Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Giannis Antetokounmpo, Future Laker? (Spoiler Alert: It's Highly Unlikely)

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

The rumors are already percolating! Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks superstar, NBA champion, is thought to, perhaps, be on the trade block. And, of course, should he decide he wants out of Milwaukee, th...ere are reports that the Lakers would be among his desired locations. So let's start with the first part, first. Is it really possible Giannis could actually leave Milwaukee? Yes, it is. The Bucks are in deep, deep trouble around their roster, the salary cap/luxury tax and trade assets. They were going to be in a very tough spot even before Damian Lillard, well into his 30s, tore his Achilles in the first round of the playoffs. So it actually does make sense that Giannis might see the writing on the wall and ask to leave, and for the Bucks to decide it really is in the best interests of the franchise to oblige him. As for the "play for the Lakers" part? That's a lot more complicated. Like, damn near impossible unless the Lakers somehow figure out how to morph Bucks GM Jon Horst into NIco Harrison. Meanwhile, is there anything JJ Redick can learn from watching how Steve Kerr handled Game 1 for the Warriors against Minnesota?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: Giannis, leaving Milwaukee? SEGMENT 2: Why Giannis to LA is a no-go. SEGMENT 3: JJ and subs and trust. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Amazon Fire TV Stick 4KDid you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices — no console required. Head to Amazon.com/firetvlockedon to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller required.BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by Betterhelp. Your well-being is worth it. Visit BetterHelp.com/lockedonnba today to get 10% off your first month.UpworkVisit Upwork.comright now and post your job for free. With Upwork, you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, development, design, and more—experts ready to help you take your business to the next level. OpenPhoneStreamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonnbaDoor DashSign up for DashPass and when any player scores 50+ in a playoff game, DashPass members can grab a free 3PC Crispy Tenders Combo from Wingstop the next day, with a $20+ order and code WINGSTOP50. That’s DashPass: your door to more savings, more flavor, and more ways to win. Terms apply. Valid only at participating Wingstop locations. Fees (including service fee), taxes, and gratuity still apply. Orders must have a minimum subtotal of $20, excluding taxes and fees. Offer valid on 4/15/25-6/22 /25 or while supplies last. Valid for one (1) promotional redemption per customer. DoubleDash promotions apply only to your DoubleDash add-on order, not your primary order. DoubleDash orders are not valid for the purchase of alcohol. No cash value. Non-transferable. Discount applies to subtotal only; does not apply to fees, taxes, and gratuity. Not valid for pickup. Limit one per person. Not valid for the purchase of alcohol. Fees, taxes, and gratuity still apply. Must have an active DashPass account. Use promo code WINGSTOP50 to redeem. See full terms and conditions at drd.sh/qnAXuUMonarch 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.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Thursday. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Komenetsky, I've got four words for you. Janice Antecoompo, future Laker. 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 making Locked on Lakers.
Starting point is 00:00:31 First listen to every day Monday through Friday, no matter how where you get your podcast, this one's always free and never behind paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube. is ready to go hang out with 35,000 plus subscribers to the channel, Andy, all of whom are recognizing that this summer is officially here when it comes to the Lakers because crazy rumors are popping up around some of the best players in the NBA, which is how we know that the world, at least in one way, is operating as it should.
Starting point is 00:00:59 Lots to cover in regards to Janus rumors. Interesting stuff coming out of game one between Minnesota and Golden state that makes you question perhaps some of JJ Reddick's habits throughout the playoffs and a quick note on international basketball. All of that for today's show. But first, I want to let people know today's episodes brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account used to code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Andy, I am going out and buying myself a Janus jersey. It's a shame. I didn't keep my jersey from the last time the Lakers had an Anticoompo because it would
Starting point is 00:01:43 say it would have saved me some money. But unfortunately, I'm going to have to buy a fresh one. Was it, it was Costas, correct? Did we have coastis? I believe we had coastis. By the way, you may have noticed, Andy, that I did not actually use the brother's first name. And it's because I briefly was unsure as to which one it was.
Starting point is 00:02:04 I thought it was costus as opposed to thin. But I wasn't 100% sure, so I just skipped it. It was, in fact, we had Kosis onto the Kumpo on the Lakers. It was actually during the 2020 championship season. And I'm pretty sure that all he does is win rings. Well, I'm pretty sure that Thanassas was on the Bucks team. Right. With Janus that won the title.
