Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Is Luka Dončić Part of the Solution for the Lakers' Problem at Power Forward?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Do the Lakers already have their power forward issue solved, courtesy of a superstar Slovenian? 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 Lockdown Lakers, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky. You and I, Andy, I guess, spent a lot of Tuesday thinking about

Starting point is 00:00:34 the same kinds of things because when it came down to time to plan for the for today's show, we were both kind of thinking about Luca and versatility and positions and the state of the modern NBA in the context of this gap that the Lakers have, at least the perception of a gap the Lakers have in their front court. Well, there's been this continual question. And you and I've certainly discussed it a lot during different shows about who would start at the four for the Lakers. Who would be the power forward? It's come up, like I said, in a lot of recent shows, often framed through the prism of Jonathan Comingo or PJ Washington.

Starting point is 00:01:20 On Tuesday's show, I brought up options for flyers like Grant Williams or Kyle Kuzma, none all that inspiring, but also reflects not of a lot of immediate options out there that are realistically tradable for the Lakers, certainly right now. But then I also just started thinking about that question and who's on the roster and how things have operated, particularly in the Luca era, and just kind of dawned on me that maybe it's not really a question of who plays the four or who they need to bring in to play the four, but rather what they need out there with Luca Donchich, because in today's positionless era,

Starting point is 00:02:08 particularly for a guy like Luca that is so versatile, what you call Luca offensively is completely irrelevant. Like he is just as much a point guard as he is a point forward as he is whatever the hell you want him to be other than center, which is just too big of a stretch. Otherwise, he is a, he functions as your point guard, but he can't be guarded by other point guards. Right. So is he something else?

Starting point is 00:02:38 I don't know. Well, he, in a lot of ways, he forces cross matches like a forward would, hence point forward versus point guard. Does it really matter? Not particularly. But then on the other side of the ball, and, you know, there's an adage now that I think is very true that in this era of increasingly positional, basketball, what your position is can really be more defined by what you do defensively and who you guard defensively as opposed to what you do with the ball. And Luca has really been, I think, most optimized as more of a four defensively. Like that's often like last year, one of the

Starting point is 00:03:24 reasons the Lakers would run into defensive redundancy issues is because they had Luca, LeBron, and Rui often playing together when all three of them most ideally would guard fours. And we talked about that a lot over the course of the time when Luca and LeBron and Rui were together on the team for a season and a half. And it just sort of dawned on me that really the issue may not be who would be the four on this team because offensively kind of irrelevant defensively, it's probably Luca. It's really more of a question of can you put the proper fifth guy out there in all likelihood some type of wing defender where you can allow Luca to play that four.

Starting point is 00:04:12 And if you have two perimeter defenders out there that ultimately can allow Austin Reeves to take the third most difficult assignment in terms of players, one through three, that really may be the problem you're trying to solve as opposed to looking around for a power forward import. Well, I'll say this. Like, there's often, you know, the flip side of this is offensively. You know, Luca is seen as a guy. We did a show, I think it was the end of last week talking about Keith Smith's,

Starting point is 00:04:48 might have been for Monday. Keith Smith from writing for Spotrack had, you know, a bunch of things he was talking about, he kind of emptied the notebook from Summer League. And one of the things that one of these scouts or I think this in this case, it was an opposing scout, opposing GM, whatever it might be, talking about Luca was just like his versatility helps take a roster that feels more coherent this year than last year. But also, Luca's presence and skill set helps create that cohesion. As long as you have smart players who understand,

Starting point is 00:05:22 their lane and coaches who can kind of put the right guys in the right combinations and the right spots on the floor luka will do the rest if you you know if you if you if you can you know understand the game plan to do it lucca will will make that work and so you know he adds an element of cohesion to their offense the opposite you know is what a guy like o g anonobie does or or ananovi does or uh Draymond Green at his peak. Guys like that who, because they have so much defensive versatility, you can then move guys around and have this guy cover that guy,

Starting point is 00:06:05 that guy, cover that guy, because you have one or two guys who can guard anybody. You know, one through, in Draymond's case, you know, really for most of his career, two through five. I'd say one through five. In all honesty, there were certain, depending on the point guard,

Starting point is 00:06:19 if the one, whatever you're labeling the one wasn't just simply too fast for Draymond. Right. Draymond could often guard one through five. And OG can do it the same. So the premise here, I completely agree with.

