Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - An Optimistic Lakers Fan's Guide to the Second Half - Reasons to Believe!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers have 28 games left in the regular season. What can they do? How good can they be? What can they do in the playoffs? It's an optimist's guide to the second half of the season next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:30 Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers, your first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, sometimes on weekends, and now more than once a day, this is where you go to get all your Lakers information, maybe through Apple, maybe you're a Spotify guy,

Starting point is 00:00:43 maybe you're one of the 37,000 plus subscribers the Lockedon Lakers YouTube channel. It doesn't matter. No matter how you do it. Any avenue you take, Andy, whatever you do it. Then we'll take you higher. You are part of making the Lockedon's podcast network,

Starting point is 00:01:01 the number one sports podcast network in this or any other known universe. and Brian Kamenetsky with Andy Kamenetsky covering the team for nearly 20 years with the ESPN, the LA Times with the athletic. And the second half, Andy, is here. It starts on Friday. 28 games left as LeBron says the marathon is over. The sprint is beginning.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Can I quote Jerry McGuire, Andy? We live in a cynical world. And there are a lot of people who are cynical about the Lakers' chances down the stretch. You think this is a garbage team with a garbage GM and a star who's past his prime. And when you pass your prime, you start to smell bad like garbage. And maybe it was stretching that a little far. But no, no, no, no. Keep going. You're doing great. But there are reasons, Andy, to let's, we're going to think optimistically in this episode. We're going to look at with kind of a glass, not even half full, but like three quarters full. Like this is nice

Starting point is 00:02:04 glass and it's pretty full and we're going to do it in a way where you don't have to think of crazy things happening. It's not brawny, catching, you know, becoming a second half star or Dalton Connect doing things in the first three quarters of a basketball game. This is like stuff that could happen. I've been thinking about this and I want you to tell me if any of these things are ridiculous because I think there's at least a possibility that the Lakers could make some reasonable noise in the playoffs if certain things happen in the second half. The first thing, are you on board with this? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:43 Okay. I'm here, right? They're getting the band together here. I understand that we still technically don't know who's available to play Friday when the second half opens, but I'm going to assume that if it's not Friday, it's going to come that relatively quickly here, the big three, Luca, LeBron, and Austin Reeves are going to finally be on the court together. That will have not just an effect on the Lakers' top end talent, it will have a ripple effect on what the entire rotation looks like. 152 minutes all season long, Andy.

Starting point is 00:03:18 That is going to change. That number is going to go up considerably in the second half of the season. and that basically by default, I think, is a reason to be optimistic about where this team can go in the second half of the season. That is the key to reaching whatever you think is the highest ceiling version of this team. And whether that ceiling is high enough to try to pull what it would appear, most NBA analysts, pundits think would be an upset or, two in the playoffs. Certainly, if you make it through two rounds, I think would be considered a big upset.

Starting point is 00:04:00 Yeah. You got to be able to reach that ceiling. You also have to be able to raise the floor. And the Lakers have not had a high enough ceiling or consistently even high enough floor against the really good teams. There's always the context of at least a reason they have struggled against some of the best teams in the league is they've often been playing those teams while shorthand. but nonetheless, the best version of this team is only going to take place if you have all the players that matter available on a regular basis.

Starting point is 00:04:36 Yeah, here are my assumptions. Luca is going to continue playing at the level that he has, you know, before the injury, started going to the break, like that little lull that he had after flying back to Slovenia for the baby and all those other things, he was playing back to that MVP level that he was at the beginning of the season. think Austin Reeves, once the minute restrictions, is often going to look like he did at the beginning of the season. And you talk about raising the floor, all of that will make LeBron better because the burden will be lighter. And it just makes what he needs to do significantly easier. And it improves the chances of having him be as fresh as possible going into the second half.

Starting point is 00:05:25 Not that fresh. For those on the YouTube channel, Andy showed the picture of LeBron when he was like seven. He's not going to turn back the clock that much, but he might turn it back a little bit. To your point, too, really quick before we get to your next one, having all of the players matters too, because it gives JJ the maximum amount of floor combinations possible. And we've talked about, for example, defensively, JJ, and I think to his credit, has been willing to throw a lot more pitches this season as possibilities.

Starting point is 00:06:00 Pitches that I think he is not inherently comfortable throwing. No NBA coach likes playing this much zone. No. For example. Yeah. There have been a lot of different things that JJ has looked to do that I don't think are naturally part of his basketball principles, agree with his principles, disagree, whatever.

Starting point is 00:06:20 But there has been a willingness or resignation, however you want to put it, that this is going to be necessary, as JJ said, they got to get a little weird at times. You can't get weird without a full assortment of options. That is going to matter for them. After the break, I want to run a couple more things by you, one of which I can almost guarantee you is going to be wildly unpopular with most of our audience. We'll get to that next. Lock on Lakers is brought to you by five-hour energy drink.

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Starting point is 00:10:22 And I get it. He has not been very good over the last month. I think it's very started great. And he's had some decent games kind of sprinkled in here, but overall the trend lines go in the wrong way. I am hopeful that he can be something in between. what he was in February and what he was in November, which would settle into somewhere in the neighborhood of, you know,

Starting point is 00:10:45 12 and 9 a game, you know, pretty consistently. I'm reasonably optimistic that he can do that with a healthy Reeves, which I think will make a big difference with him, and hopefully a healthier knee and an offense that will, be better spaced, thanks to guys like Luke Kinnard, we will get to in a second, that will give him more opportunities to get the kind of good, easy looks and finishes that he got at the beginning of the year. You get three or four games in a row where Aden gets to feel good about himself

Starting point is 00:11:27 can very quickly spin into three weeks where Aiden gets to feel good about himself. Well, to your point, if you are correct, it is a really big deal. For my weekly ESPNLA 710 Lakers show, Lakers talk, I had Jake Madison, the host of Locked on Pelicans and Locked on NBA. He covers the entire league. I asked him, give me a player that is not Luca, LeBron, or Austin that you think can shape the Lakers' playoff run positively or negatively more than anybody else, that type of impact. And he said both in terms of what he's.

