Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - EMERGENCY POD! Lakers Trade D'Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, 2nds to Brooklyn for Dorian FInney-Smith, Shake Milton!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to a special emergency edition of the Lockdown Lakers podcast. Rob Polinka said before the season began that needed 30 games to evaluate the roster's needs. Lakers have now played technically 31, but I guess he was not messing around because we've got ourselves a trade. Break it all down coming up next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. And thanks for making Locked on Lakers, your first listen everywhere you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:39 Monday through Friday, always free, never behind a paywall. And Locked on Lakers is where you can watch on YouTube and hang out with the community of over 26,000 subscribers. And we had talked about a few shows. Brian is not here right now. My brother, Brian, who co-hosts the show with me, I could not track him down when I saw the news from Sham Serania breaking the. that from ESPN, that the Lakers have traded DeAngelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, and three

Starting point is 00:01:12 second round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney Smith and Shake Milton. And I just said, you know what, I'll find Brian later. Like this cannot wait. Let's get on this right now. And it's coming at a time when the Lakers are playing very well. It is on the heels of a 132, 122 win over the Sacramento King Saturday to see. despite LeBron not playing in the game. He was sick. And going to look more into some of the particulars of this trade,

Starting point is 00:01:44 try to track down people like Adam Armbrecht from Locked on Nets to get a better idea, game in, game out of how DFS, who has certainly been very linked to the Lakers, not just this season, but over the last couple years, and Shake Milton to whatever degree he really matters in this trade. It's really a trade about Dorian Finney Smith, in my opinion. how they've looked, but my instant reaction is, I like it. First of all, it is a trade that makes a lot of sense. Dorian Finney Smith, who, again, is the primary piece of this trade for the Lakers.

Starting point is 00:02:19 He is, I don't know if he is quite a 3-and-D wing defender in the sense that he has spent more time of late guarding fours as much, if not a little bit more than threes. He is 31 years old. He's starting to get at that age where you may start guarding up a little bit more in terms of assignments just because of the mobility question. But he is still a guy that you can put on perimeter scores. Either way, he is somebody that's always been known for being able to play good defense. He is shooting a career best 43.5% from behind the arc this season on really good volume, almost five and a half. per game. He's averaging 10.4 points per game. He is scoring in general very efficiently this year

Starting point is 00:03:11 a little bit under 46% from the field. So this is a guy that is supplying some scoring punch for the Lakers, scoring of all things, considering the expectations of this season has been an issue for the Lakers. And I would think that if nothing else, the times that DFS plays alongside LeBron, he's going to be getting better looks set up for him than anything he was having in Brooklyn this year. And he is somebody that has been linked to the Lakers, like I said, for a couple seasons now. And if he is, as I suspect, the primary piece of this trade for the Lakers, that is a fair price for him. Angelo Russell had always been one of the guys linked to him as far as the salary that you

Starting point is 00:03:54 would use to match. And just like they talked about on True Detective, I guess the NBA is a flat circle as well because DeAngelo Russell began his career as a Laker and then was traded to the Nets several years ago in the deal that landed Brooke Lopez and I believe the pick that turned into either Kyle Kuzma or Josh Hart, one of the other. And we now have DeAngelo Russell's second tour of duty with the Lakers and he has traded yet again to the Brooklyn Nets. I'm going to sit in this a little bit more just thinking about the particulars of this deal. But my guess is Dorian Finney Smith will come off the bench for the Lakers. I suspect that J.J. Reddick will look

Starting point is 00:04:45 to keep this same starting lineup. Max Christie has been playing very well as that wing defending specialist for the Lakers. Like that's his primary assignment. I think he can also have a better ability to guard guards and, you know, the John Morantz of the world, the Darren Foxes of the world than you would have with Dorian Finney Smith. And unless you just want to move Rui to the bench to have more of a pure score that's more established coming off the bench than say, Dalton Connect, I suspect they're going to have DFS playing off the bench and playing a pretty significant role off the bench where you've got your five starters that established. And then the bench is Gabe Vincent, Dorian Finney Smith, Dalton Connect, Cam Reddish,

Starting point is 00:05:31 and Center X, whether Christian Coloco for now, Jackson Hayes, hopefully on the verge of returning, or who knows, there could be more moves on the horizon because, as Bobby Marks from ESPN points out, this trade doesn't just help the Lakers in terms of the player that they get in Dorian, Finney Smith and shoring up the wings in general. which has been the biggest weakness of this roster construction, and it also gives you more balance. Like, Dorian Finney Smith is now at worst the third best. I don't count LeBron in this equation just because LeBron may have to pace himself

