Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Lose 119-115 to Rockets. Is Dorian Finney-Smith on the Verge of Starting?

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

As the saying often goes, this 119-115 loss to the Houston Rockets was “a tale of two halves” for the Lakers. In the first half, the Lakers looked like a team either experiencing some undefeated nightlife in Houston or that had gotten a little too high on their own supply of “The Lakers are back and playing defense, baby!!!” coverage over the last couple of weeks. Even acknowledging the very obvious age and athleticism advantage that anybody would have expected on the Rockets’ side, the Lakers spent the opening 24 minutes in a much slower (and seemingly more disinterested) gear. The first half featured various Houstonians streaking down court in transition off every Laker turnover or missed shot. The Lakers got absolutely crushed in the second chance points battle. (They didn’t record *any* until the second half.) Jalen Green scored 18 of his 33 total points in the FIRST QUARTER, inside and out, with precious little resistance from Lakers defenders. Frankly, it felt lucky that the Lakers were only down 18 entering halftime. The game hadn’t even felt that close. But something must have been effectively (or angrily) stated by JJ Redick in the visitor’s locker room, because the Lakers were a completely different team during the final 24 minutes. Especially defensively. (Redick made a curious early substitution, pulling Rui Hachimura for Dorian Finney-Smith, which could be a preview of Tuesday’s starting lineup in Dallas, and either way, was indicative of the more successful defense the Lakers coach was clearly trying to crank up.) The ball was moving to better effect. The rebounding became less lopsided. And the Lakers looked like a team that was capable of matching this upstart Rockets team bounce for bounce. However, that disastrous start left the Lakers too little of a cushion to absorb any mistakes, and there were a few critical ones in the last couple of minutes. LeBron James was called for an offensive foul with 38.1 seconds left in the game.  Down three with 5.1 seconds left, inbounder Max Christie (who I’d argue isn’t experienced enough for this job in crunchtime to begin with) either panicked or forgot the team had another timeout left, and turned the ball over trying a pass to LeBron. (Who, to his credit, tried to call timeout, but none of the refs noticed.) A few seconds later, now down four and looking for a miracle, the ball was successfully inbounded to LeBron, who hit a three… that was wiped out because of Anthony Davis’ illegal screen. In the end, the final score was a reinforcement of what’s become evident all season. The Lakers are a good team… but not yet at a level with a high margin of error. Are they capable of beating a team like the Rockets despite a halfa**ed first half? Possibly. But not nearly capable enough that you’d ever want to bet on them pulling it off.    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Lakers fall 119-15 to the Rockets and is a new potential starting lineup in the works. All that and more with special guest, Raj Chapalou, coming up next. You are Locked-on Lakers, your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. And thanks to everyone for making Locked-on Lakers your first listen every day, your team every day, free, never behind a paywall, and locked on Lakers on YouTube is where about 27,000 subscribers are hanging out. It's a really awesome community of smart, funny, generally pretty respectful.

Lakers fans coming together talking about the team, talking about the game that we just watched. And this is one that I imagine there is going to be some frustrations expressed about and also some questions moving forward. in terms of the game coming up Tuesday in Dallas, the second of these Texas games. So we're going to get into all that. This episode's brought to you by Fanduel from big upsets to game winning drives. The NFL playoffs are better with Fandul.

New customers can bet five bucks and you get $200 in bonus bets. Guaranteed win or lose. Visit fandul.com to get started. Make this playoff season unforgettable with Fandul an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Also want to make sure everyone knows your favorite podcast, this one, Locked on Lakers, got a newsletter. It's a one-stop shop for the ultimate team and league coverage delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for free at Lockedond Daily.com. My brother and co-host Brian is unavailable today.

He took a quick vacay with the family. He'll be back for Monday night into Tuesday. But in his place, I've got Raj Joppa. Hollow. He covers South Bay Lakers for clutch points. He's also the co-host of Lakers detailed podcast. You can follow him on Twitter at Raj C-H-I-P-A-L-U. And he is a fixture in all sorts of Lakers coverage. If you really want to get smarter about the team, follow in particular his coverage on Twitter because there's a lot of good video breakdowns and stuff like that. Raj, how are you, man? I am good. I'm sad and I'm coming on after a loss, but now I know

who to blame for the laws. Brian is the one to blame who went on vacation, I guess, right before this one. But no, I'm excited to be here, man, and talk about some Lakers hoops. Yeah, this was one of those, I know it's a cliche to talk about it this way, but one of those tales of two halves type games because the first half, the Lakers showed up looking like a team that either was the victim of undefeated Houston nightlife or maybe had gotten a little bit too caught up in some of the winning of late, some of the defense of late,

and the general vibe shifts for this team because they were absolutely dreadful defensively in the first half. The rotations weren't particularly good. They were allowing Jalen Green, who I know he's talented, but he can be very inconsistent. He's not necessarily a great shooter. Just light him up from everywhere. He had 33 points. 18 were in the first quarter.

