Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA Says Luka Dončic Is Eligible for Postseason Awards... LeBron Praises Houston's Depth

Starting point is 00:00:00 The NBA says Luca Donchich is awards eligible. We'll tell you what he's going to end up getting. Plus, the Lakers need to avoid getting punked. That's coming up. 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 stopping by Locked on Lakers,

Starting point is 00:00:34 Brian Kemenisky, Andy Komenetsky. I want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by Fandul Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. So head to fanduel.com to get started. Plenty to break down, including LeBron's breakdown of the Houston Rockets, talking about the depth and talent they have. We'll try to talk about Marcus Smart's evaluation about the Lakers, has they head into game one.

Starting point is 00:01:03 Got to avoid getting pumped. And it may be a little easier said than done. depending on how these teams come out in game one. But let's start, Andy, with the big news across the NBA on Thursday. The special applications for extraordinary circumstances for both Cade Cunningham and more importantly, Luca Donchich were both approved by the NBA. Both of those players falling short of the 65-game threshold for post-season awards. The NBA says, don't worry about it.

Starting point is 00:01:35 You guys are eligible. So Luke is eligible for postseason stuff. And by as far as I can tell Andy, had better get himself one of them first team NBA nods. He's definitely going to make first team all NBA. He is a lock for that team. Were I to predict, he will end up finishing third or fourth for MVP. That is not my, for what it's worth when we did the locked on net NBA channel. voting. I personally had Luca third. I could have had him anywhere from second to perhaps fourth on that list. I ultimately, I think SGA will win and should win when you just take the entire season into account. But Luca's season is among the elite, among the elite, among the elite. And this was the right decision by the league. I mean, putting aside how I'm sure we'll talk about it, I don't like the 65 game rule to begin with.

Starting point is 00:02:36 a bunch of different levels. A, I think Luca's extraordinary circumstances merit this consideration and this exception, if you want to call it that, what they really weighed was him missing two games being overseas to be present for the birth of his daughter. And that should qualify as extraordinary circumstances. It's also the type of thing that the league encourages its players to do. So you can't have this both ways. But also, too, this is how the NBA records history and the stories of seasons

Starting point is 00:03:12 and these awards, you know, MVP voting, all NBA, a defensive player of the year, down the line, this is the storytelling of each particular season and for Luca's season to be erased from

Starting point is 00:03:28 these particular record books because he played 64 games instead of 64 five games is ridiculous. I mean, he qualified for a scoring title. So he could win a scoring title, but he can't be first team all NBA or get MVP consideration. Like, what the effort are we doing here? So I am glad that this was ultimately the compromise between the league and the players association. It's the right call with him. It's the right call with Kate Cunningham. And I hope this leads towards,

Starting point is 00:04:06 more general flexibility with the 65 game rule, if not just torching the thing altogether. I agree with you. I mean, I did a show kind of as this was happening. And we kind of broke down what the eligibility thing was, what was available to Luca and the Lakers to try to appeal this. I would have been floored, absolutely floored, if the Lakers, I'm sorry, if the league didn't approve of Luca and, you know, I knew Cade was

Starting point is 00:04:43 essentially applying for the same kind of thing. But like Lucas is even more cut and dry in the sense that like he missed two games for the birth of his child. Like he would have played in those games. There's a zero percent chance that you weren't going to play in those games, certainly not because of rest or something like that. And while you could argue, you know, guys don't have to go to fly. to Europe for the birth of their children. I don't think the NBA wants to promote itself as the

Starting point is 00:05:13 league that punishes its players for attending the birth of their children. Like that is a horrible look in the year of our Lord, 26, when we want to encourage people to be good fathers. A league does encourage houses and partners and all that stuff. Lee does encourage this sort of stuff. So again, you can't have it both ways. Now, I think there are going to be people who say, and I've seen it before, whether fans who don't like Luca or I guess sticklers for the rule, people in NBA media, who've said, had Luca not have gotten his second 16th tack

Starting point is 00:05:53 and missed that one game for suspension, he would have ended up hitting 65. And I think there is some validity to that. school of thought, the idea that Luca put himself in jeopardy in terms of not hitting quite literally 65. And yes, there is onus on Luca. He lost a game check over that. But I think the much more legitimate factor in all this is again, he went overseas to watch the birth of his child. And dude hasn't been load managed or anything like that. He's either been playing. or recovering from actual injuries. Like there hasn't been an attempt to preserve Luca.

