Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - How Well Are the Lakers Set Up for the Future? Breaking Down ESPN's Future Rankings...

Starting point is 00:00:00 How promising is the future for the Lakers over the next couple of seasons. ESPN has a vote. We'll tell you whether or not they're correct. 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 everybody for stopping by, Lockedon Lakers.

Starting point is 00:00:28 Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, plenty to unpack in today's episode of Locked on Lakers. Thanks everybody for stopping by. Make sure you're subscribing whether or not to the YouTube page, Locked on Lakers on YouTube, where we often are live either after games once the season starts, typically around 930 Pacific on, you know, random, say, random Wednesday nights, Andy. Also on the audio product with Apple or Spotify,

Starting point is 00:00:56 wherever we get your podcast. CSPN has their annual future rankings out. And this is always an interesting project, I think, of all these sort of. off-season things that the that ESPN does. I think this one is interesting. And the Lakers, their profile is interesting. They came out 13th, but there's a lot in the numbers.

Starting point is 00:01:18 Yeah, they break this down in five different categories. And without getting too into the weeds of all of the math, the five categories are players management, draft money and market, money being. Draft meaning, right, draft meaning how much draft capital you have a money, meaning like your financial flexibility. Right. And players came in seventh, which obviously is a very important category,

Starting point is 00:01:43 and the one that they actually weigh the most in the overall rankings. Management 19, draft 29, money 22, and then market one, which the Lakers, by the way, every year they do this, similar to the way people think about Victor Wemnon, Yama, and future defensive player of the year awards, as long as he plays enough games. Assuming, like, climate change doesn't really F up L.A. We got this market number one for the rest of the Lakers and the NBA's existence. So, boom! L.A. has its problems.

Starting point is 00:02:22 You and I both lived here for a very long time. L.A. has its problems. I am not here to say otherwise. L.A. has fewer problems when you're living on an NBA salary. even a lower level NBA salary. It has fewer problems when you have that kind of scratch. But, you know, it's, you know, so I, and it's, it is worth noting that certain things are weighted higher than others. And market is, is lower weighted than some of the other things.

Starting point is 00:02:51 Players is the thing that's, that is weighted the most. And again, for what it's worth, the Lakers came in seventh for that. Contrast that to 2025. They were ninth in players sixth and ninth. money, 23rd in draft, again, number one in market, and then 17th in management. You see the biggest swings coming in from last year to this year, particularly negative swings in draft and then especially money because the Lakers used up all of their cap space as they messaged was going to be the case, filling out the roster with a lot of longer-term

Starting point is 00:03:29 contracts and really trying to create some type of permanent foundation moving forward or at least semi-permanent map and blueprint for the team on the plus side, assuming you like the moves that they made. Awesome. You have that blueprint. The minus side is you're lower on available cash. So, you know, there's a bit of damned if you do, damned if you don't. It really comes down to do you like the moves they made.

Starting point is 00:03:54 Right. I mean, like it's, you know, you get credit for having flexibility. You can get ding for using that flexibility. But at some point, you can do it otherwise. you're in sort of this perpetual stage of rebuilding and can kicking, which by the way, the Lakers have been in before. What I think is kind of is interesting about it is there are a couple things that I want to discover.

Starting point is 00:04:18 One of them is where the Lakers fit relative to the rest of the conference, because I think that is important. But where I feel like the Lakers are in good shape is in that player's ranking. because first and foremost, if you are not going to be a team that has much draft flexibility, and Lakers have two pick swaps, and they have three second rounders at their disposal, they're going to have to be creative, they're going to have to be opportunistic, all of these things, and their management ranking indicates at least some skepticism there. We'll see.

Starting point is 00:04:58 but if you're going to be a team without much draft capital, if you're going to be a team without a ton of financial flexibility, although I think the Lakers are in decent shape. They're not like right up against the apron. They're not doing, they have the ability to relatively easily get themselves a full mid-level for next year. They take care of their business. You need good players.

