Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA West Squad: Lakers' Coaching and CONFIDENCE Hitting Playoff Stride?

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

The Locked On NBA Squad Show West brings together hosts from various NBA podcasts to discuss the latest developments in the Western Conference. This episode delves into the surprising firing of Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins with just over a week left in the season. The hosts debate the merits of the decision, analyzing team performance and management expectations. They also explore coaching situations across other teams, including the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder. The conversation shifts to Kevin Durant's injury and its impact on the Phoenix Suns' playoff chances. The hosts speculate on potential trades involving Durant and discuss the current state of various Western Conference teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets.  0:00 Intro: Grizzlies fire coach with week left6:27 Debating merits of Grizzlies coaching change12:52 Discussing coaching situations around the league25:02 Would teams want to trade for Kevin Durant?29:44 Can any "bad" teams win the NBA title?   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYHead to 5-hourENERGY.com to find over 15 flavors to choose from, including Watermelon, Blue Raspberry, and Peach-Mango. Need one now? Grab a 5-hour ENERGY shot at your local grocery or convenience store—they’re everywhere! Stock up today and stay energized. WayFairAfter the holiday hustle, there’s nothing like giving your home a little TLC. Give your home the refresh it needs with Wayfair. Head to Wayfair.com right now. Wayfair. Every style. Every home. PrizepicksNow’s the perfect time to join. Download the app today and use code LOCKEDONNBA to get $50 instantly when you play your first $5 lineup! That’s right—no need to win to get the bonus, it’s guaranteed. PrizePicks—Run Your Game! Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBAMonarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's Lockedon NBA Squad Show West, the Grizzlies made a change at coach with like a week and a half left in the season. Why? We'll talk about that and more. Today's Lockedonbya Squad Show. You are talking ball with the NBA West Squad Show, sponsored by game time. From the Warriors to the Lakers, the Mavericks to the Nuggets, and everyone else in the West. The local experts of the Locked-on podcast network bring you all the scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive look at the Western Conference. Trash talk and big takes included.

No holding back, we're giving the green light. It's time to talk NBA West. And welcome to Lockdown NBA Squad Show West. My name is Nick Engstead, host of Lockdown Mavericks. Yes, still. This is the squad show. We take over the feed of your favorite show, and it's an open invite for any host to join,

talk about anything they want in the NBA's Western Conference. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use that code Lockdown NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Joining me today from Lockdown Grizzlies. He knew we needed to call him up. Molinax from Lockdown Thunder, Ryland Stiles, Lockdown Nuggets, your favorite NBA media person that loves your team the most, Matt Moore.

Oh, a well-respected podcast, your pass first point guard from Lockdown Blazers. Mike Richmond joined in the middle of the intro. Lockdown Nuggets, Ryan Blackburn, Lockdown Lakers, Brian Kamenitsky. Nothing good is happening to his team right now. Gentlemen, we may go somewhere completely different, but let's start here. Joe, why did the Grizzlies just fire their coach with like a week and a half left? because he wasn't very good at communicating with the team anymore. I think their results are pretty clear with that.

And Matt Moore, who I respect very much and has been a supporter of my blogging and podcasting career for about as long as anyone. I respectfully disagree with his take on this. The timing is what's wild. I will fully and completely accept that. And I think most people, sorry to bring it up again, Nick. In a year where Luca Donchish doesn't get traded, I think this is the most shocking story of the season, bar none. But it's, it's something that if, and I know Matt is the

exception to this, if you've been paying attention to the Grizzlies for a considerable amount of time, they have regressed. They have gone backwards. They are 11 and 20, now 11 and 21, but that's what the new head coach against teams that are 500 or better. And we can say that that doesn't matter. And I'm sure that'll be part of Matt's argument here in a moment. But the Grizzlies see themselves. They have said over and over again that a championship was the goal. That's been the message all season. You've heard Jaron Jackson Jr. say it. You've heard John Morant say it. You've heard Zach Klyman say it. And you heard Taylor Jenkins say it before he was fired recently. This is what has been the stated goal. Now, should that be the stated goal? Maybe we can have that conversation

