Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Austin Reaves for MOST IMPROVED PLAYER? Plus, Lakers Vs. Warriors... Huge Game!

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

Wednesday in El Segundo, JJ Redick was given a chance to hype up Austin Reaves for this year's NBA Most Improved Player award. In his weird way, he advocated for Reaves by saying essentially that he can't/won't win because people just don't know what that award is supposed to be. By rejecting the plausibility of the premise, his implication was strong that Reaves is deserving. And is he a more worthy candidate than Cade Cunningham or Dyson Daniels (to name the two guys leading the betting odds for MIP)? Dunno. Those guys have had great seasons. But whether or not Reaves actually wins (which he very likely won't) is secondary to the viability of his candidacy. He deserves it, much more than some guys who find themselves in the running for MIP because they've finally gotten a chance to play, or went from crappy to pretty good! in ways that were unexpected. What Reaves has done this year is really, really hard. It's hard to go from solid player to All Star adjacent. It's really hard to make the transition from role player to franchise pillar. One of the guys who is expected to put up high quality numbers (and add quality leadership) on a night in, night out basis. The Lakers have a Big Three model. And even if Luka Dončić and LeBron James are tiers above Reaves overall, Reaves is still the third most important Laker, and it's really not close. The fact it's no longer debatable is a big reason the Lakers are winning as much as they are. (Last year, AR was third in name, but not in consistency. It wasn't always easy to definitively identify the team's third best player.) 'Now, he's a tremendous weapon, slotted into a great role in which to continue nurturing that growth. While Reaves has shown the ability to be the main man in games where LA's other stars have been missing, most of his floor time now is with either James, Luka or both. He can move and attack knowing the team's best defender isn't likely to be on him. He's empowered to use his creativity as a ball handler, passer and scorer, and when things are going well gets to do all three from positions of advantage. Does this make him an MIP? To the Lakers, surely, and their vote matters most, even if it doesn't come with at trophy.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers have a HUGE game tonight against the Warriors. SEGMENT 2: AR for MIP? SEGMENT 3: What about JJ Redick and Rob Pelinka for some awards love?  Your favorite podcast now has a newsletter! In One-stop for ultimate team and league coverage delivered right to your in box. Sign up for free now, at lockedondaily.com.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYHead to 5-hourENERGY.com to find over 15 flavors to choose from, including Watermelon, Blue Raspberry, and Peach-Mango. Need one now? Grab a 5-hour ENERGY shot at your local grocery or convenience store—they’re everywhere! Stock up today and stay energized.WayFairAfter the holiday hustle, there’s nothing like giving your home a little TLC. Give your home the refresh it needs with Wayfair. Head to Wayfair.com right now. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.PrizepicksNow’s the perfect time to join. Download the app todayand use codeLOCKEDONNBA to get $50 instantly when you play your first $5 lineup! That’s right—no need to win to get the bonus, it’s guaranteed. PrizePicks—Run Your Game!Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBAMonarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked on Lakers for Thursday, Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Keminetsky. Does Austin Reeves deserve more love for most improved player? It'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 making Lockedonged Lakers. First listen to every day Monday through Friday, no matter how where you get your podcast. This one's always free.

Never Behind a Paywall in Lockdown Lakers on YouTube. is where you can go hang out with over 34,000 subscribers to the channel, one of many ways, Andy, to get locked on Lakers. You can do it on YouTube. You can do it on Spotify. You can do it on Apple Podcasts. You know, there's just a lot of ways to get this done. We do want to let people know before we dig into the Austin Reeves thing and all that.

That today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Right now, new customers. get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So this was a topic of conversation, Andy, that JJ Redick commented on, that is getting a little traction around NBA, Twitter sphere, whatever. So we will definitely get deep into this. But, I mean, the real headline is there's a big game going on tonight. Lakers took care of business against Houston on Monday,

but that was only one of two really big games this week. coming tonight at home against the Warriors with tons of implications. Putting aside the whole LeBron v. Steff of it all, and you never know how many more games these two are going to be up against each other with real stakes. So enjoy it while you can because it really has been like a truly classic, awesome rivalry between two of the all-time greats. Yep.

