Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić to Make Preseason Debut Tonight, Lakers Get First "Dress Rehearsal"

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Lockedon Lakers for Tuesday. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, Luca Donchich, and Marcus Smart are going to play tonight. It's dress rehearsal number one. Get you ready for it 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 first listen to every day,

Starting point is 00:00:30 Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast. maybe it's Spotify, maybe it's Apple iTunes. Perhaps you're one of the 36,000 subscribers, more than 36,000 subscribers to the YouTube page because you like watching the magic happen. You find us handsome. Maybe you're one of those people, and we are excited to have you.

Starting point is 00:00:53 We are excited that you're leaving us questions and comments. We read them every day, and they are inspiration for the stuff that we talk about on the program. Most of you guys are getting excited on the YouTube channel for the preseason debut, Andy, of Luca Donchich. That is expected to happen Tuesday night. Luca likely to play Tuesday and then again Friday in the final preseason game. But we'll, I guess, know a few more details.

Starting point is 00:01:20 Marcus Smart expected to play as well. So dress rehearsal number one expected Tuesday night. We'll get into it in a second, but only after we tell you that today's episode's brought to you by Fanduel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, get $300 and bonus bets to use across the app. So head to fendule.com to get started. So it would appear, Andy.

Starting point is 00:01:40 I don't know for sure, but I don't think he's going to play in the back-to-back Tuesday and Wednesday. It would appear that dress rehearsal number one will be Tuesday, dress rehearsal number two will be Friday. But the Lakers are going to get a really good look at their roster tonight. I got to be honest, if after all of this lead-up and caution exercised and, you know, the ramp up and the ramp down and the ramp back up again. If they play, if the ramp around, the ramp sideways. If they go then and play Luca in the back to back of a preseason,

Starting point is 00:02:14 I'm really going to question what the F these people are doing. And, you know, I have made some of my dissatisfaction known throughout this process, but I've also said, too, I understand it on a purely pragmatic level. all of my understanding or benefit of the doubt towards pragmatism will go straight out the effing window if Luca plays back to backs in a preseason. Like that's insane. So the idea, though, that he would play tomorrow, then play on Friday, that gives him, A, an extra day of rest before the Friday game, and B, the opportunity to not have to answer

Starting point is 00:02:54 really stupid questions about what's it like to play Dallas in this preseason game, which I'm is sort of an extra benefit for Luca because I'm sure that story's already gotten old and he's going to be answering that question for the rest of his life. Right, but I mean, it's like, and plus too, it's like it's, he's played him already. Like he went, not only

Starting point is 00:03:13 he doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. In Dallas. Doesn't matter. I mean, LeBron still gets asked questions about going back to Cleveland. He's done it. He's left Cleveland twice and he still gets asked about this. It's mostly in the context with LeBron of like, you know,

Starting point is 00:03:31 heading home or whatever. Or Miami. You get to ask stuff about Miami. Do your point. It's over a decade ago when that stuff still comes up. The Lakers, you know, at this point,

Starting point is 00:03:44 it looks like Luca will be practicing when they practice, playing when, you know, you would expect him to play. And it kind of is what it is. Like, you know, the Lakers,

Starting point is 00:03:56 it's funny because like this, are you taking the preseason conversation, are you taking it seriously conversation? It's essentially a question once LeBron was like, oh, he's like, hurt, hurt. It really became a question of what, how are you managing Luca? Because I don't think most fans are or certainly should argue too much that like they haven't played smart enough that they haven't where it's like you got to be careful. Like we've seen a lot of dudes with a kid,

Starting point is 00:04:32 you know, we're not talking about like a sprained thumb or somebody's got, you know, Achilles, essentially a tendonitis in his Achilles. You don't be, you don't, you can't be screwing around with that. And so I think most fans understand it. And it boils down to Luca and fans just getting rightly nervous about, you know, this moment of maximizing what they can be. whether or not you're getting the most out of it, but we will at least see what the first, you know,

Starting point is 00:05:04 10 games are so what it might look like, you know, against in this game Tuesday. Yeah, and assuming that everybody is going to be present and accounted for tomorrow, or Tuesday, today, and I assume that's going to be the case, minus LeBron, who we know is going to be out for the foreseeable future, you've got the top nine other guys in the rotation. Luca, Austin, Aiton, Rui, Vando, Smart, La Ravia, Gabe, Jackson Hayes,

