Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron James Ready to Lead Lakers Into Playoffs. Can He Turn Back the Clock? (Plus, Bufkin Waived)

Starting point is 00:00:00 LeBron James says he's ready to lead the Lakers into the playoffs. Can he do it? The answer isn't just up to him. We'll explain 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 joining Locked on Lakers, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminaski,

Starting point is 00:00:29 Lakers playing a critical game against the Suns on Friday night. The Magic number for the Lakers. Lakers to clinch the number four seed in the West is two. Any combination of Lakers wins or Houston losses and the Lakers are the four seed. A three seed is still possible, a three-way tie for the Lakers, nuggets and rockets, and Rockets means the Lakers would be the three seed as both owning the tiebreakers, but also being division winners. Obviously, Andy coming off Wednesday's good vibes win in Golden State.

Starting point is 00:01:06 people are feeling a little bit better about the, you know, the challenge in front of them. LeBron was fantastic in Wednesday's win. He had 11 assists. He had eight rebounds. He had 26 points. And he did it very efficiently, 11 of 17 shooting. After the game was over, he talked about kind of being ready to go and lead the team going forward. He said, quote, to Ali Clif, is to him talking to Ali Clifton.

Starting point is 00:01:34 and what the Lakers team needs from him right now, quote, everything. Nothing changes for me. It's just back to the old ways. I got to give them my leadership both on and on the floor and off the floor. I got to lead in all facets on the court, both ends. That's what the job requires. So I look forward to it and let's see if we can get it done. It does really open up that question, though, of whether or not he's capable of it,

Starting point is 00:01:59 but man alive is going to be fun to watch. Like this storyline here of LeBron kind of one last, you know, one last heist, one last push as the man in that way. I mean, I hope it works just for the Hollywood part of it. I was going to say it's intriguing. I'm not yet ready to call it fun because that presumes, if not the outcome, it presumes the ending. And that does a disservice to what LeBron is being asked to do. and also too, I think this matters, the bar for what should be considered success. Like, if you flip this scenario on its head, and let's say Luca had to do this without

Starting point is 00:02:45 LeBron and Austin, like, there's no question, Luca is better equipped to do this than LeBron as the younger player, the better player at this stage of his career, the player that is more equipped to go nuclear for a series as a one-man offensive army. But make no mistake, this would be hard as hell for Luca, too. So it's important that the way we frame success pulling this off, what it looks like for LeBron, is framed through a reasonable lens. And that's before you even get to the whole he's 41 years old thing. Like, but I'm doing, and obviously that piece of it matters, but I just think it's really important to make that distinction off the top because I don't want to set this thing up so it's unfair to LeBron.

Starting point is 00:03:37 That's not really what I meant. Like the LeBron. But it's important to say, though. No, I agree. Yeah, I agree. I think you're right. But like the LeBron Hater group are going to look at this and regardless of the results. Because, I mean, if the late, if LeBron plays well, unless LeBron somehow leads them into the second round.

Starting point is 00:03:56 can't do it anymore. The old man's washed up, whatever. What I mean, what I find fun about this is just from as a person who finds sports storytelling, obviously, we've been in this for a long time. I love the storytelling aspects of this. I am particularly love the storytelling that goes along with aging athletes. And there is something, there is a story in here. The one I want to see is kind of the Hollywood, like, damn, LeBron, you know, leads team to improbable win in first round series where they are, you know, heavy underdogs.

Starting point is 00:04:37 I'm not counting on that. Even if LeBron plays great, I'm not counting on that. But I do think there's something equally cool in like, you know, LeBron plays his tail off and, you know, makes this a far more. competitive series than anybody expected and absolutely all of these things and i actually think there's sort of poetry and like you know finally running into the thing that lebron can no longer do single-handedly you know what that means for you know looking forward to maybe one more year of him in the in the in the NBA and like i think he's confident in his ability to go out and play well but i think there's i think there's i think there's i think lebron is interested in finding this out that last sentence in that

Starting point is 00:05:23 quote. Let's, I look forward to it and let's see what we can get done. I think there's both like that sort of confidence. Let's do it. Let's see what we can get done. But like I think it's also a question like let's see what we can get done. I am not entirely. If you ask LeBron this question in 2016, when he says let's see what we can get done, he's saying, I know what we can get done. He's saying let's see what I'm about to do right now. Let's see what I'm about to do right now. Let's see the thing that I'm about to show you. This reflects what I've said about LeBron this entire season. I've said this a lot.