And they finished the half down 18. And in some ways, it felt like they were lucky to just be down 18. Second half, they came out like a completely different team. They cranked things up. Dorian Finney Smith got inserted into the game much quicker than normal, which something we'll talk about. And there were some critical mistakes down the stretch that ultimately prevented the Lakers from winning this game.

But they also looked like. a team that was able to keep up with the much more athletic, bouncy, younger Houston Rockets. There's a lot that could be taken from this game depending on where you want to focus and how. What are some of the things that jumped out at you? Hughes has done this to us a few times actually now where before it was Jalen Green and Kevin Porter, Jr. would be the aggressive guards that would go at us. And tonight was Jalen Green. And in that first quarter, it was 17 to 15.

it was back and forth a little bit, and Jalen Green was hitting some tough shots. We had Max Christie on it, right? He was the primary defender. And we forced him into some tough threes that he knocked a few down. The sub that came back in, and he was DFS checked in the game and Jake Milton. And this is, and Rui Hachemura stayed on the floor.

LeBron got his first rest, that early rest. And Jalen Green went Rui Hachamira hunting. Every single time out there, whoever Rui's guarding, I'm bringing him up to, on the ball screen, and I'm attacking him. when you got to the basket. And once Jalen Green see some shots go in, he becomes an impossible cover, right?

He has one of the best first steps in the league. And so AD had to step up. And after that, it was lobs on the backside. Amon Thompson looked like the guard version of Zion in that first half. Just absolutely, he's in a really fun part of his development where he doesn't really know what he's doing yet, but he's just so much more athletic than you. And he just has way more of a motor that he just attacked the rim. I think he finished with 16 rebounds.

In that first half, we gave up 67 first half points. And then the second half, I tweeted this out, but, you know, previous Laker teams just lie down in these type of games. And I did like the fight back. It was an interesting adjustment that E.M.E. Edoca made just to start the game, he put Dylan Brooks on Anthony Davis. And I thought that really changed the complexion of our offense. And he was betting on us not being able to take advantage of that,

and Dylan Brooks being able to push AD out of the spot. And he was right for the first quarter. it put us down 14 and then from there we adjusted we got open looks and i think the main story of this game was dFS kind of playing for ruy hachamura more in that second half and turned the game around and made it close before the lebron timeout scenario which is going to dominate the conversation but that's what i saw houston's a good team third on defense coming in really gave us trouble and they're a physical ball club stephen adams came in and i thought just wrestled all our players um so they they give us interesting matchup problems across their roster yeah

we're going to get to the timeout you're alluding to with about five or so seconds left in the game. The Lakers are down three at this point, I believe, and Max Christie was inbounding. And first of all, we were talking about this before he came on. I was surprised that Max was put in this position to begin with because he's inexperienced. There have been a couple times where he's looked uncomfortable. inbounding in the past. And he's not a great passer to begin. He's not terrible, but he's not great.

He looked uncomfortable from the minute this sequence began. He didn't, he lost track of the idea that he actually had a timeout. He could have called it himself. And Max, to his credit, after the game, said, it's on me. Like, I should know better. I have to make better decisions. And LeBron was actually trying to call time out during this. The refs didn't see.

it. Max ends up throwing a pass very flat, very bad, very interceptable by Fred Van Vleet, who ends up getting filed, making one of two free throws. And then the next sequence, the Lakers are actually able to successfully inbound to LeBron, who hits a three, but Anthony Davis called for an illegal screen. I guess A, what were your thoughts on that general thing at the end? And there was also LeBron had been called for an offensive foul, like a little bit before that, trying to get position down low. Just the general inability to get things working down the stretch of a game that despite every reason you could say the Lakers didn't deserve to win it, they could have. Right.