Starting point is 00:06:12 more than we've seen over these last several games where he really has been a two-way player. But Dorian Finney Smith, if nothing else, becomes one of the premier two-way guys on this roster. Bobby Marks from ESPN Cap Guru points out that they're also getting some flexibility below the second apron. They are, they worth just 30 grand below the second apron. They are now three and a half million. And they've also got some salary flexibility moving forward as well because not only was DeAngelo Russell an expiring contract, Dorian Finney Smith has a player option next season for, I believe it's about 15, millish that he may decline and then the Lakers can decide whether or not they want to keep him

Starting point is 00:06:59 long term. But also, shake Milton, he has two more years under contract, but none of them are, neither of them are guaranteed. So in theory, the Lakers gain, depending on what Finney Smith opts to do, but they could be gaining some future flexibility. They're definitely gaining some current because they're now three and a half million below that second apron. So that gives them a little bit more wiggle room when it comes to moves that could be coming down the pike. I think the biggest question that comes from this trade beyond just how does Finney Smith play and how much does Dorian Finney Smith play? How much does Shake Milton play at all?

Starting point is 00:07:39 I'm not sure he's going to be in the rotation moving forward. I think some of it will depend on how well Dalton Connect plays because shake Milton is really a scoring first guard. And if Dalton Connect plays more like he has in the last couple games, I think the tie is going to go to the guy that is actually part of the Lakers future. But if Dalton Connect goes back to being kind of an up and down score, you know, particularly a guy that struggles on the road, that could create some opportunities for Shake Milton, who really is more of a scoring first guard.

Starting point is 00:08:17 but I think the biggest question moving forward is going to be ball handling and facilitating because that's not really what Dorian Finney Smith does at all. It's not really what Shake Milton does it all. And when you lose DeAngelo Russell, you lose some scoring, obviously, but Dorian Finney Smith has been scoring well, and that is what Jake Milton does if you need him. And DFS is not the same scoring threat in the sense of Delo being a guy that can go on heaters. I mean, like Dorian Finney Smith is not a heaters guy.

Starting point is 00:08:47 Whereas we've seen as up and down as DeAngelo Russell can be, when he's got it going, he can really get it going. It just frankly hasn't happened as much this season. But where I think DeLo is going to be missed the most is as a facilitator. And it's going to put more ball handling responsibility on, obviously, LeBron, on Austin Reeves. And I have been on record many times with my skepticism about Austin Reeves. his ability to be a true full-time point guard. Like, that's his primary responsibility. And I recognize this is coming off.

Starting point is 00:09:28 The last two games, Austin Reeves has 26 assists against eight turnovers. And in the month of December, other than the debacle against Detroit, he has not had a game with fewer than five assists. So, look, he has been playing very well along those lines, and I will be more than happy to be wrong if I am. You don't even need to throw it in my face. I will be thrilled to be wrong. But I need to see more of it, particularly I need to see more of it against more disruptive, bigger, athletic defenses.

Starting point is 00:10:02 But Austin has been doing a good job picking up the type of slack that will be necessary with DeAngel Russell no longer there. Delo has been, for all of his faults, one of, you could argue the clean. facilitator on this team for the whole season when it comes to setting up guys without turning over the ball. DeLo had been effective but also clean. So they're going to have to replace that and it's going to put more responsibilities on LeBron. It's going to put more on Austin Reeves. It'll put more on Gabe Vincent. And Gabe has played well for the most part over the last few weeks. He is not a true facilitator in the way that D'Angelo Russell is. But he is, but he is going to have to step up that part of his game more. If nothing else, just the ability to keep

Starting point is 00:10:51 guys organized. That's going to be something on Gabe Vincent's plate. For however long, he's on this team, because this may be the precursor to another move. And if there's more down the pike, which I imagine Laker fans are hoping for, excited for, Gabe Vincent could very well be a part of that. But either way, I like this for the Lakers. I like that they are making an investment with LeBron and Anthony Davis. We talked about this on a recent show. I'm not saying that they have to go all in for the sake of going all in. I'm not even saying that they have to go all in.

Starting point is 00:11:26 What I want them to do is pick a lane and to be serious about doing something of substance with LeBron and Anthony Davis if you're going to have them on the roster at all. We've had enough time to see what this looks like. and it is pointless to have LeBron on the roster at 40, Anthony Davis in the backside of his prime, if you're not looking to fortified. If you're not willing to do it for whatever reason. And in some respects, I don't even care what the reason is.

Starting point is 00:11:57 If you're not willing to do it, then you need to be thinking about another direction. This for the time being, at least, signals some more seriousness and commitment. So I like it. We're going to have a full show coming later of Sunday night. on YouTube Monday morning for the audio, but either way, big news for the Lakers and they look busy. They got a couple games to figure out the new Delo-less Dorian Finney Smith era before Tuesday's game against

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Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - EMERGENCY POD! Lakers Trade D'Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, 2nds to Brooklyn for Dorian FInney-Smith, Shake Milton!

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