Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Beat Wizards 111-88, Celtics Ahead Next.

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked on Lakers for Wednesday, Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, the Lakers take care of business against Washington. And now attention turns to Boston on Thursday. 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 your first listen of every day, Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:36 This one's always free. ever behind paywall locked on Lakers on YouTube. So we can go hang out with over 27,000 subscribers to the channel, Andy, all of whom are, I think, relieved the Lakers did what was expected of them on Thursday. And as we sit in exactly the halfway point of the season, the Lakers are the sixth seed in the West. That's the good news.

Starting point is 00:01:01 There are five games over 500. That's also good news. They are also inspiring very little confidence. And that's the less good news. So all of these things are things we'll cover over the next couple of days. And of course, getting ready for a huge game on Thursday at home against the Celtics. I want to let people know that today's episode sponsored by GameTime.

Starting point is 00:01:23 Download the GameTime app. Create an account. Use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. So I don't want to say that Lakers, you know, were a shoe in after the Nets game where they won by. a point at home the other night. This certainly felt like a game the Lakers ought to win. And they did what was asked of them.

Starting point is 00:01:50 You and I, for everydayers that you've, they've heard us have this philosophical debate before about, because Anthony Davis has been questionable the last couple of games. As you mentioned, he missed the game against Brooklyn with various lower extremity injuries and heading into this game being questionable there had been the idea of would the Lakers potentially sit him against the wizards who what did they want seven games so far this season six I'm sorry you are you are crediting them with an extra victory that they don't deserve they won six games away six games in total one away from the DC area and

Starting point is 00:02:32 there had been that question about whether it would play or not, maybe you give him an extra game day off before the Boston game. And you tend to err on the side of if you're making these sort of decisions, bank for sure the game that you're supposed to win and potentially sit a player against a team like Boston that you might end up losing anyway. And we were discussing this offline. My reaction was, no, if you're going to do that, play A.D. against Boston because if you can't beat the Wizards without Anthony Davis, what the F does

Starting point is 00:03:09 this season mean anyway? And I understand. Seriously. What are we doing? What are we doing? I understand your perspective. This is all pointless. This is existentialism gone bad.

Starting point is 00:03:23 I agree that we'd be in a bad spot. I'm just saying, you know, but AD certainly, you know, came through as you would expect with a big game against just horrible Wizards team. 29 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks. You know, LeBron, not super efficient, but a triple double, 21 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists against five turnovers. You know, the Lakers got some decent performances, Doreen Phine Smith, who will talk about a little bit more over the course of show. We talked before about how players will claim they don't know their stats in game, but they all do. like LeBron got his 10th rebound, which secured the triple double,

Starting point is 00:04:04 and immediately looked over at JJ's like, are you going to call timeout or am I going to call time out of this game? I'm done. Done. Join Carl Malone as the only 40-year-olds, I believe, if I read that statistic correctly, with triple doubles. And also, Carl did that in a Lakers uniform. Just going to say.

Starting point is 00:04:27 That's just how, is part of the, the franchise lore at this point is producing the only ways LeBron wants to be alike with Carl Malone. I can understand that. I'm going to go out in a limb and predict that. A reasonable impulse, as far as I'm concerned. That's where LeBron would like these similarities to end those triple doubles at 40, and they both played in the NBA for the Lakers. Both power forwards?

Starting point is 00:04:56 I mean, yes. Now, LeBron in these in these comparisons of a small four, LeBron's a three. He might even be a one just to move himself numerically further from the loan. Anyway, so yeah, I mean, it wasn't the most, you know, dominant night from LeBron, but still obviously some solid contributions there with the triple double. And, you know, this was never a game.

