Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Report: Luka Dončić APPROVES of Lakers OFFSEASON PLAN! Franchise-Superstar SYNERGY?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Luca Donchich is reportedly supportive of the vision of Rob Polinka going into the summer. But how much flexibility does that actually give them and how much time does Polinka have? That's next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers first listen to every day, Monday through Friday,

Starting point is 00:00:36 no matter how or where you get your podcast. This one's always going to be free for you. Never locked behind a paywall, whether you're getting your podcast via Apple, whether you're doing it through Spotify, whether you're one of the 37,000-plus subscribers to the Lockdown Lakers YouTube channel. No matter how you're doing it, you're part of making the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in any known universe. I'm Brian Kamenetsky with Andy Kamenetski.

Starting point is 00:00:58 I've been covering this team for nigh on 20 years for the L.A. Times for ESPN, for the athletic. And I want to tell everybody before we get started, Andy, talking about Luca Donchich and his support of the current plan for the Lakers, talking about where they might go over the course of the second half of the season, and talking about weird stars with weird burner accounts. I do want to tell people that today's episode is brought to you by five-hour energy. You can have your cake and drink it, too. Birthday cake flavor is back. No fork needed. Vanillae, cakey flavor, caffeinated kick and no sugar.

Starting point is 00:01:38 It's party time. Order now at 5 hour energy.com or Amazon. Andy, Luca is the most important thing for the Lakers. We've talked about LeBron. We've talked about what they're going to do over the course of the summer and this and that. But the person they need to keep on board with what they're doing is Luca Donchich. And at least, according to ESPN's Dave McBenovan. So far, so good.

Starting point is 00:02:05 There's a paragraph in Dave's piece that said, quote, a source familiar with Donchich's thinking told ESPN that L.A.'s deadline approach with, quote, adherence to discipline and focus on the, quote, long-term picture was supported by the 26-year-old star. He has not pushed the team to add a superstar level co-star for when James is no longer on the roster. And that could be taken a couple different ways. It could mean with LeBron still on the roster to basically have somebody there in the wings for a seamless transition.

Starting point is 00:02:41 It could mean when LeBron is gone. It could be open-ended in terms of when LeBron is eventually not on this team because he's in his 40s. That's going to happen at some point. It's open-ended when that would be. But the two details that stuck out that I think are extremely important will get into it is, support for the vision that has been explained to him so far, and also the idea of not pressuring for a specific superstar type addition, because I think that also can potentially lend Rob Polinka some flexibility

Starting point is 00:03:22 that's important in the way he goes about building moving forward with Luca. Yes. I agree to some extent. Look, I think the support here, it's like there was no giant swing for the Lakers to take with what they had available to them at the trade deadline. For the players that were available for what they could get at the trade, you know, who was available for what they had they had. There was no transformative move for the Lakers to make. about they did about as good as they could do. They moved, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:04 Gabe Vincent for Luke Canard. That was about as good as they were going to do, you know, with, you know, their lack of picks and all that kind of stuff. So that part of it, like I think Luca is supportive of the vision, which I'm sure was explained to him, also understands there wasn't really anything

Starting point is 00:04:23 they were going to do with the deadline. And, oh, that's an assumption, by the way, really quickly. that's an assumption that Luca was being reasonable because just because that is the case doesn't mean that a star will be reasonable because we've seen stars over the years not be reasonable. This is kind of where I'm going.

Starting point is 00:04:41 I think all reports are that from the time that Luca has arrived in L.A. to where he is now and where the team is now, that Luca has felt like the team has treated him well, that he feels supported, that he feels like they have a plan, that he feel, all of that stuff. I am not surprised in the slightest that Luca, you know, however it gets to Dave, you know, through Luca's groups, through the Laker, however it is, that Luca is expressing support for where the team is now. He's been here for a year. He just

Starting point is 00:05:26 signed a huge you know a big extension with that is set up for him to be able to sign an even bigger one in a couple years it would set off massive alarm bells if it was if it if the answer was anything other than what we've seen here so okay it's good that it's not bad news but to me the bigger thing is like okay he's not putting pressure on them to pick a different star or go get xy and Z, again, that's good. It also could mean, like you say, because he assumes they'll go out and try to get someone that or, you know, and doesn't need to say it or understands too that there's no point in publicly putting pressure on them to you have to go get this guy.

