Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Rotation Role on the Lakers for Bronny James? Plus, Could LeBron Fix Playoff Officiating?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Tuesday. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, is Brony James actually prepared to play meaningful minutes next season? What would it mean for the Lakers if he could? That's next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers.

Starting point is 00:00:31 First listen to every day Monday through Friday, no matter how where you get your podcast. This one's always free. It's never behind a paywall. Lockdown Lakers on YouTube, Andy, is where over 35,000 subscribers to the YouTube channel, people who might subscribe through YouTube, might subscribe as well through Spotify or Apple, iTunes, lots of ways to get the show, either video or audio. They are all, Andy, wondering whether or not Brony James might be able to play some meaningful

Starting point is 00:00:59 minutes for the Lakers next season. And he's so short in that big shirt. It's actually really appropriate. I know. When I put the heads, when I put the heads of LeBron and Brony over Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, they're in this Photoshop of the SI cover with, you know, Nash and Dwight Howard. Now this is going to be fun. Spoiler alert, it was not.

Starting point is 00:01:23 I was very careful and intentional in the way I put LeBron's head on the taller player and Bronny's head on the shorter player. Like, I mean, flawless, seamless Photoshop, Brian does not. You almost couldn't tell who it was. No, it does not come together by happenstance. I thought everything out. It is an interesting proposition as to whether or not Brony James is going to play some meaningful minutes for the Lakers next season. It's a question we will grapple with in a moment, Andy.

Starting point is 00:01:58 But first, speaking of other Jameses, the other one, the dad, it is one. it is one of these things that, you know, the NBA can't get away from questions about how games are officiated. Just it never can, it never will. One of the big problems, and it's something that we've discussed, because I really do think this has a material impact on how teams like the Lakers try to put together a postseason roster that makes sense. Is that, you know, the big complaint, the regular season is a completely different sport than the postseason. just based on how it's officiated. And for me, it makes a guy like Austin Reeves, for example, a different player. It's not something that he necessarily can't overcome.

Starting point is 00:02:46 You know, certainly Shea's managed to still get to the line and stuff like that. But for players like him who need that, it's part of their game to draw free throws and stuff like that, when the game changes radically, so does their, you know, kind of game. plan, so to speak. It's not insignificant. It may not be a perfect example with Austin just because in the past, Austin has gotten to the line during the playoffs more than he did during this particular series. And we talked about in a few podcasts where we examined Austin's playoffs, he was driving less. He was driving less than he has in previous playoffs, but he was also driving less than he did during the regular season. And how much.

Starting point is 00:03:33 of that was due to the toe that he was dealing with, how much of that was dealing with really good wing defenders, like, you know, the type that have often given Austin issues over the course of his career that he had seemed to figure out over the last, you know, couple months of the season. But, you know, things change in the playoffs, including the ability to scout players, you know, more. In five games against Jade McDaniels. and those guys is a different deal than, you know, what you get over the course of the regular season. But there is that, you know, and this is something, by the way, you talked about Shea. I mean, part of the reason Shea can keep doing this in the playoffs is because Shea is considerably better than Austin.

Starting point is 00:04:18 But, but, but there are those who feel like Shea is getting a completely different whistle. They think it in the regular season, but they especially think it in the postseason because it becomes a whistle that, nobody else is getting and on top of it like his fellow fundarians are allowed to defend in a way that it would that would be allowed not allowed against anybody but Shay or you know like I happen by the way I happen to disagree with that I think she gets the line I mean you break down and like people have done it like sort of defenders of Shay have done like if he's not even like leading the league and fouls per drive and all these other things it's just frustrating because he, I think, you know, he's one of these guys who doesn't absorb

Starting point is 00:05:09 he intentionally bounces off of contact, some of it to draw attention to the file, but some of it also to give himself space to actually get a shot up. And, you know, there's a whole separate conversation here about, you know, quote unquote ethical basketball or something like that, which I can get a little frustrated by. but like there's a lot going on with Shea. He is not James Harden standing there trying to do a rip through on every third possession to try to get himself to the line with no intention of making a shot. I have said many times that Shay, I don't, I think at this point he is at 26 too old to be