Starting point is 00:05:25 There was, there were moments in the game where you you felt like the Lakers, you know, could have put it away faster, but it was never a game where you felt even kind of like, at least to me, like Lakers were going to lose. No. So, you know, and this kind of thing, it means nothing in the sense of like trying to get a handle on where the Lakers are. Again, at the exact halfway moment, it doesn't, you know,

Starting point is 00:05:54 it's not one that you use to raise. confidence in the team, it's not any of that stuff. But what it is is a game that they needed to win and they did it. And we talk about this all the time. The only thing that's worse than uninspiring victories against bad teams is losing to those teams. And the Lakers, to their credit, have not done that at all this year. They are 11 and 1 against teams that are under 500. The problem is, Andy, when you try to figure out who they are and where they are, that they are 11 and 17 against teams that are above 500, and have the second worst point differential of any of the 20 teams

Starting point is 00:06:36 that are currently play off or play in eligible. And thank you to the Chicago Bulls for just being worse. So, I mean, that's where they are with a huge game coming up on Thursday. It did help, by the way. they entered this game with a minus 2.6 point differential. This win got it up to an even 2.0. So helpful in trending in the right direction this season, even though the Lakers are last year at this point in the season,

Starting point is 00:07:11 they were 20 and 23, three games below 500. Now they're 23 and 18. We are still on positive point differential. Watch a tradition, unlike any other for this team. JJ a few times in his postgame presser described this as a professional win and just like a very professional performance, which is a very polite way of saying, we know this is a crappy opponent. I mean, and I mean that like this is him honestly not wanting to be a jerk about it. Right. But also, too, it's a meaningful, like perfect, good teams beat bad.

Starting point is 00:07:53 teams like this in the way that the Lakers did, which is controlling it throughout and, you know, putting in a professional effort where, you know, Washington wasn't in position to steal the game and all that kind of stuff. It's the way that you acknowledge the circumstances without being, again, kind of a jerk about it. Like, you want to describe what it was, which is we are supposed to, if we want to be able to do anything we are aspiring to this season. We are supposed to be able to beat a six-win Wizards team by 20 plus.

Starting point is 00:08:28 Like, no, really, you're supposed to be able to do that. Right. And, but like he didn't refer to the Brooklyn game as a professional, professional win. Well, they didn't have AD. That's, that. So, you know, adversity. Yeah, it was also totally unprofessional. But yeah.

Starting point is 00:08:46 Yeah. So look, I, I want to talk a little about. DFS because both you and I have noted like he needs to play more. And as we learned on Tuesday, there are reasons why he has not been. And those reasons are going away. And so we will talk a little Dorey and Finney Smith next. Lockdowne Lakers is brought to you by game time. I love attending live events, whether you're talking about sports or music, comedy, theater. One of my best memories of 2024 was seeing Hamilton on Broadway last spring in New York with my family. And it was a really great show.

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Starting point is 00:10:28 What time is it? Game time. Department of Corrections and Retractions, Andy. The number I wrote down with the point differential for the Lakers as the 19th best, 19th worst among the 20 teams was, in fact, done before the end of the Wizards game. And I owe them an apology. they are now tied for 18th among the 20 playoff and play-in teams with Atlanta and still now comfortably ahead of the Chicago Bulls.

Starting point is 00:11:07 So that's my bad, as my daughter likes to say. Anyway, also too, sign up for that newsletter. Locked on Lakers newsletter. You go to Lockedon Daily.com. Have this show and lots of other NBA analysis delivered to your inbox every single day. Again, sign up for it. It is a helpful thing for you. It is a helpful thing for us.

Starting point is 00:11:29 Everyone is a winner. So I've been wanting Doreen Phinney Smith to play more. You've been wanting Doreen Phine Smith to play more. Apparently, now Doreen Phiney Smith is allowed to play more. Yeah, JJ talked before the game about how Dorian had been on a minutes limit because of an ankle injury that he had, like, I think a couple of days before. or a couple of games before eventually getting traded over here. Like I had been aware that this injury happened.

