Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - All Hands On Deck: The Lakers Need Contributions From Unexpected Sources

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers need all hands on deck against the Rockets. This is not a drill. This is not a cliche. All hands on deck. That's next. You are locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts network. Your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:25 Thanks to everybody for joining Locked on Lakers, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, as we get ready for Saturdays game one against the Houston Rockets. It's Andy, J.J. Reddick, has talked about. rebounding at length. And he will continue to. But the other thing, another thing that he's talking about a lot is a next band up mentality and all hands on deck mentality. And normally, Andy, when we hear words like this, it's sort of filler and a cliche

Starting point is 00:00:52 and things like that. In this case, almost everybody is going to have a chance to contribute in this series. And certainly guys who have been a little bit lower in the rotation are going to be expected to do more things and bigger things. things and better things. They have to be greater than the sum of their parts because on a talent versus talent basis in this series against Houston, they're outclassed.

Starting point is 00:01:18 I mean, that's just the reality. Let's say LeBron managed to be the best player in this series, which side note would be incredible, just contextually, given where he is at this stage of his career and where all the other various star rockets or all defense caliber rockets, rising young player rockets, whatever, where they all are. I mean, it would just be another chapter in what's been an all-time great career. But even if LeBron is the best player in this series, if enough other Lakers don't play, forget

Starting point is 00:02:01 at their station, it in a lot of different facets, it will not be enough. And if you need proof of this, when the Cavaliers in 2015 lost to the Warriors in the finals when Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving were both injured, and it was LeBron and a bunch of role players. LeBron was arguably the best player on the floor. There was a certain school of thought that he should have been voted MVP, even though the Cavaliers lost. LeBron played at a stratospheric level, and it was not enough.

Starting point is 00:02:40 Everyone else is going to have to contribute in tangible ways across every single game of however long this series lasts. Otherwise, whatever that number is, I guarantee it ends with the Rockets advancing. I think one of the parts of this conversation that I've been thinking about a lot, because it's like who elevates, like, you're right. Everybody's got to, everybody has to play better.

Starting point is 00:03:05 And everybody's got to be kind of more than what they've been. You are being asked now to, the part of the challenge here is guys have been asked to accept a role, fill a role, be a star in your role and all these things. And 10 days before the end of the regular season, congratulations, your role is completely changed. And that is not an easy thing to adjust to. but you know, LeBron has to be as good as LeBron can be. I don't want to say LeBron has to be LeBron

Starting point is 00:03:33 because like you say, like that that harkens back to, you know, 2016 vintage sort of like, and I'm not sure that's a reasonable ask, but he's got to be whatever the closest thing that is. I'm just going to say this just as a preface point for a lot of how we talk about this series. A lot of the asks are going to be unreasonable.

Starting point is 00:03:59 Yes. They have to be. Like I just, so people understand this for the Lakers to win this series or push it as far as they can go, they're going to have to meet some unreasonable asks. It's otherwise impossible. That's just, it's important to note this. But what I'm getting at here, though, isn't the, like how we evaluate LeBron after the series part of this.

Starting point is 00:04:21 It's that the, you can't, if you are the Lakers trying to formulate a way to win, the series can't be like, well, LeBron will play like he did in 2016. And then the rest of us will do whatever. That's not a strategy. And so you need to get what, you know, the best version of LeBron is now. And we had the whole show on how the Lakers help LeBron, help them. They need to figure out where they're going to get him the ball. It's not just, you can't just hand it to him and expect miracles to happen.

Starting point is 00:04:52 Like so that means if there is a reasonable cap on what you can get from LeBron, that means the rest of those guys have to backfill in more ways. And that's kind of what I'm getting at here. You know, but one of the things that I think is potentially interesting about it, at least, you need to hit up certain bar. Like, you know, Marcus Smart's going to need to be pretty, certainly defensively, great all series and generally speaking contribute. You're like, you know, I think DeAndre Aiton's going to have to be pretty significant all series long.