Starting point is 00:06:32 I mean, the Lakers, the Lakers don't need a power forward. They need a guy who can allow, because I'm not even sure I totally agree with the framing that Lucas best defensively when you have him guard fours. I think what I view it as is really Luca's most,

Starting point is 00:06:51 effective where you can lower his burden the most. Oftentimes that's force. He's got the size, generally speaking, and the strength to deal with that. You know, he doesn't have the lateral quickness to like obviously match him against like the jitterbug point guards, you know, that you might find, you know, around the league. So that's not an option. But it's like where can you sort of hide Luca the most. That's where the Lakers want to put him. To make that work, you need two or three. Or, I mean, it's funny, actually.

Starting point is 00:07:30 I mean, it's, to some degree, it's hiding. But also, if you find the right matchup, it's actually effective. Because Luca can be harder to body. He's got quick hands. Like, if you put Luca in the right place, like similar to what's gone on with James Hardin, who, to be clear, I think is a. worse defender than Luca and by a decent margin.

Starting point is 00:07:53 But the one thing James Harden has always been able to do is body a guy. And if you try to post James Hardin, he can be pretty effective. I think Luca can do more things than that because he is very good at anticipating passing lanes.

Starting point is 00:08:09 Oh, sure. Yeah, I don't mean that he can't defend. I just mean that ideally you want to put him in positions where he's got the least burden that you need him to carry, in part because he's doing I mean, he is orchestrating everything on the other end. And so, you know, I think that's part of it. And what the Lakers are looking for is, are the guys who can say,

Starting point is 00:08:32 okay, well, tonight the best matchup for Luca might be a four. Tomorrow might be a three, depending on who it is. Maybe you have a kind of a perimeter-oriented three who's not going to be a slasher, putting the ball on the floor, making Luca work. Okay. So maybe a three. It's the best option for Luca. There might be large twos that, you know, on this particular night, that's the best option for Luca.

Starting point is 00:08:56 You need people who can kind of fill around that. You need versatile defenders. And so I don't think the offensive profile, I agree with you, is fairly, I don't want to say irrelevant because you still need spacing. But basically if that guy can shoot and make the right pass, I think you've found the offensive criteria that you have to have in that forward spot that you're looking to fail? I would make it a little more broad, and we'll talk about with this thought that I was having,

Starting point is 00:09:30 it started, it started, I don't know, jogging my mind about different guys who, with that in mind, as far as thinking of Luca in most matchups as a big forward option defensively, and the versatility that he offers offensively and how in a lot of ways that can become, we talked about kind of label-less, like it doesn't really matter what you call them. I think it isn't so much important as whoever you put that out there as the fifth guy, specifically can dribble past shoot.

Starting point is 00:10:06 It would be great. I think what matters most is they have some form of offensive utility. Hold on to that. because that kind of ties to the offensive point that I was making as well. So we'll kind of keep pulling on this what the Lakers need out of this last starting spot that they seem to be trying to find, or if they can't find it externally, who you might pick internally. We'll get to it next.

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Starting point is 00:12:31 into of himself, like how much Luca, Luca may be the best, like, single generator of offense in the entire league. Like, he is at minimum on the short list of that conversation. And so much of what the Lakers can do, and I think we'll do offensively, is a direct byproduct of just Luca being out there. And between Luca, Austin, Walker Kessler, and I am assuming Quentin Grimes, and I think you agree, as for the starting five, you have a lot of offense covered anyway. And really, with Luca, we've talked about this, with Luca and Austin, the questions are magnified more defensively than offensively, which is why I was thinking about this more from, you know, that idea of Luca as, if nothing else, typically guarding bigger or less taxing

Starting point is 00:13:27 forwards, bigger or less taxing bodies. The fifth guy on offense, it would be great if they could create some type of, you know, entirely floor space beyond Walker Kessler type setup. But I think what matters most is do they have some form of utility? Like if, for example, fifth starter TBD was not a knockdown shooter, but was a really good cutter or had an ability to catch on the move and put pressure on the rim that way or, you know, off ball utility, something where they will occupy a defense or at the very least, they can just hit open shots if they are ignored. I think that's a number. I think that's enough. It's similar to the way I talked about last year with Luca, Austin, LeBron, and DeAndre Aiton, how I thought the fifth starter should have been Marcus Smart, as opposed to, say, Rui,

Starting point is 00:14:24 who would be quintupling down on offense. My basic thought was, if Luca, Austin, LeBron, and Aiton doesn't provide you enough offense, then something about this is not working the way it seems to on paper. I feel the same way about Luca, Austin, Grimes, and Kessler. It's really, to me, as long as you put someone out there that has offensive utility at all, the bigger question is much more how you are scheming for this defensively as opposed to the offense. It's, it's, um, I think it's funny too, because like, you can make an argument that

