Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron's Decision is Hennessy! Also, (Unrelated)... He Might Not Play Preseason Games

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone. Welcome to Locked on Lakers for Wednesday. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kemenetsky, LeBron James chooses cognac. But will his health drive the rest of us to drink? 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 everyone for making Lockdown Lakers your first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast. This one's always going to be free, never mind at Paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers to channel Andy, all of whom are hanging out. They're getting ready for the season. They were watching LeBron James Worth potential retirement announcements. They're checking out

Starting point is 00:00:47 Luca Donchish taking his team to ride in fast cars. They're doing all kinds of stuff and they're leaving us questions and comments that we can use on the show. So we appreciate all of that. Plenty to get into in today's show, including all of the stuff around LeBron and the big decision. Marka Smart getting back on the floor, which is a very big deal for the Lakers. We'll break all that down. Do want to let everybody know that today's episodes brought to you by Fandul. Right now, new customers can bet at just $5. And if your first bet wins,

Starting point is 00:01:19 get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fendule.com to get started. So there are two pieces of LeBron News, Andy, that happened on Tuesday, one of which was goofy and kind of silly. and the other one. And still managed to piss off a lot of people. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:01:40 Did manage to. So we'll start with this. LeBron James isn't retiring. What? You saw the in there. I know. Who could have seen that? So if you happen to see the LeBron announcement of the teaser for the decision,

Starting point is 00:01:58 the next decision, the decision of all decisions and all that and thought, well, this surely means LeBron is dropping out. He's calling it quits, whether now or after this year. You were wrong. Most people, us included, figured it was part of some sort of advertising campaign. All of us, though, however, got the product wrong. And so kudos to LeBron and the folks at Hennessy. We all thought it wasn't going to be an advertisement for Amazon Prime,

Starting point is 00:02:31 which Prime Day started on Wednesday. But no, Andy, it was, I'm sorry, on Tuesday. Tuesday. But yeah. No, it was a Hennessy ad that people didn't like. You know what? I was thinking about this, though, because I actually had a few thoughts upon saying this other than like, what a time to be alive. First of all, like, we all thought that this was prime day, like some type of prime day thing because LeBron has done.

Starting point is 00:03:01 a Prime Day ad before. And I agree, it is kind of a clever fakeout. But Hennessy can be ordered on Prime Day. And I took a look on the site. There does not appear to be any prime day deals on Hennessy shipments, which to me feels like somebody dropped the ball on some, I think, really good synergy potential there. Like all the time they spent like setting this up and faking us all out. And, And LeBron as an Amazon endorser, I'm sure, was aware of the day. And that was, again, part of the fake out in the first place. They should have created some type of deal with Hennessy and Prime. So that feels like, again, a bit of a missed opportunity.

Starting point is 00:03:48 Excellent ROI for Hennessy on this deal. I mean, that- Excellent ROI for Hennessy, excellent ROI for Amazon, because they got all kinds of free advertising because everybody spent the day talking, everybody spent Monday talking about Prime Day coming on Tuesday. They didn't have to do a damn thing. Also, the biggest winner, the biggest winner in all of this was Jeannie Bus and the Lakers

Starting point is 00:04:14 because the folks who actually thought that this was LeBron setting up a retirement announcement, they went nuts buying tickets. for the Lakers, final regular season game, the prices for those seats shacked up, huge. So nice little ROI for Jeannie,

Starting point is 00:04:39 who didn't have to do a damn thing. Good. And for Mark Walter, the irony is this game to the people trying to get ahead of it as perhaps LeBron James' last regular season game.

Starting point is 00:04:51 The last time you see LeBron in a regular season game, it's now assuming the Lakers do everything that we expect and anticipate this season, get themselves in the playoffs, depending on how the West shakes out, there's at least a 50-50 chance LeBron sits in this game for DNP rest. So well done, buyers.