For this game in particular, If the Lakers win, they're going to end up with a three-game lead over the Warriors, which and the tiebreaker, which makes it so with six games left for both teams. The Lakers will be 47 and 29, Warriors 44 and 32. Again, if the Lakers win, it makes it damn near impossible for them to fall below four. It's not literally impossible, but you and I were doing a little bit of back of the cocktail napkin math. And I believe if the Lakers go one in five with the tiebreaker, they will still keep the four seed. It would essentially require them to go 0 and 6 and the Warriors to go 6 and 0. Yeah, I mean, the Lakers have tiebreaker advantages over basically everybody, you know, the whether you're talking about the Nuggets,

because of the conference record, if things kind of go as expected, you know, and the Lakers don't completely collapse. You know, Memphis, tiebreaker, plus the Grizzlies are really sliding, Minnesota. The Lakers just have these advantages over really every team that they need to have them against. And that plays a huge, huge factor in all of this. and to be able to put yourself in a position, Andy, where four, like you said, not locked up, but you got the Pelicans on Saturday.

Friday. I'm sorry. Yeah, back to back. That's a winnable game. It's also, too, if the Lakers win tonight, it becomes a game where you have a little more of a luxury to say give Rui the night off on the second end of a back-to-back or anybody else that maybe could immediately use a bit of tune-up rest, especially with Sunday's game being a matinee 1230 local time.

Like, if they lose against the Warriors, they maybe still can do this anyway, but you feel a little bit less secure about doing it. If they win tonight, then really it becomes much easier to do that while feeling good. I mean, they should be able to beat the Pelicans, regardless of who they do or do not play because the Pelicans at this point

are like their injury list would be a playoff team or at least a play in team. Like that's how many guys. Yeah, for those unaware. Whether they're injured or there are people who aren't playing. We'll put it back. For those unaware, Zion and C.J. McCollum

have been officially shut down. They're not going to have Trey Murphy. They're not like, I believe they don't have Herb Jones. Like they don't have anybody who really matters at this. other than a Misi, the rookie, who's having a nice season, but he... He matters to them. He doesn't matter in like, you know...

This game. Their lineup, they're playing the... They played the Clippers on Wednesday night. And the lineup they put out, Kelly Olinick starting at center, Bruce Brown, Jose Alvarado, Misi, who you mentioned. And then A. Reeves. They have their own A. Reims. Antonio Reeves.

It's not the same guy. Different A Reeves. So there's not a lot going on with this roster. And the Lakers, like you say, ought to be able to take care of business. The Lakers got a little bit of a break, too, on Wednesday in that Denver, following that epic game against Minnesota on Tuesday, the double overtime 60 point triple double for Nikola Yokic, sat literally everybody against the spurs.

60 point triple double by Yokic in a loss. In a loss where Russell Westbrook looked at, we talked about LeBron after last week's loss against Chicago, maybe the worst 10 consecutive seconds of LeBron's career. And Russell Westbrook said, hold my beer. Because, oh my God, did Russ melt down? Except that sort of thing does, pure. And I don't mean this is a slam.

Russ periodically has these moments of just strange. I mean, he put up big numbers in Wednesday's game. We tried to steal that one for Denver and it didn't work. But this gives the Lakers the inside track to a three seed now. It's not, you know, you talk about locking up the four with a win against the Warriors Thursday night. They really also have a chance now to push their way to a three. because again, they own the tiebreaker over Denver and the way the standings are laid out,

the Lakers are currently the three C. They have a game in hand in the loss column, which is really where you want to be looking. And, you know, so again, if you're tied with Denver, you're ahead of them. If you're a game ahead of Denver, you're really two games ahead of them. To be able to kind of keep that inside track for the three seed would be great.

And it gives the Lakers a nice, We talked about this, I think, earlier in the week, and forget which day. It's kind of nice to have that incentive structure to keep playing and not mess around with, you know, should we? What about the five seed? Is the four seed better? Like we did every advantage you get, just win games. Keep winning games because the higher you finish, the better. That's it.

There is no scenario where moving down helps the Lakers at all. No. None. The one thing that actually is in, not the one thing, you mentioned about eight things already that are interesting. Another interesting thing about this, though, is particularly again, if the Lakers win, it pushes Golden State down closer to a place where the Lakers could see them in the first round. Again, Lakers win. They are gaining ground on that three seed and pushes Golden State down. into a virtual tie with Minnesota, Memphis, with Minnesota and Memphis.