Starting point is 00:02:32 So all three brothers have championships. All three did equal amount of work. For all the, for all the hand-wringing over, you know, Bronny being a Laker and all this and whatever, I honestly, holding a spot for Costas as like a potential lure for Janus down the road is probably even more egregious. At least LeBron was already on the team.
Starting point is 00:02:55 Like, we were just using that kid as bait for God's face. He was, he looked pretty happy to be there, man. Coast has always, he always seemed to be in a really good mood. But yeah, wouldn't you be? He's playing in the NBA.
Starting point is 00:03:10 It's interesting after the Buck's most recent early exit and Dame Lillard's unfortunate injury. And nobody knows exactly when he's going to return to the court. And Brooke Lopez, an impending free agent. There just seems to be a lot of signs of the era officially being over for Janus in Milwaukee. I think honestly that there has been this much chatter about it this early after the exit. I know we've done this dance with Janus a few times, but this seems to be the first time that people aren't refuting it or people aren't trying to temper the expectations that Janus could ask for a trade.
Starting point is 00:03:59 This seems to be people expecting at this point he's going to ask for a trade. The reason, but it's, and it's, and there makes some sense before we even get to the Lakers part of it. And the Lakers roll in these rumors. It does, the, the one thing you can say about the Janus talk is that it actually makes sense, because the bucks were going to be in trouble from a CBA salary cap roster construction standpoint. No assets whatsoever anymore. before Dame got hurt. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:36 They were in trouble before that. You know, this season- Didn't want the job. Remember, Doc didn't even want the coaching job. Poor guy. I know. You know, made to do it and all that. I know.
Starting point is 00:04:46 You know, so they were going to have problems. This season clearly didn't go the way that they wanted it to. It was not nearly, they, they were on their way down. You know, in some ways kind of similar, but even in kind of a worse, way than the Lakers were pre-Luca. We're like, they're not terrible, but there's no clear avenue to become the best team in your conference again. And with Dame now being hurt and certainly older and all these other things, the
Starting point is 00:05:20 bucks just may be in a position where they have to look into trading on us because they're basically getting, you know, putting themselves in a position to be a perpetrator. actual seven seed because Janus is so good still that he can lift a team like that into the playoffs in the east. But you're not going to beat Boston. You're not going to beat New York. You're not going to beat Cleveland. You're not going to beat Orlando's probably as a brighter.
Starting point is 00:05:46 Indiana. Indiana's got a brighter future. They're clearly falling behind. Right. Detroit is way, way on the way up. And all right. Frankly, even teams like Brooklyn probably have a cleaner place to be. They're worse now, much worse.
Starting point is 00:06:02 but they're in a cleaner place to be able to try to accelerate past teams like Milwaukee. So the first thing that makes this not silly from a, is it worth talking about Janus not being a buck anymore? The answer is absolutely. In my opinion, the answer is absolutely. That's step one before encountering a silly season rumor about the Lakers. And at the very least, this one clears that bar for me. Right. And this began, or at least the origin of the reason people are talking about it right now is Howard Beck from the ringer, friend of the show, one point friend of the network, the entire network.
Starting point is 00:06:42 And I'd like to think, Andy, just a friend. Yep. He was on Zach Lowe's podcast and they were talking about the Yonis situation. And Howard said, quote, I poked around a little bit a few days ago. And the initial thing I got from one person was just some rumblings that it's already just the big cities, one of the L.A. teams or one of the New York teams or maybe Miami, not a big market, but a glamour market, mid-sized market. And, you know, obviously that got people immediately wondering about, you know, the viability of Janus as a Laker. And, you know, obviously, if this were possible for the Lakers to do, and we'll get into some of the reasons that even if the Lakers can do it and even if they can pull it off, there are complications afterwards. But if it is possible, you know,
Starting point is 00:07:31 possible to get Janus. The answer is obviously yes and work out the things that we are going to get into later down the road get Janus. Just so people know, Janus, if you weren't watching closely, averaged 30 and a half points a game, 12 rebounds, six and a half assists and shot 60 from the floor. Right. I mean, he is he is going to end up finishing top five in MVP voting, which is going to be a season long streak for Janus. He is still one of the best. best players in the league. He's actually, I mean, we talk about how Luca all the time is top three, top five, at worst, or whatever in terms of how he's regarded around the league.
