Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - No Word Yet on Luka Dončić's Availability... How Much Are Injuries Holding Back the Lakers?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers have two big games coming up this week, but who exactly is going to be able to take the floor? Major injury problems for the Lakers stacking up. We'll get to 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, Monday through Friday, no matter how you get your podcast, this one's always free and never behind a paywall. We appreciate you making Locked on Lakers on YouTube, 37,000 subscribers.

Starting point is 00:00:45 Thanks for making us a big part of the number one sports podcast network anywhere that you're going to be able to find on. Brian Netsky, that's Andy Kamenetsky. Been covering this team for a while, Andy. And it's always fun when the injuries start to pile up at these high-profile moments like right before Christmas. The Lakers, two big games this week, Tuesday against the Suns, and then obviously Christmas Day against Houston at the Cript. And we have no idea who's going to be playing in these games. No, the Lakers did not practice on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:01:21 And right away, just preemptive potential apologies. I have been battling bronchitis, it turned out. I was officially diagnosed on Sunday. Some of the YouTube commenters noticed how there were a few shows in a row that I was doing while bundled up in heavy jackets and ski caps. It's because I was sick. I am now in the constant. No one is interested in your excuses.

Starting point is 00:01:44 You either do the show or you don't do the show. No, I clearly am doing the show. What I'm giving excuses for is why I may be coughing occasionally during it, just so people can understand why. But anyway, you're in uniform, play the game. The Lakers did not practice on Sunday, which meant we did not get any word. on Luca's condition other than leg contusion,

Starting point is 00:02:10 which in theory is at least better than calf strain, like a calf contusion. Right, some sort of, you know, he was rubbed. They didn't call it his calf on the broadcast. If you were watching the game, Saturday against the Clippers, he was sort of rubbing that area.

Starting point is 00:02:26 Right. And there was also no indication as whether or not the injury happened during that game. Well, actually, that's not true. That's actually not true. Dave McMenemannan reported. They did clarify. Good.

Starting point is 00:02:38 Well, that there was contact made during the first quarter between, I want to say, Bogdan Bogdanovich and Luca Donjic in the calf area. Like I said during the show, though, and like you can see, you can see the impact there where like it's like essentially need a calf. And that can really hurt when you're going. going full speed. Oh, yeah. That being said, though, Lucas started this game to me, looking physically out of sorts,

Starting point is 00:03:12 basically from the opening tip and looking uncomfortable. So we may get more clarification as things go along. It would not surprise me if this impact exacerbated what he was already feeling. You know, it wouldn't surprise me if all of these minutes without Austin in particular have started to add up a bit for Luca. But regardless, we don't know any update on Luca. Austin and DeAndre were not ruled out by JJ Reddick for Tuesday's game against the Sons, but they were also not ruled in. At this point, it is an open question. Gabe Vincent by the timeline the Lakers gave is definitely out.

Starting point is 00:04:00 And Rui, unless he recovered from this hip groin strain very quickly because JJ had said he hoped it would be no more than three to five days. Three days would be the Sun's game. So I would love to be wrong. I would be very surprised if Rui's available. So if you're keeping score at home, that means the Lakers could be down as many as four stars. starters once again, as they were in the second half of the game on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:04:30 And obviously, you know, next man up and so on and so forth, we all believe in these philosophies, Andy, but there is only so much the next man can do, depending on how many next men you are relying on to do these sorts of things. I want to let people know that today's episodes brought to you by Fanduel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit Fandual.com, place your NFL live bets. all season long.

Starting point is 00:04:56 So I, it, there's only so much, like we did a post game on Saturday. There's only so much you can say about, you know, performance or this or that or whatever, other than, you know, did they continue to play hard? Did they make a game out of something that, you know, maybe by all rights didn't deserve to be? And the answer to both those questions is absolutely, yes, the Lakers, you know, in that sense, had a lot to be proud of in terms of their effort. But, you know, it's a practical business, Andy. And if you don't have four starters going into a game against a Phoenix team that is certainly

Starting point is 00:05:34 better than expected, you know, they're in the playoff race right now in the West. And then obviously Houston is a very good team, although they lost to Sacramento on Sunday night. You run into just practical problems, like this has an impact on the standings, on other things. it wears probably on LeBron more to have him by himself with trying to carry a team through games. Like there are knock on effects to having this many players out, even if it doesn't mean anything in terms of whether the team's good or not. Well, what's interesting about that question of whether the team is good or not, and I would say they are good, just because 19 and 8 to me by definition means you are good. but they are a team that is very, I think, good, but they are difficult to get a real beat on.