Starting point is 00:06:39 Like Anthony Edwards, for example, and I don't know exactly what the differences are. Like he didn't go with the same process route as Luca and Cade. They went to an arbitrator, and the arbitrator ultimately said ruled in favor of the league that Ant wouldn't be eligible. I don't know the rationale there. But I feel like Ant, he played.

Starting point is 00:07:02 I've played, I think, 61 games, and this is a guy that basically plays, you know, this is a low year for Ant. Most of the time he plays like 70-ish, close to 80 games a year. Ant wants to play. Like, why are you punishing Ant for just getting injured? Not being load managed, he got hurt. Like, do you really want players risking their health in order to reach this totally arbitrary threshold line? Like, is that really what the league was done? in the last week with with yokich and wembe like both trying to figure out like how do we keep ourselves el just great that they want to be eligible but like how do you keep yourself eligible for these awards and it's like in in the case of luca you know the minutes are really like if they are going to keep this i think stupid rule um then they need to find other workarounds for it like if you play 64 games but you average 34 minutes a game, you know, when you're playing, you know, 2,500, 2,600, 3,000 minutes

Starting point is 00:08:09 over the course of the season, I think it's pretty fair to say you've put in enough time to be considered for all NBA. And like, there are, there have got to be three or four, you know, minutes is an easy one, but there've got to be three or four different statistical measurements that you can use to determine whether a player, you know, if you're a sixth man,

Starting point is 00:08:28 obviously your minutes might not be so high. So like, let's figure out a way to do this where we can give people a little bit of credibility, a little bit of trust to vote for the right players and understand, you know, who was sitting and who wasn't and all of that. You know, a player like Joelle Embed, and I don't mean this as a slam on Embed, like you have to load manage Embed. Embedd cannot play 80 games. He can't.

Starting point is 00:08:57 He is incapable of that because. of the situation with his knees and deteriorating health and all that kind of stuff. You want him to be able to be playing the most important games. You certainly want to be able to play in the playoffs. And if you're the Sixers, you owe him a ton of money. So you have to keep him as healthy as possible. Great. That's a different story than somebody like Ant or somebody like Luca or somebody like

Starting point is 00:09:28 who play unless they're hurt. So I am very pleased that the NBA did the right thing. I agree with you. Luca will probably finish fourth, I think, now. I think the injury kind of ended any controversy about where he's going to land. I think, you know, I think Che is going to win, and I think Wembe will be right behind him, and I think it'll be Yokic, and then I think it'll be Luca.

Starting point is 00:09:54 And I'm fine with that as long as Luca gets his rightful spot on the first team all NBA because he 1,000 percent. He's a lot. He's a lot. I would be, again, would be shocked. The top four guys for our first team all NBA, any order, I'm not debating this, but SGA, Luca, Wembe, Yokic, those four guys, there is not a prayer. They won't make first team all NBA. I think it's really going to be a question between the fifth spot, Kate Cunningham

Starting point is 00:10:24 versus maybe Jalen Brown. Right. someone like that, but the first four spots, they are locks, Luke is one of them. The good news is, yeah, the good news is you don't really, you know, because they don't do it by position anymore, you don't, it doesn't, like, these things get a little bit cleaner. Let's get, though, in, so the NBA did the right thing. We'll see what happens in the offseason with the rules themselves, but at the least, I expect them to be modified. so that they can figure out, they can avoid this situation next season.

Starting point is 00:11:03 Let's get back into the playoffs, though, Andy. The Lakers have game one coming up on Saturday. LeBron spoke at length about what makes Houston so good. We'll tell you what he said. Plus, what Marcus Smart is saying and how he's framing this series in game one for the Lakers. Do it all next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Indeed. He got workplace chaos, deadlines stacking up the inboxes over.