Starting point is 00:05:37 maybe some opportunity for Dalton Connect, who JJ had some interesting comments about after Sunday's win over the Warriors, we can maybe get into that. But you've got an idea of hopefully if health cooperates what this team will look like for the opening 10 to 20 games of the season and the foundation that they are hoping to build over this week during practice. You know, I mentioned this before, despite not having Luca and Marcus at full strength throughout a lot of training camp,

Starting point is 00:06:14 Sunday was evidence that the guys who have been practicing, and in particular over this last week, what they were working on took because there was a lot, a lot more synergy and cohesion to what they had been doing, especially compared to the opening weekend of preseason games where, frankly, they looked pretty disjointed and kind of a mess. I thought, you know, it was not perfect, but a lot of it looked dramatically better. So it's hopefully just a sign of everything moving in the right direction. And then you add Luca to this and Marcus Smart,

Starting point is 00:06:53 it's something that hopefully will start really getting fans excited for a season that really truly kicks off a week from today. And what will obviously everybody's going to be interested in how Luca performs and putting him back in that lineup, what does that do for Aiton? What does that do for Jared Vanderbilt when he's in the planet? How does Rui look there? I mean, I didn't see anything on Monday that would indicate that Reeves wouldn't be available.

Starting point is 00:07:25 Jay J.J said Austin is going to play. That's why I was saying everybody's going to be. Yeah, it seems right. So it seems like barring something changing. So like, you know, how does that now your top two combo? You know, what does that look like? Because for all the hand-wringing or whatever over the Reeves' Luca future combo, their actual numbers together last year were good.

Starting point is 00:07:51 And so what do you do around them to bolster the defense? Well, that's Marcus Smart. That's Jared Vanderbilt. That's potentially the two of them playing at the same time, depending on what the situation is. I think there'll be plenty of speculation going into Tuesday's game about who that fifth starter will be. Will it be the same one when they do presumably dress

Starting point is 00:08:17 rehearsal number two on Friday. I'm actually predicting now. That's an interesting one. I'm predicting now it won't be. I would not be surprised at all if JJ stuck with Vando for tonight, because he's been in this starting lineup for a while. You get an extended look at Vando with Luca and then took a look at Marcus Smart in the lineup on Friday.

Starting point is 00:08:43 Also, too, to give Marcus a bit more of a ramp up because like Luca, hasn't played at all, but we know Lucas is going to start. The question of Smart and the amount of reps that he's gotten, actually, is because we talked about, you know, before. And then the initial conversation, this is before LeBron was going, we knew he was going to miss the opener, who that fifth starter would be. And Marcus Smart was sort of one of your, you know, big candidates to do that. Like if you're looking at the list of Lakers and you're sitting at home trying to figure out who

Starting point is 00:09:15 it's going to be, it's, it's, it's Rui. it's Marcus Smart. There aren't a whole lot of other, but the longer Smart didn't play, the more difficult to become to justify starting him. I do think there's enough preseason left that you could do it on the 21st. I don't know if you would do it on what is the Tuesdays of the 14th,

Starting point is 00:09:40 knowing that you have another game to demonstrate a different starting lineup still to come. I agree with you. I think as much as you want to see different stuff, it makes more sense to me to let Smart come off the bench for the preseason game. But we'll see. I mean, so much of this is like trying to organize just like I want to see these three combinations together.

Starting point is 00:10:06 We only want to play guys for 20 minutes a night or in Smart's case probably 15. How do we arrange this? And so it could be possible to. read too much into it. But who would you want to be? Like what, what do you want the Lakers starting lineup to be on opening night a week from tonight? That is the question we'll ask next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fanduel. The NFL season, it is in full swing. Fan Duel is making sure you are ready for every kickoff with a can't miss offer. New customers, you bet just $5, $5.5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across

Starting point is 00:10:51 the app. I love that fan dual fits however you want to bet whether you talk to player props, the same game parlay, even jumping in live as the action unfolds, if you're someone who just has a six sense, like a feel for how a fourth quarter is going to shake out, you can get ahead of those results with a little way to make me starts acting up. Exactly. It's not just because it's raining. You can make every game more exciting, whether you're watching the team that you love in real life or you're just keeping an eye on that fantasy lineup. So 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 debt. Locked on Lakers is also brought to you by Monarch Money. Most people can't name all their

Starting point is 00:11:36 financial accounts or even what they're worth, whether you're talking 401Ks, property, or investments, all of them, if you're kind of a baller. When you don't have a full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. And more importantly, you can end up making really poor financial decisions. Visibility is critical to excellent financial management. You cannot plan for, you cannot manage, you cannot monitor what you cannot see. And that's what Monarch Money does for you. It creates a financial dashboard. You have almost like a command center at your disposal to really get a handle on all of your spending, all of your investments, all of your accounts.