Starting point is 00:06:15 There's just none of that makes sense to me from a sort of politics standpoint. It's just it's, it's, I don't think it's productive. and I think his group understands that. None of it means that he thinks, you know, that the Lakers should think they have anything that even comes to sort of infinite time here. I think they need to show competence. I'm not saying you were saying that.

Starting point is 00:06:42 But they need to show competence and they need to show it pretty quickly because the level of confidence in cooperation, if they don't do well this summer and then don't do well at the deadline next year and all that kind of stuff, that level of cooperation and comfort could go down very quickly.

Starting point is 00:07:04 Yeah, obviously. I mean, to me, that goes without saying. I mean, if things don't go well, Luca's going to grow more unhappy. Like, that's... I just don't, my point is I don't read a lot into the stuff that was in that report. No, I'll tell you what I read into it,

Starting point is 00:07:20 is that if you take it, at face value, it means Luca has been presented with a vision and Luca thinks the vision makes sense. That's the piece of it that I think actually matters. The idea that I'm sure Luca has been told this is the way we're going to go about team building. We are looking for these type of players to put around you. These are the type of players we think will be available. This is how we think we can try to go about getting them. And Luca hears those details and says that makes sense to me. that first and foremost, because you and I covered the Lakers when Kobe went on the radio tour with the trade demand and was telling everybody that would listen that he wanted the F out of

Starting point is 00:08:04 the Lakers, he would play on Pluto before he'd return for another season. And among the conflicts there was he did not believe in the vision that the front office had for him. So this does not mean that everything is copacetic between now and 2030. you know, just keep expecting Luke to be here for the next decade. But this is, again, assuming you take everything at face value from Dave's report and for what it's worth, Dave's pretty good at this stuff, it means that he is on board with the way they're going to go about doing this. And that is an important first step when you're trying to have

Starting point is 00:08:45 everybody in lockstep. And again, just because there wasn't a big. big move to be made at the deadline, for example. You and I kept telling our viewers and listeners for month, two months leading up to the deadline. Most of a year. Right. But that doesn't guarantee that stars that are used to being catered to are going to be reasonable. Like they're two separate things.

Starting point is 00:09:14 So in that sense, I do think it matters. It's not, it again, it doesn't mean that Rob Polinkas should put his feet up on his desk and, you know, say problem solved. But I don't think. I think all to me, all it shows. And to that extent, I agree with you. It's not, at least at the very least, not bad, is that Luke is not irrational. And that Luke is both not irrational and that he is not seeking drama.

Starting point is 00:09:44 And he is not seeking to outwardly put that intense pressure publicly. on the Lakers. But there are a couple of butts here that I think are important. Plus, an interesting kind of second half scouting report from our friend Tom Ziller will get to in a second. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by five-hour energy drink and welcome to the five-hour energy flavor draft.

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Starting point is 00:11:05 Find your new favorite flavor of five-hour energy shots available at five-hourenergy.com or Amazon. The part that I think is significant here, Andy, is just that, like, a lot of, you know, a lot of fans will, I think, look at what you were talking about here as sort of, I agree with you. It's a nice starting point to know that Luca is low-key. He is not, at least at this point, this early in the relationship, looking to create drama, create headlines and all that stuff. And we have seen that with the Lakers, that there are stars who will do that.

Starting point is 00:11:48 There are a lot of people who think this is what LeBron does for a living. And it's a nice contrast. Fans should also understand that Luca did put pressure on the Mavericks and that he is going to put pressure on the Lakers. And, you know, this, I think from a fan standpoint, is good because fans want this team and, you know, they want action and they want to move. Because while Luca is going to turn 27 soon, which is right in his prime, you know, what we are starting to see in the NBA. is that you don't have endless amounts of time. You got to go and you got to do things quickly. I think the Lakers are going to have a tall order

Starting point is 00:12:35 to put a title team around Luca this offseason. But what they can do is show that they can execute on this plan that they're selling him, and that step A can lead to a step B. And we'll see. I mean, look, I mean, we saw the comment that you put up on the chat for those watching live on YouTube that Luca seems to have more confidence in the front office than, you know, Lakers fans do. So we'll see how that goes. So I just, again, I just don't see it as anything other than kind of what you would expect Luca to say. And so no news, I guess is good news.

Starting point is 00:13:23 See, I disagree only in the sense that I don't automatically expect stars and front offices to be on the same page. I don't automatically expect to hear tranquility or copacetic or synergy. But I'm talking about this situation. This is what I would expect for the Lakers and Luca in the context of where they are at this point in their relationship. I mean, this is what I would expect for this. Well, then let me say why I think it matters beyond whatever you think of it. I guarantee, and we've seen in that one comment that you highlighted, that they do not trust fans, do not trust this front office.

