Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - How Much Better are the Lakers After the Finney-Smith Deal? Will D'Angelo Russell Be Missed?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Thursday, Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Kavanaugh, now that the Lakers have made a trade for Dorian, Finney Smith, and Jake Milton, how much higher does their ceiling go? We'll break it down 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 Lockdown Lakers first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast, this one's always going to be. be free and never behind a paywall. Locked on the Lakers on YouTube is where you go hang out with over

Starting point is 00:00:42 26,000. Andy, just we're shading awfully close to 27. We're getting at that point we might just round up. But they're all over there on the YouTube channel talking to us, talking to each other, and serving as inspiration, I should say, for a lot of the things we're going to talk about in today's show. We'll also cover the January schedule, which begins today. Again, Portland and then tomorrow against Atlanta. The Lakers have some, they need to do some work in the month of January. We'll explain why over the course of the show. But one of the phenomenons that I think we are all trying to figure out, Andy,

Starting point is 00:01:26 is how the dynamic has changed, how the upside has changed, where the ceiling has changed. I think most people you would agree, don't look at the Dorian, Finney Smith, shake Milton acquisition and say this puts the Lakers in the upper echelon of the Western Conference and the you know the NBA generally I think that is fair to say I agree the chief reason being it doesn't right so I have certainly proved that point on New Year's Eve I think and we'll talk about this that there is a lot of good that can come from the trade and our reaction since the trade broke has been has been in support of it but but nobody senses this vaults the Lakers,

Starting point is 00:02:11 you know, neck and neck with the thunder because, again, I cannot stress this. It's enough to cause it. So with that in mind, the question is how much does this, you know,

Starting point is 00:02:25 hopefully raise their ceiling? You know, where does this move them? Because if nothing else, like, look, everybody wants to find a trade, find a deal,

Starting point is 00:02:34 find something that puts the Lakers, up in the upper reaches of the Western Conference of this. And that is not even being an easy thing to do. There is no single trade out there. Lakers may not have the assets to get that done. But what you can hope for are things that incrementally move them up the ladder. And there is a big difference between the upside being, you know, somewhere between like the range being somewhere like play in to maybe out of the play in,

Starting point is 00:03:04 to play in, you know, out. of the play in and maybe with a chance to get, you know, a four seat and host the first round or something like that. Like there's a big difference between those two outcomes in terms of trying to figure out how far the Lakers can go. So when you look at where they are now, having just seen the one game and obviously a lot of, a lot of time here to go, did it move the needle for you and where you think they can, they can finish?

Starting point is 00:03:30 Like, is this worth another game or two for them in the standings? Well, assuming you think that this trade can make them better, I think the answer to that is yes, just because the West is so tight. And to put this in perspective, as of this recording, there are still games being played. But the Lakers are a seven seed. They are one game behind Dallas for four. And we're going to talk about the schedule coming up. They are going to be playing Dallas who will not have Luca in that game. So one could even say that given how tight the West is, that if the trade simply doesn't make the Lakers worse, there's a chance that actually they could end. I'm being serious. Well, I understand. That they could end up moving up the ranks anyway,

Starting point is 00:04:20 just because it's all so fluid to begin with. That being said, though, yeah, because of the reasons that we liked the deal, you know, there are issues that need to be accounted for. and one of them we mentioned after the loss of Cleveland, and this was something that we both said at the time would need to be accounted for, so it's not a surprise. But in the regular season, they are going to miss DeAngelo Russell's playmaking and facilitating and shooting and scoring when it's on.

Starting point is 00:04:50 But just being that floor general and one of the best pure point guards on this team, that skill set was going to be missed. I think it was exacerbated more without, Gabe Vincent, who is more of a keep the trains running point guard than a very dynamic point guard. But he is more of a point guard than I think shake Milton or typically has been. If for no other reason that I think shake Milton is a better score than Gabe Vincent, so therefore you're likely looking to utilize that scoring ability more so. I will say, though, one of the things I am interested in watching tonight in Atlanta,

Starting point is 00:05:32 particularly if Vincent is unavailable again. Last the Lakers reported, he was questionable along with AD, although I would be very surprised if Anthony Davis doesn't play. Shake Milton had no assists in this game against Cleveland, but I don't hold that against him at all because he had one practice with this team and barely knows how everybody operates. but I'm curious to see if in this game against Portland, particularly if Gabe's not available, if we see a little bit more of ball movement being created by Milton and some of those instincts there,