Starting point is 00:06:02 Last season, frankly, the last couple seasons. LeBron is at a stage of his career where moving forward, nothing can really be predicted because you can't predict your body cooperating at this stage and age of LeBron's career. Like, I said last year in the playoffs as, The postseason went along. I thought LeBron started looking more tired. I actually thought that happened in 2024.

Starting point is 00:06:30 That's not to say that I think he played badly, but I do think he looked more tired. It helps for this very difficult task that LeBron spent the last month or so not being asked to do what he is about to embark on for these playoffs because the asks are about to be ratcheted up. However much is left in the tank for this season, I do think that will matter, just physically and even mentally for LeBron moving forward. You're getting to what I was sort of teasing at the open.

Starting point is 00:07:04 Like the answer to whether or not LeBron can do this isn't entirely up to LeBron. So I want to unpack that. And the Lakers made a roster move on Friday. And we will explain what it was and what it means next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by better help. Financial stress is something a lot of people are caring right now. It is tax season. And it's not just about numbers.

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Starting point is 00:10:41 I think if you went back to the quote, old way, where you're just going to give LeBron the ball and go be superhero, you know, essentially kind of go be Luca. You start the possession, you dictate the possession, you control the possession, you're deciding whether you're going to shoot or not, all these things. I don't think it's going to work. This is why getting smart back is so important. And, you know, Kinnard showing that he can initiate an offense and make the right pass

Starting point is 00:11:11 and penetrate and kick and do some of those things with good ball movement matters. Because if you just put LeBron. in front of Houston's defense and ask him to create, go cook. It's not going to work. They have to be smart about how they maximize the opportunity to try to get LeBron. They have to help him. They can't just be like, okay, go king. They have to help him in ways that LeBron hasn't necessarily needed help in years past.

Starting point is 00:11:45 And if they do that, I think they have a much better chance of getting a consistent performance from LeBron over however long the series lasts. If they just make him, you know, do all the heavy lifting, I think you get a couple games out of it, Max. 2015, when they got to the finals, the Cavaliers, and Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were both hurt. And it was basically LeBron with Matthew Delavadova and Timofa Mosgoff and. a bunch of, you know, good role players, but role players nonetheless, LeBron played incredible in that series. And there was a school of thought that LeBron really should have won finals MVP, as opposed to Andre Aguadol that year, and he got some votes, but it is incredibly rare that a player on the losing side wins MVP. But that was peak LeBron. And he could not make that happen. Like, all great

Starting point is 00:12:45 players if they really want to pull off really difficult tasks, whether you're talking about winning a championship or getting out of a first round series as the underdog. We've spent all season talking about the play of the supporting players when they were at full strength. You know, the importance of Aiton and Rui and Jake LaRavia and Marcus Smart, God willing, the guy is healthy again, and Hayes and Luke Canard and everybody that is going to step on the floor getting regular minutes, there's an onus on all of them.

Starting point is 00:13:25 You know, it's the Jerry McGuire, help me help you. If these guys do not help LeBron enough, he's not going to be able to give them the help that they ultimately need either. It's symbiotic. And I agree with you. And it's both of those things.

Starting point is 00:13:41 But like, it's obviously, those they're going to need eight and elevate and give you know they they need 65 points from players they need to make this up Rui is going to have to produce and Kinnard's going to have to shoot when shots are there

Starting point is 00:13:57 and you know four out of jakelavia is going to that four out of five that we saw on Thursday night like all of that stuff's a given and what I'm really getting at and we'll get to Kobe Buffkin here in a second by the way spoiler alert that's that's the roster of the Lakers released

Starting point is 00:14:13 Kobe Buffkin. It's not just that he needs the help from the supporting cast. It's that the way you have to deploy LeBron to try to be the man, the center of things and whatever is it still is going to look very different than it used to. The old formula has to be tweaked or it's not going to work. So it's really a combination of those things, but you're right. They, they, you are going to need elevated performances down the line or, you know, it's LeBron, even if he went nuclear, it's still not going to matter. I mentioned Lakers released Kobe Buffkin. They have until the end of the season now to fill that roster spot. There are some restrictions. It has to be somebody who isn't on a roster. I think it or like every two way like March 1st or whatever or on

Starting point is 00:15:06 you needed to you you needed to be a an NBA free agent, I believe as of March 1st. If you were some, like somebody like Cam Thomas, for example, who the Bucks signed off waivers after the Nets released him and they have since waived Cam Thomas. Cam Thomas would not be eligible because he was on an NBA roster as of March 1st. And so, I mean, the Lakers theoretically could go find a street free agent or something like that. The overwhelming speculation is that they are going to use that to convert either drew Timmy to a, full NBA contract or Nick Smith to a full NBA contract, two of their two-way players. You cannot have two-way players on your playoff roster. So, I mean, I don't think anybody is going to argue at the idea that they released