Starting point is 00:12:16 And more importantly, you can see how all of it works together. visibility is critical for taking care of your money. So don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. You use code locked on MBA at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with the code locked on NBA. So I think it's fair to say at this point, Andy, that Rui is going to be a starter. That is pretty much done here. But now we have a conversation that nobody really wanted to have.

Starting point is 00:12:59 Who's going to be starting in the LeBron spot now? You know, there is that fifth place left open. What do you think Redick is going to do on opening night? I mean, some of this, like you said before, I think is going to be dictated by how many minutes Marcus Smart can actually play at the start of the season. By Tuesday, yeah. Right, by Tuesday, because while it certainly is not unheard of,

Starting point is 00:13:24 to have starters who play 15, 18 minutes a night, just sort of because that's where they fit best in terms of floor combinations and things like that. I would, all things being equal, most coaches want to have a start of if they can play 20-ish minutes a night. At least. I would say right now,

Starting point is 00:13:45 all things being equal, I think I would rather start Vando for a couple reasons. A, I think he, adds both smart and Vando, the reason you put them in there in the first place, is the defensive utility that they both bring, that the roster does not have a lot of. But beyond that, I think Vando brings certain things that Marcus doesn't. He is faster than smart.

Starting point is 00:14:13 I think can handle, I think he can handle a wider variety of defensive assignments that Smart can probably do two, but I don't think quite as well. He's a better rebounder, and I think those rebounds will give the Lakers an opportunity, particularly with Luca and Austin on the floor, to get the offense going quick because Vando can grab and go. And he is confident taking the board down and moving things along that way. Both Vando and Smart would bring like an edge and an energy and that sort of intensity that I think, honestly, some of the higher profile players on this team can be lacking at times.

Starting point is 00:14:53 So I think you get that with either one of them. But I think, again, all things being equal, and some of this I think will honestly be dictated more by Marcus's health than anything else. I would like to go with Vando. And I think there may be ways that especially if Hayes is coming off the bench, while Marcus smart is not a great three-point shooter, he is more of a spacer than Vando. if Hayes is coming off the bench as I expect for the time being

Starting point is 00:15:26 because we don't even know if Maxi Claiba can play although he did play in a stay ready game JJ said so maybe that means Claibba's getting closer. Exactly. He's ready. He is ready if needed. Including like in game five and elimination.

Starting point is 00:15:41 I picture like Clava like he's like sleeping at home like an alarm goes off and he just rips off like his pajamas. Uniform's on underneath. Ready to go. Got to be ready, baby. I feel like there may be ways where Marcus Smart can actually help the second unit more than Vando can. So that's my thought for the time being. I think what's interesting to me to try to think about balancing,

Starting point is 00:16:10 because I think the most obvious people to put in there are Smart and Vanderbilt. What you have to, for the defensive. Not at the same time. No, no, no, no. Well, one of those two guys are who you would put in to go with Aiton, Rui, Luca, and, and, and, and Reeves. You know, you would want one of those two for the defensive presence. What's interesting, what I think becomes a factor here is how much does Smart's ability as a second,

Starting point is 00:16:43 it's less about floor space than me, but as a sort of the guard skills, the secondary ball handling, the, the, the wheel greasing as a, a playmaker, not a point god, but, you know, but he's a guard. Like he does this better than Jared. He's been a starting point guard for a lot of very good teams. Right. I mean, this is he's, this is his job. And he's certainly a better pastor and facilitator than Vanderbilt.