Starting point is 00:06:13 because I will say I looked up his career assist percentages, and they're higher than I expected them to be. I still is more of a score-first player, and that's not a knock on him, that guys have skill sets. But I'm curious to see if even with more incremental familiarity with his teammates, you see a little bit more of that because if you do, then he starts becoming more of a dynamic player to have out there on a few different fronts. And as I've talked about before, of nothing else,

Starting point is 00:06:48 I think he could be a guy that takes some of Dalton Connects minutes if what's scoring continues to be erratic. Forget the point guard piece of this. Just as a score, he might find a rule. Yeah. To your point, his assist percentage, obviously, he's not playing huge minutes. And so that makes a difference in terms of how these advanced metrics shake out, no pun intended. But his assist percentage over the last couple of seasons actually higher, his assist rate is higher than Vincent's. So take that for.

Starting point is 00:07:24 I don't consider, like I said before. I don't consider Gabe Vincent like a... Right. I'm to your point. You know, Milton may be a little bit, have a little more to offer there than potentially advertised. I think there, they need, I mean, he's clearly, I mean, he's a guard. So, I mean, he's somebody who is comfortable dribbling and passing in ways that your forwards

Starting point is 00:07:49 might not be. And the Lakers are short those guys. I mean, there's, that is the, the, the, where you think DeAngelo Russell is a good player, bad player, great player, underrated, overrated, whatever. He had a skill set that is now in relatively short supply compared to the amount of front court players they have, especially when the injured guys, when Vanderbilt Wood and, you know, Jackson Hayes is back when those guys are all available. So, you know, they need Milton to be able to serve as some kind of bridge and playmates.

Starting point is 00:08:25 or at least to some degree when LeBron and eight, when, sorry, when Vincent's not there. Because otherwise, now you're starting having to rely on, you know, a Hushfino or Brony and those, that's just not a good out. Or really overtaxed LeBron and Austin. Right.

Starting point is 00:08:39 And none of those are where you want to be. And so if Milton can fill some of that void, I know DFS is the primary cog in this trade, we'll obviously get back to him in this trade. or a second. But when you talk about what the new ceiling can be, it is somewhat dependent on if you need Milton to do these things that aren't just come off the bench and score a little bit. And they might need that because the bench scoring is thin with Vincent Connect and, you know, Reddish and Finney Smith and Milton, I guess, is your current options coming off the bench.

Starting point is 00:09:25 they might need, you know, Milton a little bit more than it was initially projected when the trade went down. So it was certainly a smart move to bring him in if you were sending a guard out. But let's turn our attention back to the Finney Smith portion of this and this notion of how much it helps the Lakers if they are two games better now than they were before the trade happened. We'll do that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Game Time. I love being at live events, whether you're talking about sports or music, comedy, theater. One of my favorite memories of 2024 was attending Hamilton on Broadway last spring. It was a great, great show.

Starting point is 00:10:11 Plus, my daughter got to meet basically everyone in the cast. After the show, all the actors were extremely nice. It made my daughter's friends all quite jealous, so that was a fun little perk for her. And Game Time has made it easier to get tickets for whatever. whatever your favorite events are with features like GameTime picks. It filters out all of the fluff to show you just incredible deals on great seats, which all you want anyway. So now you're not wasting time searching through thousands of tickets.

Starting point is 00:10:36 Use the GameTime app to get, again, features like Game Time picks. And you can even see the view from your seats for buying. They've got panoramic seat views. The Super Deal is a great, great feature as well. Great seats, unbelievable prices. and the apps all in prices shows the entire cost up front. So there's no surprises at the checkout take.

Starting point is 00:11:00 The guesswork away from buying tickets with GameTime, download the GameTime app, create an account. Use the code Lockdown MBA for $20 off for first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account or deem the code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-B for $20 off. What time is it? Game time. I think your point about how to, like,

Starting point is 00:11:24 if you can say, you're willing to set aside like the idea the Lakers are not going to catch Oklahoma City at the top of the conference, that Memphis is, you know, if they continue to show that they can play without jaw, who's probably going to miss at least a couple weeks with an AC joint sprain. And it's just, it's one thing after another. And, you know, Houston doesn't look like they're going to fade anytime soon. Actually, they look like they're going to try to be players to potentially improve at the, deadline. Lord knows they've got some stuff to do it with. Side note, what they decide to do to improve. Like forget the effect on the conference.