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Starting point is 00:12:37 This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Locked on Lakers is also brought to you by Fandul, the NBA playoffs. They are here and it's where every possession matters. Every matchup is magnified. And every game can swing a series. Right now, Fandul is giving new customers a great way to get in on the action. Here's what people like about this setup here. You get, first of all, just bet $5 and you get $250 in bonus bets if that first bet wins.

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Starting point is 00:13:43 As long as we're on the subject of Luca, note that the Lakers, this coming from ESPN's Dave McMahon, and other sources are not expecting either Luca or Austin to play in the first round. They are not technically ruling it out, but they are hardly ruling it in. The hope, you know, there is at least some thought that maybe if the first round goes long enough,

Starting point is 00:14:07 maybe they might come back, but they are, according to Dave, proceeding as if both of those guys will miss the first round, which is exactly how they should be proceeding. JJ said during practice on Thursday, Luca and LeBron, I mean, Luca and Austin minimum,

Starting point is 00:14:26 they're not going to be available for game one. I don't remember which reporter, but somebody asked a question that JJ sussed out as a backer, door way of trying to get some more information on Luca and Austin. He just said they're not going to be available for game one. Before we get into LeBron, worth noting today during practice, he said that he's been sick. He didn't say with what, but his voice was very hoarse.

Starting point is 00:14:56 It was not easy to hear him all the time. Granted, he was the first to talk, which means there was more guys still there putting up shots working out. so it's noisier. But to put this in perspective, when he said that he wasn't sick, explaining his voice being hoarse, his voice was so hoarse or said that he was sick.

Starting point is 00:15:15 I thought he said that he wasn't. Like it was hard to understand what he was saying. He didn't seem particularly concerned about it. After his session ended, he was actually just kind of shooting the bleep with one of the reporters there talking golf, laughing. I mean, he seemed to be in good spirits, But just for people to be aware, he has been dealing with something that if nothing else is costing him his voice.

Starting point is 00:15:43 But until he starts seeming upset about it, I'm not going to be concerned about it. I'm not going to be concerned. Yeah. I mean, it's one of these things. It's kind of, it's just like, come on, man. Come on basketball, gods. Let's why are we making this? Why are we?

Starting point is 00:16:02 It's already bad enough. do we really need to have to deal with the idea that LeBron might be sick? You know, let's just dial it back. Let's let LeBron get healthy on Friday, have them feel good going into the game on Saturday. We do not need anything else to rob the Lakers and Lakers fans of any appreciable sense of hope. So let's just get LeBron well. It's, and everybody else practiced, by the way.

Starting point is 00:16:32 So just as it was yesterday, Jackson Hayes on the floor. The team that they expect to have outside of their two stars is the team that should take the floor on Saturday. They all practiced today. They all practiced all week. LeBron, again, did not give any indication that he was concerned this would hold him out from tomorrow's practice, getting away the game, whatever, just letting people know he is dealing with something. So, you know, that did the Lakers, you know, finishing off kind of a vigorous week of practice for them, a little bit of a different setup than they had last season.

Starting point is 00:17:09 Obviously, the context between preparing for this season and last season is significantly different. And, you know, the challenge was laid out by LeBroni. You know, we've talked at length about the rebounding question. And that's something that was obviously a topic of conversation again on Thursday. At practice, it's going to be a topic of conversation. to whatever media they do on Friday, it will be a pre-game conversation. It will be a post-game conversation.

Starting point is 00:17:35 The Lakers have to figure out how to do the best that they can in that rebounding battle. But, you know, it's also worth noting. And LeBron talked about this. Like Houston, it's not just Kevin Durant and, you know, Alpi Schengun and some dudes. They have tremendous depth up and down the roster, even though guys like, you know, Dorian Finney Smith, for example,

Starting point is 00:18:02 have been terrible this year. They've had no trouble filling out a rotation with quality players and have really kicked it into gear that at the Reed Shepard moved in the starting lineup. Yeah, LeBron used the phrase damn good players on a few different occasions, talking about Houston's roster quality, obviously shouted out KB, but mentioned Shengoon, mentioned Amman Thompson, mentioned Javar Smith Jr. Like there's a lot of healthy respect for this rocket squad.