Starting point is 00:17:10 Yes. The, the allotment of minutes where you need that guy changes significantly in a rotation where LeBron is in playing 32 minutes a night. And so to some degree, some of these answers may be done by like, now all of a sudden, wait, wait, do you need those guard skills a little bit more in the second unit now than you did in the first where you could really depend on just Marcus Smart to just be a rabid defender and call it a day? I don't entirely know the answer. The other option, I guess, could be somebody like, you know, Jake Laravia or something like that where you maybe keep both of those defensive options coming off the bench. But that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I think you've got to put one of them,

Starting point is 00:17:54 one of the two of those guys in your starting five. The idea of playing both of those guys off the bench to often check the lesser perimeter options for your opponent, like when they are your two defensive special, like that just doesn't make any sense to me, particularly when the starters are not exactly filled with a bunch of, plus defensive options. Like, it doesn't.

Starting point is 00:18:23 No, I don't. I don't. I, again, I'm not. Oh, I know. I'm advocating. I know you're not. I'm just gaming it out. I can't really see the logic for it. Like, you know, La Ravia isn't a bad defender, but he's not somebody that you put into a starting lineup because you're thinking about. Right. You would do it because you would do it because you think he's a good enough defender

Starting point is 00:18:47 because you do want some of the ball handling ability. And La Ravia has shown like a little bit of that as a quick passer and all that kind of says. He looked pretty good in those moments in the preseason. And then you decide that floor spacing is important with this group, that you want that ability to space the floor around, you know, the other four guys in the lineup. Again, I don't think, I think La Ravia actually will be needed more with the second group. for that reason. Agreed.

Starting point is 00:19:20 But when you start to, again, like you say, kind of game it out. I picture La Ravia potentially closing more games than starting. Potentially. I don't even think he's necessarily going to be a closing lock. I'm just saying if you had to ask me, do I picture him starting more or closing more? The answer would be closing.

Starting point is 00:19:37 Yeah, it'll be interesting to see in the regular season, you know, if the closing lineups consistently mirror the starting lineups and they may not, And I think the most common thing will be smart or Vanderbilt, you know, which guy in which situation, depending on what you need. And I can see, actually, I could also see situations where Rui is not in the closing one. Right. I was going to say, I could actually picture depending on who you're playing against and how many guard and perimeter options you really do have to account for. The last three or four minutes of a game were smart and Vando were both out there if the Lakers are protecting. lead. I could picture that happening.

Starting point is 00:20:19 Anyway, one guy who almost surely will not be in the starting lineup, but got an interesting review after Sunday's preseason game was Dalton Connect. And we'll talk to you about what JJ Reddick said about him next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Peloton shaping the future of fitness with a brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, their most advanced equipment yet designed to give you real-time guidance and endless ways to move, whether you're running, lifting, or cross-training with your favorite instructors. This is training reimagined. Peloton built for breakthroughs with tools that help you plan, stay motivated, and reach

Starting point is 00:21:08 peak performance. The Peloton IQ system offers real-time strength coaching. It actually tracks reps, suggests the right weights for you, corrects your form. it makes everything safer and smarter. And the personalized class recommendations keep you engaged. You get workouts tailored to your vibe and energy level each week. So let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton cross-training treadplus today at one peloton.com.

Starting point is 00:21:43 What to do with Dalton Connect, Andy, is a is a conundrum that the Lakers are facing. It was reported, really not that long ago. I think it was last week. People were talking about how it was sort of around the league that, and I love this term. It's a very sports term, that Dalton Connect was now seen as a negative asset. Yeah, this was, I believe, a report from Dan Wojke from the athletic. There's a word for that. It's called a liability.

Starting point is 00:22:13 There's no such thing as a negative asset. That doesn't make any sense. but that's just how we talk. It's like optionality. So what, you know, like it is really important for the Lakers that connect rehab his image because like you, he's one of the few trade pieces that the Lakers have, both as a, as a potentially appealing player, but also as a salary number that's kind of in a spot where if you need $6 million to put into something, he's your.

Starting point is 00:22:47 he's your guy. Like, it's important that you don't find yourself in a place where he's really tricky because he is theoretically both salary balancer and the main attraction if you're thinking about him as truly a positive asset. Like, it's part of the problem. Well, right. Ideally, you would want him to be, you know, an asset. But like, you're thinking of if you're trading for a guy who makes a certain amount

Starting point is 00:23:16 of money, two or three, like, Dalton's money will be necessary. Then you're like, ooh, we get Dalton Kinnash. Sure, but I'm just saying it's like one of the things that made the Mark Williams deal so potentially appealing before they looked at his physical. Before it became less appealing. And I,

Starting point is 00:23:35 and I, I go back to Charlotte protesting. How dare you do that? We love Mark Williams. And like, how dare you do this to our guy and turning around and trading him? 20 minutes later. As soon as they could, he was gone again.