Starting point is 00:08:10 I think Janus is probably one of the only players that if I had to guess, not done this poll myself, would probably come out ahead of Luca in that poll. Probably. I mean, because I think most, I think for most GMs, if you just ranked everybody right now, it would go, Yokic, Janus, maybe Shea or whatever. but probably then like Luca and down the line. Sure, but Janus is definitely one of those guys. And, you know, again, if the Lakers could get him, the answer is yes.
Starting point is 00:08:42 But I would say, just looking at the Lakers situation, unless Janus signals that he only wants to be a Laker, and even then, it's important for people to know, Janus cannot opt out until the 2027 off season. So two seasons from now when he's 33. So if I'm a team around the league and I feel like I'm a Janus away, like from realistically putting myself in that championship mix, I got to be honest, I would trade for him anyway.
Starting point is 00:09:17 Absolutely. And get his best remaining prime years, especially since Janus does not seem wired to rock the boat if he's not. at, you know, his first choice destination, make trouble that just does not seem to be who he is at all. I would just trade for him, if I could, get his two best remaining prime years and worry about the rest later on. And if I happen to win a championship and then Janus leaves, I can easily live with that. Frankly, I can live with it even if you don't win a championship, just that you took that shot. They're not, nobody's upset in Toronto. Right. Exactly. One year with Kauai.
Starting point is 00:09:56 I would be really, really surprised if the Lakers can offer the best possible deal for the Bucks. Because the Bucks, they need high draft picks, they need young talent. The Lakers expiring contracts. There's a solution to what you're talking about here. And it's not easy. And it requires a couple things to happen first. And I'll explain it next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Upwork.
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Starting point is 00:11:14 you're looking for to scale your business efficiently. Visit upwork.com right now, post a job for free. That's upworg.com.com upwork.com to connect with top talent and grow your business. business today. Locked on Lick is also brought to you by game time. There's nothing like the atmosphere of an NBA playoff game, something you can not currently experience in Los Angeles, but you could somewhere every bucket, every defensive stop,
Starting point is 00:11:41 every moment, it feels huge, it's electric in the arena, trust us. And with game time, you can be part of that without the stress. Too soon! I'm just a man reading copy, Andy.
Starting point is 00:11:54 But you can go to other events. LAFC tickets, Angel City tickets, electric atmospheres in those places as well. Get yourself to a Dodger game. Those guys are good. They're still playing. They're not even trying and they're good. Game time.
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Starting point is 00:12:52 Again, create an account. You've redeemed the code locked on NBA, L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-N-B-A for. $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets lowest price guarantee. So quick word on this. We mentioned for Wednesday's show that Andy and I are both going to start paying significantly more attention to international basketball this year. It should be noted, because obviously with the presence of Luca, it should be noted that Andy and I, it's not that we didn't follow European basketball particularly closely. We've just never been like, Andy in particular has never really even been a big follower of like Olympic basketball,
Starting point is 00:13:37 Team USA and all that kind of stuff. And so it's not any sort of antipathy. We never really had a reason. So anyway, but now we do and are excited to it. So thank you to everybody for leaving questions, leaving comments, little primers on what's, you know, the importance of Eurobasket,
Starting point is 00:13:56 why it matters and all that kind of stuff. We are excited to get into it with you. as the off season continues. The Lakers, like you say, don't have young talent on a let's get Janus kind of level. Oh, oh, it goes even more. They don't have draft picks. They don't have draft picks. The player that would be theoretically the centerpiece of this trade would be Austin Reeves.
Starting point is 00:14:21 Austin Reeves is of no use whatsoever to a rebuilding Milwaukee Box team. He's too old for that already. He is, I believe, 27 at this point. unless noted free agent destination Milwaukee can rebuild on the fly, Austin Rees is of no use to them. Dalton Connect, while I think has nice potential moving forward, he is not good enough or certainly potential enough to be, again, the centerpiece of your rebuilding young team.