Yeah. And again, down the stretch, I thought Jalen Green hit some really tough shots. Fred Van Fleet is there. He really controls the tempo of their offense. So you could see the value he brings where they just know what they run down. the stretch it's band fleet pick and roll or jailing green attacks you off the bounce yeah i didn't like that offensive foul on lebron i think that's the one those are some of the ones i wish the rest let you play on and that the you know players decide the game a little bit uh it felt like a little bit of a flop

on um and thompson to me if if you go back back and watch they showed uh the replay and yeah that last possession it's funny i think this is the second time we have a timeout controversy in Houston. The Golden State Warriors just had this before the in-season tournament where Steve Kerr was, you know, irate about a timeout being called on their end as well. Yeah, I thought LeBron got the timeout, but I'm with you. I don't think Max Christie should have been put in that position. It's unfortunate that he's going to get the kind of bulk of the blame here because he had a really good game. I think he was in the positive net as well. He hit his corner the threes and I think he did the best job on Jalen Green that you know we had out there but yeah down the

stretch just unable to kind of get going uh get get into your offensive sets because houston's just very physical and big and they're very aggressive at the point of attack and uh when it's austin lebron at the top they just weren't able to get good shots but um yeah tough tough way to to way to lose a road game yeah it was it was definitely a difficult way to lose but the flip side is there were some good things that happened in the second half of this game. And also, too, JJ Redick made a very interesting and some would say telling decision in the big very, maybe like 90 seconds in the third quarter to put in Dorian Finney Smith for Rui Hachamora.

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No need to win to get the bonus. It's guaranteed. Prize picks, run your game. All right, Ross, so before we get to the DFS of it all, what were some of the things that you saw in the second half of the game that either speak to why the Lakers were able to give back into it so well and also what you think could be, I guess, good signs of what the Lakers can do against either really good Western Conference teams, teams that are more athletic, younger, faster than them, or in the case of the Houston Rockets, both.

Yeah, I thought for one, we really, we leveraged them putting a smaller player on AD a lot better in the second half. We started out where spacing was much better. We got a bunch of ball movement, AR hit some threes, LeBron hit some threes as well. This got us in an offensive flow. And I know we'll touch on the starting question, but I think it's telling that, you know, Rui checked out what, 30 seconds into that third quarter. and DFS checked in.

And I thought that really gave us, Houston's a team where they run so many ball screens that you have to switch a lot of actions. And that's, I think, was the thinking behind that. I know JJ made some interesting comments on that as well. But I thought we were able to switch a lot better when we had Max and DFS out there, be able to switch their screens up top. And then Jalen Green got in some foul trouble, right? That I think that helped us out as well.

And the other part of this, Andy, that I think is important, Jackson Hayes got some run tonight. I just don't think Jackson Hayes is viable rotation minute worthy anymore. I've been promoting Coloco, but I think we're going in this small ball unit where DFS play center, you know, Ruiz even playing center, which I would like to get away from that. You know, hopefully Vando solves that issue. But that's something against the other Western teams. If you're going to be a small ball team, lean all the way into it, and I would like us to, you know,

get away from the Hayes minutes. I also think, like, Cam Reddish was, you know, had a really tough time tonight. Sheikh Milne had a tough time tonight. But play more of your switchy wing guys. And I thought, you know, that's when we made our run, when DFS and Mets were out there and able to kind of switch actions. And I think that's something we can do against the better teams. You can see where JJ is starting to find the guys that he really trusts.

Yes. Like even with Rui getting pulled early in the third quarter for DFS, and we'll talk about what that could mean moving forward. I don't think Rui has fallen out. of JJ's, I guess, trust barometer just quite yet. Like, he, you know, he still played a fair amount of minutes in this game. He still played 28. And it's similar to the last game where six guys, the five starters and Dorian Finney

Smith played 25 minutes or more, yet 17 for Connect. But you're starting to see who JJ trusts, I think, once Gabe Vincent is healthy, Gabe is clearly somebody that JJ trusts, but you're starting to see the formation of of a rotation, not just in terms of who starts, who comes in for who, whatever, but who's actually going to get significant minutes. And it is not taking along, by the way, for DFS to be one of those guys. He loves DFS and it's obvious. Right, 100%.

And we do this as Laker fans. Rui is now the guy with the world on his shoulders, right? Yep. It was DeAngelo Russell. And it was Russell Westberg. It was DeAngel Russell. And now it's here, Rui. Now hold it on your shoulders, right?