Starting point is 00:14:07 We have expressed our distrust in this front office. But guess what? The only opinion of the front office that actually matters Jack Bleep is Lucas. Like, it doesn't matter in the end of the day. It does not matter what we think of it, what other NBA members. media think of it with Laker fans. What matters first and foremost is what Luca thinks of it. And you are correct. This offseason is the testing ground for actually executing a plan and like actually acting on the thing that you present Luca in the PowerPoint or whatever. But again, the first step is

Starting point is 00:14:45 getting everybody, right, the first step is getting everybody on the same page and just knowing that Luca's vision for the type of team that you put around him matches the front office is a necessary first step. And the other reason, really quick, the other reason, though, that I think this matters and the detail about not demanding automatically the superstar edition or demanding player type X, I think is important because we have seen, you know, most recently with the Russell Westbrook trade, which as much as you and I have emphasized, we will put equal blame on Robin Jeannie for that because ultimately they are the ones who signed off in it. I don't care how much pressure LeBron and Anthony Davis reportedly put on them.

Starting point is 00:15:35 If they thought it was a bad idea, they should have said no. But the fact remains, those guys did put a lot of pressure on Robin Jeannie to make a really terrible decision. So not having that type of pressure matters. On the same token, there is a lot of reporting that Rob Polinka went so aggressively after Mark Williams, despite all of the medical red flags that showed up even brighter than they had expected when they saw his physical and eventually rescinded the deal. They might not have done something that aggressive in that context if they were not. in a type of hurry to show Luca, hey, we'll do whatever you want, man.

Starting point is 00:16:22 This is our team. And the trickle-down effect of that has actually led to Dalton connects value going down around the league and internally. Like there's been a trickle-down ripple effect on Dalton, and that has hurt the Lakers. Sure. That was either they jumped the gun on something that they shouldn't have or they should have let the deal go through and play.

Starting point is 00:16:49 I mean, that's, I just, I'm just saying I feel like that type of pressure not being there can be helpful. It doesn't make, you know, I, but I think that's a reasonable. It doesn't equal a lack of urgency. I would say, I don't, I think what I'm saying is I don't necessarily equate those, those comments, you know, that were passed through and the sort of being on board with the, the plan, so to speak, with trust and confidence in whatever in the front office. I do not think those two things are the same. I think you can be on board with what it is, recognize that there's no currency in making

Starting point is 00:17:33 public demands for go get me this start. They know exactly what kind of player Luca wants, and they will go out and try to get those players. Luca does not need to say it publicly. He does not gain from saying it publicly because it makes it harder for them to go get those guys. He doesn't, there's no, there's no benefit to Luca to doing it. And again, just because. Right. So the fact that Luca is not doing the stupid irrational thing that superstars sometimes do is

Starting point is 00:18:07 good. I just don't think it's that meaningful because, again, me, I don't expect, I never expected Luca to do that. If he wants, if he wants Janus, like let's just say, and I'm not saying he does. I'm like, don't aggregate. But let's just, if that was the thing that he wanted most and really wanted Rob to make it happen this offseason, he would not say it out loud. He would not tell the media, Team Luca, would not do that. I don't know, but maybe a different star would. But I do not think that is how, in my opinion, and in my read, that this is how they would handle.

Starting point is 00:18:49 Well, if nothing else, like I said, I think it is significant because given the distrust that so many other people have in this front office, it may be reassuring for them as they envision Luca eventually deciding he wants to get the hell on up out of there, that at least thus far, he believes in what they're doing. Like, that is not insignificant. You can't have this.

Starting point is 00:19:13 I'm not saying, but my point is I think it just depends on how you define some of these terms. And, you know, how much belief does he have? How confident is he? I don't think you can gain much from those comments. Just my, right. But my reading of those things is they are anodyne and designed to, you know, not rock the boat. and behind the scenes could be a different story. It could be they're in wait and C mode.

Starting point is 00:19:41 It could be that we feel good now, but everybody knows the clock is ticking. I mean, like, you know, the, we can talk about this in the next segment, but like there is, there's so much going on. Like we talked in the, in the, I don't want to belabor this past.