And that, you know, like, you know, people say with politics, you know, the whole like your side's winning, you see like the early return. Stop the counts! That's what Adam Silver would do. The minute the Lakers are in third and Golden State is in sixth, he's canceling the rest of all of this stuff and you've got your first round playoff matchup ready to go. These guys are locked in.

That would be just the dream scenario for the NBA and really I think for fans because you mentioned it. I realized all the other implications and this and that and we follow it. One more Steph versus

LeBron in the postseason I realize they're not at their peak. I realize all these things but both still playing pretty well. They're both pretty good. And they both tend to rise to the occasion. And they both like, I'll take that. Give me that.

A, I think the Lakers would win. But also, I'll take that. You know, I mean, you know what? You know what? They would take it. The two of them, I think, would take it. Like not even thinking about advantage in terms of this opponent versus this opponent like X's and O's who we might match. I'm just saying in terms of would the two of them

love one more crack at each other in the playoffs because again, you don't know, you cannot take for granted how many more big stakes games these guys will have against you. Like the Christmas Day game, that's a lot of fun, but it's too early in the season for real stakes. This game tonight, Thursday has stakes. Playoffs have stakes. You don't know how many more times you're going to get. And I guarantee they are aware of it. They consider it special.

They would love another shot at each other. And it's just, you know, sports arguments, to say the least, get really stupid. And we, you know, we argue about, and we, I mean, the royal industry, argue about the dumbest stuff for no reason at all. And it often comes at the expense of being reminded of the greatness of players like Stefan LeBron because you get numb to it. I would encourage people not to be numb on Thursday and then cross your fingers and hope you get that in the first round. Austin Reeves, most improved player. Talk about it next.

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all tournament long. So J.J. Reddick was asked Andy at practice Wednesday about most improved player award and specifically Austin Reeves, who I got to be honest with you. If you would ask me who's the most improved player on the Lakers this year, I would have been like my initial reflex would have been, oh, Jackson Hayes. Like, he's really kind of pop, like, but the reality of it is that Austin Reeves, particularly if you look at what he's done in, you know, sort of post-all-Star Break second half of the season, has made a harder leap with far more responsibility and stuff on his plate. No disrespect to Jackson.

And it's like it is a reminder of how you can kind of forget when players are already good that they're getting better. And so Redick was asked about this at practicing, kind of deflected from talking about AR and really got into how kind of stupid the MIP is, the Most Improved Player Award. And he's not wrong. There's no real understanding

of how that thing is supposed to be handed out. Yeah, his exact quote when told that Austin was in the mix for most improved player. We'll get into some odds that seen from our friends over at Fandul. Redick responded, I hate that award. And he said that he thinks the league has, quote, failed to define it. I think the spirit of it has been taken out of whack. I don't like that award. Just call it the high draft pick that is on a max contract and is now an All-Star. Just call it that award. Who's that guy? That's what it's become. And it's interesting. I've never thought about it before. But do you know how they took all these awards and they

named them after different great players. Right. Do you know who the most improved player is now? I have no idea. I didn't know either. I had to look it up. It's George Miken. And George Miken, his first two seasons in the NBA, he won scoring titles.

I think they're just trying to find a way to give the guy an award. I was going to say it's one of two things. Either they are paying tribute to the Miken drill that like, generations of players from like AAU through the pros used to like get better at playing basketball. Like you said, they just want to honor one of the greats of yesteryear. But like George Miken does not exactly leap off the page as like the poster boy for if you just keep working, you might improve. Kids keep at it. The guy and I mean, don't get me right.

I'm sure Mikin worked his ass off. I'm just saying the. Dude entered the league pretty awesome. So it kind of reflects what Redick was saying in terms of what the hell does his award even mean. And it used to be, I will say this. I feel like, and we'll get into whether or not AR really should be a candidate here, it used to be almost really very predictable. It would almost always go to a guy who kind of sucked before and then either got a better opportunity or more minutes or whatever was.

and everybody's like, oh, look at that guy now. A lot of times when you break it down, those players statistically were exactly what they were the year before. They just played twice as much and put up twice the numbers. I feel like people have gotten better about it. Like players who are already good but made the leap because the hardest thing to do. Like I know a lot of people are talking about Cade Cunningham, for example. He is all he is what he or Dyson Daniels from the searching around that I did like our friends over at fan just really quick our friends over at Fandle they've got Dyson Daniels currently as a 10 to 4 bet the leader you have to put down 10 bucks to win $4.