Starting point is 00:06:30 And they're difficult, I think, to read their entire potential or to really assess how good they can be, where exactly they are in their progress, in very large part, because of all the players that they've been missing. If you look right now, they're the four seed as of this recording that would give them an opening round of home court advantage in the playoffs. All of that is really good. They have by far the lowest point differential of any of the top six Western Conference teams at plus 1.2.

Starting point is 00:07:07 Well, this is in part it's worth noting because when they lose, they tend to lose by like 40. Right. But they also don't tend to win huge. Correct. That's part of it too. It's not just that they get absolutely shawl. lacked when they lose. For example, against the, you know, some of the bottom feeders of the world,

Starting point is 00:07:27 they have very good records against those teams, but they have often allowed some of those games to become closer than they should be. Like they have at least one, if not two wins over the jazz that were clutch wins. That should not be a thing over the Utah Jazz. So what I'm really getting at, though, is the Lakers have had. so little continuity over the course of this season and so many different guys in and out of the lineup, a friend of the show, Trevor Lane from Lakers Nation, tweeted out this on Sunday, quote, the Lakers have used 16 different starting lineups in 27 games this season,

Starting point is 00:08:08 all due to player availability, not tactics, in other words, like not JJ deciding to go in a different direction with a lineup. Then he retweeted that with Lakers current starting five, if healthy, Luca Reeves, Rui LeBron Aiton, has played 164 possessions on the season. The Wolves with Anthony Edwards, Dante DeFincenzo, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randall, Rudy Gober, lead the league with 542. So it really gives an idea of just how starkly behind the Lakers are

Starting point is 00:08:44 from the rest of the teams that really want to make noise in the playoffs, in terms of just pure continuity, but also pure build. And I think this is important, too, because remember last year, Luca arrived midseason, but they didn't get immediate time with Luca because he was still dealing with an injury of his own. And then LeBron missed some games, Rui missed some games. Even last year's group to this year, I don't think there's as much continuity as I think is sometimes presumed. And then you go into this year, LeBron missed, what was the opening 15? 14 games.

Starting point is 00:09:25 And then they've had all these other guys in and out of the lineup. I believe Jake Laravia is the only rotation player who's played in all 27 games so far. So again, they're good. Don't get me wrong. They're good. They're having a good season. And if nothing else, you could argue maybe either their ceiling is pretty high or their floor is pretty high, depending on how you want to look at it, that they're 19 and 8, despite all of this turbulence.

Starting point is 00:09:53 But I still think it raises that question of how good can they be? And are they actually going to be in the position to reach that? Like have enough games together to really maximize it. There is a lot going on, I think, with that question. I mean, we kind of, you know, kicking around that stat that we saw this morning from Trevor, I think both of us, you know, figure we'd be talking about this basic question on the show for Monday. And, you know, in thinking about it, there's not one answer to that question, at least in my mind. And I'll explain what I mean by that next.

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Starting point is 00:11:38 Andy, at this question of whether or not, you know, how these injuries impact the Lakers. It's not like, take Denver, for example. Like, Aaron Gordon suffered a pretty significant injury. They missed Christian Braun.