Starting point is 00:18:36 It's interesting too. Like with the rebounding, for example, LeBron was asked something to the effect of what's your message to the team in terms of the importance of the rebounding and what to do about it. And his response was basically Houston's one of the best rebounding teams of like the last 35 years. Like, you know, if it were that simple to stop it, somebody would have landed on this solution. Right.

Starting point is 00:19:05 At some point this season, it's like he compared it to, you know, what's your message to stopping prime Patrick Mahomes chiefs teams? Like, you know, he was like, we all know what the assignment is, you know, go in there, box out, do your damn job. And what I think is interesting about that is in a health. way, you get a real sense whether you're talking about LeBron or the other players who, you know, today it was Bronny and Luke Kinnard. I've got some clips of Luke Kinnard.

Starting point is 00:19:36 We may play either in this show or the bonus show for Friday or Jackson Hayes, Rui, DeAndre Aiton, Marcus Smart. There's a very, it is what it is mentality in terms of Houston being a good team, Houston being the healthier team and the Lakers missing Luca and AR, which is obviously a huge problem. And the collective mindset seems to be, it is what it is, man. There's nothing we can do about it. So there's no point in worrying about it. What we need to do is figure out to be how to be the best version of ourselves.

Starting point is 00:20:17 And we believe in the best version of ourselves. We believe in what we're doing. There was a lot of that, like guys saying, we believe in the work we've been doing. The word across the board is that these practices all week have been awesome and really productive. And it feels like everyone's on the same page. But to LeBron's point, some damn good players are going to be facing. And they understand that. They understand they're the underdogs, but they're cool with it.

Starting point is 00:20:47 You know, the point is to go back and sort of relitigate, you know, the whole. you know, the reaction to the Oklahoma City game. But I think the attitude that you're talking about there, which is, you know, guys not getting caught up in the sort of wo is us sense of unfairness. Like this really does suck. Like the amount of work and preparation and effort and physical pain and all these things that go into putting yourself in the best possible opportunity, you know, position to have an opportunity to make a postseason run.

Starting point is 00:21:26 All of that went out the window with those injuries. And I think that's the part that obviously that JJ didn't see well enough was the emotional toll. But the attitude that they're seeing now is sort of, I think, what he was thinking about when he chose the path that he did of, we do not have space. We cannot afford to. feel sorry for ourselves the minute that you do um you're done and it's it because if you know everybody understands it's it's an uphill battle but if you um if you allow yourself to kind of wallow

Starting point is 00:22:08 in the unfairness of it all you're cooked before you even have an opportunity to try to do something special so um it certainly seems like j j has has found the right tone and the right messaging over the course of this week at practice. And I think Marcus Smart has landed on a very important message as well. And we'll talk about that next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Rocket Money. And have you ever opened up your bank account and thought, where did all my money go? And so you're not alone. Keeping track of subscriptions and spending and bills, it can get overwhelming fast. And that's where Rocket Money comes in. Helping you take control of your finances, it tracks all of your subscriptions in one spot so you can cancel the ones you don't want in just a few taps.

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Starting point is 00:24:21 Check it out, see if it's for you. So, you know, we talked just finished, you know, about like JJ. and we've talked about LeBron and we've talked about sort of the mindset that these guys have adopted. I thought it was really interesting. The language that Marcus Smart used this week, he said, quote,

Starting point is 00:24:43 they're going to try to come in and punk us. And if you will allow that, you will be punked. I don't think we have any guys that are going to be punked on this team. So we might not be the most athletic and the strongest, but we've got to have the most heart.