Starting point is 00:05:23 And the Lakers have successfully created a roster that is no longer old. It is no longer filled with contracts that you look at and go, that is absolutely an albatross. You can just see that thing not ageing because the player can't possibly fulfill the obligations. It's reasonable to question Austin Reeves. Like, can he prove it? You know, all that stuff.

Starting point is 00:05:52 But Austin Reeves isn't like 34 with four years left on his contract or whatever. is prime. It's just, you know, he's got to step up. So like, they have players. And if they picked the right guys, those players will offer some flexibility going forward. Yeah, speaking by the way, of the off season, I created a survey that I've placed in the comment section of YouTube and I'm actually going to, for a different post that we have on the YouTube channel, I'm actually going to put it in the comment section of this live channel. chat right now that we're looking to try to get it like the fans temperature, our audience temperature on the offseason and what you guys think of it. I'm going to be reminding everyone

Starting point is 00:06:38 of it throughout this week, but it would be awesome if you fill this thing out. It'll be in the show notes as well if you're not watching with us live right now, the show notes for both YouTube and the audio, but it would be awesome if you did this. We plan on trying to gauge your feedback for future shows. But like, for example, the Lakers were eighth in 2025 in this future rankings purely by virtue of they got Luca. Like, that was the number one thing they got Luca. And they had all of this sort of cap space and future freed up money, which created this potential.

Starting point is 00:07:17 They ended up dropping from 8 to 13th, in part just because they have less maneuverability. but Zach Cram from ESPN, the portion that he wrote up, he did note the players that they have are good, good enough to win a title right now. Both Brian and I have our doubts, but it is a good foundation. You know, it reinforces the credo that I've been saying all offseason. Rob needs to be right. Like he needs to be right about these decisions. If he is right about these decisions, though, while the Lakers will not have maximum maneuver ability in part because they don't have the type of draft assets that would create more maneuverability

Starting point is 00:08:00 with the full roster and up to the first apron, but also, again, this is the tradeoff to actually filling out a roster. You kind of can't have this both ways. But it also reinforces the idea of Cameron Carr, Adieu Thero. Those guys popping will offset some of that draft, lack of of flexibility moving forward because they will, if they pop, they can serve as either the type of players that you would, that do well, that you draft and they're on cost-controlled contracts as part of your rotation for three or four years, or they substitute as draft capital in some ways because they are the young players that you would draft otherwise, but they look more proven. I understand. I understand. It's important. I don't know if I would, I don't know if I would, I don't know if

Starting point is 00:08:53 I would frame it exactly in that way. But, I mean, to me, it's an extension of what you were talking about before. Like the Lakers, every decision they make needs to be correct. Car washing out in the same way that Dalton Connect appears to be, where not only is his value to the Lakers quite low, it seems like his value around the league is quite low. Like this isn't one of these situations where they're like there's, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:28 the warriors in Jonathan Kaminga seem to have some, you know, issues trying to, you know, stay on the same page here. But there are people looking at the tape going, I would take a chance on that. The Lakers can't give Connect away. But next, I want to get into something I thought that Zach Cram said in this write-up that was really interesting about what to expect,

Starting point is 00:09:49 and what could be really good about this roster. But also, I think it's critical to see not just where the Lakers rank around the league, but also where they rank in the Western Conference because it's very instructive. We'll get to it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Square, the system powering so many of the places we already know in love whether you're running a packed game day spot, a local restaurant, or a growing business. Square gives sellers the tools to run their business without making the process more complicated. It's Square brings payments, inventory, payroll, invoices, customer insights, and more together in one connected system.

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Starting point is 00:11:57 better in the better defender in playoffs than the regular season. Did pretty well with the 2024 Mavs taking them to the finals. It gets a little credit there. But I'm sorry, this is, Ben Oliver wrote this, not Zach Cramm, this part of it.

