours from now, much less four weeks from now or hopefully longer, deeper playoff run from now. but at least on paper, if you are looking to try to play the odds, Jimmy the odds as much in the Lakers' favor and LeBron's favor as possible, this role, I think, makes it at least more realistic to try to avoid those problems. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I entirely agree with your framing about how he performed in the postseason last year, but that's, you know, that is separate from the idea of what it looks like this year. And I think there's everything about what he's doing and how they've got

Starting point is 00:28:07 him operating is just more sustainable. I mean, when we talked, when we did the show the other day about like why it makes more sense now to consider a return for LeBron as opposed to earlier in the year when it made no sense really for anyone. Part of it is that role because if he can replicate this kind of thing where when he gets his touches, it's two dribbles and a shot. It's no dribbles. It's mostly scoring in transition.

Starting point is 00:28:40 It's cutting and dunking and stuff like that versus organizing the offense, setting things up, facing a defense, isolation play, all that kind of stuff. That becomes a, like I said,

Starting point is 00:28:55 harder to defend because that's, you know, that's something new that you're going to be asking secondary and third and certainary defenders to try to adjust to that and keep an eye on LeBron who is smarter than all of them and better equipped than all of them to do it. You know, it is an easier formula for him for a deep playoff run. I don't think there's any question about that.

Starting point is 00:29:21 It's really, but like you can put them both together. I mean, I mentioned those things with LeBron. I just feel like, you know, if the, I, I don't want to skip over, like when you talk about the differences between this year and last year. Obviously, Marcus Smart makes a huge. I don't, we said last week, if Smart isn't right by the playoffs, he is out for Friday night's game. No reason to bring it back against Brooklyn, but he's out for Friday night's game. Rui, by the way, is questionable.

Starting point is 00:29:53 DeAndre Aiton is not on the injury report at all, so he should be playing. Um, you know, the, the difference for a team between having regular Luca or like last year's Luca and this year's is really significant. Like there's a difference when your superstar is nuclear superstar and just regular superstar. And you know, Luca, there was a, you know, bad luck with the illness and all that kind of stuff. But I fully expect that Luke is going to be better in this postseason on both sides of the ball than he was in last years. I completely forgot about that 24-hour bug or whatever it was that Luka got that he looked. He looked almost like a shade of green while he was playing.

Starting point is 00:30:43 That was game three or four. That was the one where LeBron, that was the one where LeBron went for 38, 10, and four. Yeah, it was Luca, that was game three, which made. decision to play the five starters 24 minutes the entire second half. One of many reasons that I was like, bruh, what are you doing? Like, Luca,

Starting point is 00:31:08 Luca was like 36 hours. Because remember also, too, it was like a day game removed. Oh, yeah, no whole thing. It was. Yeah, I was like, he's like 36 hours removed from puking his guts out and probably crapping his guts out in both.

Starting point is 00:31:24 I'm like, yeah, brah. If NBA basketball was a 46-5 minute event, the Lakers might have gotten away with it, but they didn't because it's 48. And look, too, I don't want to be Pollyanna about this. Like, obviously, they have to maintain the level that they've been playing at, which, if we're all being honest, profiles as better than the sum of their parts on paper in certain respects. like particularly defensively. Like they have managed to be a better version of themselves defensively than they profile if you just look at the roster one through nine. Like they don't they don't necessarily profile to be this good.

Starting point is 00:32:08 I know they're going to be, because we've seen it in the chat and I know it comes up with every show. There's going to be questions about Austin Reeves in the playoffs and people wanting to see, especially heading into this contract year that, increasingly it seems like he could get close to that max offer and every signal is the Lakers want to keep Austin around as part of a building block foundation with Luca. He struggled last year in the playoffs. It was revealed that he was dealing with a toe injury afterwards. While we've talked about before, Austin, I think, is exhausted right now.

Starting point is 00:32:49 And if you look at the minutes that he's played over the last 10 to 15 games, it is among the league leaders in minutes per game and total minutes. Like he has been playing a lot of late. At the same time, though, that's the deal. Like, that is the deal for teams looking to make seating pushes. These are the expectations for the station that the Lakers are looking to put Austin at. Like, these are the asks. so Austin does need to prove that.

Starting point is 00:33:21 You know, there are going to be, there are going to be people questioning whether or not DeAndre Aiton, once the lights get brighter and the pressure ratches it up, you know, is he going to be able to maintain the type of focus that he needs? Jake LaRavia, I don't believe, has ever been in the playoffs before. Like, there's going to be all sorts of prove-it-level questions with this team.

Starting point is 00:33:45 So I don't want to gloss over any of that stuff. But I also think, objectively speaking, it's hard to look at this team right now and say that the roster isn't better and they just don't feel better. Assuming the next nine games include no major injuries or health concerns. Right. Yeah, but there's a, yeah, being,

Starting point is 00:34:13 being better off than you were last year doesn't mean you're without any question marks. It just means that you are better off than you were last year. I just, it's worth acknowledging that stuff. That's all. Sure. And, you know, and all of that will get, you know, we'll get broken down significantly before any playoff series starts. So there is, though, just a lot more.

Starting point is 00:34:43 reason I think particularly you know when you look in hindsight when looking in there was some maybe a little over exuberance with we based on where they finished and all that kind of stuff where we might have overlooked some of their flaws obviously you say there are flaws to look at this year as well but just more reasons to be optimistic because at the very least some of the things that undid them last year should be better this year could be other problem But some of last year's weaknesses shouldn't be as weak. The last thing I would say is as much as JJ,

Starting point is 00:35:19 just because by definition he's a young coach, it means he's still learning. I think he is growing as a coach. And the biggest thing that stands out to me is his willingness to throw more pitches to, as he's often said, get weird out there. And I think at times move outside of his own comfort zone. I think it's brought out the best in this team. I think they've actually done better as they've been challenged to do

Starting point is 00:35:43 more. And I think it's brought out a lot that's been really good in JJ as a coach. No, it's a good point that I kind of wish we had mentioned. Well, I'm sure we'll get to it before the playoff start. But another reason is that JJ's better coach now than he was last year. Just be, if nothing else, just based entirely on the experience. So yeah, I'm glad you threw that in there. Locked on Lickers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 38,000 subscribers to the channel. Of course, we're back Friday afternoon. And then after the game, Friday night against Brooklyn, which had better well be a Lakers victory. We'll see everyone then.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - 5 Reasons the Lakers are Better Equipped for This Year's Playoffs

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