Starting point is 00:24:58 Again, it's a moment. matter of laying out sort of what are the conditions under which we can compete. JJ has said, you know, we talked about against Phoenix. Like, you know, they kept losing those games because Phoenix outworked them. Think of that on, you know, steroids on steroids, on steroids. Like there is a zero percent chance. So they're going to win this series if they don't consistently outwork the rockets. And I think that the language about being punk is not unintentional,

Starting point is 00:25:32 but I also think there's some truth to it that Houston, it would not surprise me if they come in and like intentionally, very, very intentionally, try to kind of take the will out of the Lakers quickly, you know, come out as, you know, and just flying around that first quarter and make the Lakers feel like they aren't going to have a chance to compete. And in game one, like, and put that. them behind, maybe try to take the crowd out of it a little bit, and get them playing uphill from the beginning.

Starting point is 00:26:04 And the Lakers have to have the mindset, if they do fall behind early, of staying with it and being confident in the work that they've done and believing that they can climb back in it, the mental toughness that's going to take for the Lakers to compete in this series is high. It's really high. I mean, it's funny, actually. I understand what you mean, but depending on how far Houston takes it, like, for example, flying all over the place defensively, sure. If they start looking to do that offensively, they're actually taking themselves out of the way that they typically play.

Starting point is 00:26:42 No, no, no, no. I mean, playing very aggressively. Sure, sure. I'm not trying to get semanticy about this. I'm saying you can actually go too far. And you can actually start getting yourself into places where, for example, if Houston offensively tries to work a little bit too fast, fly all over, try to make it so the Lakers are basically their heads spinning on both sides of the ball, that could lead to them starting to turn the ball over where they're already susceptible anyway. So I'm saying there are levels to all of this even in the mental game where you can look to take it too far. Like I'm not trying to get exact words about it. I'm saying actually that can be something the Lakers can be mindful of as well,

Starting point is 00:27:27 like the idea of, okay, you want to get too far out over your skis trying to make this a battle of wills that we're already up for. Go for it. Punch yourself out. Start making mistakes along those lines. Sure. And if you're the Lakers having the discipline, because it's it's not just the mental toughness of the heart factor that, that smarts talking about, you know, that he talked about this week. There's, it's the discipline. Yeah, that's why I mentioned. Yes.

Starting point is 00:28:00 You know, but this is the, it is really hard to play with the level of discipline that is required to not push when, you know, it feels like there's an opportunity to go for the break or, you know, oh, if I just leak out here, we're going to get that rebound and every single time you have to put a body on a rocket when the ball goes up. And as JJ said during practice on Thursday, they're still going to get offensive rebounds. Like it's going to happen. Ron said they're one of the best rebounding teams of like the last few decades. Like you're not going to keep them off the glass entirely.

Starting point is 00:28:45 And you just need to do your best in this. And you have to do it over. and over and over and over and over again. And the discipline and the mental toughness that it takes to do that, particularly again, if you fall behind, you know, 17 to 8 early, you know, 25 to 13, something like that where it's like, okay, there's going to be this moment where it looks like the game could get away. And how do you react to that? Now, I think if the Lakers manage to turn this into a long series,

Starting point is 00:29:22 I do think there's going to be at least two games where they get blown out. And I think that's fine. But it can't come in game one. If it comes in game one, it's not that it's over. It's not. I think that kind of demeans the character of the guys who are available to the Lakers right now. But it just gets a lot harder. I mean, it gets harder from a mechanical level because, you know,

Starting point is 00:29:48 asking LeBron to lead a team to victory in a series when you're starting off down, where you immediately lose home court advantage. That it just the stack of things you have to overcome becomes a little too much. But, you know, keeping their heads, keeping the belief, keeping all these things, even in moments where they know it's going to be bad. I think this part of it they can do. You know what I'm saying? The other basketball parts, they're at a deficit.

Starting point is 00:30:30 I think they are up for this part of the challenge. Two pieces to this. First of all, the psychology works both ways with game one. If the Lakers win game one, that is a, I'm not going to say it's a death blow against Houston because they're still the team with more talent. They've got more of their best players. Would still be heavily favored to win this. Right.