Starting point is 00:14:51 The Lakers, you know, they'll have a couple draft picks, but even they don't, the box have so little control over their draft picks for the next several years, they need immediate help on this project. And quite frankly, especially if the Lakers add Janus to Luca and those are the draft picks Milwaukee gets, that's not much immediate help. The Lakers really have nothing. They have nothing to offer Milwaukee that on paper feels like that will top the rest of the league's offers. Right. And so, you know, it's going to look a lot less like players in like a pick like Anthony Davis and much more like okay let's start with Michael Bridges got five first rounders like let's start
Starting point is 00:15:37 there what has what would have to happen here because a straight trade isn't going to make it work is that Janus would have to make it very clear that he wants to be a Laker and scare off all the teams that would try to trade for him in the scenario you were talking about the last segment, Andy. I don't think that would be successful. I don't either. But what would happen in the meantime is that the Lakers would have a year, a year and a half, whatever it might be, to try to acquire the assets to then acquire Janus.
Starting point is 00:16:19 Or the Lakers would, you know, the idea would just be to scare everyone off until the Lakers could create cap space to sign Janus after a post-2020 opt-out. All of these scenarios have huge problems because it is very difficult to simultaneously try to acquire the assets to trade for Janus while also building a really good team around I'm going to be honest, the scenario you're describing where basically you're waiting around until 2027 when Janus is turning 34, I'm not interested in that. But I'm not interested in that. We're not even at that question yet. And then the other thing is if you start to then, but that's the other side of it. If you're waiting then around, you're both getting an older Janus. But let's say he's still really good. You're also hamstringing everything you do for two years. That's not a plan. I mean, that's the thought, what it is, what it is, though, is a version of how the Lakers used to act with every star that the, you know, in terms of trying to make sure you have cap space for this year for this star, cap space for this year for this star.
Starting point is 00:17:41 And we talked about it for Wednesday's show. There is every indication that Luca wants to stay in L.A., that the Lakers are going to keep him in L.A., they'll give him whatever deal he wants. and the Lakers are hoping he finishes his career here. But Bobby Marks at ESPN noted this week, and others have as well, the Lakers still have to show that they can, to really 100% seal all of this, the Lakers have to show in the near and long term that they can put a good team around Luka. If you immediately start changing your whole direction in terms of how your team building to maybe kind of sort of give yourself a crack at Janus,
Starting point is 00:18:26 you are not doing the thing that you need to do to build around Luca. So I'll be honest. It's not even just realistic, unrealistic, philosophically, it's a terrible idea. I'm going to be honest, what you just described never even crossed my mind. Like as far as the Lakers actually doing that, it makes so little sense, particularly assuming you already have a star in hand. the thing that you are describing is what the Lakers used to do when they had no stars and they were trying to land the first one.
Starting point is 00:18:57 So I'm going to be honest, it never even crossed my mind. No, but as recently as a couple of years ago, the Lakers have. And granted, it's contextually different, not totally apples to apples, but we have to protect our cap space. We have to protect this. We've got everybody's up at the same time. And that gives it they have at different times for different reasons become kind of obsessed over. that one year where they have gobs and gobs and gobs of cap space that they can use on free agents that they can use whatever and moving away from that obsession not that it's not smart sometimes
Starting point is 00:19:35 to line up your contracts or whatever but moving away from that obsession of keeping a clean year at all costs has benefited the organization and it would be a mistake to go back to that. Really what the Lakers are hoping for, because like I said, I think it is very difficult to imagine them being able to outbid the rest of the league because they really do not have what Milwaukee needs. What they are really hoping for is a combination of Janus messaging in a way
Starting point is 00:20:11 that somehow scares the other 28 teams around the league, which I don't picture happening because, again, Janus is under contract for another two years. or that Janus manages to guilt the Bucs into a sense of sentiment, in which case they will trade him to his number one option. I do think the Bucks, if and when they eventually trade Janus, they're going to send him somewhere good in the same way the Blazers sent Damien Lillard, at least at the time it felt like somewhere good.
Starting point is 00:20:42 The Bucks were a competitive team. He was being teamed up with Janus. That's a good destination. Like the Bucks are not going to trade Janus to the wizards or the Hornets or the Blazers, regardless if those teams can come up with the best version of what they need. They're not going to do that to Janus. But if, say, the Knicks or the Heat or pick another team that is Houston, to be honest, I think would be a great destination for Janus.
Starting point is 00:21:13 I think they would send Janus there, knowing he'd be in a competitive. situation, even if it's not his first choice, because at some point, as great as Janus has been to that organization, you do need to do what's best for the franchise. Yeah. So, I mean, the bottom line here is if you are in the business of getting an Ante Coupo, you might want to look into Costas again or Thanasis, who I believe is available, and go that route because it is a long shot, which. at least from our perspective.