Starting point is 00:05:11 The more immediate concern is, of course, what's going to happen to LeBron in the interim. Now that we know he's playing, the news on Tuesday was less encouraging for, at the very least, the grand experiment of getting all the Lakers together on the floor playing and building continuity in real games and preseason games before the season starts. JJ Redick has said that they certainly had a hope that LeBron would be able to play. They're going to have two dress rehearsals. Obviously, you would want LeBron at least one of them with the Lakers being very cautious.

Starting point is 00:05:49 LeBron still has not gotten on the floor for full contact practice and Sham Shorani at ESPN reported it on Tuesday that now the expectation is much more that LeBron will not play in any of the remaining four preseason games but with still the expectation that he'll be available for the season opener on the 21st

Starting point is 00:06:11 and that's what they're working towards is that opening game on the 21st. So I mean we spent was it Tuesday show or Tuesday show talking about this idea of are the Lakers sort of squandering the preseason. And this bit of news kind of changes that because it makes, even if they are treating this with an abundance of caution or an abuttonance of caution, the glute injury that

Starting point is 00:06:39 LeBron is dealing with, it does indicate, no, I don't deserve that. It does indicate that this pain in the ass might be more than like a pain in the ass. I mean, first of all, this is why when you and I were talking about this on Tuesday, I said I had not gotten the sense that they were confident about LeBron getting out on the floor for these preseason games at all. I know that they had not ruled it out, but between the vibe that I was getting and quite frankly, the fact that they lie their asses off about their players' health all the time,

Starting point is 00:07:18 like I think even by the standards of teams not being forthright, the Lakers are just pretty bald-faced liars. about this stuff. It had given me an impression that there was concern about this. So this confirms the vibe that I've been getting. It also, though, speaks to why I think it is really important that for the guys that actually are able to practice, like if you're capable of practicing in full, and we'll get into Marcus Smart getting his first or essentially first full practice and

Starting point is 00:07:53 people, the reports on this were very good. I think someone like Luca, for example, for Tuesday's practice was doing more individual one-on-one work. JJ described it as load management, although he did under his breath talking with another reporter, say he was being sarcastic. It wasn't clear whether or not he's being sarcastic about just the term load management or something else or whatever. But it drives home why I'm saying guys like Luca, Austin, whoever, if they actually can practice, if they actually can play in these preseason games, I think it's really important that they do because all of your ability to hit the ground running as much as you want in when the season begins,

Starting point is 00:08:43 it's undercut by LeBron's availability. And I'm not saying this to be critical of LeBron or anything like that. I mean, there may be nothing. at this point it's pretty clear. This is not a, you know, holding LeBron out, D&P old. This is holding LeBron out. Sure. Because there's an injury. And that is, you know, much more concerning than the, I mean, as much as you

Starting point is 00:09:05 would want him to be on the floor, the bigger issue, at least for me, the thing that becomes more worrisome is the idea that, like, he's not healthy. Like, he's starting the year. Of course. Overcoming an injury. Right. And that is obviously an issue. But it also, again, to me.

Starting point is 00:09:21 underscores the importance of do everything else you can during this training camp, during this preseason to get the most out of it because offsetting LeBron's absence for however long that is, hopefully not past training camp, that's a big deal. So it is. I want to see them. And for what it's worth, I'm not the only person who covers this team who's felt the same way. No, for sure.

Starting point is 00:09:49 They're not really. they talked a big game about this heading into the year, and it has not really been, at least my estimation, fully maximized. So I hope to whatever degree it is really possible as opposed to just, if they're holding, like I said before, if they're holding out guys because of specific reasons, okay, if it's just big picture wear and tear prevention, I think they need to get guys out there.

Starting point is 00:10:18 One guy who was on the floor, you mentioned Mark Smart, big impact both described by Smart and then, of course, his teammates. So we will break that down next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Monarch Money. Most people cannot name all of their financial accounts or even what they're worth, whether 401K is properties, investments. If you don't have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That's why Monarch Money is there for you.