sitting here. I'm guessing most of you in the room probably have not seen the Memphis Grizzlies as a legitimate title contender at any point over the span of this season. But what matters is the Memphis Grizzlies saw themselves as that. And given their current resume, how the defense has fallen off the last few months, you cannot look at this team and say they're a title contender. I would have waited because I think now you have Tuamas Isolo, excuse me, so lurking on the name pronunciation. Isolo, he is in a tough spot, in my opinion, because now he has eight games,

one of the toughest stretches left in the NBA, plus the first round exit, which is almost certainly what's going to happen to the Grizzlies, if they get out of the play in at this point. You have so much that could go wrong for him that if this is supposed to be an on-the-job interview, I'm not exactly sure it's going to go well for him. So it's just a really bad situation in Memphis right now to be truthful. Was anyone not surprised by the firing?

I was not surprised by the firing. I was surprised by the timing. So you would be okay if your team had a below average offense and defense over that long of a span when you're supposed to be in the top two or three seeds of the Western Conference? The Chicago Bulls since January 1st are 5 and 4 versus teams with a 60% win-percent inch, Joe. Five and four. Did Billy Donovan win coach of the year?

Is that one out? Are they a contender? Are the Bulls? Are we sleeping on the Bulls? Like, are we sleeping on the Bulls? I don't know. Like, if you beat the teams that you're, let's imagine this. If they had this great record versus the teams over 500, Joe, but they kept losing the teams that were under 500.

is the result different? I would say that their record would be better because it's illogical to assume that they would be 11 and 20 against teams below 500 if they're beating really good teams night in and night out. You're suggesting something that would not actually exist in reality. My problem is that fans want them, it's like, well, what about the teams versus under 500?

Oh, well, no, they got to beat them. You got to beat the teams that you should. Okay, what about the teams that are at your level? That's how you separate yourself from the pack. Okay, what about the teams that are clearly better than you? Literally better than you. Like elite. The three teams at the top are,

that's where most of these losses come from. They're elite. Well, no, you should beat them because otherwise you're not a contender. So you got to be the bad teams, the mid teams, and the great teams. So you got to be the thunder. If you're not the thunder, your coach gets fired.

Is that what we're working on here? No, I would say, I would say that if you're, you know, 11 and 20, and your defense, that was where you, even in a lost season, last year, your defense was 13th in the NBA and you were playing G.G. Jackson a considerable amount of minutes. Now your defense since January 1st has dropped back to 19th. You are not in a position as a coach to be able to sit there and say that you still have

complete and total buy-in from your organization when you are healthier than you were and you are worse than you were at that time last year defensively. It is not there. 11 and 20 against teams 500 and above, you're exactly right about those top three teams. Do I expect them to beat the Cavaliers, the Celtics, and the Thunder? No, I do not. But for a majority of this season, the Memphis Grizzlies were top four, top five,

among all the power rankings that were out there. And they have slid considerably downhill. The schedule got tougher. Memphis got worse. And the coach is expected to do better than that. The Grizzlies were the number two seed in the Western Conference, two of the last three seasons. You can agree with it or not,

but it's not good enough anymore in the eyes of the Memphis organization or the fan base. It's not. Matt, if they had fired Taylor Jenkins on April 1st, like a normal team, or excuse me, on May 1st, like a normal team with that would be okay.

Yeah, no, sorry, today. No, just kidding. On May 1st, if they fired them like a normal organization and said like, you know, you're, this is a lost cause, but we're going to wait until the off season. Would that have been a process

that made more sense to you, felt a little more sound. Honestly, no, I'm on the other side of this. Here's the thing. The reason he got fired is because of a coaching staff, the front office put together that was built on a fast-paced offense after they drafted Zach E. And said that he's a difference maker.

So they put a non-pick and roll system in place in a fast-paced system with the most plottingest plotting plodder of all plotters. it would be like if you built a team with Anthony Davis and didn't give him a center to protect him from his delicate sensibilities. I watched a lot of Jonas Valanchunis basketball. I'd agree with the plottingest plotters that ever plotted. I was expecting a Mavs dig there. It was not. J.B. is like a gazelle compared to you.

No way. Holy moly. You are so irrational with your Zach Edy hatred. It is truly impressive. I think that's not, no. It merely as bad. As a lumberer, Zach Edy's a lumberer as well. Yeah, goodness gracious.