Starting point is 00:21:50 If you have to be in the business of typing Donchich with like you have to do the, you know, the little symbols and stuff like that and onto Ticumpo, that's a heavy lift for your beatwriters. It's a lot to do from a typing standpoint. Just cut and paste. That works too. How is the Warriors, Wolves series, the early, at least game one, informing our opinion of JJ Reddick,
Starting point is 00:22:17 get to that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Open Phone. If you're running a business, you know that every missed call is money left on the table. Think about it. When was the last time you had some type of service emergency? And if the first person or company that you called didn't answer, you just waited around for them to call you back. You didn't. And that's why you need Open Phone.
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Starting point is 00:23:19 slash locked on NBA. And if you're switching from another service, open phone will even port your existing numbers over at no extra charge. Open phone, no missed calls, no missed customers. So Wednesday night, the Warriors, despite losing Steph Curry early in their game one of the conference semifinals in Minnesota, beat the Wolves 99 to 88, Andy. a lot of things interesting about this. First of all, the Warriors beat the wolves despite the fact that they didn't have staff for most of the game.
Starting point is 00:24:01 The wolves were terrible in this game. Again, which was frustrating to a lot of Lakers fans watching. What happened to the team that throttled the Lakers and was so good in Julius Randall and the three-point shooting and Jaden McDaniels and all that. So where did that team go? It was also a reminder of how poorly the Lakers played in game five, because what Minnesota did in game one, to me, looked a lot like what they did in game five.
Starting point is 00:24:32 The difference is the Warriors on the road without Steph still figured out a way to be good enough to beat that team without being great themselves. They still figured out how to win, whereas the Lakers at home couldn't figure out how to at least win a game against a Wolves team that was clearly having a really bad night. You just needed to find a way to get it done if you're the Lakers. And even like Buddy healed, for example, he had 24 points in this game,
Starting point is 00:25:05 but 22 of them were in the second half. He was inefficient overall, but hit five threes in this game. Draymond Green of all people, hit four threes very early on. He couldn't hit much of anything in the second half. But the Warriors did a great job in this game of just creating, either creating a buffer to hold off the wolves after Steph got hurt or just the wolves never managed to capitalize on it. However, you want to put it a little bit of both. But it was ugly offense on both sides in this game. It's not like the wolves got beat because the warrior somehow managed to become the Splash Brothers version of themselves, despite having neither Splash Brother on hand.
Starting point is 00:25:55 It was ugly on their side too, but they just managed to be resourceful in this game in ways that the Lakers could not take advantage of in game five. I mean, look, like we talked about, LeBron probably could not have played in the rest of this series anyway. He couldn't go to the Met Gala. He wasn't able to play in game six. Right. So you likely lose this series anyway, but it's still frustrating to see your team not at least take advantage of an opportunity in front of them and who knows what could happen next. So from there, the other part of this that is interesting, and you know, there's some extenuating circumstances here against staff only played 13 minutes. So you have to scramble
Starting point is 00:26:39 a little bit. But I know. of the things that got your attention in this game was the way in which Steve Kirk got into his bench. Yeah. He played one, two, three, four, non-steff players, but one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight guys more than ten minutes. Again, no step changes things. And 12 guys got on the floor. Guy Santos played four minutes. Quentin Post played six.
Starting point is 00:27:12 So, you know, short minutes for those guys, but they did play. And it's just it is, it's, it's, Kerr is an interesting guy because if you watch, sort of warrior social media, which is a very active place, they go back and forth between he doesn't, you know, he plays too many guys, he doesn't play enough guys, why is he going to play, guys file in and out of the rotation. and a lot of the commentary can't stand Kerr, in part because of how he does these things.