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Starting point is 00:11:34 You know, obviously the Lakers need to be careful with LeBron. So we'll see how that goes. And hopefully if nothing else, even if he misses those preseason games, hopefully he's able to practice fairly in full before the season starts. for a week or so and get reps that way. And if nothing else, really show that he's healthy and good to go. I will say, though, I was expecting the absence of Marcus Smart to last a little bit longer. What was I, actually?

Starting point is 00:12:08 See him on the floor Tuesday at practice, moving well, appearing to be, you know, in pretty good, you know, pretty good fitness and, you know, all that. stuff getting good reviews for the impact he was having. This was extraordinarily encouraging on a day where the injury news wasn't uniformly good. And it seemed like also Marcus Smart was in really good spirits to be out there. I'm sure he was really excited, but there was footage circulating. You can find it on Twitter. We retweeted it at Cam Brothers where Marcus Smart after a few tries hit a top of the arc three from a seated position and, you know, he was on his back. Oh, yeah, I guess you're right.

Starting point is 00:12:55 He was even leaning back a little further. So he was having a good time being out there. One of the consistent things that you heard in terms of the difference with having Marcus smart out there, whether you're talking about from JJ Redick or Jared Vanderbilt, Austin Reeves, was the communication level, bumped up tremendous. with Smart out there despite Smart having missed all this time in terms of full practices leading up to it. And frankly, the communication, both in terms of what I've noticed watching these games, like listening for people talking, but also other people who've been in the building, people who cover the team,

Starting point is 00:13:36 they've also felt like me that the communication, particularly defensively, without Luca, without LeBron, without Marcus Smart, has been pretty lacking. Having someone like Smart there, no surprise, increases it a lot. And that's going to be really important for a team that is going to need to be better than the sum of its parts defensively. Well, I mean, Jerry Vanneville was asked after Practice Tuesday, you know, kind of breaking down who the different leaders are and different things and what they do

Starting point is 00:14:08 and how they lead and stuff like that. And defensive leaders, he named himself and smart. you know, obviously, you know, LeBron is if, you know, he may be a little bit more of the yelling and pointing stage of his career sometimes. You know, he engaged, you know, last year pretty consistently after that Miami game and was a huge part of the Lakers defensive tournament. But like most stars and certainly older ones, there are times when he takes possession off this, that, whatever. But his talking is always outside. And so you- Tremendously important. You, the guys who are best at defense are often best in part because they see it and they can communicate it.

Starting point is 00:14:55 And so, you know, I'm not saying that, you know, Austin Reeves doesn't work hard defensively. I'm not saying Jake LaRavia doesn't work hard or D'Andre Aiton or whoever it might be. And of course, Aiden, not only is he not known as a, you know, D.P.O.Y level center. he's also getting used to his teammates and coverages and all that kind of stuff. And so, you know, the center is really important for that level of communication and he's new. So to put smart back on the floor, one of the reasons he is a great defender who has won a defensive player of the year award is because he is able to communicate defense effectively and does it consistently. And it's part of his deal. And to get LeBron back on the floor and to get smart back

Starting point is 00:15:45 on the floor now to add three or two or three or four of these guys who do communicate well, it hopefully will help the defense. Yeah, it certainly can't hurt. And just also too, having Marcus Smart available, you combine that with Vando. Now you have two guys who have a skill set in terms of that point of attack defense or the ability to guard guards, to guard smaller wings, that is largely absent from this team. You do not have a ton of options of guys who can do that reliably. Vando actually talking about defense in general at this practice said he obviously expects at times he will have to guard fours and fives, like just between times where he may go small,