Starting point is 00:15:03 you're, you know, Matisse Thibel would work there even as sort of like, just, because, again, like you say, Grimes can attack the basket and, you know, it's a credible shooter, if nothing else. Reeves can certainly, is a, you know, seen as a credible shooter and obviously can put the ball on the floor and go attack the basket. You know, Kessler is not an exterior threat, but is a pick and roll threat and obviously a lob threat. If you take double teams and this and that, he's a smart enough player, he's going to find a hole near rim and be able to go vertical. Like the Lakers have a lot of ways to put pressure on a rim. Obviously, Luca is outstanding at doing that. And getting in the paint,

Starting point is 00:15:44 drawing fouls. That fifth guy, you know, like you said, it doesn't have to be that. And this is why when you talk about the types of players that the Lakers can get, like, would it be awesome to have an OG type players? Sure. I mean, everybody wants one of those. They're hard to come by. It would be great to have some sort of, you know, Scotty Barnes type dude to slide in there as just prototype guy to play next to Luca and kind of cover up some of Luca and AR shortcomings. And particularly now that they have somebody like Kessler and like those guys are really hard to come by where they're offensively competent and defensively dominant. Those are not easy players. But, you know, that's why when you start kicking.

Starting point is 00:16:30 it around like, okay, you know what? Like, Najee Marshall before he got signed, obviously. That's a skill set that fits with what the Lakers do, PJ Washington. Like, there are a lot of guys that you can probably look at in that $12 to $25 million range, which is obviously big range, but is broadly kind of doable in the NBA in one form or another that can give you what you need because to kind of look at what we were talking about in first segment what they really need is a versatile defender who isn't going to screw things up offensively you know has a skill set who has an intelligence whatever might be but what i agree with

Starting point is 00:17:15 you what you're really trying to do with that last spot is plug some defensive holes so that your Kessler, Luca, Grimes, Austin lineup with, you know, or Colin Sexton with the six, you know, as a six man or something that can work and work more effectively. That's what it is. I agree that it's 100% about those types of versatile defensive players that can free up everybody else to slide into positions defensively that are most advantageous for them. Yeah, and in thinking about options with this, like we've both mentioned the possibility of Jake LaRavia as a nominal,

Starting point is 00:18:01 you know, a nominal fifth starter, 20-ish minutes a night max, but just the idea that he's got a big enough body that he could guard, you know, anywhere from big twos to fours. He, if nothing else, he is a pretty disruptive defender. He will do a lot of the dirty work. You can move the ball reasonably well. the offense is questionable. It comes and goes, but I could see the logic for it.

Starting point is 00:18:27 We've also talked about if he continues the improvement that we saw in Summer League and shows some degree of offensive utility, maybe a Duthero could be an option like 15-ish minutes a night, but also what we were talking about in terms of where you would position Luca defensively or look to his assignments and the trickled an effect from that. It's another reason that I think Mamu really doesn't work. Because depending on who you're having Luca guard and who else is out there, you could be in a position where you're asking Mamu to guard threes or quicker wings. And you basically get into a repeat of what was...

Starting point is 00:19:10 Well, what I was thinking is ultimately it's probably not going to land on Luca. it would land on Mamu in a way that feels like a replication of the problems they often had with Rui guarding twos by default, because nobody else could really do it. But I was also thinking about like if he had a strong training camp, I think maybe there could be an opportunity for Zaire Williams. Like if he can show enough offensive utility and, you know, he is, he, he would need, it's a proving ground for him. But if you look at, for example, his last couple seasons in Brooklyn, you know, overall, he was like a 34% three-point shooter, which is, yeah, but what he did do well was hit open threes. Like wide-open threes, he hit at a more than acceptable clip. And he's also somebody that we know can be a threatened transition.

Starting point is 00:20:07 if he can hit those open threes, provide some transition, and then just optionality on defense, you know, before my apprehension with Zaire Williams was thinking it might make the group overall too small, but then I really started thinking about where Luca's role falls defensively, and I was like, you know what, it might actually might be more doable.