Heavy-legged Zach Ety. Yeah, I agree with Matt on that particular take. The writing was on the wall with Jenkins when the coaching staff was overhauled. And it was pretty clear that it wasn't guys that Jenkins would have chosen. It was very much Zach Clyman being involved in that process. If Jenkins had been fired last summer, I don't think there would have been a ton of surprise. But they made the choice to keep him. And it worked in some ways.

The offense did improve, but you saw less impact from John Morant. You saw less impact from Desmond Bain. You replace Jenkins and within one game, you have 80 plus points scored between your three big stars. Now, obviously, it wasn't good enough to beat the Lakers. The three stars of Los Angeles were better than the three stars of the Grizzlies. But that was going to go into my next point that Zach Kleinman, the GM of the Grizzlies, I disagree with the timing of the fire because now there's no one else to blame. You can't blame the interim head coach for the failure that's about to happen

because he is given a really tough situation. And it can't blame Taylor Jenkins anymore because he's no longer there. So the flaws of the roster, the flaws of starting a rookie in Jalen Wells, who two years ago was playing Division II basketball, Jalen's had a great season. But you're asking him to play in every single game and you're putting him, in a position to to fail. You are depending on Vince Williams Jr., G.G. Jackson, guys that are coming back from injury.

Scotty Pippin Jr. was in the G League for the Lakers a year ago. Wait, wait, wait. Isn't that a roster issue? Is that the point I'm trying to make? There's no one else to blame. That's a roster issue. Is that a lot? It is now firmly pointed at Zach Clyman.

And as that is the reality, there is, so much that happened within the organization in terms of rotations that were being utilized. You know, my co-host of Michael Cole there at Lockdown Grizzlies wrote a great piece about how they were blaming each other. Taylor was blaming Climman. Climman was blaming Jenkins. There is no other person to blame anymore. It is squarely on him. So this season was going to end poorly regardless of who the head coach was. The follow-through on this is what's going to matter most because there's no one else to blame anymore, right? There's no one else to blame. It is now squarely on climbing and he better help that Isolo can get the job done or he better hope that he

can find somebody like a Sam Cassell or a Jeff Van Gundy or someone that wants to take a swing with this Grizzly's roster because if they can't and if he can't, he'll be the next head to roll. I want to hear from Mike Richman about coaching since we're judging a 44 and 30 coach. I want to get some thoughts on everybody on their coaches on this panel. Coming up. We'll talk about coaches. We'll also talk about Kevin Durant's injury. Does it matter? Do they care? Is it real? Talk about that and more coming up. Lockdown to v. Squad Show West. Today's episode Locked on a Bac Squad Show West brought to you by Monarch Money. I've been using Monarch money. I enjoy it.

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Matt Moore is bringing up coaching. What do you want us to think about the coaching for the rest of our teams? Yeah, so I want to know from Mike Richmond. So has, you know, a team that's actually under 500 and you would expect a coach to actually be fired after three years of mediocrity and not being the four seat in the Western Conference.

Mediocrity. Mike. That is fair. Yeah. Mike, like, aspirational. Has Chonsie played himself into a spot where the fans actually kind of want him to stay? Because like, I hear a lot of stuff about

him already having other offers on the table to leave this summer and the organization looking to go elsewhere. And I was curious from your perspective what you're expecting with Chonzie. I do not expect him to be back as a Blazers head coach. I would say that the mix is fairly split, but that is very, very, very, very, very new. In fact, it started on January 19th, 2025. We are now two months, I don't know, what is that, 10 weeks. We're 10 weeks into the pro-chancey group existing at all. Didn't exist until then.

And he know what he did, Matt. He started winning games because that's all the matters, baby. They won 10 of 11 starting in January 19th, and all of a sudden, they're good. They actually have some indicators that suggest that they are a competent basketball team for the first time. But in general, I think Blazer fans would rather have a guy like Taylor Jenkins running the show than Billups. You know, I think why Teams fire coaches is an interesting one, right? because it's probably because you can't get to the expectations set outside of the coach. Like, in a weird way,

Mike Malone was briefly on the hot seat. He's probably one of the 10 best coaches in the league, right? Like, it's just a lot of why you get the job is because you don't meet what your perceived level is supposed to be. Or you podcast with the star of the team. Yeah. That is really helpful. And then you become part of like the local government,

from what I can tell based on the recent story I read the LA Times is that Jay Jureticus is directly involved in some fundraising for Southern California. Good for him. But like, I think the Blazers would be ready to move on from Billups. And I think his success is actually more, is like less, it's more proof of like what Billups can do somewhere else and he'll get another job as opposed to like the need to hang on to him necessarily. The great irony here, sorry to cut you off.