Starting point is 00:23:51 By the way, too, one of the more underreported stories of the offseason that only like NBA geeks like me care about, Phoenix reuniting Charlotte's front court of Mark Williams and Nick Richards, it didn't work for them, but maybe it'll work for us. It's that arrested development. It never works for anyone else, but maybe it'll work for us. And then, of course, drafting common Maliwatch, their 10th overall pick, who, if the Sons are actually trying to win the way they say there are, I don't know when he's going to play. But another story for another day.

Starting point is 00:24:28 But like one of those things that made the Mark Williams trade so great for the Lakers in theory was, A, they got the starting center that they wanted, lob throughout all that stuff. But B, it was a rookie scale deal for a rookie scale deal. So Dalton actually could be the primary piece that Charlotte wanted and the money matched. Like it's hard to find impact players for a contending team that are on rookie deals. So, you know, we're looking forward if the Lakers were to try to organize a star trade, a going for it, an all-in kind of deal. You know, likely they're going to need to aggregate some salaries together. And that's, you know, Gabe Vincent plus. You know, you need to get to 25 or 26 million.

Starting point is 00:25:11 Dalton's money and his appeal. What you really don't want to have to do is attach assets to that just to get somebody to take it. And so, you know, it was interesting to hear Redick talking on Monday about Dalton's performance in the preseason. One of the reasons he started him in that game on Sunday was really to reward him for the work he's been doing in camp. He said he's been their best offensive player by a fair margin. And so this was, you know, an opportunity for him to show that against real NBA players. And I think there is some truth to that. I'm sure he's not making that up.

Starting point is 00:25:53 But like they, I think they're, they're conscious of trying to put him in situations where he can rehab that image and get some confidence back and cook a little bit. And he did do some stuff in that game on Sunday that was beyond just three points. shoot it. Well, it's also important to, like as much as, you know, we, the royal we, obviously including us, if you're old enough to remember five minutes ago, like, as much as everybody talks about Dalton Connect and the necessity of getting his value back as a trade piece, there's also the importance of getting him back as a player, like the actual value back as somebody that you can put on the court and help out, especially with LeBron, not that Dalton connect is a substitute for LeBron. He's clearly not, but they're going to need to put together

Starting point is 00:26:51 piecemeal different, you know, different guys are going to have to contribute to the stuff that you're missing with LeBron. And Dalton can theoretically replace some of the shooting and the scoring that you're going to be trying to make up for. And, you know, I, I, I remember we talked about this over the summer. I think everybody, and including us, got ahead of ourselves in the first couple months of Dalton's season. And it was a fun story. You know, there are a couple 30-point games. There was a 37, like him just dropping to the Lakers so unexpectedly allowed all of us, I think, to get really excited at the possibilities with Dalton.

Starting point is 00:27:31 And, you know, he looked good in Summer League, all that stuff. I think we all got ahead of ourselves to a point where we may have gotten too far down on Dalton because of everything that shook out for the rest of the year, some of which is pretty common for rookies playing on good teams. Like it is more unusual for rookies on good teams to get a lot of playing time unless they're just that good. Like for the most part, it doesn't happen. And I'm not saying this to downplay that there are issues.

Starting point is 00:28:03 with Dalton. There are. And, you know, his summer league was disturbing. I guess he shouldn't have done so much 5 a.m. workout or whatever. But like, he needs to be better. But I also think, like, the real Dalton Connect is probably somewhere in between the guy that was being called the steel of the draft and the guy that people are wondering if he's the next JHS. Well, I think what's tricky for a player like Dalton is like his offensive skill set is pretty clear. Like it's, he is a very good score. He is a good shooter. Like, I think if you, you know, with a little bit of time, you know, and consistency, it's pretty clear the guy can shoot.

Starting point is 00:28:45 Like, you know, the percentages may not show it yet that he's like a, you know, 46% with like he can shoot. I mean, he shot like 37 or 38% from the arms. And he was all over the damn place last year. I agree. And like, and if you watch the rest of it, like he can put the ball on the floor and he can actually pass. a little bit. Like, you know, it puts, you know, find that open player when he gets into the paint. Like he's, he's athletic.