Starting point is 00:12:03 I had wondered at times if maybe this was the reason that he wasn't playing as much as, I think everybody anticipated, including from the way JJ had talked about him. But the reason that I guess I, speaking for myself, was not convinced that was the reason, is just because he had gone an awfully long time playing and playing like a reasonable amount of minutes with also nobody ever mentioning, hey, he's on a minutes limit, which typically comes up.

Starting point is 00:12:38 So it felt more like JJ's own decision-making process than anything they were monitoring with DFS. This was not a game where the lack of restriction would get tested because the Lakers control the thing from start to finish. DFS played 22 minutes. And if you, if you even have concerns about it at all, there's no reason to push him in a lopsided game like this one. But it is really good to know moving forward that this won't be a factor, say, against Boston on Thursday with that lineup and so many guards and wings that require covering,

Starting point is 00:13:20 you know, big forwards. It will be really. handy to have DFS available for however many minutes you want to play him. It's one of these things that if you're going to make this deal, and I realize you're in theory swapping a guy, you know, DeLo is playing, you know, 24 minutes, 25 minutes of the most, sometimes a little less than that, not too often, you know, up around 30. But if you're going to make a trade like that to try to change the sort of the tenor of your team, really add a

Starting point is 00:13:56 true 3-and-D player or whatever. Like, they got to play the hell out of him. Like, he's got to play a lot. And look, I think he played, he showed the skill set against the wizards on both sides of the ball. You know, whatever, it's the Wizards. But like, he showed this is what he does. Came out

Starting point is 00:14:14 early, hit a couple shots, was very disruptive defensively. And like you say, we're really going to be able to see against a team like Boston, where in theory, everyone is as dialed in as you get. National TV game. The greatest rivalry in the NBA has ever seen. This game is always a big deal.

Starting point is 00:14:41 And it's particularly big deal because Celtics are actually really good again. And have been for a little while. But when both teams are theoretically playing for something and are relevant and whatever, the game gets even more important. Yeah, this is a good game for Dorian, 16 points off the bench, four threes. He had a putback on an offensive rebound. And, you know, Boston has not been playing great lately. No, they are.

Starting point is 00:15:09 I mean, not by any standards. They've been like basically a 500 team over the last 10 games. I mean, they actually, they have been vulnerable, certainly by their standards at the very least. There's been a lot of what's going on with the Celtics conversation in terms of national coverage. I'm sure if you go over and listen to John Corrales for Locked on Celtics, if you could stomach a conversation about the Celtics, I'm sure that's coming up. And remember, last year, the Lakers, one of their big breakthrough moments of the season, like what felt like a potential real fork in the road moment, because they had been going through,

Starting point is 00:15:51 a real bad vibes period. And LeBron and Anthony Davis were both out on the road in Boston. And the Lakers won that game really handily. Like they controlled that thing from start to finish, basically because for 48 minutes, they played their keysters off. Like it is one of the hardest I've ever seen a team play from start to finish. And I'm including playoff games.

Starting point is 00:16:21 Like I'm including game seven playoff games. It's one of the hardest I've ever seen a team play from start to finish. So it is not impossible that they can pull this game off. Again, considering Boston is a little wobbly of late. You know, they're not, Boston's still going to be the favorite and they should be. But things happen. Well, right. I would say to whatever degree the Celtics issues are related.

Starting point is 00:16:51 to we're the defending champs. It's a long season. We're preparing to play 100 games, not, you know, sprinting to play 82. That probably won't be an issue Thursday. I mean, you would think. That guys banged up.

Starting point is 00:17:07 They're right. No, I know that. But like, you know, they've got so much depth on that team that even, you know, they've had, you know, Chris Taps Porzingis missed the first, you know, whatever it was month or so of the season and they were dominant. Like they've got so many good players on that team.

Starting point is 00:17:22 And last year, I think that win, I'm not taking it away from anybody, but that win was an example of the kind of thing that we accuse the Lakers of doing all the time, which is not taking your opposition seriously. And you give them a chance to be in a game.