Starting point is 00:19:58 No, but it's not belaboring. It's a different point. Like, there's so much going on with change in the organization. We talked about it in, the short show for on on wednesday afternoon like i think that they have if i have to guess again i'm guessing on all these things they probably are very excited at the prospect of the mark walter regime you know they can look at how the dodgers are run and that like guys are you know you know taking a little bit less money leaving like leaving good situations to come play like

Starting point is 00:20:36 people want to play here is everything about that organization is first class it's a jewel franchise that is now being run like you know like a tiffany franchise sure the lakers are a tiffany franchise that have been run more like a you know this the jewelry shop that you see at the mall you know and so i think it's diamond ells yes you know uh daniels something Nice places to get jewelry, not Tiffany. Forever 21. Clare's. So my point of this is, I think if you're looking for places that Luca probably has a lot of confidence going forward or feels good about the general direction of France,

Starting point is 00:21:24 I think ownership is absolutely somewhere where I would say, yeah, they probably can look at that and say, we feel good about it. That to me is different than the looking at the front office. but there's just so much change that is on the horizon for this team that, that my reading of Luca in his group is that, you know, it's kind of wait and see. Okay. And what this looks like in six months could be similar to what it looks like now. It could be radically different. that was sort of the point you were making on that on the show like there's a lot of space in

Starting point is 00:22:12 between those things so one thing we do know is they will be building around him as aggressively as they possibly can um how good are the lakers how good do other people think the lakers are what is this team ceiling we'll tell you next on lakers is brought to you by quo new year new systems this is the time when a lot of us look at the messier parts of running a business think there's got to be a way. And there is. Quo, spell QUO, the smarter way to run your business communications. And if you are ready to make your workday smoother, keep customers connected without the headaches. Quo makes upgrading your setup easier than ever. Having calls, text, and voicemails in one clean view, keeps everything organized, helps you stay responsive. And being able to share one team number makes

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Starting point is 00:24:39 Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed, sponsored jobs. Among the many, Andy, NBA writers that you and I both enjoy is Tom Ziller. For a long time, we kind of wrote centered around the Kings and now has been writing an independent substack newsletter for a few years. And it's a great daily subscriber. that I certainly enjoy. He wrote, he's kind of doing a, you know, sorting teams out,

Starting point is 00:25:18 playoff contenders, title contenders, all these other things. What he wrote about the Lakers is, to me, kind of interesting. He files them under playoff contenders. Our next tier of six teams are those who don't have legitimate title hopes, but are aiming to finish in the top six in their conference and avoid the play in. The first among those teams is, yes, the Lakers. I'm ready to announce that finally I don't buy this team as a title

Starting point is 00:25:41 hopeful. The defense is just simply not going to be passable enough to beat three of these teams in the West. I can't find a realistic first round matchup. I'd pick them to win unless they somehow climbed the two seed, which as he notes is not going to happen, but they've been resilient enough to

Starting point is 00:25:57 land a top six seed and avoid the play in. I think broadly, it's fair to say, in a you'd agree that they are not because unless something changes, a team that anybody would pick to win a title. No, we said from the beginning of the season onward, they're not an inner circle title contender.

Starting point is 00:26:16 They are a good team. They're not a great team. The reason they're not a great team is they have flaws that are very easily exploitable, and the league has figured out how to do it. And most of those flaws are impossible to paper over internally. I don't care what the schematics are. You're not going to become more athletic from your schematics. No.

Starting point is 00:26:39 And there's things you can't. You can't become faster. No. So, like, yeah, they've got some issues. You know, the resilience to stay in the top six, I think, is important. I think the idea that, you know, the Lakers are where they are without having any meaningful time with their three best players, healthy, the same 152 minutes for the three of Luca, Austin, and LeBron, the whole season.

Starting point is 00:27:06 To put this in perspective, and this was a stat I landed on, that. blew my mind when I was going through the 152 and trying to find a way to contextualize this, 152 minutes total this season for Luca, Austin, LeBron on the court together. Drew Timmy has played 150 minutes for the Lakers. Drew Timmy, fourth string two-way contract center who didn't even start the year with the Lakers, has played as many minutes, basically as, the Lakers top trio. Like it is kind of a minor miracle that they are still in this top six mix. I like to remind people, Drew Timmy wasn't on the team at the beginning of the season.

Starting point is 00:27:54 So what I want to do for the short show on Thursday, by the way, we're getting some interesting and very much appreciated nominees for what we might name this thing. so we can stop calling it the short show or whatever it is. So we appreciate that. Keep them coming and we'll come to a decision and thank you publicly in the next few days. But I want to do a short show about like what is the most optimistic view? Like not crazy, but like you don't have to totally jump off the deep end. But like, okay, here's the reason to believe in the highest end for the Lakers.