And I understand that thinking and, you know, what's the next move? But I would like to see what this team is, right? And I didn't see how the pieces fit. And Rue's actually, he's still shooting very well. He had a great shooting night tonight. He's shooting 43% from three on the season. Look, he can't finish a game without a defensive rebound. Like that's just, you know, if you're, you know,

asking for him for more minutes. At 28 minutes, you have to grab more boards. I can add some context to that, which I think he was playing in the Stephen Adams minutes where Stephen Adams just took up every offensive rebound imaginable. It's seven in seven for perspective, not to interrupt you, but he had seven offensive rebounds in 17 minutes. And he's one of those guys that just he's immovable. I mean, he probably is the strongest guy in the league.

Right. And I think it was a plus 17 or something in the. those minutes, you know, so they just absolutely dominate that time on the floor. But yeah, Rui is an interesting guy where I think what DFS does is what you hope Rui is, right? Like what DFS already is a professional at, which is that 3 and D, you watch him and he attack closeouts. He doesn't in a matter where this is just what I do. If you call up on me, I'm driving to the rim. If not, I have a three, I have a three point shot that's a quick trigger. Rui's not that way. Rui, you have to kind of lean into his three when he's feeling it. He does

take it at a quick at a quick pace. But if not, he wants to dribbling, get to the midrange, he wants to back you down, put you in the post, kind of have an offense, a little more run through him. And so there's an interesting separation in terms of the fit versus the talent, which I think Rui is more talented than DFS. I'm glad you're going here, Raj, because I think whether this ends up being Dorian Finney Smith, like this is like the precursor to DFS taking Rui's spot in the starting

lineup, which I know just from checking out the comments on Lockdown Lakers YouTube channel or people hitting me up on Twitter at Cam Brothers when I'm on ESPN LA. By the way, Lakers talk will be on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. Pacific time. We're going to be talking with Eric Pinkis from Bleacher Report, always up on potential trades the Lakers could be making. And also I'm going to be talking with Adam Armbrecht from Locked on Nets to get more of a scouting. report on DFS and Shake Milton. So definitely people want to check that out on ESPNLA 710. That'll be tonight, Monday night, 6 to 8 p.m. Pacific time.

But I hear from a lot of people already wanting to see DFS take Rui's spot. What I think is interesting about this, though, is it's not just about, I think, where DFS fits in with this group. I also think it's about where Rui fits in among the reserves. He's a better score than DFS. He's a better score than Dalton Connect. He's a better score than anybody they have off the bench. Bench scoring has been an issue. They may just need to move Rui to the bench,

regardless of what's going on with DFS, just to get the best version of the bench, and it's got nothing necessarily to do with DFS's emergence. 100%. And I think JJ does have to do this with some, like it's hard to do when you're seven and two in your last nine, right? And when you're winning, not that losing has to direct you every time, but I think that he has to handle this with some care.

We saw last year when Rui was bench, he didn't take it too well, right? Tori and Prince was the starter over him. And, you know, I think most people agree that that was a mistake. But yeah, with Rui's ability to score, and my whole thing with this, Andy, is Ruiz been playing out of position. And I'd love to see him play more for minutes. And now that does come with some rebounding responsibility. But I like minutes where he plays next to DFS.

We played the Cavs, which in my opinion are just playing the best basketball in the league. You're so good, man. They're ridiculously good. And to me, they're the most serious team in the league. And our two runs that, you know, during that game were when we played, you know, small ball, where it was DFS and, you know, Rui next to, you know, AD where Rui's allowed to play power forward. He's allowed to, you know, space out and, you know, have guys that guard him that are a little bit bigger and he can leverage his scoring ability against them.

So you're right. They can play equal minutes. I do think JJ still has to sell that to Rui in a manner that doesn't feel like he's being demoted, which he's going to feel it is in any sense. But you just don't want to lose Rui either through this process. Well, I think to some degree, if this is going to happen, I think J.J. should pull him a trigger quickly. He seems like somebody who is concerned that his starting job might be in jeopardy.

So especially if it is, if it is right or right. wrong, let's just cut to the chase because I actually think, especially if Rui sees that his minutes are going to stay basically the same. And I imagine they will. Like they're going to need 25 to 30 minutes Rui on this, like they just need them. I could see, I could see Rui coming around of this and doing well with it, especially too, because again, this may be just as much about balancing things out as opposed to what Rui is doing wrong. But coming up next, I want to talk with you a little bit more about what you think in particular DFS is doing right.