Starting point is 00:05:28 But over the course of games, it doesn't have to be the same player every game that gives you that, ooh, game or the same two guys. Maybe it's Jake LaRavia two or three times. Maybe it's Rui three or four times. Maybe you get, you know, a game where Luke Kinnard goes seven of ten from three point range, which is not, out of the question. Like, you know, the guy's that good of a shooter. And it kind of moves around over the course of the series to you get to that some of your parts. But to the all hands on deck part of it, the village part of it, the next man up part of it, in each one of these games, the Lakers win, hopefully four of them. It's going to take three or four guys stepping up in

Starting point is 00:06:17 that way. It doesn't always have to, like I said, maybe it's different guys each time. But it's, you need a certain amount of elevated performance to, to even have a chance. And that's the part that gets tricky. And I think part of what, you know, why I think when JJ says all hands on deck, that can mean Dalton Connect. It can mean Nick Smith. It can mean guys that you might not be expecting normally to contribute in a series. because as JJ's sort of implied, like, they're going to have to be unconventional and get a little bit weird and try some stuff and pull some levers. It wouldn't shock me if we see some guys on the floor that you wouldn't have expected to be there 10 days ago.

Starting point is 00:07:08 You said before that it could be Dalton Connect, it could be Nick Smith. It will be. Like in terms of guys getting opportunities out there or being put on the floor, I would be. stunned if every member of the active roster does not play at least a couple games in this series. I think there's going to be a relatively low amount of DNP CDs for a playoff series where you tend to have a pretty fixed hierarchy in the rotation. And then you only move outside of that for very specific reasons, very often foul trouble or something like that. Hold on to that for just a second.

Starting point is 00:07:51 because I want to ask you a follow-up to that. I'm curious if you're viewing this the same way that I am. So we'll do that next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Rocket Money. Have you ever opened your bank account and thought, wearing on my money go? Well, you're not alone. Keeping track of subscriptions, spending, bills.

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Starting point is 00:10:48 That's RUGIET.com slash locked on NHL for 15% off, Ruggiette, performance medicine for men. So you were, I'm curious if you see this the same way. I mean, obviously there are going to be certain guys to play heavy minutes throughout this series. And I don't think my vision of this is not that JJ plays 10 or 11 guys every night. it's that he plays seven and then eight and eight and a half change from night to night. Like, you know, in a playoff series, you tend to get shorter benchers.

Starting point is 00:11:23 It's rare for guys to go nine or ten deep, eleven deep into their team. But I think I picture this sort of a thing short of like minutes where Maxie comes in and does like two things and sits down in a minute and a half, which JJ has done before. like your core seven guys and then you get special appearances by Dalton. Whoa, Dalton. They just put Dalton in, you know, like stuff like that happening over the course of a series. Oh, Nick Smith, go get a bucket, like kind of stuff. Like I picture those sort of curveballs coming night to night as opposed to JJ playing 10 players, you know, an evening.

Starting point is 00:12:06 I agree with you about in the middle. I think the rotation you're laying out is too short, especially because of the guys that they're missing. JJ has said nine-man rotation enough times that I think he is specifically thinking a nine-man rotation. At the very least, LeBron, Smart, Aiton, Rui, Kinnard, Vando, Hayes, La Ravia, those eight guys are in the rotation. Like, you can't go any shorter than that, especially with Luca and Austin missing and how hard they're going to have to play against Houston with a six and a half seven man rotation, even seven and a half man.

Starting point is 00:12:45 I just think that's too small. I don't think you can practically put out a rotation without those eight guys. They don't have enough talent. So I'm saying I think it is not seven-ish manner. I think it is eight or nine minimum as a staple. And then 10 through 13 is where it may become more situational, whether you're talking about something that you specifically need Maxi for or something defensive matchup where you think Brony could be useful or just another guy who can handle

Starting point is 00:13:19 the ball because for whatever reason you need somebody else out there. Nick Smith, if you need buckets quickly, Dalton for the same reasons, maybe a little bit more size or it's not working as well with Nick Smith. The ninth guy is, I think, really... That's sort of what I'm getting at. Like, who is that ninth guy, I think, is going to kind of change from evening to evening, potentially? I think it could.