I would be willing to bet if you put this. poll to Grizzlies fans, they would love Taylor Jenkins to Portland and Chauncey Billups to Memphis because that is a common refrain is a former player that has credit, somebody that Jha, Morant would respect and these players would respect. Matt, I'm not trying to say I would do it. I want to stress that I am not saying I would make that higher. I'm saying if you put that to Grizzly's fandom, they would rather have Chauncey Billups than Taylor Jenkins. I would maybe I'll put that poll out there and we'll see what they say because that's an interesting question that I'm fairly confident I know the answer to from Grizzlies fans I'm not saying I would do it I think that that would be a trade that Grizzlies fans at this point that's how done they were with Taylor Jenkins Mavs fans were done with Rick Carlisle too and like he's one of the greatest coaches how that worked whack they went to the finals Rylan and they beat a team in the second round that you're familiar with just kidding that's all I have that's all I have I have I have a kid follow up I

actually want to know this between Rylan and Brian. Who's going to be the better head coach over the next five years? Mark Dagnall or JJ Reddick? I mean, better coach, I think, would be Mark. But better results could end up being JJ because he coaches the Lakers and they have Luca Donchich and they have the just foreseen luck that they just lucked into Luca. But I would still say Mark, because I would gamble on the Thunder, having the better results. And I just think he's one of the most talented coaches in this league. in terms of his adjustments that he can make and the defense that he's continuously put on the floor. Speaking of the Taylor Jenkins defense, like the Thunder, even whenever they were winning 20-something games or a good defense and maximize the talent that they had

and competed every single night. And that level of value that you're seeing from the Thunder that's led them to this record and the unselfish play that you've seen, that stems first from the coach. So I'd say that Mark will be the better coach of the two moving forward. I think that the Lakers would trade for Mark right now if they could. counter Mark Dagonal as I'm sorry counter Mark Dagenal's never made Jackson Hayes into a

viable NBA player I mean they did is that the threshold that's the threshold that may maybe Taylor Jenkins was still have a job of he didn't JJ Redick not make him into a viable player either as well I mean and I mean Mark did have Josh Giddy and on the team winning 57 games in the regular season Josh Giddy how good the balls are they're incredible destroying you for the bulls right now right now right now I don't held him back and he I'm really Donovan coach of the year. I'm really, like, blown away by the fatalism here. Like, you know, the thunder of won 842 games this year.

They've got a 9,000 game lead in the West. I mean, you're already talking about how it's all going downhill and going to be terrible because the Lakers got Luca and it's over. You're going to wind up with Jared Jackson, Jr. They might. Yeah. But look, here's, this is a. Mark's a better coach.

I just registered. I just registered for Joe. I think this is less of a question about the 50-10 meme right now. Like, what are you coming to me for? Like, where did that come from? Why is Jared Jackson Jr. going to the Lakers all of a sudden? Because you fired Taylor Jenkins. Good job, Joe.

Oh, good Lord. We do need to say, Brian. I just, I think that this is more of a question about front offices. I think they're both good coaches. It's really hard to tell. When you get two good coaches coaching good teams, it's hard. You are obviously bright and use their coach as well, our player, players well. I don't know the difference.

I don't, you know, if JJ's better than, you know, or not, I don't know. But I do know that unless there are more buddies from his agent days that just want to give the Lakers, you know, generational superstars, I certainly think that Sam Presti is a better general manager than Rob Polinka. So who's the better coach? You can call it a wash. but Oklahoma City is going to have better teams probably going forward to be able to coach than the Lakers. I trust Sam Presti

to continue over the course of time to keep that team good, assuming of spending the money, than I do Rob Polinka, again, unless there are more people who just want to give us stuff, which I'm cool.