Starting point is 00:12:11 Bold prediction for 27 through 29. Even without James, Donchich will lead the most efficient offense in Lakers history. That might sound hyperbolic, given the heights reach during the showtime era in the Kobe POW years, but scoring has soared in recent years. The Lakers actually posted a franchise best,

Starting point is 00:12:29 11.2 offensive rating last season, even though James Donchich Reeves combined to miss 71 games. So he talks about the efficiency of Luca, the efficiency of Reeves, combined with the efficiency that they should get from Walker Kessler, particularly, as you pointed out, offensive rebounds, putbacks, things like that, something that has been just absolutely

Starting point is 00:12:54 completely missing from the Lakers' offense over the last couple seasons. Like flat out, non-existent as a sort of an offensive category. I really, and it's not just that. They've got a downhill guy in Quentin Grimes. They've got a downhill guy in Colin Sexton.

Starting point is 00:13:18 You know, Mamu is a very versatile offensive player. who is an excellent ball mover, especially for his position. The versatility that they have in this, again, especially if guys like Carr and Thero, car especially pan out in this way, like it really could be a special offensive group moving forward with contractual time to build continuity.

Starting point is 00:13:44 What's interesting about that too is the idea that last year, a franchise best offensive rating, goes to show that sometimes the eye test and the metrics don't line up because a lot of the year did not feel like that level of an offense. Like it felt at times like they were able to put up points either kind of through the sheer magnitude of Luca or just getting to the line as a team. But it took until basically March before the offense actually actually. actually felt like it was a cohesive unit and like they were really playing with any type of

Starting point is 00:14:28 synergy, like consistent synergy, regardless of how many points they put up. It often felt ugly, even if, you know, it was effective in the sense of you're putting up higher numbers. I do agree, though, that this offense, I don't know about historic, like we have to actually see this group together. But I do. think that the pieces fit together in ways that I think can create a more cohesive offense. And I also think just fit more the way JJ wants to play with more of that dribble past shoot that he's emphasized. I agree.

Starting point is 00:15:07 They have more guys that I think can keep the blender going. More guys who can keep the ball moving, more guys who can do more things offensively, even if, say, nobody they brought in is. as elite an outside shooter as Rui, for example. Like, I think they have more guys who can move the ball or more guys who shoot fairly well or more guys that can attack the pain. Even if, like, again, the elite skills, any individual elite skills of these guys may not be as good.

Starting point is 00:15:45 You know, obviously they don't have any single player they brought in that can do as many things, for example, as LeBron can do. But they're still bringing in more guys with a wider offensive skill set, and you still keep Luca, you still keep Austin. And as you mentioned, Kessler's ability to, I think, just create more possessions, which this team desperately needed last year is going to be a big deal. And it's also, too, they have a legitimate bench score in Sexton. And they'd be like, I think overall, I, you know, know, certain aspects of this team are going to be better than were last year. Certain aspects are not.

Starting point is 00:16:25 But the, you know, the, you know, just because of, again, losing LeBron and what that means, and it's a lot of production that goes out the door. But I just, I like the way that this group potentially fits together. I think the skill sets are coherent and they make sense. And like even something like this, you know, we're getting a comment on the live chat and YouTube from Eyes Wide Head High. Yovan Buha said recently that Aiton is a better score than Kessler. By the way, I did not hear that.

Starting point is 00:16:55 I did. That is correctly relayed. Would you guys agree? And the answer to me is sort of, it depends on what you're categorizing here. Is D.A. D.A. certainly has a mid-range game that Kessler doesn't. Kessler, at least in theory,

Starting point is 00:17:16 looks like he's trying to extend his game out the three-point line in ways that Aiton doesn't. We'll see whether or not that actually happens. We can talk about this as we get closer to this season. Like when we're just breaking down. I am not counting on it. I just know it's something that people talk about. I'll take it a step further.