And what, if anything, you want to adjust heading into Tuesday's game against Dallas? Also want to get, because again, you cover the South Bay Lakers for clutch points. It's time for the inevitable brawny question, Raj. All that is coming up next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Fandul from big upsets to game winning drives. The NFL playoffs are better with Fandul. Right now, new customers bet just $5. Five bucks.

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Join today. Visit. Get started. with $200 in bonus bets. Fandul.com make this playoff season unforgettable with Fandle, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Again, a reminder that Locked on Lakers and all of the podcasts in the Lockedon podcast network

have a newsletter, one-stop shop for ultimate team and league coverage delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for free now at lockdowndaily.com. Plus, the more people subscribe, than more helpful it is to me and Brian, and I know you all want to help us out, so thank you in advance. What in particular do you think about DFS would work with this starting lineup?

Like, remove Rui from it. Like, what do you think is just the case for putting DFS in the starting lineup either way? So I'll frame it in a way. The reason Max Christie, Andy, is starting, is because what that lineup needs, and even with Dalton's, the ceiling he hits on an office, offense event. They need guys really who just space, who rebound, and who defend. And DFS does all those things. And I said before the season, there was no good Laker team without Max Christie being good

because you list the three and D wings that were on the roster at the time. It's Max, a huge space, Cam Reddish, and then you get to Gabe Vincent, which these are very, it's dangerous territory at that point. Vincent's too small to be a really effective three and D wing. And Cam Radish is not a good enough shooter to fill in the three part of it. Like the list was Max Christie and Christy comma Max. That was your list. Exactly. So now you get to add a name to that list, right? You add Doreney-Fennie Smith. And I think that's why we do this with a lot of the players and we've tried to do this with scores a lot. It's just how the Lakers roster has been made up. We did this with Lonnie Walker, right? Lonnie's a on-ball guard score. And we said, hey, Lonnie, we kind of need you

to be a defensive 3-D guard because we have the ball handling around. And he's obviously wasn't capable of that. And we're trying to push Rui into that same bucket as well. And I think Rui's done a better job of that, especially than those guys. But I think that's what DFS brings. He's a really good connector, right? He's a connective player and he brings good connective tissue in terms of when the ball goes to him. He understands his read. It's not a whole look. It's, okay, the defense is doing this. I know where the ball's supposed to kick to. I mentioned I was at the game in Cleveland where it was his first game. And it looked like he's been with the team and practice with them. He was never in another person's spot, you know, or unsure where to be. He was

running baseline correctly and all his tags on defense were right. He was closing out to the correct guys and, you know, they didn't win against Cleveland. But his minutes seemed as on a, in a positive note. And that's what he's doing. He just fills a really essential need for this team. And, you know, it's unfortunate with that, you know, Ruiz going to hit the, get the blame of that in terms of how this works, but DFS, it's too clean of a fit. I always thought he would eventually be the starter. I didn't think it would be happen this quickly, as you're kind of alluding to, but yeah, it's just DFS has been a, you know, hand-in-glove fit so far. One of the things I've also been thinking about with DFS once the playoffs do eventually come around and assuming the Lakers are

a part of them, like DFS is in a lot of ways, a Vando-type player for this team. Hopefully, Jared Vanderbilt will actually be available. For what it's worth, Jay Quote from the LA Times. JJ Redick says Jared Vanderbilt, and the issue has dissipated, has gone down and is ramping up for return to play, said the progress is real.

DFS reminds me of the Jared Vanderbilt that you can't ignore offensively because he has an established track record as a shooter. Now, there may be times where teams say we will take our chances to some degree with Dorian Finney Smith hitting threes. But the thing is, if he hits enough of them, you're going to make adjustments. You're not going to just let a guy that is an established three-point shooter just keep taking open threes. As opposed to Vando, he was just not only was he getting ignored, I don't care how many threes he hits.