Starting point is 00:11:53 Christian Brown. They've had some guys in the lineup. And I'm not saying that doesn't like losing Brown and Gordon for how long they've had. And they're still chugging right along, first of all, testament to Nicola Yokic. But also I'm not trying to say that their situation is somehow better than the Lakers situation. I think both of them are difficult for each team. But it's a different kind of thing. when you get guys in the lineup for like six games and then they miss three and then they're out

Starting point is 00:12:27 for two and then they're there for five and then they miss one and like and that it's not the same two guys the entire time it's six different guys and that's sort of what it's been for the lakers where you know lucas played most games but then he's missed like three or four here or there the only guy who sort of missed a bunch of games and then came back is lebron but lebron then is limited to by, you know, right now he's not going to play a lot of back to backs and you got to be sort of careful with him. And then Reeves goes out of the lineup and, you know, Aiton suddenly is gone. And like, it's not just that there's not a lot of continuity. They can't even get continuity, forget with their starters with any kind of lineup. And so I think from

Starting point is 00:13:11 from what you were talking about before, no question. This hurts their ceiling in terms of, I think, understanding them, the, the, how each other play and all these. You're just limited by reps. You know, those things are built by reps. The Lakers are not going to get the number of reps that I think they hope they would. I don't, it's hard to say, though, how much that limits their ceiling, both because other teams dealing with their own stuff.

Starting point is 00:13:41 But like, I feel like this is one of those things where it's like, it clearly matters, but quantifying how much is never easy. Well, here's one way where I, using one of your own examples that I think you'll just how much it matters. You talked about the guys that Denver have been missing, and they do matter. Like Aaron Gordon has turned into, I would argue, one of the best role players in the league. Like, I mean, as far as- Absolutely. Yeah. As far as fulfilling your specific non-star, you know, high-end role player role, he is as good as anybody in the league. You know who are the two guys who've been available for basically the entire season for Denver? Nikola Yokic and Jamal Murray.

Starting point is 00:14:20 they play together forever. Like that in and of itself gives you an advantage while you are dealing with these, again, difficulties for Denver that are real. The Lakers don't have that to fall back on with their core of, you know, Luca and LeBron or LeBron and Austin, they have more of that. There's definitely more synergy between LeBron and Austin. But you mentioned there are also the considerations with. LeBron and the way you want to use him at this stage of his career.

Starting point is 00:14:53 But if you look at like the two-man data and the three-man data and the five-man data, like the more the big, I guess, ostensive big three of the Lakers play together, Luca, LeBron, and Austin, the worse the numbers get. And, you know, Luca and Austin together this year in 442 minutes are a net 8.6. They've been very good together. LeBron and Austin in 220 minutes there are minus 2.2. I think again, once you start getting into LeBron's minutes, I think it starts getting into a lot of who was available because

Starting point is 00:15:33 LeBron's filter like which game was it. Right. Well, LeBron's return is also coincided with a lot more injuries. Like the period where they missed LeBron, they managed though to have more guys regularly available, I think for the most part since LeBron got back. And then LeBron and Luca are a minus 7.4 net rating together in 239 minutes. As a trio together, they are a net minus 5.1.

Starting point is 00:16:05 The starting lineup that seems to be JJ's preferred group of LeBron, Luca, Austin, Rui, and Aiton. They're a in 76 minutes, which in of itself ain't a lot. minus 13.1, but then you look at that same group with Marcus Smart in for LeBron, positive 13.5 in basically the same minutes. I am not suggesting that that makes Marcus Smart a better player than LeBron. I think it does suggest he's a better fit for that group. I was going to say it really, really says it start Marcus Smart instead of Rui Hachammer. Right.

Starting point is 00:16:43 But I think what this speaks to and the reason I bring up this day, at all is that the Lakers are winning games, but they are not doing it in a way that gives you, I think, complete confidence in how they will be able to get through competition against the toughest teams or playoff series or things like that. There's still time to figure these kinks out and get it better, but the more games they don't have guys, we're already 27 games in. more games that go without a full complement of players, the harder this becomes. There's no question. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:17:24 You just reps mean something. And, you know, when you have Luca and you have LeBron who are savants and you have Austin Reeves, who's not sure he's quite at that level, but he's, you know, pretty damn high. He's probably going to make the All-Star team this year. Just so just so those who hate the concept of this can. prepare themselves. I would at this point bet on him making the all-star team. Unless he suddenly doesn't play enough games. It's like they're running out. Well, there is no game. There's no game limit for, for, for, I would, I would just prepare yourself whether you think

Starting point is 00:18:03 worthy or not. I think Austin's going to make an all-star team. So just brace yourself for this in February. You've got like a month or so to really lead into it. I will tell you the where I think it's not all negative like because they are losing something from this i'm not but we both agree on that it does though they have been able to i think forge kind of like a certain resourcefulness um a confidence in their ability to do them i think there is a to me at least kind of was thinking about this throughout the afternoon there's to me i think maybe a correlation with between their ability, like their crunch time stats and their crunch time record. And all of this upheaval that they've played through.