Starting point is 00:12:07 he can provide at his best, but also just in terms of pure size. And some of the matchups that the Lakers are going to be dealing with in the playoffs, whether you're talking about Isaiah Hartenstein, who can be very difficult to keep off the offensive glass, Wembe, Alpin Shingoon, Nikola Yokic. Like, there are a lot of different matchups, you know, excuse me, keeping Rudy Gobert off the glass for Minnesota. and down the line, there are a lot of different teams that the Lakers could end up facing in the playoffs with legit size that you need to counter with legit size. And D'Andre Aiton is the first and last option on this team along those lines. Like in terms of somebody that you can put out there that one of his key attributes is

Starting point is 00:13:04 Dude is huge. Like he is a really big physical presence. We've already seen stretches where Aiton has played quite well. And even with the being a bad Aiton and all that, he's still averaging like 13 and 9 on the season. 2006 has been, if not awful, awful adjacent. He has not been good. He's not been good in 26.

Starting point is 00:13:27 We did a mini show about how in 2006 he's played by Jackson. Right, but the stuff that happened before then. Yeah, the stuff that happened before then was much better. And so hopefully somewhere in between would be a nice place to settle in. And I think that is possible. One of the reasons I think that's possible, Andy, because I remember I talked in the first segment about guys slotting into better places for them offensively,

Starting point is 00:13:57 better spots for them in the rotation. Jake Laravia, with everybody healthy, becomes a guy who you're, is your seventh or eighth guy in your rotation, which is much more appropriate to, I think, where he ought to be slotted. You're not asking Marcus Smart to produce offensively so that when he does, it's a bonus. Rui can focus on scoring and not have to worry as much

Starting point is 00:14:20 about the other categories in which he doesn't do as well. I think a big potential unlock for a lot of these things, for the offense to work better, which will help make their defense better, is Luke Kinnard. And you can already see the impact of having not just a second laser, a second just really dead-eye respectable shooter on the floor in addition to Rui. They can have one of those guys available anytime they want.

Starting point is 00:14:50 I guess you could use two if you want, depending on the alignment. That, I think, combined with Kinnard's ability to put the ball on the floor a little bit, make the right pass, take advantage of his own gravity to get good shot. for other people, I think it's going to have a significant impact in the Lakers' offense over the final 28 games. I think he's going to play a very large role going forward. Yeah, as far as, I mean, these things that we've talked about before with Kinnard and the impact that he can have, the one thing that I would add that I think is specifically a piece of reasons to be optimistic, specifically with Kinnard moving forward, is he's shooting 45 and a half percent.

Starting point is 00:15:33 from behind the arc in four games with the Lakers. It is not as high a volume as you would like, just under three per game. But he is still shooting at a really good clip. His actual overall field goal percentage is 62 and a half percent, which would be a career high by a mile. Right. This is all happening without having played it all with Luca.

Starting point is 00:15:55 So he is putting up this type of efficiency overall as a score, and also from behind the arc. not with the volume that you'd want, but that can hopefully come, if nothing else, just with more comfort with his new team. But again, this is happening without Luca at all and the looks that Luca is going to create for Conard. So I think that is one of those things that you can look at with pure projected optimism that I think makes total sense.

Starting point is 00:16:27 Yeah, the not, he's still Luke Kennard. and, you know, for some teams, they might look at it and be like, guys, it's Luke Kinnard. Nice player, but like, except the Lakers haven't had that guy. You know, certainly not in the back court. You know, in they've been trying to find a guy to do what Kinnard does for like a decade. You know, Dalton Connect, the failure of Dalton Connect is a straight line to the, acquisition of Luke Kinnard. Like,

Starting point is 00:17:04 Conard's ability to be something more than just a shooter, I think we'll unlock some other things, too, beyond obviously what the stars provide. And sometimes you don't need huge tweaks to make big differences. And I think this could be a, the Lakers been dying to have a real shooter and see what that does for their overall floor balance. So those are just a few reasons, Andy,

Starting point is 00:17:26 to be optimistic that the Lakers can make some noise. I genuinely believe, not saying I put the money on it, but I genuinely believe that this team can win two playoffs series. I don't know if they will. It's certainly within the realm of possibilities, even if it's a dark horse type projection. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:17:44 And now, look, we could do the pessimist show too. And I can tell you where I think they could also end up on that end. But I'm not doing that in this episode. Let me know, let Andy know what you think your optimistic version of this final 28 game stretch looks like in the comment section. Tweet us at Cam Brothers. Let us know if we have missed some things that make you optimistic about what could happen because, Andy, the whole point of sports is to enjoy it and have something to look forward to. So we might as well do that, at least in these last moments before the Lakers play again. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can hang out

Starting point is 00:18:21 with over 37,000 subscribers to that channel. Make sure you're checking out the Everyday Air Club in the show notes. Find out if it's for you. We'll see. see everyone next time.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - An Optimistic Lakers Fan's Guide to the Second Half - Reasons to Believe!

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