Like you will say if Jared Vanderbilt hits nine threes in a game, we will live with that. Like we are not going to trust anything we do. DFS becomes that Vando player that you're going to have to account for on some level, even if he's still a bit of a pick your poison guy. 100%. Right. And he's also a guy, I put a lot of stock in this. He's been a guy that's hit in the playoffs in high leverage games. He can hit threes, right? And when the shots are a little bit more contested, that's my biggest question with Max. And I think you see this with Rui as well when the games get tighter and it gets much it gets a the defense becomes tougher the shots are a little harder right and when your release isn't quick like max and ruys are it's it's tougher to get three point shots off

i don't worry about that with dorian and he's going to get enough good looks just on the playmakers he plays with and his ability to relocate right it's one thing to get open looks also another to understand where they come from and yeah i just i think his spacing is going to you know help the team a ton and my favorite part of him is this has happened a few times and tonight you know Houston us but you know the last few games max in dFS being able to kind of compound the effects of each other where they can switch up top you don't have to always when the switch comes it goes oh man it's it's you know gave vincent on a guy who's six eight you know it's just it allows for a little bit more balanced on the defensive end and uh the combination of him and in ad as well just working together

we don't really think of combinations on the defensive end that's more of an offensive thing but look at the pairing of dfs and ad those two have also kind of are starting to build some chemistry on that end too. So yeah, he's just a high-level role player. And the Lakers have been missing that for a while. You mentioned also earlier in the show about how JJ opted to play Jackson Hayes very little in the second half of this game going smaller, despite Stephen Adams being out there, despite rebounding having been an issue, though it was much less of an issue in the second

half of this game. Just like most things were less of an issue in the second half. Lakers played much better in the second half. They gave themselves an opportunity to win, even if they didn't. To me, the real lesson was don't come out like you did in the first half and put yourself in a position where you have to dig out of double digits just to possibly win. But JJ has shown this proclivity and I guess a predisposition for going smaller. It's rubbed.

I know it's rubbed a lot of fans. I see the wrong way. I've seen some people who cover the team, question it. It doesn't bother me as much because I think the team still manages to go, generally speaking, big enough. And I also don't think the bigs on this team other than Christian Wood, if he ever plays again and Vando, if he is available. I don't think most of their bigs are that great of rebounders anyway.

But how do you feel about this with JJ? Because it, I mean, there's a lot of implications from it, including who they would or would not pursue on the trade market. Right. Yeah. And I just don't think they're going to pursue another center. Neither do I. Yeah. My theory on Anya on backup centers is they're just no perfect backup center because if they were a perfect backup center, they would be starting. And so the guy I've kind of proposed, and you know, you mentioned I cover South Bay and Coloco's played a good amount there. And I've also seen a ton of bigs play well there and just go to other teams and really contribute in other places. And Coloco's actually played well in his minutes. And I'm not saying he should be the full-time backup center.

I've seen enough with Jackson Hayes to go, we have a guy who's a defensive-minded talent who, you know, understands at least a defensive components of where he's supposed to be. But, you know, in the small-ball lineups, I'm fine with it. I think Dorian's good enough. There's going to be teams around there against Stephen Adams. There's other bruises around league that are going to give you a tough time. But 80's going to play the 40 minutes there. Then you have the 4-5 where Dorian plays. I think that is fine.

I think you get enough offensive pluses from that to kind of negate what the defensive concerns are. So I'm fine with it. Yeah. Yeah, I think as long as you have other guys out there, like if you've got, say, LeBron, Rui, DFS, Max, and Austin, I'm just throwing out that. You are small in the sense that you don't have a traditional center, but your overall lineup is not that small. It's not that small of a group.

Like, you know, whoever your three is between DFS, Rui and LeBron, it's a big-ass three. And even your four is going to be on the big side. Max is big for a two guard. Austin's big for a point guard. You're not small across the board. I think that's where you really can get in trouble playing, quote, unquote, smaller. Like I used to say that one of the best things about the 2020 team was they could play medium ball, where you would like Marquif Morris or like Kyle Kuzma,

like some of these, you know, bigger three slash four type players where you just keep yourself positionally pretty big outside of just center. Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the 2020 team because the point I was going to make is I would like, Jay did at least he does he seems like he wants no part of this but I would love to see a too big look once in a while you know he's made pretty clear it I'm wanting yeah right it's just we're with these bigs if nothing else maybe a second other big sure it's just I think when you have you know when you're getting destroyed on the board it's just a look to have so when you're in the playoffs that's not the first time you throw that pitch it's just something you see and get to experiment with and have lineup continuity with before the season but to your point it's clear he doesn't trust those