Starting point is 00:18:56 Like there's just this sort of unity and chemistry and belief that they've put together for the games that are close enough for them to win in the last five minutes. And I would say like six of the, what is it, nine losses or whatever, they haven't been close enough. But in the games that are close, they do believe in their ability to execute and play and make a play and do that stuff regardless of who is available to them. And the reason they believe that is because they've shown they can do it. So that has value come playoff time, resilience, chemistry, a confidence to be able to play in close situations, all that kind of stuff. that's happened over those,

Starting point is 00:19:46 these first 20, what did you say, 26 games? 27. 27 games. Like that's not nothing. Agreed. But ideally you'd be in a situation where you could kind of develop both.

Starting point is 00:19:59 And the Lakers just aren't. And they are not going to get there. It's impossible at this point. Well, it may not be impossible, but they need to start getting everybody on the court together. Like, A, S, AFP and then keep them there. And then if they can do that, and then I think also really start treating all of these games more, even the ones against the lessers among the league, like Luca

Starting point is 00:20:30 after the Utah game, when he was asked about the team's defense, he even acknowledged like, yeah, we, you know, we have a habit of hearing that a star player, in this case, Lori Markinen is out. and, you know, kind of playing to that expectation. Like he acknowledged this is what we do. They need to stop doing that because they need to start treating all of these games as workshops and ways to start honing in on doing everything better. Treat all of these games as opportunities because, you know, we're already, what, like almost a third of the way through the season,

Starting point is 00:21:11 and you've barely had this whole group together. And again, they're a good team. Winning a title is really effing hard. We've covered, for those who are unaware, we covered the Kobe Powell back-to-back championship teams for ESPN and the LA Times. Like we were around those groups all the time. It's hard to do.

Starting point is 00:21:37 Let me tell you what I meant by Impossible. I'll do that next. And then there is a, the NBA, I think it's fair to say, has a longstanding issue between fans, coaching and officiating. It's gotten worse this year in ways that I think are different than like the typical arguments that people have about officiating. We get to it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul.

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Starting point is 00:23:12 Fandu, the game moves fast, so can you. So just to finish off this part of the conversation, like it's not that I don't think the Lakers can reach a certain level, so to speak. It's just that there's, like, whatever the maximum number of like realistically achievable reps were at the beginning of the year, that number is lower now, and it's going to get lower still over the next game or two, probably because some of those guys aren't going to be there. And so just in that regard,

Starting point is 00:23:54 the new best case scenario isn't as good as the previous one. And so if, like I do, like, you know, reps mean something, they're not going to get as many as they could have. So we'll get to this referee thing in just a second, but I do want to remind people about the Everyday Air Club. We get your emails. We understand that the show has got advertisements. Some of you want a different experience.

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Starting point is 00:25:00 You know, it's a place where you all can hang out. Lakers conversations, Annie and I try to pop in there, all that kind of stuff. So if you go, you can go check out the show notes and see the Everydayer Club or you can go to Lockdownlakers.supercast.com and check it out there, sign up. So again, if you want to show a little differently, ad free, this is your way. If you want it the same, do nothing. It's $5 a month or $50 a year.

Starting point is 00:25:28 That's how you sign up. So anyway, it's normal for people to complain about the refs in a all sports. It's particularly cultural, I think, in the NBA. It's really part of the culture in the NBA post-Tim Donahey. But this year feels different. J.J. Reddick was the latest after the game on Saturday to complain not just like in a way that feels like politicking, but like viscerally angry and confused and confounded by what they're being told by officials, by the league. And it is, it's creating a real problem that I think is different than normal year to year, everybody, bitches about the ref kind of stuff.