Starting point is 00:12:06 Just what a team that is set up with that much young talent and assets, all of of whom I think they look like they've got some B plus, maybe A minus level young players, but none of them right now jump out at me as like superstar. You don't see like Schengun. or green or those guys is like definitive like oh yeah that's a number one on a title team I don't I don't which again not a knock on them they're good players um you know I I nobody on that roster right now feels like that superstar and but they've got a lot they've got a lot there they got a foundation and what they decide to do with that and how and who they pick

Starting point is 00:12:51 that in and of itself is going to be really interesting to watch just as like sort of the game within the game. Yeah. I mean, because you don't want to, you know, who you have to trade out to get somebody in. I read some, I was scrolling through Twitter on Wednesday and saw people talking about like, you know, if the suns blow it up, could could the rocket step in and use some of that draft capital for like a guy like Durant or Booker or both? Like, what do you have to give up in, you know, beyond just draft capital to make something like that happen? And like, these are really fascinating questions because you don't want to necessarily block your young talent. You want to enhance them. But at the same time, you know, the Rockets maybe arrived a little faster,

Starting point is 00:13:36 you know, than maybe was expected. And the veteran guys that they brought in, the Van Vleets and stuff like that have worked really well to improve them without getting in the way of player development. So you're right. We'll see what they do. But if you can set aside the idea that they're going to be up there competing with those teams. I'm not saying to beat them or not beat them in the conference, in a playoff or whatever. I just mean in terms of the standings. The rest of the conference could end up, like, you know,

Starting point is 00:14:07 five, six, seven teams separated by two games, three games. And so if you improve by a game and a half by making a trade, it doesn't sound like much, but it really could be. And for the Lakers, I just think, you know, final point on this. For the Lakers to legitimately feel like they can be a team that stays many games over 500, they had to become better defensively on a consistent basis. And that's what this trade hopefully allows them to do. I think the Lakers have proven over the last few seasons, the benefit that comes with avoiding the play-in altogether. And it can break a couple different

Starting point is 00:14:49 ways. You could end up going into the play-in and then reaching the Western Conference finals. You can be a one-and-out team. But what we've seen in all three cases that the Lakers have gone through the play-in to the playoffs is that it is taxing. It is physically taxing. It is mentally taxing. If you're talking about the last couple seasons that the Lakers have gotten the seven-seed through the play-in, they had to do a mad dash just to to get there. And for LeBron and the questions that come with how you look to manage these next 50 games so he can as realistically as possible, look as often as possible, like the dude that we've seen after nine days and two games off, which obviously is not realistic as an overall thing. That's not how an NBA schedule works.

Starting point is 00:15:46 but however much you can give him an opportunity to be that guy, it will be helped by not having to play the last 25 games like your play-in life depends on it. Yeah. Just being able to, you talk about avoiding the play-in as a like a thing that could eliminate you from the postseason very, very quickly. I think that's the other, the part that you're talking about there is really the bigger part of it, is the,

Starting point is 00:16:15 it's the ability to be like, good God, like, AD needs a night. LeBron needs a night. You know, whoever, Austin Reeves, who's going to be carrying a big burden, he needs a night. Like, whatever it is, or two, like, he's got this injury that, you know, like Matt Stafford is not going to play for the Rams on Sunday. He has not been on their injury reports over the last few weeks. It's guy, but he's banged up.

Starting point is 00:16:42 Oh, yeah. And so, like, you know, you end up in these. And he's 36? I can't imagine. You get these situations where a player isn't injured. Like he can go out and play. But man, alive,

Starting point is 00:16:58 they'd benefit from, you know, we got two days off before this game and two days off after. If we just give Anthony Davis the night off, that's a week of rest almost that he gets. And it's make a huge difference. You can't do that if you're the nine seat. And you're only a.