Starting point is 00:28:34 I will say this. I do think the idea that they're sort of, I'm not sure that wouldn't be favored is the same thing as, you know, not believing they could win a couple rounds. Like, I do think that people might possibly be underselling what the team's ceiling is because they've looked so bad when they lose.

Starting point is 00:29:02 But given the fact that they should be healthy for the first time, this season coming out of the break, assuming Luca can play. I was going to say, we don't even know if two starters are going to play on Friday. I am committed to the idea that Luca is going to be okay

Starting point is 00:29:23 and that he simply didn't want to say for sure whether or not, because if he can't play, once again, the front office needs to do and the coaching staff needs to do a better job of managing expectations and not telling us that he's going to be okay

Starting point is 00:29:41 because that would be like we're into our third week of Luca hamstring watch. That is a separate question. Well, this gets back to why I said, I felt like Luca would be doing himself no favors and the organization no favors by playing in the All-Star game. They're not damn sure I can play on Friday. Plus, we don't know how DeAndre Aiton's need glaucoma's healing up.

Starting point is 00:30:03 That's true. I'm just saying two out of five starters we don't even know if they're going to be available. If you ask a lot of people right now, they don't want DeAndre Aitin playing anyway. So addition by subtraction, depending on who you're asking. But I'm,

Starting point is 00:30:18 Andy, I am here as an, I've not heard different yet. As we creep up to Friday, I'm going to assume that Austin's minutes limit is, is going to be over and he can start again. I'm going to assume LeBron is okay. I'm going to assume Luca's going to play.

Starting point is 00:30:35 And I'm even going to assume that, that Aiton is seeing out of his knee again and everything is okay. We don't know what that looks like because that slots Rui in a different spot. That slots Jake in a different spot. That slots, you know, Vando in a different, like everybody gets to play at a level that is more appropriate for their station. You know, Marcus Smart can, you know, you don't need Marcus Smart to do offense stuff as often when you have the whole architecture there. I think it is possible to say the Lakers are not an inner circle title contender, like you say, while also saying it's also possible they're being a little bit undersold,

Starting point is 00:31:22 at least for what their potential could be in the second half. I'll say this much. I'll be good, Andy. I'll say this much. You may be right, but I don't even think it's fair to say that it's being undersold because truth be told, what you're talking about may be the case. but it's all wishcasting because we have not even seen enough of the evidence to properly say they're being undersold.

Starting point is 00:31:45 Like everything you're talking about is pure projection. Like even the idea of if you've got Luca and LeBron and Austin Reeves, that's always going to give you a puncher's chance. But the reality is we've seen a limited version of those three together. And the three of them together, the flaws have been the thing. that we've talked about all season. Like, I'm just saying there is, I don't think, you are, you are correct. Yeah, I mean, you're right, which, again, I want to emphasize, that does not mean that you're

Starting point is 00:32:20 wrong. I just don't even know if underselling is the right way to put it. Because like, here's an example. I think people are underselling the pistons, basically because they're too young. They're too young to make serious noise in the. the playoffs, even though they're kicking the bleep out of everyone they play and look in the same way last year people did with the thunder. Like we, they were too young or the spurt. Like that to me is underselling. With the Lakers, it's not believing beyond what you've seen. And again, those nonbelievers

Starting point is 00:33:00 may turn out to be wrong. But there is a lot. that needs to reveal itself. Before I even think you could start getting a place, man, people just aren't taking the Lakers seriously. Well, Andy, this is where we will head for the short show on Thursday afternoon because whether you want to call it projection or wish casting, I'm a genie in a bottle, whatever it might be.

Starting point is 00:33:30 Because we're going to be optimists and we're going to feel good for at least one afternoon before they take the floor again. and we're told that none of their players are available, and Luca's not available, and everything looks terrible again. I hope that doesn't happen. Lockdown Lakers on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 37,000 subscribers. Did need to remind you about the Everyday Air Club.

Starting point is 00:33:51 You can join that. It's $5 a month, $50 a year, and that gives you access to the Discord channel where Andy and I hang out. Other locked-on hosts are there, and of course, add-free delivery of this very program. If you don't want no commercials, then that's one way to do it. Or do nothing. And we love you just the same.

Starting point is 00:34:11 We'll see everyone next time.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Report: Luka Dončić APPROVES of Lakers OFFSEASON PLAN! Franchise-Superstar SYNERGY?

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