Starting point is 00:30:51 All of that stuff. But if the Lakers as the underdogs finish game one up one zero, that is a psychological factor. You know, it chips away at some of the psychology that Houston, you know, is going to try to get into the Lakers' heads. And also may start creating some doubts. of their own, and they're the team that has had a lot of difficulties over the course of the season sticking together and have often not seemed on the same page. There's been a lot of reports

Starting point is 00:31:25 about IMEA doca and issues with certain players and team chemistry and yada, yada, yada. They played well down the stretch, but that stuff can sometimes be fragile. The other piece, though, the psychology, I asked JJ during Wednesday's practice if there's a certain freedom that they can play with. Just knowing that they're not favored, they're not expected to win, they know they're at a talent deficit, and they're missing two extremely important players, one of whom is their best player, and as we've talked about earlier in the show, a first team all-NDA lock. And I think they genuinely believe in what they're setting out to do.

Starting point is 00:32:09 Like you and I've been around a lot of teams, I think we're pretty good at sniffing out false confidence. I don't get a sense of false confidence from these guys could shift over the course of the season, but, I mean, it's the course of the series, but the time being, I don't sense that at all. But they still know these odds are stacked against them. And with that in mind, there's some pressure that actually shifts to Houston in terms of they're expected to win. And there's a certain freedom. I asked JJ about this. Like, is there freedom attached to that? Just knowing, just go out there, play hard, play free, don't worry, because the odds are already against you. And he said, yes, like that applies to all parties.

Starting point is 00:32:51 And Luke Kinnard today was asked about this as well. And his thoughts on this, I thought, reflect a really good mindset for the team. Yeah, for sure. I think I don't feel like much pressure going into this. It's a thing where we still, like, we believe in what we have and who we're going to start the series with out there. And I think everybody believes in that. And I think you have to have that belief throughout the entire time, no matter how this first game goes or the second game. I mean, it's a long series.

Starting point is 00:33:28 That's why you can go to seven games. And like I said, we believe in what we have. And, yeah, you know, I think, you know, being. maybe somewhat of an underdog with guys out. It kind of gives us this sense of freedom to go out there and just play hard. And again, we're going to follow our preparation and the work that we've put in so far.

Starting point is 00:33:52 But yeah, I think we're going into it, believing that we have a chance. That's really important. Yeah, absolutely. But I mean, there aren't many things that you can put in the kind of the advantage Lakers column, but I think this is one of them, the fact that there is like zero expectation for this team. Like they go up to zero, people are still going to expect Houston to win the series.

Starting point is 00:34:19 Like nobody's going to pick the Lakers to win the series until literally the series is over. Like if the Laker, you know, and at that point, maybe some teams would pick the Lakers. Kendrick Perkins still won't. You might not. You know, but that helps. you know, there is a freedom and a looseness that comes. And it does, to some degree, if you can keep the belief, if you have a bad game, it makes it easier.

Starting point is 00:34:47 We knew we were going to get dusted at least once or twice in this series. Okay, that's one of them. But, you know, I do feel like they are a group that will respond well to that part of it. I am very excited, Andy, if the game is finally approaching, we're getting there. I love the long week. It's fun to lead up to whatever, but let's play some playoffs. And I also love, and this helps the Lakers when you're, we haven't mentioned this much,

Starting point is 00:35:16 but when your best player is 41 years old, having three days in between game one and game two is nice. And I think the Lakers and Rockets have like a week off between games two and three. They play Tuesday on game two and not until Friday again for game three. So certainly a favorable setup for a 41-year-old star, although Kevin Durant's not no spring chicken either. He benefits from this as well. Locked on YouTube is only gets older too, LeBron, with every passing day. I know.

Starting point is 00:35:49 Even with the rest, he still gets older. Yeah, although maybe if you average the age of the two LeBron's, it somehow helps. Locked on Lickland. He keeps getting older, too. Yeah. Locked on Lakers on YouTube. He's got some wiggle room. Help is where over 38,000 subscribers.

Starting point is 00:36:04 are hanging out. We will see everyone next time.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA Says Luka Dončic Is Eligible for Postseason Awards... LeBron Praises Houston's Depth

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