Cade Cunningham is 1.7 to 1 basically even money and Austin Reeves is third with Fandul 75 to 1 the most improved I looked around Other sites, Rees is listed on some, not others like Christian Braun, Tyler Hero, Evan Mowgli, were there ahead of him. Right now, it seems though to be a pretty tight two-man race between Daniels or Cunningham. Yeah, and Daniels kind of fits the profile of like a guy who turns out to be really awesome given an opportunity that a lot of people just didn't know existed. He was quite good for New Orleans last year, you know, when they acquired him as well. But, um, this has been a thing. So, or wait, was he still, Atlanta?

Whatever it was. He was actually pretty good last year, is my point. It's interesting to me because I do think that people are getting it better because you're no longer disqualified. I know, Reddick was ragging on the idea, but it's harder to go from, you know, kind of guy you don't think about to solid rotation player or, you know, really good six man or whatever. because a lot of times that just means better opportunity or whatever. It's really hard to go from fringy All-Star to second-team All-NBA, second-team all-N-B-A to MVP. Like that leap is actually much more difficult.

And I do feel like players are starting to get credit for that. That's rarely where Kate is. But I'm glad at least Reeves has kind of bullied his way into the conversation because the dude flat out, despite Andy, all of your doubts, you know, and the constant, he's not good enough. Maybe you're, you know, his Ivan Drago on the, on the myriad, a picture of you and just yelled, Andy, after every workout. I hope that's true.

But he really has turned into a tremendous player. Well, first of all, Austin, you're welcome. I mean, it's, it's been my pleasure to help turn. you into the player that you are. I'm not saying that the staff at the Lakers or, you know, your own drive didn't make a difference. I'm just saying not as much as I did. And we'll get into this more in the next segment as well. The doubts that I had had about Austin Reeves were never about him as a quality player. Like I've always maintained Austin Reeves is really good. I've always maintained Austin Reeves could be an important piece on a contending

level team. Like to me, if you are a starter or a key reserve on a championship level team, you're really good. And like you are likely in by definition the upper third of the league. And being in the upper third of the league is a real achievement, being in the top 100, the top 75 of the league. That is really difficult to do. The doubts or questions that I always had was whether or not Austin would be able to reach the level where he feels definitively like somebody good enough to be the third most important player, the third best player on a... However you want to parse. Well, the reason it matters to me is I'm not talking about just third option, third score, because I think sometimes that gets narrowed

down to myopic. And I'm not talking just about the points he could score. I'm talking about your overall role and your overall importance, which is- Right, because he is clearly the third most important player. Right. And as I've said many times, being the third best player, their most important player on a championship level team or Western Conference level,

the deep playoff run caliber team, really effing hard. And I think people often under underestimate how difficult it is and to have some doubts about whether Austin could do that, that's not a knock on Austin. It's an acknowledgement of how hard it is to reach that level. But the fact that I've said over the last few weeks, I am now convinced Austin is at that level speaks to the improvement that he's had over the course of the season. and it's hard to do.

Yeah. And the improvement comes, if you want to go to basketball reference and start, you know, shuffling through the numbers and whether you're talking about advanced numbers per 36,

you know, the metrics, just the raw numbers, whatever they are. There are so many things in here that speak to, again, what I think is the harder leap to make

in the NBA, whether you're talking about being able to perform, you know, effectively and, and keep your numbers up and keep your efficiency and your impact up when your usage goes up. Like, you know, it's obviously you got the ball more, you're doing something.

It's easier to put up more numbers, but it's also easier to be exposed. And I think that's something. I think the biggest thing is the jump between, isn't it awesome when Austin plays well early and not just like has a good game, but like, ooh, look at that stat line to, the expectation every night that Austin's going to play well. Because that's where he is. Like the Lakers show up and their template to win really is a big three. And obviously LeBron and Luca are like a little further up on the ladder than Reeves is.

But there is an expectation every night that Reeves is going to go out and contribute in multiple ways to, the Lakers winning. And when he doesn't, it sticks out and it severely damages the team's ability to win. And being one of those guys to go from a role guy where you're expected to play well, you know, three out of five, two and a half out of five, whatever, it's pretty good for most role players. Oh, look at that. To a guy who's expected to do it on four out of five nights, you know, eight out of ten games, whatever it is. That's really hard. So I'm curious to see if you'd vote for if the Lakers, where they are in the standings, should make a difference. It seems to make a difference for so many other awards.