Starting point is 00:17:39 You give guys a chance to believe they can do something really cool and you're not matching their energy. You're not matching their effort and all that kind of stuff. you wouldn't think that'll be a problem assuming all the Lakers stars are playing. Like the Lakers,

Starting point is 00:17:57 I'll also be on the second end of a back-to-back. They play the Clippers the night before. I look at this game, and we'll talk about it more tomorrow, you know, as we get ready for it. And then also, too, just like kind of where the Lakers are

Starting point is 00:18:11 at this halfway point. I think this is a really important game to get kind of a barometer on what happens for the technically six game road trip. It's five with a game against the Clippers, another game against the Clippers at a two at Dome. If the Lakers get their asses kicked on Thursday, which they have frequently done against better teams over the course of the season, first of all, they better not be wearing those stupid Lake Show jerseys that are one and eight. Side note. If they show up on the floor in those things,

Starting point is 00:18:55 everybody deserves to lose their jobs. Burn those jerseys. They clearly do not work. They don't work. They're broken. Burn them. I don't know if there's a fine from the league as this stuff gets worked out. If you're not wearing those jerseys,

Starting point is 00:19:14 Jeannie, pay the fine. Like, sell some extra Sincoro, create another TV show. You would go fund me. Everybody would contribute to it. Right. Like, find another revenue stream. Eat the money.

Starting point is 00:19:28 Like, it's not worth it. The Lakers are one in eight in those jerseys, which makes them 22 and, like, what is that? 22 and 5, I think. 10 against everyone else. Yeah, I mean, any other jersey, They got nine other jerseys they can choose from. Maybe those jerseys were like made on some sacred burial ground.

Starting point is 00:19:49 Like I have no idea, but they're woven with fibers from the Brady Bunch tiki doll. I'm not sure what the problem is. Our friend Tom Zayas from the, from the Lakers exceptionalism pod, he's claiming that the problem is that they wear them against good teams. And like, don't you think it has to do it? I don't, maybe, I don't know. They're one in eight.

Starting point is 00:20:06 Stop wearing the jerseys. I don't care if that's the explanation. Just in case it's the jerseys, stop wearing them. If they wear anything else and they win on Thursday, then you really know that those jerseys are cursed and should be shot out of a cannon into the sun. Just do something with them other than wearing them during basketball games. But I want to get a little bit deeper into why I think this game is so important for the games that are coming up. We'll do that next.

Starting point is 00:20:44 If you didn't get a chance to check out the postcast of Dea, do that. and again, Locked-on Lakers newsletter, go to LockdownDaily.com, click on Locked on Lakers. The trip that comes up includes Washington, it includes Charlotte, and those teams suck. It includes Philadelphia, who alternate between sort of potentially dangerous and a complete tire fire, depending on who is playing. And even when their big players are playing, they still have not played. well. Yeah, and Joel Embed may not be.

Starting point is 00:21:24 Maybe, may not be. He's going to be evaluated again and I think that 7 to 10 day period would in theory allow him to be back in time to play that game, but who knows what is going to be going on there. The Sixers

Starting point is 00:21:40 are, as we record on Tuesday night, are three games outside of the play-in. So, they got some work to do. They've lost seven straight. They've got some work to do to even get themselves into the play-in.

Starting point is 00:21:55 It may be a situation. They've got to be really bad to protect their pick for next year. Anything seven or up, they lose their pick. They might just put Mbid on the shelf, put Paul George on the shelf. Sorry, guys. Like, we're going to have to try again next year. So we'll call it two and a half games that are against teams that are not particularly good. Golden State, who they open the trip in San Francisco against Golden State, are a 500 team on their home floor.