Starting point is 00:20:34 Yeah, I mean, again, he needs a strong training camp, obviously. Right, very. but you know he's he's certainly got the the length um but he's not a big guy no you know he is he's pretty slight you know 6-9 185 um there's a foot taller than me and the same weight i mean i mean i look lucca knows the best places to send him in slovenia where he can gain weight yeah no i i i but like you know Williams this is a sixth year I believe

Starting point is 00:21:12 so like he's not getting any bigger no not well let me rephrase he's not going to get any bigger in a way that you would want your guy I mean he could get fat I guess but that doesn't really help you know and so I am but you're right I think what you're really talking about here

Starting point is 00:21:30 is like who can kind of be a little bit of a Swiss Army knife defensively like Williams when we did when you did the scouting report with Eric Slater from locked on locked on nets kind of alluded like he was part of Brooklyn's better

Starting point is 00:21:46 defensive lineups. Could he kind of toggle between threes and fours maybe a little bit? It depends on the matchup, but it's possible. But let's talk a little bit more next just about this sort of concept of you know, I don't think they're going to find

Starting point is 00:22:05 their forever forward before the season begins. And I'm somewhat skeptical that they'll find a really nice one-year guy who slides into what we're talking about. If they have to do this in-house, where do you look?

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Starting point is 00:23:22 off. That's right. Locked on for an exclusive 20% off. And if you see a post-purch survey, please mention you heard about it right here, cozyEarth.com. Real quick, before we continue this conversation. Just wanted to give audience an update that the there's been a custody battle between or a child support battle, I should say custody, however you want to frame it, between Luka and his ex-fiance and she had filed a petition for child support that has been withdrawn. It's still in Slovenian courts right now, but it appears that right now they're looking for a more amicable solution. This document was obtained by TMZ where his ex-fiance, I said, quote, I'm withdrawing my petition for child support with the specific intention of resolving this matter

Starting point is 00:24:28 amicably and by mutual agreement, which is in the best interest of our children. It's not something we are going to dwell on at all. It's Lucas' personal life, but it's been public. so we for better or for worse we felt it was the responsible thing just to let people know what's going on with it and that's it um the uh the conversation is really you know when you start getting back into the you know like the nature of like the roster that they're trying to fill out like you but we talked about this for for tuesday like you really are better off not trying to force this year's team into a place where it probably can't get. Because I think their plan was to, not to make this a gap year, so to speak,

Starting point is 00:25:26 but start a rebuild that hopefully gets them all the way to where they need to go sometime for next season. And that's not because you don't want to win this year. just because it's an acknowledgment that the gap between the Lakers at the end of last season and the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs isn't really make-upable in one-off season with what they had at their disposal. So it's an acknowledgement of that. If that's your belief going into the off-season, I think it was the Lakers belief.

Starting point is 00:25:59 We've talked about it at length. You can't ditch that plan. Whether because you're feeling antsy like I you're I think we're better than we thought we were gonna be like Or because you feel this pressure to You know the proverbial do something like you know How can you not how can you waste a year of Luca are you worried about his free agency? Whatever might be you can't you can't make mistakes With your roster out of impatience when you have as few

Starting point is 00:26:35 assets relative to many of your other competitors as the Lakers do. It's not they don't have any, but they're going to be coming into every trade thing, every scenario with fewer draft picks under their control, you know, potentially fewer young players than other teams might have. Well, they're working on that. They have fewer assets across the ranges. You can't afford to get impatient now. Yeah, I mean, I would say if you feel like there's an actual impetus and reason to try to aggressively upgrade this season, that's if it's for the right reasons, right?

Starting point is 00:27:23 Exactly. Like, if it's because you are legitimately performing better than even the best internal expectations and for whatever reason. that'll that'll be known in real time like the West seems much more open than anticipated and you feel like you have an actual opportunity, then yeah, strike then. But what you don't want to do, and I agree with this. Isn't this why, I mean, this is among the reasons that I've had an apprehension about the whole Jonathan Kaminga thing is Grimes, Kessler, Mamu, and, you know, to a lesser but tangible degree, Sexton, just in the sense that they targeted him very early, plus re-upping with Austin. These were all guys that they targeted very early. They made real commitments to very early. Obviously, as we've said a zillion times, Rob has to be correct.

Starting point is 00:28:22 But those were the guys that they really wanted early on. Minga, there's been so much back and forth. Obviously, the price matters and stuff like that. but the price that you're willing to pay or that you're dicey about, it does reflect how internally confident that you are about this player fitting into your culture. And they are actually trying to build a culture. It is a new culture now with Luca moving forward as the unquestioned face and leader

Starting point is 00:28:56 of this organization. Like I actually, Josh Lloyd, the host of Lockdown Fantasy, I did the Lakers preview with him earlier today. And he started to describe what was going on with the Lakers right now as a cultural reset post-Lebron. He's like, well, I don't know if it's cultural reset. I said, no, actually it is. And I don't mean that, by the way, as anything negative or a dig towards LeBron. It's just reality.