Starting point is 00:16:33 switches just you have to pick up somebody it's going to come up periodically right i mean dave vincent will occasionally find himself on a center and you do your best but he right now the plan is for vando to spend much more time out on the perimeter as he put it flying around and he's really excited for that and when you have smart out there when you have vando out there the communication level, I think, rises that physicality. I think there's a certain just urgency that raises with both of those guys out there. And again, just like those two guys can set tones in and whether, you know, I doubt they would both start. So I think one of them certainly could. And if smart, let's just say, because he's been talked about more than Vando starts in place

Starting point is 00:17:26 of Rui in that first five, you've got a tone being set. with him, then Vando enters the game. And that tone continues because he and Vando are cut from that same cloth. That's huge for this team. You just, you need multiple guys who can do certain things. And like, you know, guard with some degree, whether it's strength, whether it's athleticism, where you feel like your integrity defensively is, is strengthened. Like, you know, the Lakers have a, at a terrible time last year,

Starting point is 00:18:00 with perimeter defense in terms of being able to keep people out of the paint and all that kind of stuff. And you combine that with the challenges of not having a true rim protector after the AD trade. And suddenly you find yourself in a spot of trouble. And like they they efforted their way, I think, to that stretch, 25 games, 30 games, whatever it was, where it didn't matter who was on the floor. They were just really good. Like AD was hurt. Like it started before AD was even traded.

Starting point is 00:18:30 AD was hurt. They were playing great. He came back for, I think, a game or two, and they continued to play great. You got traded. They kept playing great. And then you could sort of see that momentum fall off a little bit. And it's not, I think, especially once the playoffs come around,

Starting point is 00:18:49 it's not that I think they stopped trying as much. I think a few things got figured out. I think the basic one-noteness of what they had available. to put out, made them easier to scheme. And then when you get to the playoffs, now it's, you know, seven, in theory, seven games worth of that, an entire coaching staff centered around scouting your film

Starting point is 00:19:11 for the last, you know, two months, three months or whatever. And then any advantage that you gain, this is part of the reason Vanderbilt has been less effective as a playoff player, any advantage you gain in the regular season that is based, you know, mostly on effort is diminished in the postseason. Because by the time playoffs come around, Andy, everybody's cranked up their effort level.

Starting point is 00:19:38 Nobody is not efforting. And so, you know, you need to have a structure and you need to have skill sets that go beyond that. The Lakers now have a player who, even if he's not perfect, even if they can't use him perfectly, even if he can't be what he was when he wanted to deprecate, POI, Marcus Smart, is a major improvement in their ability to defend, you know, along the perimeter.

Starting point is 00:20:04 He improves their optionality. I just don't think that style of defense is sustainable for 40, 50 games. And then once you start getting into the lack of optionality beyond that approach, and then I think JJ, frankly, panicking and locking up and cutting off some of his own options in the playoffs, your defense ends up exposed. Like they're between just having DeAndre Aitin as a legitimate center and Vando and and Smart hopefully staying healthy, you just have more pitches you can throw defensively. It makes me, you know, the biggest reason Jared Vanderbilt isn't going to be playing

Starting point is 00:20:45 center anymore is because they have centers. They didn't do it last year because like they thought it was a fantastic idea for Vando who had been, you know, dinged up all year and, you know, sort of struggling to be himself. Like, it's nobody, nobody thinks that like the best use of Jared Vanderbilt defensively is as an interior, you know, rim stopper or garter of, you know, centers or whatever. You do that when you have few other options. And so that's what they did. And this year, they won't.

Starting point is 00:21:23 have to. And so, you know, are you going to see moments where LeBron plays center? Sure. Are you going to see some moments here where Vando play center? Yes. They might even run out that random Rui at center lineup every once in a while. But it's not going to be standard. And, you know, they will have a starting center that they can use effectively. They will have a backup center, hopefully too, if Klaiba can come back and be a rotation caliber player. We always forget that he's there. So much of the, you know, we'll find out about the Lakers defensive coaching schemes and what Reddick does and is he a good coach in that way because this year they have choices. Last year they did really. Luka made an interesting choice of where to take his teammates for a

Starting point is 00:22:10 little bit of fun. Break that down next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul, the NFL seasons in full swing. Fan Duel is making sure you're ready for every kickoff with a can't miss offer. New customers, you bet just $5. And that bet wins. You get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So just pick something super, super obvious. I love that fan dual fits however you want to bet player props, building the same game parlay, maybe even jumping in live as the action unfolds.