Starting point is 00:13:44 I am guessing it's going to be regularly either brawny or... Probably Bronny or Nick Smith. Like, I think Maxie is very situational. And depending on how well Aiton and Hayes play, I think the need for Maxie, decreases especially because his lane is really narrow. And a little with Maxi tends to go a long way. And quite frankly, I don't know if you can play him regular minutes without him getting

Starting point is 00:14:18 injured. Like I'm not trying to be an A-hole about this. I'm just being honest. Every time it seems like Maxi plays a couple games, he ends up missing two and a half years. It's also, I mean, he's hard to play. I mean, what he does, he does quite well. I mean, like I said, I picture him getting out in certain. possessions where you need really good defensive execution.

Starting point is 00:14:37 You need to execute a play offensively that involves screening, positioning, things like that where he's such a negative player at this point offensively in a series where the Lakers are already going to struggle to score. It's hard to give him a lot of minutes. I actually think Brony, I know JJ's talked about him and the confidence that they have in him. I think Brony's relative lack of explosion offensively, particularly in a playoff. situation where teams are defending is going to make him hard to put on the floor because his skill set which is you know defense and and and things like that i just don't think he's going to have

Starting point is 00:15:14 the the sort of i would be i would expect to see more of smith than i would brawny like if if they're having difficulty controlling reed shepherd i think that's where brawny's utility off the top of my head comes in but that's right but that you're we're kind of thinking of about this the same way because that's a defensive thing where like you know what we need to put in somebody sure but that's what that's what's hard about this series it's like trying to figure like everybody's got kind of like their little niche when you're talking about that ninth guy 10th guy whatever might be like you put in dull it's like you know what we need shooting an aggressive offense like he normally doesn't have the space to go hoop as Dalton likes to do well here you go

Starting point is 00:16:01 Like, you know, we might need that situation where it's like, you know what? Nobody's really super confident it's going to work, but, you know, go, you do you, Dalton. Let's see what we can get here, particularly with LeBron off the floor or Nick Smith. Like, go, go create. You know, you have full, you know, license to just, you know, yolo out there. We'll see what happens. And then, like you say, you thought of a really specific situation where Bronny's skill set might come in handy. It's a lot of that, I think, for that last little roster spot.

Starting point is 00:16:36 I imagine Nick Smith is going to get those opportunities ahead of Dalton just because, A, it's become very clear. JJ just does not trust Dalton in even medium leverage situations, much less high. But also, if he really thought Dalton would be a factor to begin with, then I think Drew Timmy would have been the guy activated rather than Smith. I think in a lot of ways Smith being there speaks to a lack of trust in

Starting point is 00:17:05 Dalton because there's enough similar. Dalton can't handle the ball and initiated offense in that way at least Nick you can sort of try to get that. He's not a point.

Starting point is 00:17:16 They clearly felt like they needed a guard, another guard on the roster and connect. Dalton is a guard. He's not a guard that they feel comfortable playing. He's a two, he's more of a two three than a one, two. Like, he's not a point guard. I mean, Nick Smith is really only a point guard in the sense that he's too small to be

Starting point is 00:17:35 considered a shooting guard. He is really no more... Closer than Dalton. I'm just saying he's really no more of a point guard than Dalton is. A little bit more. I understand. I don't want to argue about this. I understand what you're saying, but and I agree with you that JJ is probably going to try other things before he gets to Dalton, but there... But Dalton's, I would be, unless things are going really,

Starting point is 00:17:59 really unexpectedly well for the Lakers in this series. I imagine Dalton will get a cracker to. I think so. And that's kind of what I'm getting at. Like expect some weird stuff. Expect some unconventional things. Some curveballs offensively, a lot of different coverages defensively.

Starting point is 00:18:19 JJ has a bunch of imperfect levers to pull. And the pieces don't fit together in ways without the cohesive scoring and the anchor of your two best players or two of your three, including your galaxy level superstar, there is no perfect combination to put out there. So plenty more to come in terms of getting ready for the series before Saturdays game one. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 38,000 subscribers. Check out the show notes. See if the Everyday Air Club is for you.

Starting point is 00:18:53 We'll see everyone next time.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - All Hands On Deck: The Lakers Need Contributions From Unexpected Sources

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