Starting point is 00:22:28 Like, they're 500 team on any floor. On any floor. But like the Lakers are really good at home and not so good on the road. Like so, I mean, just the distribution is not always, you know, like that for teams that are 500. and you know and then it's um who's the fifth game that i'm forgetting there the nicks so that's obviously a tough game i mean i think you know again if you want to find these signs of a team that should be taken seriously at the very least you're three and three over these six games and you're probably four and two figure out a way to beat golden state don't screw up the easy games maybe you lose

Starting point is 00:23:15 to New York, maybe you lose to the Clippers. Or maybe you go out and play a better game against the Clippers next time than you did the last time. The quality of the play just needs to improve it. It needs to get more consistent. JJ Redick alluded to them saying that they are growing into a more professional team that sort of embraces their roles and all that kind of stuff. But I haven't seen any of that in terms of the consistent product on the floor.

Starting point is 00:23:41 Well, this also, too, is going to get into that question of what the front of office is willing to, by the way, Draymond Green could very likely end up missing that game on Saturday. He's dealing with a hip strain right now. On January 20th, I don't know how many games. Well, January 20th said he's going to miss at least four games, according to Anthony Slater from the athletic.

Starting point is 00:24:03 I can't imagine that doesn't believe it. That's going to put him, right. Right. So, and Jonathan Kaminga may not be available for that game. So the Lakers should be in a really good position for doing this, but, you know, this, that idea of them being a serious team, beyond the position it puts themselves in in terms of the playoffs and trying to get themselves at minimum out of the play in and trying to put themselves in as good a position as possible entering that, it's also going to influence what the front office is or is not willing to do at the trade deadline. And we've talked a lot about how it's very clear that this front office is at minimum, undecided about how they feel about this team, if flat out convinced it's not as good as it needs to be.

Starting point is 00:24:56 I mean, that's the signs they're putting out there. That's the reporting that's coming out of it most recently. Yovonne Buha from the athletic, friend of the show. He's got a pretty good deep dive over at the athletic. But state of the Lakers right now, one of the things, that he said is from his canvassing around the league, talking to sources, stuff like that, the consensus seems to be that the Lakers are either going to make a relatively minor move,

Starting point is 00:25:23 like another DFS level type acquisition or maybe even a rung below that, or Stan Pat. But the idea that they're going to take a pretty big swing, use one or both of the two first round picks that they have in their complete control right now seems like a long shot. However you feel about that in terms of right decision, wrong decision, if you want to see them do anything big, it's going to require them doing well on this road trip,

Starting point is 00:25:57 like trending in a direction that convinces a front office that is putting out signs of being skeptical, no, really, this is worth it. Yeah, and I agree with you. I think they're default right now. is not to make the move. And I'm not sure what move there is out there to be made. It should be noted.

Starting point is 00:26:19 One of the criticisms against the Lakers, and we've been making it for years, is sort of a lack of creativity and how they do stuff. The sons who are desperate to try to make something out of the KD. Booker Beal era, like mostly by lopping off the Beal part of it, at the very least. They made a very, I will,

Starting point is 00:26:43 I'm not sure it's going to net them what they want, but they've traded their 2031, unprotected first rounder to Utah for what will be three first round picks, probably a very low value, high 20s to, most likely. So we'll see what that gets them. It gives them three,

Starting point is 00:27:10 three picks now to put into maybe a Jimmy Butler deal or something like that. Oh, does Jimmy want to go to Phoenix? I hadn't noticed. No, yes. He's been awfully subtle about this. No, as an end. Not everyone is as well connected as I am and his experience in reading the tea leaves. But if you kind of unpeeled the onion back a little bit, you see signs that Jimmy is interested in playing in Phoenix. Not many layers required for that.

Starting point is 00:27:42 It's very subtle. Yeah, I mean, and to your point about how valuable those picks are or not, you know, Kevin Pelton over at ESPN grading this deal gave Phoenix their half of it a C minus and gave the jazz and A minus. So if nothing else, our boss is happy. Yeah. And so like, I don't know if it's a good deal about it, but like people can look at that and be like, well, I'll say this.