Starting point is 00:22:41 If you're someone who just has a feel for how fourth quarters shake out and you want to get ahead of it with a little wager, makes every game more exciting, whether you're rooting for the team that you love, IRL, or keeping an eye on a fantasy lineup, you're ready to play. Download the Fandul app now by visiting Fandul.com to get started. That's Fandul.com to place your first $5 bet. One of the things that J.J. Reddick talked about, that Rob Polink talked about, that Luca has talked about, is leadership. They saw when Luca was playing with Slovenia. Obviously, he is the best player, the leader carrying that team.

Starting point is 00:23:28 you know, deep into the Eurobasket tournament and they did really well. But you saw a piece of, of Luca, you know, really leading in a way that he wasn't really able to do last year with Lakers, you know, between the trade and you're airmailed onto a team that already has LeBron James. And there's just too much going on for Luca to really establish himself, not just as the best player on the team or whatever might be, but like a genuine leader. Like that you need a summer and a training camp and all the. are the things for me. You need to stop being shell shock that you got traded. Yes. You need to know where you live and all that kind of stuff. Like it helps. Well now apparently his house is impossible not to find this place I think is pretty damn huge. Um now though, this is something that that he talked about that the team talked about like it is a this is lucidant's franchise.

Starting point is 00:24:22 And I think we've been able to put to bed the idea that, like, you know, there's this sort of deep resentment from LeBron and his camp and all these other things that, you know, at least for this year, like, you know, LeBron on spectrum, like, what gets you excited about coming back for a 23rd season? He's had a full season of Luca. You know, like, he's saying and doing all the right stuff. And so, like, I think we can put that part of it to bed. but it's Luca's franchise to lead from this point forward. It doesn't mean LeBron turns off his voice. And establishing what that looks like, establishing your voice,

Starting point is 00:25:02 establishing kind of how you get out in front, that has an on-court element, it has a practice element, and it has an element away from the court as well. And that's the part that Luca demonstrated on Tuesday. Yeah, Dave McMeneman from ESPN. and reported that Luca organized a trip for the team to a, I don't know if it's a Porsche factory or it's a Porsche test.

Starting point is 00:25:28 I think it was. Yeah, Porsche testing place where each guy got to pick, I believe, three Porsches to take out on fun. I'm presuming fast test drives. And it's something that's obviously fun for the guys. But to the point that you were setting up, I think it speaks to, and this. This is really important. Luca's increasing comfort and desire with being a leader of this team and recognizing that

Starting point is 00:25:57 these are the things that leaders do for a team. It's not just like you said, about everything that happens on the court. It's about putting everybody on the same page off the court. It's about learning who these guys are as people. That's why I think it matters that, you know, all those guys went with Luca to the backstreet boys. It's not just because it was a big part of Luca Day and the summer of Luca and, you know, free trip to Vegas for Rui and Claibah. And I think Dalton was there and whoever else.

Starting point is 00:26:28 A Dutero, a du Thiero, great, great start for his time with the Lakers. He hasn't even played and he's getting perks. But like, you get to know guys during that period. It matters. Like, you know, you and I covered Kobe for the last 10 years of his career. And we were around his teams a lot. and we saw the interaction between him and his teammates a lot. And one of the areas that we witnessed growth that really mattered was once a few years past of post-Shack,

Starting point is 00:26:59 and it really was Kobe's team, he really started recognizing the importance of getting to know his teammates as people. And in order to get the best out of them as players, he needed to connect with them better as people. It can't just be about follow me or get the F out of my way. And that's not really what works. I'm not saying it can never work, but generally speaking, it's not what works. Well, it doesn't be something that can't work or it doesn't work, but it doesn't work for everybody. And so you need, you know, if you're going to be at the head of that, you need to be somebody who can recognize how to push the button. Like when Kobe tweaked POW, it worked.