He's also not the only Laker who might win something. Get to it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by five-hour energy drink, daylight savings. Still, we all feel it, and you miss that lost hour of sleep. Five-hour energy has got your back. The extra sunshine means more time for fun, but sometimes you need a little boost to power through the day. And whether you're staying up late watching the tourney or squeezing in round of golf after work or just trying to keep up with a busy day.

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I mentioned, Andy, the Spotify and Apple Podcasts and the Lockdown Lakers YouTube channel where people can find the show, you can also make yourself, it can be a newsletter. And you go to Lockdown Daylay.com, you click on Lockdown-Lakers, and this thing is delivered to you five days a week. And so a great way to keep up with what's going on in the show and with what's going on around the network. Real quick, before we get back to this stuff, we're talking, in terms of talking about awards. You know, obviously, Luca and LeBron are not in the MVP conversation, which is fine. They don't, shouldn't be. Luke hasn't played enough games anyway.

Right. It's all kinds of reasons. What do you think about JJ for coach of the year? And then Rob Polinka were executive of the year. I want to save some of this for a longer conversation. Oh, for sure. Just as a teaser. I think Rob has.

Rob has a stronger case this year than JJ. If for no other reason than I think there are stronger Coach of the Year candidates than Reddick, although I think Reddick's going to get some votes. And if not first place, I think he'll appear on some ballots. I think you should be in the top five. Yeah.

If not definitively in the top five, because there are a lot of coaches who've done a good job this year. I think he will get some love and he will deserve that love. I think there will be voters who want to see more than a one-year sample size fair or not. I personally, I think the winner should be J.B. Bickerstaff. And I think it's a pretty strong case, not just for the way the Pistons have, I think, tripled their win total from last season. I know some of this has to do with a better roster, but tripled is tripled.

It's also a matter of changing an entire culture. It's very similar to what Dan Campbell did with the Lions in Detroit. and Detroit is just a city that gets beat down pretty easily. And honestly, man, I'm so happy for those Pistons fans because that is a fan-based. Great basketball city. They love, I mean, we have a few friends who are Pistons fans, and my God, they love that team. So I think Bigger Staff should win. I think he's got a pretty good shot at winning.

Polinka, though, I don't think he'll win because I don't think he's popular. enough among his peers. I think he's actually, frankly, rather unpopular. And there will be people who look at his crowning achievement, Luca Donchich, and say, that's just Nico Harrison handing him over the guy, which to some degree is true. But- If someone offers you, Luca Donchich, you say yes, unless you're the Mavericks. But where I think Palinka's case really begins, though, is the offseason, hiring JJ Reddick, the DFS trade, even a guy like Jordan Goodwin, who they found as a two-way player who's ended up in the rotation. Like this is, you and I have often stressed doubts or criticisms of Rob Polinka

minding the smaller details and sometimes getting too caught up in this franchise's star referee nature. this, I think, has been a good year for Rob Polinka and the details. Yeah, I think, look, like I said, we can save some of this for another time or get really different, or just revisit it. It's not like, you know, a lot of time between now and the executive of the year voting. It's such an interesting case for him because there were a lot of things that they kind of didn't do well in the offseason that limited the roster coming in.

But they more in the previous offseason setting. up. But either way. They couldn't do anything. We spent the entire story talking about they are in a box. It is a box of their own making and they can't do anything about it. Over the course of the year, they got a little bit of a break in that Jackson Hayes really has played quite well. They got a break that Gabe came back and really performed into that contract. You get credit for the DFS trade. like you say, they've picked up, you know, the, the, the, the, the dart throws that they've made over the course of season, been pretty good. But the, the, the Luca thing, like, this is one of the things I love about sports. What would have happened if Dan Hurley said yes?

Like, I don't know. I, I, would the Lakers be better than they, they, they would have been, if, if Dan Hurley, you know, was the coach here? I doubt they'd be better. what if, you know, like, are the Lakers going to be better off in this offseason going forward, having not actually made the Williams deal? Maybe, maybe not. Like, sports can do so many. Everybody thought when they made the Dan Hurley offer, it was like, dang, Lakers big swing. You know, I kind of like it.

Let's see what happens here. They're aiming really high. They want to create a culture. And it turns out they've done all that stuff with, with, with, Redick as well. For that man, Dalton connect, too. I mean, I know he fell to them, but

we saw the previous year with Jaylen and Chafino. You can make the wrong decision. You can overthink it. You can do whatever. And, you know, I'm certainly not sure who they should have. You know, if you don't take Dalton that position, who do you take?