Starting point is 00:17:15 game and a half up on the 11. You got to play. And so if you're a five and you've got a little wiggle room, you can. And so I think those are the benefits that really start to build up for the Lakers if they can build some consistency. I mean, I will say the one thing, like they have not solved their offensive problems. And, you know, guys who track what they do offensively, you know, we always point to the Lakers exceptionalism, podcast and our friend Cranjus McBasketball, Tim underscore NBA, and the work they're doing over there,

Starting point is 00:17:52 they, you know, like, there are questions about what's happening offensively. They're going to have to get back to being a high-level offensive team. But they were so bad, at least they've shown the potential, but they were so bad defensively. They didn't have a prayer. And now I feel like they've got the personnel to legitimately, say we can make this work. And you know, you found some numbers for Christy, for example,

Starting point is 00:18:24 just on the Cleveland game that kind of reinforce that. Yeah, obviously, you know, there's more to your defensive performance than just your individual matchup data in terms of, you know, everything that happens, team defense, what you did off ball, yada, yada, but if you look at these numbers that we're putting up right now, Max Christie tracking his individual matchups, what you will see is there was not much scoring happening against him. There was not much guys hitting shots when Christie was the primary guy on them.

Starting point is 00:19:02 The most successful guy hitting shots on Max Christie was Jared Allen, who was two of two from the field and also like nine inches tall. taller than Max Christie and Christie was not likely guarding him for anything that remotely resembled design. But Donovan Mitchell, O of four from the field, Darius Garland,

Starting point is 00:19:24 O of five from the field. Max Struce, O of one. We saw what happened when pretty much anybody but Max Christie was guarding. The Struis was loose. Struis during that one section. And I bring this up because A, it reflected the eye test that both you and I

Starting point is 00:19:40 felt during the Cleveland game that Christy did a really, really good job with his individual assignments while guarding. But it also speaks to if Christie continues to develop this season, the way the Lakers projected for him when they gave him that contract, by the time February and March rolls around, that becomes something that builds into a defensive presence. It builds into a three-point shooting presence. It builds into a presence of a guy that is increasingly becoming confident, putting the ball on the floor, and at the very least, drawing fouls.

Starting point is 00:20:22 Like, you know, he's become better at that more selective. That becomes part of an improved team. And with somebody like Dorian Finney Smith out there, who is a very good plug-and-play high-end role player, that can also all be a part of just raising a, team ceiling. Again, doesn't make them frontrunners for contention, but short of a trade for Yokic, like the Lakers were not a one move away team to begin with with the foundation anyway. Yeah, I agree. One of the interesting things I mentioned earlier in the show that we obviously

Starting point is 00:21:01 are looking at the comments section daily. And one of the things that stuck out to me was the reaction to the first game with the new guys and also the first game with DeAngelo Russell no longer on the roster. The dynamic around how fans view the team and I wonder even how media starts to look at the team could shift a little bit. I'll explain what I mean next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Fandual. The NFL playoffs are almost here. Look at them Rams, by the way. After the start they had, and they clinched the NFC West. Amazing, amazing work by Stafford, 36 old, and those dudes. It's not too late to get on the regular season action, though, with Fandul, America's number one sportsbook right now. New customers can finish the season strong

Starting point is 00:21:56 with $250 and bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So just pick something super obvious. Put $5 down. Boom, you win it. You get $250 in bonus bets. And Fandual has a lot of different ways to pick up a win. You can bet on not just who's going to win a game, but like which players will score a touchdown. How many points each team is going to score individually and so much more. Just visit fandle.com to join today. Fandul.com for your chance of 250 bucks in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandul an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Andy, would you agree that DeAngelo Russell was a fairly divisive figure in

Starting point is 00:22:46 in Lakers Nation. You could even argue that he was while divisive also maybe might have been the one guy that everybody kind of agreed, you know, to blame for a lot of the things that went wrong. Some of the things that were

Starting point is 00:23:03 definitely things he was responsible for, some less so. But he, as much as you could get a fan base to agree on anything, seem to be the guy that everybody had agreed was, know, not going to cut it and needed to be improved upon and got a lot of the ire from Lakers fans. I would say that in these turbulent times where this country and frankly, the world can't

Starting point is 00:23:27 seem to agree on anything, it was often nice to have somebody like DeAngelo Russell out there that everyone could agree on fun to blame him. Yeah. So there you go. And with that in mind, I was struck by looking at the comment section for, Angel Russell to kick around anymore. Delo, by the way, had a great game in his Brooklyn debut. And it was the type of game that will make everybody fall back on their priors.