Starting point is 00:28:07 this, it's creative. It is a way to maybe try to give the Sons a little more draft capital to do something, potentially something stupid. But I've not seen a deal like this. It's an, it's an interesting approach. Okay. Sure. We'll see what it's a sense of it. If that's the definition of creative, the results don't matter. I've just never seen that before. Then yeah. The difference is creative and smart. And then you got to see what they do now. next. Like, you know, what happens next is a critical part of that deal. But my point more is that, like, fans are going to look at that. Lakers fans are going to look at that and be like, yo, Rob, like, you can't do fun stuff like that. That is true. You know, I like, why can't we have a fun trade where we get three first round picks for a different first round pick in a few years or something like that. And, you know, again, I don't know if that's the right thing for the way. I was going to say the answer might be because it's a terrible idea. Right. It does more get to the, you know, the basic problem.

Starting point is 00:29:10 Like the Lakers in an era where you need to be creative are not known for that sort of thing. No, no. The premium on doing interesting stuff and thinking outside the box to create trades and transactions. And we've seen a couple different teams do that, like really clever stuff, you know, how you throw in a certain player, acquiring a pick, like just doing some. The way the Knicks in. the Carl Anthony Towns deal, like, included, I think, like, non-guaranteed deals or veteran minimum deals, something like that with very specific salary numbers in order to make. Right.

Starting point is 00:29:48 And then, like, they signed, like, a guy, like, you know, which, who did the thing a few weeks ago where they, like, released a guy and then they signed him to, like, write back for some other thing. Like, you got, like, you know, like little stuff like that to agree to open up salary. Like, the Lakers just haven't been a team known for doing that kind of stuff. And in the new CBA, if you're going to be a team that is up against the apron and hard-capped and have all, you've got to figure out these work. Right.

Starting point is 00:30:18 And we'll see. I mean, the counter to what I said about, you know, the general consensus I've seen on this deal for the Sons is that unless they get Jimmy Butler or. somebody who matters, this was a really bad idea. And I think they've probably got something pretty well ironed out. I mean, one would hope, except for the fact that Matt Ishpia, as I often like to say, reminds me of the guy that goes to the steakhouse where if you eat like the 72 ounce steak, in an hour you get it for free. And Matt Ishbia eats three of those a day.

Starting point is 00:31:01 Every day. There's a certain ready aim fire. ready fire aim to put it generously he's got an aggressive approach to blank but that being said though the counterpoint to the idea that this may not be a good idea would be

Starting point is 00:31:24 well neither was trading for Russell Westbrook but you did that anyway and it's hard like I we'll pick this up tomorrow but like the Lakers do have a difficult choice in front of them. The idea of maximizing LeBron and AD

Starting point is 00:31:43 and the window that you're in with two players who are still very good, even if LeBron isn't, as we talked about for a Tuesday show, like a cheat code himself, that is what makes a team a contender just by his presence. Still pretty good. And you have Anthony Davis

Starting point is 00:32:03 who is an all NBA. performer, that's a good starting spot. And if you could figure out how to enhance that with, by filling in some of whether it's athleticism or shot creation for yourself or for others or speed and athleticism, like there's there's a lot of places the Lakers could improve and could make a pretty significant difference. But that's got to be in service of a team that, you know, you think could go past the first round. Like, it's not worth it to be, you know, a first round and out just to show you did

Starting point is 00:32:38 something. I was going to say the biggest decision and the most difficult decision the Lakers actually have to make is not even which decision they make. It's the decision to make a decision. Yeah. I think that's actually the thing that's most difficult for them because I think if they can sell themselves on doing nothing. that's the road they want to take the most. It's pretty clear. Locked on Lickers on YouTube is where you're going to hang out with over 27,000 subscribers to the channel. Please sign up for the newsletter, locked ondaily.com.

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Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Beat Wizards 111-88, Celtics Ahead Next.

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