You can't beat the map. The map is undefeated. Like geography is going to... Geography always wins. It is a tough one to overcome. You can be as stupid as Rob Blinkill look for two years, and then geography will just come in. Christopher Columbus disagrees with that thing.

Did not end up already want to do it. Little Nico Harrison, a little geography, and that's, uh, and listen, and it changes real quick. The only need one of the year who hates their car. The second that Mark wins a title, I think that he'll be perceived as, you know, the best coach or second best coach in the league.

And largely, because of what he's done, even whenever they weren't as good as he is right now. I mean, last year they had one center on the entire roster, and they were still a top defense in the league. As we talk about the importance of an anchor and importance of a center, they only had Chet to anchor at all. He's a heck of an anchor, but they were still good whenever he was off the floor defensively until they ran into the Dallas Mavericks in the second round.

So it's like Mark gets the most out of players, and now he's been given really good players to get the most out of, and you're seeing the results of it. So, I mean, I don't think that you would trade Mark as a coach for any want to the league. And I just, I want to see, go ahead, sorry.

I just want to see what the Lakers do this off season. Before I'm, you know, before I'm willing to kind of thrust them forever into the

long-term decades of success thing. They're going to be really good for as long as LeBron Reeves and, and Luca are good in this incarnation. But they've got some work to do this summer where I feel like the thunder given their ability to replace the parts

that might have to go because they have everyone's draft picks around the entire league. They're really well set to be a great team like legitimately in that spot, you know, one, two, three in the West for a decade. I mean, I'll just say like, I don't think you have to do the work

because the Lakers doesn't matter. Like you don't have to do work if you're the Lakers. It doesn't matter. You don't have to do it. It just happens for you. Like you're going to get... Rob had to go to those coffee shops. He had to sit down and talk

Nick McCarison. Convinced him was work. I can't get a sentient coffee the same way. Every time I drive. That's farther from love. Like that was a kind of a long time from airport. Like that was, it was a lot of work.

Look at the direction of the buck. Aherport joke. Look at the direction of the bucks. And I ask you what happens the summer. In the East Squad, we talked all about the bucks and how it's all just going downhill for them. And that may be the next. He's hired Darwin Ham?

I'm saying, Yonis, who's his agent? Is he friends with Rob? Austin Reeves cap filler and the first round pick in 2031 for Janice, Duccoampo. It's going to be great. Coming up, let's get into the rest of the West. Let's just bounce around the Suns with KD's injury.

Let's talk about some other teams we haven't talked about the nuggets. Maybe we'll get into some other things coming up. Lockton & NBA Squad Show West. Today's episode of Lockton, a media squad show West brought to you by GameTime. The GameTime app has great stuff all the time. You can go and get the game time picks. They filter out all the fluff and all the other tickets because

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That's maybe how I should pitch that. If you need more Matt Moore with Doug Branson and Hayes picking him up, and you can go check out Lock-L-B-A-R-Rae. It's a really good show. It's a really good thing. Hard sell. Please clap. What anilist on the Lockdown network. The last two months have turned me into that, Brian. I don't know. I don't know why, but it's for some reason. Things don't seem to matter as much anymore to me. I'm sorry. I feel bad because all these people keep showing up on our on our on our YouTube page who seem to know you. But I would just want to say something really cool. A Baltic country potentially.

Right. Again, I feel like I should thank Nico. But beyond that, I do want to say, like, Rob Plink has done a good job this year. I mean, at least since the beginning of the season, they didn't fill in the center spot, but he, you know, the Finney Smith trade was good. The Williams trade made a lot of sense. Obviously, they got Luca. My point is that Sam Presti is just better. He's better than everybody. So that's all. So Lakers fans can, yeah. Not to sound like I'm completely trying to change the subject. I'm kind of him. That's all I can go back to anything now. Kevin Durant got hurt the other day.

He's going to be out for a week now, according to Shams Sharania. He's going to be back with three games left. And that three games will take him to 65 games. It was brought up in the East Squad that they don't believe this injury is real. They think the sons are just calling it quits. Anybody else? I mean, we did see it visually that he rolled the ankle like pretty hard. Yeah, that was bad.