Starting point is 00:23:57 Basically, you know, he had 22 points, eight assists, two blocks, shot 70% from the floor, had a couple three-pointers. You know, again, just introducing himself to the folks in Brooklyn. I think he played about 26, yeah, 25, 26 minutes. Well, reintroducing himself. Remember, he's part. He's back on that tour where he goes from the Lakers to the Nets to the Warriors. Right.

Starting point is 00:24:22 If Golden State signs into another Max deal, though, that would be crazy. Look, all I'm going to say is the Warriors, the Schroeder thing is not worked out. They've fallen apart. DeAngelo Russell knows their system. I'm just saying. Okay. There you go. Wouldn't make sense.

Starting point is 00:24:39 It's the only place I want to live in this DeAngelo Russell, like, Loop. Yeah. Like it's basically the NBA version of the movie Looper. Like DeLo, his old self and his young self just kind of keep uniting over and over. It's fantastic. And I want him to be.

Starting point is 00:24:58 As long as we're started this, we might as well keep it alive. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So I mentioned Deelot's numbers in the game on, on Wednesday. So that would be like, Delo supporters would look at it and say,

Starting point is 00:25:12 look, like here's an example. of the playmaking and the bench scoring, the Lakers have given up in over to bring Finney Smith in. It's going to be something that they miss. And I actually, I agree. I think it's overshadowed, or

Starting point is 00:25:25 outweighed, I should say, by the potential benefits of Finney Smith. And then the detractors will also note that the Nets lost that game by 17 points to the Raptors in Toronto who are not exactly good. So, empty calories, they would say.

Starting point is 00:25:41 Although DELO was plus two. in a game where they lost by 17 points. That's right. Looking at you, Ben Simmons and Cam Johnson and Nick Claxton and Keon Johnson and Noah Clowney. I, you know, so you look at that and Delo's gone. And I was, I was struck by where some of that energy went. And primarily, it wasn't entirely, but it was primarily targeted towards Rui. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:26:14 Because I think both because he can be a frustrating player, but also because I think there is a contingent of people who believe that Finney Smith should be starting over Hachimura anyway. So Ruey picked a bad night to have a bad game. Well, on top of it, too, Rui, I think, represents for some fans who want to see an actual center back up Anthony Davis or play the minutes where AD isn't out there, he represents J.J. Reddick's proclivity for going smaller.

Starting point is 00:26:52 And even though, like, for example, what we saw against Cleveland, Rui was one of three players himself, LeBron and Dorian Finney Smith, playing the rotating role of small ball five, medium big lineup. They comprised it all. but Ruik then can become a bit of an avatar for frustrations with JJ Redick in similar ways that Torian Prince became an avatar for frustrations with Darwin Ham. Yeah, 100%. And those things always do combine with the realities of players.

Starting point is 00:27:34 And also an interesting phenomenon that I've always noted that I think is, is it was particularly I think strong in the Kobe era where um because he was so good in doing so much I understand what's behind it but like there is this weird thing that fans often do and analysts often do even where they will sort of excuse poor performances by stars and hammer role players who guys who are inconsistent by nature because if they were better, they wouldn't be role players. They'd be stars. And so, you know, it is kind of definitionally you're going to get on and off nights from some of these guys.

Starting point is 00:28:22 And, you know, Rui is in that category. I don't know if they eventually make this starting switch or not. But I think your point, though, about Rui being both an inconsistent player and Avatar for some of the frustrations with Retic. who I want to at least touch on before we're done here. And then also being the largest contract that they have left, and therefore the best chip and the biggest chip that they can use from a financial standpoint to bring in another player, it is going to put a big target on his back.

Starting point is 00:28:54 A lot more attention is going to Rui, who's had, I think, overall a good season. But, you know, the criticism meat shield that was DeAngelo Russell is now in Brooklyn, Andy. Obviously more of a sample size is going to be needed before you really jump to any or not jump to form any reasonable conclusions.

Starting point is 00:29:21 The biggest reason for moving Rui to the bench could be very similar to the reasons that DeAngelo Russell ended up moving to the bench, which is Rui's skill set. The thing that he does best, which is score, is so absent among that bench group. And similar to when I thought, you and I both thought Jared Vanderbilt might be playing before it was,

Starting point is 00:29:47 you know, dropped in our laps, side swiped. Oh, by the way, he had double foot surgery. He might not be around a while. But back when I thought, surely this guy who was active for game five of the playoffs must be close to returning. He told you not to buy into that. No, I didn't. I didn't.