Starting point is 00:29:23 Any time a player of LeBron's stature leaves somebody of his accomplishments and his presence, the culture changes. It doesn't necessarily change good. It doesn't necessarily change bad, but it damn well changes. And this is a cultural reset with Luca moving forward. And I think I really look forward to it. I think it's going to be great. But as you are building this, you don't want to be bringing in guys that you're not as sure about simply because you're worried about hitting some type of external, you know, external bar

Starting point is 00:29:59 that in all likelihood it's going to be difficult. to meet simply because there were so much turnover. Yeah, it just, I put it this way. If, if, if, comminga is the guy, is somebody you feel is the best option right now, then don't sign him or don't make, don't make a big effort. Don't go beyond what you're comfortable. If he's fits the profile of somebody that you'd be like,

Starting point is 00:30:25 this is the type of guy we're looking for. You know, we want a young player. We see the upside. We've broken down the tape. We feel like he fits with what we're trying to do. Particularly, we feel like defensively he can fill the role that we're asking him to fill. Because that to me is the part where like you can, if all it required to be the type of defender that Lakers needed was athleticism, then the answer would be on the roster right now because Adu Thero is as athletic as anybody you're going to be able to find to do that.

Starting point is 00:30:58 it is more complicated than that. It is more complicated, particularly when you're asking a guy potentially to play multiple roles inside of a defense. You got to be able to cover this way. You've got to be able to cover that way. You've got to be able to cover size.

Starting point is 00:31:14 You've got to be able to cover speed. You've got to be able to all of the, the more you add to that, the more complicated it gets. And the more unlikely and frankly unfair it is to put that on somebody. like Thero. So it's about much more than just athleticism. Do you think Jonathan Kamenga can feel that role? Or are you more excited about the athleticism, the transition finishes, the fact that

Starting point is 00:31:43 he's had these games where he kind of goes nuclear and drops 28 points or 32 or like he has these moments where he just looks like, whoa, what were the warriors thinking? If you think you can tap something that's kind of the opposite of what he's been doing over the course of his career in his best moments, his defense has not been his calling card, then okay, go be right. I don't know if anything has been consistently his calling guard, like on a true consistent basis. Other than athleticism and explosiveness and these sort of, you know, these games where he seems like the talent just sort of seems that, you know, 35 points, 28 points, 11 and 14, whatever

Starting point is 00:32:27 might be is these moments where you just again you think the warriors are nuts but I just they they the value I know there's we maybe let's talk about this sometime between now and the end of the week but there's been a lot of criticism of the Lakers

Starting point is 00:32:42 and Rob Polinka for even now in this off season where there are a lot of short contracts and a lot of team options whatever for being the guy who gives longer contracts that include player options but aside

Starting point is 00:32:57 from taking the player option part of it out, the value for the Lakers of having these long-term deals is they can actually look at a player like Comingo, whoever it will be to fill this last piece in the starting lineup, and say, this is the group that they're going to be around. This is the skill sets that we have. This is how they work together. And this is how other player X will fit in with it.

Starting point is 00:33:22 If they think Cominga or player X, Y, or Z is that guy, Godspeed. But if you don't, don't give up anything of value when you don't have that many things, just to try to look like you're getting a little closer. Because like you say, this is probably not the year anyway. Well, and also too, if this does not work with Cominga, for all the noise that is accompanied Jonathan Caminga, once it's with the Lakers, you can magnify that bleep by at least 10. and it's going to be even more, if for whatever reason, this does not work, it's going to be even more difficult to move commingo give you as A, it'll be the third time, B, it'll be more high profile,

Starting point is 00:34:09 and C, it'll be the Lakers. And teams generally speak, I'm not even getting in the whole Laker tax thing, but generally speaking, I don't think teams necessarily do backlifts at the prospect of helping the Lakers. No, it's just, it's, it's an interesting thing to think about, like, both what, what it is that Luca does for a team in terms of covering sins and allowing for, for potentially combinations that wouldn't work with different stars. You can, you can construct your team offensively differently that with Luca Donchurch than you can Donovan Mitchell. I think Donovanichael's an elite player in the NBA.

Starting point is 00:34:54 I think that much is clear. He doesn't have the same skill set. So, you know, Luca covers a lot of sins. What can you do on the other side of the ball that kind of replicates that sort of versatility that allows, you know, players only to have to play to their strengths? That's what a guy like OG does. That's what a guy like Draymond does. And so we'll see.

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Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Is Luka Dončić Part of the Solution for the Lakers' Problem at Power Forward?

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