Like, I don't, I'd have to look back at the board. But, you know, I think that was, I think that was a good play. I think this is the year. He's not going to win. I do think this is actually a year he gets, at least on the board. We'll see. I think he's going to get on the board.

But I do think a lot of people are going to look at this and be like, that is Nico. Like, you don't get credit for somebody giving you the guy, although he did keep it under his hat, which he had to execute him. But anyway, Dorian, would he have to thank Nico in his speech? They should give it to Nico. I mean, he should be. Nico's name should be on it is with him. Well, you know, like it'd be like an Oscar speech.

You know how sometimes when a guy wins, he says like, I want to share this with all my nominees. Rob would say, I want to share this with Nico Harrison. Yeah. Because I really could not have done this without you. It's just like I people do this. I was listening to Zach Lowe, you know, who's back now with Bill Simmons network. And we're so excited to have his voice, literally his voice back. Yep.

And I do this too. He's like, he's just like, you stop. It's two months. I think Wednesday was like the two month anniversary of Detroit. But like you sometimes stop and you just look at it and go, how the bleep did Luca Donchich end up on the, on the Lakers? And look at what they've been able to do.

And he's not played nearly to the level that he's capable of. And yet you can, this is how you know the guy is sort of cosmically good. He can be struggling by his standards or a little below and adjusting and still coming back from injury. And I don't think he's ever been able to get himself into shape completely this year because he got hurt. And then in the off season, he was playing internationally. And it's just after going to the final, like all of it. I feel like we're getting like 75, 80 percent of the guy.

And he still is one of the few players in the league who controls the other nine guys on the floor when he's on the floor. It's just, it's amazing. And it's still very strange to me that he's on the Lakers. I'm not sure if you've gotten totally accustomed to it yet, but it still is a little bit weird and very, very cool. It is. I have zero complaints so far. Shout out, by the way, to Anthony Davis, who had a game winner on.

Yes, he did. I really want to see the Mavericks get in. So I'm rooting for AD. And shoutouts, by the way, in case we don't have time to get into a full discussion of it, but Doreen Phine Smith is among the finalists, among six finalists for the Sportsmanship Award, which I think reflects like one of the great things about DFS. He's like an absolute dog on the court and just relentless. And he will talk constantly with his teammates.

And every now and then you can get a rise out of him. But what he doesn't do is yap in the refs ears, just constantly all game. the best type of hyper-competitive talkative dog. According to it, I looked up text for the Lakers. Assuming this site is right, it's from something called team rankings.com. It's surprisingly difficult to track down technical foul counts. Luca has the most, not surprisingly, on the Lakers, with 11, and that's with having missed like 30 games.

Austin is next with six. another sign that he's rising in the ranks, he feels that he can complain more. Jared Vanderbilt with four, which in its own right is as impressive as Lucas 11 because Vando missed like two-thirds of the season and somehow has four texts. DFS with three.

And I guess LeBron has fewer than three because he did not turn up on this list. LeBron does not. LeBron may complain. He does not get done yet. He knows how to do it well. And also. He was like he fouled out of like two games in his career or something like that.

It's like some ridiculous number like that. And then congratulations to one-time Laker and obviously all-time great Carmelo Anthony. Yet another Laker going to the Hall of Fame. Yeah. And Mello's season with the Lakers was obviously disappointing for those who don't remember the timeline. It was the first season of Russell Westbrook and a lot went bad that year. Mello was awesome on that team to deal with. He was great in that locker room.

He showed why even during periods of his career where there were some turbulence and controversy, teammates always loved him. He has always been one of the most popular guys in the league. And he's an obvious first ballot no-brainer Hall of Famer. And just, again, he was delightful when he was with the Lakers. We'll quit here, but like, I just, Mello is one of those guys that is always on my list for players who I wish people spent more time talking about what he, what he was, what made him great as opposed to the things that didn't make him greater. Yep. But Man Alive was just as a pure score, one of the most entertaining players.

Kobe. Oh, yes, he did. Love to Mello. Yeah. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 30. 34,000 subscribers, Andy, we will be back after the game against the Warriors Thursday night. This is a big one, hopefully celebrating yet another Lakers' home win. See everyone after the game.