Starting point is 00:15:57 Buffkin for a player that hopefully could be more productive in the postseason. It was easy to forget Buffkin was on the team. Right. I mean, well, the conversation about process here, we can have maybe secondarily if there's time. The primary conversation is who do you replace him with? And I think the, the Timmy or Smith question here is, is not totally easy to answer. You can make a strong case for either guy. If they go that route, and I'd have to take a look at what street free agents are out there, you know, guys with I would be floored if this wasn't. I agree with you. It feels more likely

Starting point is 00:16:41 that they convert Timmy or Smith. I just want to acknowledge the possibility is out there. And I plan to just take a look and see who is still a street-free agent who maybe you could put on the court for 10 minutes and not worry too much. If I was choosing between Timmy or Smith, I would choose Drew Timmy for a few reasons. I think Nick Smith's prototype as a player, you could argue the Lakers need more of.

Starting point is 00:17:10 but I also think Drew Timmy is readier to be put on the floor in a playoff situation. Like I think he's just at this point more polished at the thing that he does and his strengths, acknowledging the weaknesses. I think he's more polished at his strengths in an NBA playoff setting than Nick Smith is polished at his strengths. I also think when it really comes down to it, J.J. Redick is more likely to play Drew Timmy than he is to play Nick Smith Jr., So I'd rather have the guy on the roster that it feels like you're going to play in the first place,

Starting point is 00:17:44 as opposed to maybe the guy who fits more of the prototype, but it feels so unlikely that JJ would use him. The argument. That's my answer. I'd go drew to me. The argument for Smith, I think, is less about position. It's more about skill set. And, you know, the correct answer to who do you want on the floor in this, in a playoff series,

Starting point is 00:18:08 is probably neither. broadly speaking i i do agree with you that timmy is more likely to be that guy like sort of like maxi that if you put on the floor he's more likely to kind of do the right stuff and fill in whatever he's going to be exploited you know to no end defensively um like and i think the problem with timmy as an offensive player in the playoffs is that when the the extra 15 percent of energy and effort of and intensity that you get in these playoff games, I think is going to make Timmy a far less effective player.

Starting point is 00:18:47 Like, he's just going to be guarded more closely. He's going to be. And so the argument for Smith isn't about position, because I think you're probably right. Timmy would be more likely to play. The one thing that Smith does is he brings a skill set that really nobody, not a lot of other guys have, which is bucket get up.

Starting point is 00:19:09 getter, ISO capable bucket getter. Now, is he good at it? Different question. Again, I think Drew Timi is more polished at the things he does than Nick Smith is at the things he does. Sure. But I think the thing that the thing that Smith does and why I do think ultimately between the potential shortage of guards and the ability to kind of break glass and pull. this lever if you feel like you need it, I actually think there's a pretty good chance that Smith is the one that they convert just because if you find yourself in need of that skill set,

Starting point is 00:19:55 he can provide it for you. Whereas if you decide you need like a guy who can rebound a little bit and move the ball okay and is a decent, like a couple of those things Maxi can do. Like Maxi, I think is going to fill some of that need. He can't shoot like Timmy. Timmy's a much better shooter. There's no question. But between Rui and Kennard, they should be. So I think there's a pretty good chance. And when I was thinking about it this morning, was like, I think I might go Smith just for that reason. So I have that lever that I can at least try if I feel like I need it. But we'll see what they do. They have to make the decision by the end of the regular season. And like I said, I'll be shocked if it's not one of those two.

Starting point is 00:20:39 There's a larger conversation, which we're going to have another day about like whether or not the Lakers have reveals any process or structural problems that need to get fixed based on how this signing went. I know that's a conversation. Andy is itching to have. It's nodding. But, you know, that's a time for another show. If nothing, I'll say this, spoiler alert for the people looking forward to our conversation. I think the stakes were low. in terms of practical effect,

Starting point is 00:21:10 I think the optics on it were awful. Locked on Liquors on YouTube is where can hang out with over 38,000 subscribers. We'll look back after Friday and its game against the Suns, hopefully celebrating a second straight win for LA. Let's see you then.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron James Ready to Lead Lakers Into Playoffs. Can He Turn Back the Clock? (Plus, Bufkin Waived)

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