Starting point is 00:26:29 There's a couple things in there. First of all, JJ was very unhappy because there was a play, excuse me, that he wanted. wanted to challenge and sorry bronchitis and was essentially told yeah and was essentially told like not challengeable he didn't understand how it couldn't be changeable challengeable he described it as an insane definition and then repeated insane again but then this was the part that really jumped out of me when he was talking about the referees in general and his unhappiness with them quote overall the consistency it's something i'm going to talk about with them tomorrow The consistency needs to be addressed.

Starting point is 00:27:08 That needs to be addressed, and it will be. I think any coach, any player, what we ask for is consistency. That's not to single out any official or any crew. That's not about that. We need to know what it is night to night. We've had a number, and this is where I get frustrated a little bit. I keep asking the league to please reach out to me and respond every time I do the coach's feedback thing. I don't get any response from the league.

Starting point is 00:27:32 Nobody ever reaches out to me. that is JJ basically saying tell me how much to write this checkout for and whose name to put in there. I don't give an F. And also it's like, I dare you to find me after I am letting people know I'm following the process and I'm getting ghosted. I mean, that that is very, very pointed specific commentary. here. I have, you and I have covered the Lakers and the NBA for about 20 years. I have heard just about every single possible complaint about the officials from players or coaches over the years. I have never heard that one specifically. I have been trying to get hold of the league

Starting point is 00:28:24 and they don't respond. Like that is really searing stuff. Well, it's an interesting insight, too, just that they like this is stuff the league is soliciting um you know hey like essentially call the hotline you've got something to weigh in on and and whatever but like you're right jj is following the process here and the process isn't working and i think that's part of it but i mean i look i i actually think NBA officials in terms of like when they blow a whistle and when they don't actually do an excellent job. I think it is an impossible game to officiate in the sense that these guys are too big, too fast, too strong. And, you know, the fact that the referees are as correct as they are as often as they are to me is really impressive. The consistency issue, though, just as somebody watching

Starting point is 00:29:22 Laker games from night to night, it really is vastly different. Different crews, different. There is, you know, the stuff that you can do, even if it's called relatively consistently throughout a game. But like some nights, it's everything, you know, called this, that, whatever you get. Other nights, it's nothing. Some nights, it's, you know, they're picking on, you know, every screen. And other nights, that what was a foul last night doesn't seem to be a foul tonight. And that is incredibly frustrating. It's frustrating as a fan.

Starting point is 00:29:55 And I'm just watching if I were playing in the game and if I was certainly trying to strategize and coach the game. I pick a lane. Well, and from night to night, the variance in what is and isn't a foul needs to be much tighter than it currently is. There's just too much variance in how games are called, I think. That to me is the most fair criticism.

Starting point is 00:30:22 Well, it's, it's interesting because it really is coming to a head because this is, JJ's complaints are coming at a time where Chris Finch just got fine. and ejected for really going after a referee. E. Me Adoka just got fine. J.B. Bickerstaff, accused a crew of a crew chief of bias. Marcus Smart just got fine. I didn't even know this until recently.

Starting point is 00:30:48 There was so much other stuff going on in the Utah game. But he apparently directed some type of obscene gesture at the ref. I believe the, or orthogically speaking, They call that the bird. Well, you know what? I don't know because there are many different obscene gestures. I believe it was a it was a flip-in-the-bird situation. Oh, it could be.

Starting point is 00:31:09 It very well could be. I'm just saying I can't report that with insider knowledge. And Marcus's thoughts on it other than, again, like JJ saying, he wants consistency. And also he feels like the refs won't let them, they will not let you talk to them enough. He said like he feels like particularly as a team captain, he should be able to talk to them

Starting point is 00:31:32 and he's like you're not able to talk to them and he said like look if this is what I got to do to make my point all right 35,000 well spent $35,000 cry for help yeah I mean that's look man that's the that's the perks of being a millionaire many times over

Starting point is 00:31:47 but like it's interesting too because we're not far removed from an NBA memo that was made public about the league wanting to cut down on perceived foul hunting by offensive players. And yet, since that memo came out, free throw attempts are way up.