Starting point is 00:27:43 other players didn't respond as well. So I think with like with Luca, first of all, I think it's nice that they didn't combine Luca's idea of driving Porsche's with LeBron's celebration of his cognac act

Starting point is 00:27:58 because that would have been a terrible idea. I imagine there will be plenty of Hennessy and Lobos, LeBron's tequila, afterward. So, you know, but I just,

Starting point is 00:28:09 it's good to see because I think you know, there's going to be a difference between sort of the voice, like what the voice sounds like and the leader. Like, Luca's going to be the leader of this team, but it's going to look different than it has did with Kobe. And it's going to look different than it has with LeBron because Luca's, um, style, comfort, whatever, whatever it is with the media is different. And so that part where the leader speaks to us about the team, about whatever, it's like,

Starting point is 00:28:47 that's going to be very different than LeBron. And there will be certain things that I think LeBron, over the course of this year, at least, will still communicate in ways that Luca won't. But the voice that Luca has inside the locker room is going to be critical and it's going to be louder. And I think it's, you know, it's, I think it's, I think it's, every. Everybody's going to be looking towards him. And I will say this too. You talk about why it's, in part why it's important,

Starting point is 00:29:16 like especially when you have the ball in your hands as much as Luke it does, to know everything, to understand everything about these guys. Because he's the one who's going to be making the thing work. It's also important, too, because you mentioned that LeBron is still going to have a voice in that locker room and he damn well should. And outside of it, you know, the voice of the NBA in some way. Well, Abron is too important. And even if Luca is the best player on this team and we both think that he is, LeBron is still as been there, done that, as any player in the league,

Starting point is 00:29:52 he's accomplished more than Luca has. He's seen more than Luca has. And his knowledge and his gravitas matters. But also, like, you can have more than one voice. And the voices can serve different purposes. like we were talking earlier about those Kobe Powell teams. Kobe was the guy that set the tone and everybody took Kobe's cues. Derek Fisher, though, was kind of the conscience of that team.

Starting point is 00:30:19 And Lamar Odom was their emotional leader, like by a long shot. And they managed to make it all work. And all of those guys had presences that mattered. And obviously, POW was a leader in his own right, too. But they all did it differently and all served different purposes. think one of the things is going to be interesting this year is seeing how Luca's voice develops. LeBron's voice maybe shifts a bit. Somebody like Marcus Smart, I think, is already going to be a leader on this team and was brought in specifically to do that.

Starting point is 00:30:53 Austin has talked about becoming more comfortable. And you see those voices mesh and you see the different ways that they matter. Like DFS last year, he arrived, the leader of this team. Everybody talked about that. But like one of the things people expected from DFS was a locker room presence. So you can have more than one voice. And I think I'm not saying that it couldn't become problematic because, I mean, we've seen at times where these things do.

Starting point is 00:31:21 But I think there's a far greater possibility that these voices all coexist and they all serve different important purposes. Yeah. I just, it's we get, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, media sphere, the fans fear, it's a hyper online league. And so, you know, everybody gets wrapped up in like these questions of, you know, who's the face, who's the voice, who's the leader? Like, as if there's, it's a binary.

Starting point is 00:31:51 You're either, you're a one or you're a zero. And there, these things are different in different ways, in different contexts for different people, um, in, you know, in different moments. And so, I mean, the Lakers certainly have a makeup that should work in terms of of a good mix of young veterans with older players with guys, you know, it just there should be a lot going on here that works. But we'll see. A lot of it depends on as we started the show. Who's on the floor? Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers to the channel. We will see everyone tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron's Decision is Hennessy! Also, (Unrelated)... He Might Not Play Preseason Games

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