Starting point is 00:30:05 I don't mean that in the sense that I thought he would be playing. I just mean it is a logical collusion that you also thought in the moment, Guy cleared for game five is reasonably close. We'll be ready for training. In October, don't tell me you didn't see. Don't tell me you saw past that. Come on. No, that's fair.

Starting point is 00:30:25 That's definitely fair. Then one of the biggest reasons that I thought Rui coming off the bench made the most sense beyond the defensive versatility and optionality that would be provided with Vando, especially if Reeves and Dilo was going to be that backcourt, is Rui's skill set would be more needed on the bench and more replicated by what you already had in the starting lineup. I think that could ultimately be the biggest reason that you move Rui to the bench. It's not even so much DFS is a better fit. Rui sucks, blah, blah, blah. It's more just what is needed. What can you provide to fill that need?

Starting point is 00:31:08 Right. And that might end up breaking the time. Sorry, and just saying where each of those guys could be most affected? Like, is Rui most effective playing against second unit guys? Can you allow him to really do a lot of damage that way? The other guy, though, that I think popped up that I think is going to get a little bit. Every time the Lakers do something that, in theory, improves the roster and gives the raw material to be able to wear. I think Reddick's, the scrutiny on Redick is going to increase. We noted, you know, the Lakers exceptionalism pod. One of the things they track is

Starting point is 00:31:42 called plays and organized offense and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, Tim is grading all of these games every, and, you know, at least by his metrics. And Tim, for people who don't know, just real quick, Tim works for NBA teams. Like he has, he knows what he's talking about right he knows this stuff um he is kind of raising a lot of red flags about like yeah yo it's getting worse like the what they're doing and how they're doing it is getting worse which is why the offense isn't working as well so i i think i don't want to say reddick has had a honeymoon and i think a lot of it is you know he has a better record now than darvin ham did at this point so it's mostly just like JJ versus

Starting point is 00:32:31 Darwin like JJ or Darwin JJ or Darwin JJ was smart enough to get knocked out of the IST yeah I mean it was brilliant as the season goes along as this Lakers remain competitive hopefully I do think the microscope is going to get

Starting point is 00:32:49 a lot stronger on Redick and that's not a complaint it should and there will be more analysis of what he's doing well and what he isn't. Yeah. Look, that's the gig. And it's especially going to be the gig when you were hired with literally no experience.

Starting point is 00:33:10 And that I think Redick understood that to begin with. He worked in media for several years. He was not shy about expressing his opinion when he thought other coaches were doing things wrong. Lord knows he's let his feelings about Doc Rivers be public. but this is the gig and I think Reddick is fine with it and if he's not, he should be. Oh, well, yeah. I mean, there are no, there's no way to hide from this. I don't think he's trying to.

Starting point is 00:33:44 So we'll see. And it becomes, the irony is sort of like as the Lakers maybe are more competitive and doing better than might have been expected, the tolerance for. first year growing pains, which everyone should assume we're going to be part of this process, go down because these become higher leverage games and higher stakes moments. And so, you know, Redick will have to improve and fix stuff faster because, you know, his mistakes or perceived mistakes are going to be highlighted even more. So we'll see.

Starting point is 00:34:26 Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, if you want to try to make a playoff run, there's only so many rookie mistakes that you can tolerate from a practical sense. Like even if they're understandable, they matter. Yep. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you go hang out with over 26,000 subscribers. Check out the postcast of Dave Palais after every game. So tonight against Portland, tomorrow against Atlanta.

Starting point is 00:34:51 Two very critical games. We'll get to the January stuff, you know, Monday, I suppose, talking about the schedule and really what the Lakers have coming up in front of them over the course of this month. Sign up for the Locked-on Lakers newsletter. Do that at LockedonDaily.com. See it down at their bottom of the screen. If you're watching on YouTube, click on Lock on Lakers and have the show and a lot of NBA analysis delivered to you every day. So we will see everybody after the game tonight.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - How Much Better are the Lakers After the Finney-Smith Deal? Will D'Angelo Russell Be Missed?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.