That was something. I don't want to call a fake injury. It looked like a real injury. It is kind of funny. he gets to come back and play to 65, but he has to make sure to play at least 20 minutes, I think, in each of those games. So that's going to be interesting.

Brian, you know, he's coming back? Not coming back. If they're, if they can't get back, if they don't have a shot to get in the play in, and I've never seen a basketball team that looks more dedicated, the idea of not playing an 83rd game than the Phoenix Suns. I'm not saying he's not hurt.

I'm just saying he's not coming back. And I think especially, especially since, he's already kind of resigned himself to the fact that he's going to get traded, right? Like that has already been like, oh, we'll see if this actually happens. And, you know, why would he put himself out there for this team when he's going to be playing, you know, hopefully in Memphis, but almost certainly not in Memphis, when he's going to be playing somewhere else, probably for the Lakers in a few months, right?

He's going to one of those things. Well, I was going to ask, does anybody on this panel not want their team to trade for Kevin Durant? I'm there. Me. Okay. All right. I think it'd be such a great story, Rylan. It'd be a fantastic story.

be good for business, but basketball-wise, I don't think that they'd make them better. I could be interested in Kevin Durant. That sounds pretty good. Nick, are you really in a position to be choosy here? I shouldn't be, but I'm there because you just have to, you have to gut so much. And for a team that's now built around Kyrie, who's going to be injured for a lot of next year, and Anthony Davis, who, I don't know if you guys know this, Brian, are you aware that he misses games? And so does Kyrie. Like, they all miss a bunch of games. Now you're bringing, now you're, you're gutting your depth to bring in Kevin Durant. Maybe Kevin Durant is enough to, cover that and yeah it would be great to have kevin durant to cover for kai re while he's going to be out

for some of next year with the acl injury but you just got your whole team and i just think the mav's depth is their big their biggest strength right now kevin durant and the michael porter junior rule be pretty i would i would agree with ryan that would be a pretty uh that would be a nice little upgrade for the uh for the old nuggets be nice to have a guy that could both dribble and pass and shoot like that's uh Denver Denver needs more of those guys i think um also somebody who's a great rim protector like he is. Plus, you'd have the experience of Kevin Durant finding out who I am in real life and then just absolutely eviscerating me over and over.

That's going to be great. Between you and Cam. Yeah. Actually, we need that for the network. Kevin Durant go to Denver just for the sake of the minute. The business is actually the nuggets. Wait, you're bald. Welcome to Lockdown NBA Daily where today, Kevin Durant said this to Matt Moore,

we play the clip. It's just going to be every day. He once told me when I have. Ask them about free game routine. It's a basketball thing you wouldn't understand. So. Yeah, even as a Grizzlies podcaster, I'm going to move for Kevin Durant to be traded to the Denver Nuggets.

I think that sounds fantastic. We already have Russell Westbrook here. So what's what poor to like? Talk about reunions. Wow, that would be fun. That would be really nice. What's hard to do it? He does seem to suck the joy out of every place he's at, though.

I will say. I'm already there. Oh, oh, the Zag. Well, he might as well come to Memphis then, because we have no more joy. It's all gone. We did the, in Memphis, the post game interviews, everybody was hugging and jumping around. That was so two or three years ago with the Grizzlies.

Enjoy these times, Ryland, enjoy them because they can go away very quickly. All the joy is left Memphis. Are Ryland and I, the only people who are just in a good mood waking up every day? It's like, hey, I actually think this is like one of the things is like, I've kind of written about this a little bit. There's so many teams that are good. Like, they're having really good seasons. The Knicks. The Nick's is a perfect example, and their fan base has, like, a lot of angst about it.

Like, we've dealt with this all year on Locked on Nuggets where, like, I've called Ryan Eeyore. Because, like, every day, he's just like the saddest panda about this team that's going to win. He was a donkey. Yeah, Eeyore was not a panda. That's going to win. Yeah. And what world is Eeyore a panda? If we're going to make analogies, Nick is Woody and Brian is Buzz because Luka fan just like

threw Woody away, went over to Buzz with Brian. Andy. Yeah. But they're all winning 50 games. Like, they're going to be a four seat in the West. And like everyone has this level of angst. If you're not,

Cavs, Celtics, Thunder. And then Lakers with the Luca thing. But that's because for us, it's because we were like, kind of pretending sort of cosplaying. Like, well,

maybe if these 14 things happen, you know, we could, yeah, maybe get a round or two deep. But now it's like, oh, we actually could win.