Starting point is 00:27:47 But in this game, at least, a lot of guys got on the floor. Even with Steph's injury, obviously dictating the usage of all these players, particularly in the second half, I think some of this had been pre-designed because nine guys played in the first quarter, and that was before Steph got hurt. Steph didn't get hurt until the second quarter. So though he went pretty deep into. his bench before Steph's injury was even a thing. And once Steph went down, he put Steve Kerr put some trust in Jonathan Kaminga, despite the well documented lack of enduring trust in Kaming. I mean,
Starting point is 00:28:23 that's been a whole soap opera right in the Bay Area. And he gave other guys a shot to help. And based on what we saw during the Lakers series against the wolves, it feels to me like, like JJ would have reacted in a comparable situation largely by just contracting rotation. You would play four guys. You can argue about which bench or entire roster is better between the Lakers of the Wool's, but for what it's worth, there have been a lot of talk over the course of the season about the warriors being too thin. But even if you want to say that Golden State's bench in the aggregate is better than the Lakers,
Starting point is 00:29:05 I'm sorry, you cannot convince me that Pat F. and Spencer is more automatically reliable and trustworthy than frankly Jordan Goodwin, much less Gabe Vincent. And I just think there's something JJ can learn from this. We talked about it before, about just extending more faith in his players, giving up a certain degree of control in exchange for faith, especially considering how much of the regular season,
Starting point is 00:29:36 I think JJ very successfully built up a culture where those guys all had a role. They all mattered. They were all important. And my God, did he run away from that fast? And I think, frankly, unjustified. I think in some ways it was and wasn't. Like, you know, I mean, I go back to it.
Starting point is 00:29:58 Like, there aren't a lot of guys that I wanted to see on the floor for this. And I sometimes think trust is the wrong word. You know, if you go back to game seven, for example, Rockets, Warriors, Steve Kirk played a short bench in that game, very short bench. You didn't see much of Pat Spencer in that game. And I'm not sure Spencer would have played 11 minutes if Steph doesn't get hurt. So, I mean, you know, that scrambles your rotation in a big way. There's no question. But I do think broadly, you know, over the course of that first round, for example, the Warriors definitely use their bench more. The Rockets definitely use their bench more. And what I think
Starting point is 00:30:38 is I think JJ from a definitely got tighter as the season as the playoffs began. There's no question. And I agree with you kind of big picture. Part of that tightness just makes you less willing to be like, you know what? I'm going to take a step back and we're going to put Gabe out there for a little while. I mean, we're really, to me at least in this conversation talking about mostly Vincent and and Vanderbilt. And maybe to some degree, Goodwin, I'm not putting the, the, uh, Jackson Hayes part of the conversation in this because I just don't think it applies.
Starting point is 00:31:21 I mean, if you want to remove one guy from it, fine, but I'm talking about four guys. No, I understand. No, I understand. And so the question for me is always like, where do you? And I think this kind of thing, it's not so much, hey, Steve Kerr use these guys, those guys, what combinations and why and whatever. It's just a, it's a body language thing. It's a mindset thing. It's all that stuff. What are you doing to make your team feel tighter rather than looser?
Starting point is 00:31:59 And it's not so much that I feel like some of these guys always have to play. but why aren't you playing? What is the sort of motivating you? And in that sense, I agree with you. I think that his tightness dictated some of his decisions, even if the decisions were defensible, it probably eliminated options from his option tree that should have been there. Well, here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:32:26 If you're going to remove Jackson Hayes from the rotation altogether by the end of the series, which we don't need to rehash the reasoning for all that. But you're also going to shorten your bench. And you're not going to try a different avenue with, say, Dalton Connect, like, which, and you and I heading into this series, both into the playoffs said, we don't expect Dalton to play. We understand why you won't play. And we're not even upset that Dalton didn't play. But if you're removing Hayes and you're shortening the minutes for Gabe and Vando,
Starting point is 00:33:01 and Goodwin and you won't go another avenue with Kneck. Like at some point, it's like, dude, you are leaving yourself with no outs. There's just not a lot you can change. There's just not much you can change. You have to be willing to try something, even if you don't have full confidence in it. Unless you're dealing with a team that is like the front runner, you're rarely going to feel fully confident in everything you're doing. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:28 So it's something to watch for the rest of the series. and something to watch how other teams handle these sorts of situations. You know, if you look at the Celtics who clearly have a deeper bench and things like that, they go deeper into it when guys are healthy, different varieties of players play and all that kind of stuff. But, you know, it's something to look as we evaluate Redick going forward and certainly stuff that I'm sure he'll be looking at as well. Locked on Lickers on YouTube is where you can hang out with 35,000 plus subscribers to the channel. Leave us questions.
Starting point is 00:33:59 Leave his comments. We'll see you tomorrow.

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