Starting point is 00:29:10 Oh, he can, he's probably there. Well, now that the Aro's on the team is, is one of their three best athletes. You know, Thiero Connect and, and Brony are their three best athletes. It's crazy. Is that number four? He's just like, he's just so short. Nobody knows. Crazy.

Starting point is 00:29:26 Number four might still be LeBron. It's either LeBron or real athlete or Vando or Vando. Or Vando. Vando. But, but, like, when you, when you see, like, the problem with Connect is he's not ever going to be in a position, not on a good team, where he's going to be, have, like, free reign as like a number one option to go out and do whatever and, you know, and pile up volume and kind of be unleashed fully offensively. And so it's all the other stuff. It's, you know, defense, obviously, and Reddick pointed that out, like, you know, his ability to get on the floor is going to be related to his defense, nothing new.

Starting point is 00:30:10 But it's also little stuff. Like DeAndre Aiton, for example, has been praised by, you know, people breaking down Lakers film in the preseason for like the quality of his screens and the timing of these things. Like, we, you know, I've watched a lot of basketball in the last 20 years. but I didn't grow up playing it. And I, you know, I've talked about this before. So like there's stuff that happens implicitly that I don't always see, which is why I try to rely on coaches and ask questions and all these other things.

Starting point is 00:30:39 But like a lot of times with fans, they might be, well, why is in this case, does this, this, this, since he scores a bunch of it. Sometimes what screws up a play at the NBA level is something that happens four seconds before the ball was actually shot or turned over or whatever. It's because somebody doesn't sit along and, off screen. They come at the wrong angle. They cut the wrong way. They do and it screws everything up. And you don't know that because they never touched the ball. And so that to me, this space, that's where Connect suffers. It's those little things that make a team operate well that I don't

Starting point is 00:31:21 think he does well yet. And my concern is that it's kind of an interesting. instincts thing and a fundamentals thing and a basketball IQ thing. And we will see over time if those things improve because it's not the offense. And it's, I don't even think it's just the defense. I think it's all of it. Two things. First of all, and I have to say this because it'll bug me, Jackson Hayes is more athletic than Dalton.

Starting point is 00:31:51 Dalton in reality, I think is lower Jackson is. I actually don't know about that. Jackson is more athletic than Dalton. At his size, at Jackson's size to be that he's more athletic than Dalton. But the point being, Dalton is athletic. Like he's got, he has athleticism as one of the checks on his, you can leave comments now, who is more athletic, Jackson Hayes or Dalton Connect? I'm very confident right now.

Starting point is 00:32:19 In one can only amount to a wildly insignificant online debate. Well, we're, we're in and not yourself out. This is a sign we are really, really anxious for actual basketball. But the other thing, though, that I will say in a bit of a defense of Dalton, some of the stuff that he's being asked to do at this level is different than the way he played at Tennessee. I mean, he's playing much more off ball than he ever did at Tennessee. Sure. And that was the stuff that got people excited about him in the first place.

Starting point is 00:32:54 And I think some of what he's being asked to do, obviously, he's got a lower. it because particularly on this team, but I think frankly, most teams. He's not going to have all the all teams all of them. That's what I'm saying. He's not, well, any team that's good, he's not going to have the ball in his hands as much he did in Tennessee. So he's got to learn these other things and like a lot of it comes down to timing when you move off screens and things like that.

Starting point is 00:33:17 But I do think that there are more intricacies to it to your point than people sometimes realize. Yeah. And I think because Dalton is 24 and thought of as an old rookie, I think there is an assumption that these are things that he did all through college and should know and why is it not translating? And to me, the question isn't not translated because he never did it in the first place.

Starting point is 00:33:45 I think that's fair. Are you going to pick it up? I think that's fair. And I think there's just a lot of, there's a lot of unknown there. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000. subscribers to the channel. Not a lot of unknown about that, Andy. It's a vibrant community that you should join. Subscribe to that. Subscribe to the audio product, whether that's on Apple or Spotify. We, of course, will be back after Tuesday's game to break down dress rehearsal number one.

Starting point is 00:34:15 And we'll all have a better idea of what we can look forward to a week from Tuesday when the Lakers open the regular season against the Golden State Warriors. See everyone after the game.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić to Make Preseason Debut Tonight, Lakers Get First "Dress Rehearsal"

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.