Big. Coloco had a nice game a few games ago and has collected DMPs. Jackson Hayes is the backup center. And tonight he played, you know, seven minutes, which shows you kind of the trust JJ has in those two. You cover the South Bay Lakers for clutch points. That means you are on LeBron James Jr. on a regular basis. Give us the minorso snapshot of Bronny's progress so far. Yeah. So it's funny. His first game, he, you know, he really struggled at least his first two home games. he really struggled on the offensive end. And again, you've got to remember, you know, how old he is, still a very young kid, you know, 20 years old, kind of figuring out what he is in the league,

missed, you know, a whole year pretty much at USC with the cardiac issue. So still getting up to conditioning and getting up to his play style. But then, and he goes on the road, and he goes and drops 30, you know, on his first road game. And you could tell, you know, watching those games, there's a little bit more freedom with the ball. Jalen Hood Chafino was supposed to be their ball handler, but he's been out. He's played one game in South Bay. And then the other guard is Quincy Oliveri, who's played well, but he's been with the parent team. So it's really been Bronny's been able to kind of have the ball and just get reps, you know, in the G League.

And you can see his confidence growing, you know, game by game. The shot still isn't real, you know, the jump shot still isn't going in on a consistent basis. But there's stuff that shines out. It's the intangibles really come when you're LeBron James' son. I think there's just intangibles that come with it where, you know, he has really good instincts on steals. he gets some nice chase down blocks. He still has, you know, some issues, you know, handling the ball. He gets some turnovers.

He's not, I don't think you'll ever be this pick and roll guard where you give him the ball and say, hey, run my offense. But I think, like, what he's progressing to is, hey, we need, you know, a defensive energy guy that can just, you know, run, you know, off ball plays and get handoffs and just be athletic for a little, for a couple minutes. And that's where he's at. But, yeah, it's just nice. The Lakers got the, you know, huge accomplishment.

again, I don't like to say out of the way, but they got it done early in the season. So now Ronnie can go and develop and go and just, you know, be free to stay with the G League and get his reps there, get his games there. I'm glad they rescinded that not playing road games, you know, rule that he had for. Made no sense at all. For a few, you know, for a few weeks. And he's, you know, getting better and better. He's still not an NBA player. But it's nice to see at least some flashes shine through for him.

What do you see as the last question I have about him because I think this is really important in terms of the role that he could potentially carve out in the NBA if he can at all. What do you see as his offensive position? Because being a defensive specialist at that size, you have to be like all work. Like good way of putting it. You have to be special to do that at his size. 100%. And so he's definitely a one. I mean, his size just puts him at the one, right?

He's a 6-1, 6-2 guard. It's just there's no way you can. And that might be generous. Right. Yes, that's what it's listed at. So that's what I go by. But yeah, definitely an undersized guard. And he's not, he's not, no one's LeBron as an athlete.

But he's not his dad as an athlete. He's not an elite, you know, 1% athlete either. So there's some struggles there. I think for him, he's just trying to carve out, you know, and see what he is. I think he's in the portion of his career. Like even in high school, he played on very high-level teams, right? So he wasn't even the main score there. So I think now he's trying to learn what he is, what his game is.

And right now it's an off-ball guard. He's taking threes. He's getting more comfortable pulling up from downtown. But he has a nice driving game. Like, he has some nice contact finishes at the basket. His 30 points have really come from getting to the rim. Again, the G-League is very favorable to guards, as I put it, because it's a league that really promotes transition.

That's kind of where he's getting his baskets. But he's a one for sure. And again, being a defensive specialist there is tough. That is a role that's been carved out by other players. But that's where he's at right now, just an intangible guard. And he's on a four-year deal, Andy. And so the Lakers have time to kind of figure out what he is. And right now that's the process that he's in as well.

He is Raj Chapaloo. He covers the South Bay Lakers for Clutch Points. He's the co-host of Lakers Detailed podcast. He appears on the Lakers Lounge with Anthony Irwin. You can follow them on Twitter at R-A-J-C-H-I-P-A-L-U. Raj, thanks so much for the time, man. Appreciate it. Of course.

Any, anytime. And a reminder to make sure you're catching the postcast with Dave Palais. Brian will be back on Monday into Tuesday. We'll look ahead to a now very important game against Dallas with No Luca. Make sure the Lakers can split this trip one-in-one, and we will see everybody then.