Starting point is 00:17:34 Not only am I not counting on it, like the sample size people are talking up is really, frightfully small. I have reservations about how much the juice will actually be worth the squeeze. and whether or not, like, my standard for moving Kessler away from the, away from the basket, where he is so good to take threes,

Starting point is 00:17:59 he's got to make it at a pretty good clip. It's, you know, if he makes 35% of them taking one and a half a game, I don't think you're necessarily, depends on like, you know, do you start, is he taking six a game? Maybe, like, that's problematic because he's not near the basket enough. But you want to, you know,

Starting point is 00:18:16 if you can create a scenario in which, moving Kessler away from the basket it doesn't mean that you are sort of now playing four on five because he's out there and he's either going to set a screen or he's not doing anything

Starting point is 00:18:31 if there's at least some threat of something else that helps the Lakers add a little bit of versatility offensively. But my main point is like is Aiton a more skilled off like polished looking offensive player? probably, I guess, but I think

Starting point is 00:18:49 I think he is. I think DeAndre Aiton has a more developed proverbial bag than Walker Kessler. I don't think that's a controversial statement. But what I think, I also don't know if it matters because in the end, you know, it's a little like Dwight Howard. Like Dwight Howard didn't have much of a bag, so to speak, as you were saying. But he scored a lot because the stuff he was good at, he was kind of unstoppable. He was too athletic.

Starting point is 00:19:16 He had actually enough little post wiggles and stuff like that. He gobbled up offensive rebounds and putbacks and all the, you know, ran the floor like a track athlete and all these other things. You know, Kessler with a less polished game should still be able to put up 15 or 16 points a night with the Lakers. So it does it, does it matter if he's not as purely, you know, graceful or quote unquote good an offensive player? no, I don't think it does. Well, it's similar to like I remember a show, I want to say last week or in that range. We're talking about Kessler as, you know, he is not an above-the-rim threat, like super athletic, super verticality bouncy, like a Jackson Hayes.

Starting point is 00:20:04 Like, he's not a classic lob threat. And people often talk about wanting that type of player that, you know, Luca can set up for dunks and stuff like that around the basket. Walker Kessler, the last like three full seasons he played, had somewhere between 120 to 130 dunks all of those seasons. He's clearly effective as a dunker. I am confident that Luca will find ways and Austin will find ways. And we already know Colin Sexton knows those ways because they've played together.

Starting point is 00:20:41 They will find ways to get Walker Kessler dunks. don't really give a rat's ass what type of dunks that they are. I just know dunks matter. They're valuable. Shots at the rim matter. Kessler's really good around the rim. I don't particularly care if they come the exact same way that like Jackson Hayes or Derek Lively's dunks win. And frankly, I think guys like Zaire Williams, Cam Carr, like they've got other guys who could be lob threats. You know, if a do can manage to play 10 minutes a night, that dude is certainly a lob threat. It doesn't always have to be the center that's set up that way.

Starting point is 00:21:22 But either way, Kessler gets a lot of dunks. Yeah, he's going to be just fine. I don't worry about that. Where do the Lakers land in the West? Because context matters here. So we'll talk about that next. Locked on Lakers is sponsored by Better Help. Feeling better can mean something different to everyone.

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Starting point is 00:23:46 and even if Kevin Durant moves on or retires or something like that over the next year or two, they've certainly got enough stuff available to them that... And so many young players that hopefully can grow together. A lot of good young... All that stuff. So I think that's fair. I think that's a good spot for them to be, you know, more or less and so on.

Starting point is 00:24:07 You know who the next Western Conference team is on this list, Andy? It's a rhetorical question because I know you do. It's the Los Angeles Lakers at 14. I'm sorry, 13. And, you know, all of these other teams that are sort of seen as the, you know, quote unquote, more legitimate contenders than the Lakers or, you know, get a little bit, at least for this season, a little bit more love. Utah is 15th as an up-and-coming team. The Minnesota Timberwolves are 16th. The Mavs are 17th.