So we're, we're just have. to be here who's the worst team in the NBA that could win the title cool the lakers is it i mean is it the nuggets well bulls lakers i think you got to go lower than the nuggets both lakers ryan and i are an agreement they can't win the title they can win three rounds they can't win four i think i think i think it's i think the lakers are bad is the problem is like they really are actually really good look i watched the lakers get eviscerated by Zach Eadie on Saturday night.

Your boy, Matt Moore, they have no one that could have defended Zach Eadie in that contest. The Lakers against the thunder, the thunder they match up pretty nicely with. I think that the Lakers could knock off the thunder after watching them play. Jackson Hayes doesn't have to play. They can figure it out around that guy. Rylan, does Luca have any experience knocking off the thunder? Well, PJ Washington does. That's right.

They don't have PJ got a thunder. Yeah, they got Lou Dwart to put on Lucas. So I mean, maybe if Rob Polenka can just convince Nico Harrison over a cup of Joe to give him PJ Washington too, maybe that would help. But, you know, they, they, I'm going to write that. Isn't it? Isn't it? Yeah, I'm about to say, I'm pretty sure they have somebody that's a lot better than PJ Washington. Yeah, but LeBron have a better series than Kyra.

Not in the city of Oklahoma City. There is no one better than BJ. Only 123 in the city, Oklahoma City. But the Thunder matchup. well with the Lakers and should be favored against the Lakers. I mean, the Lakers would be favored, I bet because of the Vegas odd market wanting to be closer than you think.

Yeah, because the Vegas, the Vegas is always going to want to protect themselves with the Lakers bets or whatever. But basketball wise, like the Thunder are the better team. They have to go out there and execute it, though. You know,

then they have to get that experience of actually doing it. But no one has experience doing it until they do it. You always remember your first time. Before your first time, you never had any experience. And then after that, baby, you were rocking and all night. So, I mean, you look at it that way.

The Thunder, the Thunder should be able to beat the Lakers. I mean, you talk about a basketball. We also meeting. We didn't talk about Janice's butt in the East Squad show. So I'm saying we're in two for two now. I mean, exactly he dominates the Lakers for Encore. Like, Chet and Hartnstein need to step up and need to be able to do that as well. And then, you know, the Thunder did shut down Kyrie and Luca last year in the playoffs.

So it was PJ Washington that killed them. Their defense should be able to, the defense should be able to slow down Luca and Kyrie. and Shea was the best player on the court last series against Luca. So, I mean, it all worked out in that regard. What could go wrong? Everything could go wrong. The Thunder could. Luca averaged last season.

Luca averaged 25 points, 10 boards, nine assists in the series against the Thunder. Yeah, but you know he wasn't. That's shutting him down. Yeah. Nine points below. It is. Yeah. If he's dribbling the air out of all every single second of every single game,

then yeah, he's going to put up numbers. They beat a team that they were not favored against. with defense. Do I still have to do this? Do I still have to defend, Luca? I guess I do. I don't know why you're doing it, but you are. What are we doing?

That's right. What a fluke run, the Mabs went on last year. Absolutely wild. I'm the one of the Brought up the Lakers. Luca got destroyed. The Mavs still won that because P.J. Washington was better than him.

Nico Instead. I did have Tim McMahon on my show this week and got called, I got called a lot of names. Is this the part? Oh, we split it up into three shows. I did two. Yeah. Is this the part where we back up a little bit and just dig deeper into Rylund's second time?

Like is that the whole point of that story? A lot better than the first. I wasn't going to move on. I was trying to move on. Pivot away from basketball a little bit. And that's okay. We're done. That's Locked on a Biscont show West.

I don't know how we ended up where we were, but that's what that's what we. I am going to absolutely flambay Matt on the next Locked on Nuggets. Thanks so much for hanging out of us. Lockton & B Squad Show West. So many great shows all over the place. Some of them even hosted by these guys that you heard today. Thanks so much, listening to Lockton Bay Squad Show West.

I need to go to Confessional.