Starting point is 00:32:12 Personal fouls are way up. And I think it is, like you said, very difficult for everybody to figure out exactly how games are going to be called. There's also the stoppages that can take forever, the reviews that take too long, that end up falling on the refs as well and part of that general dissatisfaction. Like to your point about the game being, these guys being so fast and so big, the game is also really spread out.

Starting point is 00:32:40 Like I think they should add a fourth ref and start dividing. If there's space, yeah, I don't know like logistically how that works on the floor, but they should pilot something like that at the G League and see if it makes it. I would look at something like adding a fourth ref. And then at that point, kind of refereing in quadrants.

Starting point is 00:32:59 and you only call stuff in your quadrant. You don't call stuff that you would, that somebody else should be over there. If you don't have the vantage point for it, I think reviews should be 60 seconds tops. And I also think should not be reviewed by the refs in question. I think it should be reviewed by the league office because those refs,

Starting point is 00:33:20 it's difficult, I think, to remove the psychology of wanting to try to either cover for each other or not call each other. they're out or either way, I think it will take. Don't they get help from New Jersey on some of these? I would leave them out of it all together. I would just have somebody in the league office, just do this. 60 seconds or the call stands, if you can't figure it out in 60 seconds, move it along. I would find ways to help reps out more. I also think the players and the coaches do need to understand that every coach on both sides, every player on both sides, thinks there should and should not be a foul called at all times.

Starting point is 00:34:01 I mean, Nick Smith on Saturday had a play where he hacked, I think it was Kauai, across both arms. Like it was such an, and looked like, you know, he was being accused of a crime. Well, it's like, I agree with you about like, the fixes for the referees, you know, there are probably a lot of different ways to do it. You know, I,

Starting point is 00:34:24 but here's why this matters. Beyond the quality of the product, which is obviously a big deal. And it can be frustrating to watch the games. The NBA is a hyper online league. And so these types of controversies don't play well in that setup. But it's really important because teams build their rosters and strategies and some of these things around to some degree about how a game is officiated. The Lakers are a team that as we saw in.

Starting point is 00:34:58 Saturday struggles, shoot the ball on the outside. They are built to get to the free throw line. That could become a problem in the playoffs, but that's kind of what we're talking about here. A foul needs to be, they need to understand what fouls are so that over the course of the season, they can

Starting point is 00:35:16 lean into their strengths, they can figure out how to maximize. I'm not talking about foul hunting. I'm talking about guys who drive the lane, create angles, cut, do all kinds of stuff that make it possible for them to lean into a strength, which is free throw shooting. If it's different from game to game, you don't know how that strategy works or doesn't work.

Starting point is 00:35:40 It's not just complaints about the aesthetics of the game or because it's annoying because you feel like your team is getting screwed. Fundamentally, what JJ is arguing about here is, I don't know how to coach my team because I don't know if the stuff that we want to do as a team that likes to get to the free throw line is going to work not because we're not getting fouled or drawing to contact because we don't know what foul is night tonight. And then you get into some of the inconsistencies with instant replay and stuff like that. So it's not just bitching. It's also important. So It is different, though. You agree.

Starting point is 00:36:26 Like, it feels different this year, right? And look, it's not like you and I spend a lot of time on shows complaining about the ref. No, very rarely. I mean, it's only been a handful of games at most where I think we've even mentioned the refs, much less complaining. But the animosity that is building right now between players and coaches versus the refs, I think it's something that was starting to build last year. and is really coming to ahead this season and needs to be addressed.

Starting point is 00:36:59 Locked on Lakers on YouTube is right and going out with over 37,000 subscribers to the channel, many of whom are currently complaining about the officiating, I suspect, and wondering when players will come back from injury. We will certainly update everybody for Tuesday's show, whatever we know, you will then know right after. Again, take a look at the show notes. Think about the Everydayer Club. If you want a different experience, find out if this,

Starting point is 00:37:24 is one for you that you think you would benefit from. Either way, we appreciate you. Tuning into the show, first listen every day. We will be back tomorrow. Thank you very much.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - No Word Yet on Luka Dončić's Availability... How Much Are Injuries Holding Back the Lakers?

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