Starting point is 00:24:39 The Nuggets are 18th and are in much deeper trouble than the Lakers are in. Golden State is 19th. The Blazers, 20th. Basically, the entire Western conference, other than the three teams that I name, is behind the Lakers, not in front of them. Lakeshow, 1997, asks, where do the Clippers rank?

Starting point is 00:25:04 29th. They're somehow 31st. Sacramento Kings. There's somehow 31st in a 30-team league. That's how much trouble they're in right now. Sacramento might like Sacramento's 30th. They're not even trying. They're not even cheating.

Starting point is 00:25:19 They might as well try. It's any worse. You know, it's, I'd mention this before. Luca is the first superstar this franchise has had in his prime. Like they've obviously had superstars. But, you know, when they got LeBron, he was in the tail end of his prime that, you know, his ability to stay a great player lasted longer than anybody. expected, but still, past his prime. Anthony Davis, they got in his prime, but AD never showed

Starting point is 00:25:51 the ability to be able to consistently take a team on his back as the focal point, you know, the franchise face, the guy that everything can really be built around on a consistent basis. Luca's the first superstar in his prime who's proven that he can take a team to the Western conference finals to the finals as the primary engine since Kobe. And we're talking 20 years since the Lakers have had a player like that. It cannot be overstated how important a player like that is to your franchise. There are so few players in the league that are good enough to be that guy to begin with, much less actually at the perfect age range.

Starting point is 00:26:39 The Lakers have a luxury right now that obviously they need to treat with urgency and they need to be constantly trying to maximize this prime. But it cannot be overstated the importance of it and just how fortunate the Lakers are to be in this position. Yeah. I mean, it's why the clock is ticking and why, you know, on the one hand, the Lakers have a plan and it seems like they have executed and argue about you know, should they have spent on this guy versus that guy. They went out, they built, they converted the roster to be much younger and much more athletic.

Starting point is 00:27:20 They got a person they believe to be a cornerstone center. You know, they obviously believe deeply in Austin, at the very least believe that they had no mechanism to replace him if they had let him go or something like that. probably right in that regard. And so, you know, but they are, when you compare the Lakers to the rest of the conference, in part because they have Luka, but in part because of this roster reconstruction, they're in better shape because Minnesota is in flux and has no draft capital really to speak of. They're in a worse financial situation,

Starting point is 00:28:06 the Lakers are in. The nuggets are in, you know, structurally and still in a really rough place, I think. And, you know, they lost some depth. And I just, I don't know what that means for the Lakers in terms of getting all the way to the top of the conference. But I do think it means that the Lakers, you know, where you stand relative to your peers, does make a difference year to year in how you're going to finish in the conference. conference. And so the Lakers have some company in being a team with, you know, limited draft capital and and a tricky financial, you know, ledger that they're working with.

Starting point is 00:28:50 And so in that sense, it's not as I wouldn't call 13 out of 30 dire, but it's, you know, you always want to be higher. It's actually, I think in that context looks better. Well, I mean, here's the thing. If this team performs this season, at a level that justifies Rob Polinka's decisions, I think their future rankings next year could be higher because it's just going to feel like you still have Luca in his prime. Walker Kessler will have shown himself worthy of that contract as he enters his prime.

Starting point is 00:29:27 Like Austin Reeves will still be in his prime, even if it's closing in on 30, but he won't look like an albatross contract. whether it turns out they want to keep him as part of that core or he becomes the guy that you trade to bring in a different better piece. If those contracts that if the decisions Rob made this offseason pan out, they will look better moving forward for the future just because we will have seen more proof of concept

Starting point is 00:29:56 with a bunch of players that are largely in their 20s. Lockdown Lickers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with their 39,000 subscribers to the channel pushing 40,000. make sure you are subscribing there to the audio product as well we'll see everyone tomorrow

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - How Well Are the Lakers Set Up for the Future? Breaking Down ESPN's Future Rankings...

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