Starting point is 00:05:50 considered one of the young, you know, one of the rising young stars in the league. He's now officially in his prime. Just a regular star. He's the MVP. Right. But for the last few years leading up to where we are, said many times, Shea was one of my favorite young players in the league. Now, he's just one of my favorite in his prime players in the league. Contrast it, you just mentioned James Hardin. I have found James Hardin for a lot of his career. Basically, everything after OKC and leading up to the clippers where I can appreciate the way you can feel the work more with Hardin and how much he really has to

Starting point is 00:06:27 work to get a lot of this. So there's more grace. His time with the rockets and the nets, I will not deny the talent. I will not deny that he was an incredibly potent scorer. I found him flat out unpleasant to watch. Shea to me is really fun to watch. I respect the craft of what these guys are doing to draw files, the body control, the change of speeds, the handle, all this stuff. It's why I don't think you can, you should or should try to legislate some of this stuff. I don't know how you do it. Like if Jalen Brunson gets you on his back and can pull up and stop and make a shot, draw a file, like, what are you going to penalize him for that? Like that seems, but as and I, so I, I, I respect the craft. I respect what

Starting point is 00:07:15 Hardin's doing. I respect the difficulty of it. I've probably been over the course of his career, one of the bigger James Hardin defenders, at least when it comes to that kind of thing. And even I will tell you. I agree. It's a tough watch. Those, those teams were particularly tough. I do. The Clipper stuff, like, I just like when guys get old and you can start to sort of see where the, the experience and the knowledge can take the place of an erosion of some of the athletic skills. And you just see how smart, how technical, how, you know, a lot of people are. Speaking of old guys, LeBron's comments on this. Yeah. So, And we can carry some of this in the next segment.

Starting point is 00:07:58 But LeBron, in talking about this, he's like, there has to be something here that isn't what we got. You know, you want to have physicality. I love the physicality and all that kind of stuff. Here's what he said on the Mind the Game podcast. Very good booking for that show. First thing, you know, first thing I want to say is they're going to allow us to be as physical as it is. You have to give us a little time to prepare for it. and so Steve Nash, co-hosts,

Starting point is 00:08:26 like post-all-star break, talking about maybe a ramp up to this kind of physicality. So LeBron says, yeah, post-all-star break is 30 games or so left. So maybe like 12 or 15 games left in the regular season. Give us a month to prepare for it. Because it goes from zero to 100.

Starting point is 00:08:45 It goes from no body check, no hand-checking, no pushing off a guy to his spot, no rerouting guys at all for six and a half months or seven months, then two months straight have at it. Like straight up no holds barred. It's fun. I love it.

Starting point is 00:08:59 I don't have a problem with it. It's just a contrast of not being able to get into that flow. So is this a good idea for kind of bridging this gap? Well, I'll discuss it after the break because changing how games are officiated over the last 15, 20 games or something also has an effect on, you know, arguably the most important stretch of the season. We'll talk about it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Open Phone. If you're running a business, you know that every missed call is money left on the table.

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Starting point is 00:10:31 Open phone, no miss calls, no miss customers. So we'll get to this LeBron thing in a second. I just, I was, I had a funny moment today. I was, I'm in D.C. for a couple days and went to go visit the Lincoln Memorial. See some of America's great sites and a present. So if you've never been there on the on one of the walls, they have carved into the marble. Lincoln's second inaugural address, very famous speech that Lincoln gave one of his best. And I'm looking at this incredible moment in history, these incredibly profound words of beautiful speech that Lincoln gave,

Starting point is 00:11:10 especially considering the context. And in my brain, I'm thinking about the guy who did the Kobe statue and the typos that were carved into that thing or, you know, however they do things now. and just like the immense pressure like the Kobe guy got into a lot of trouble I would imagine for screwing this up and the Lakers gave him the wrong it was a disaster all around and I just couldn't get over the amount of pressure that goes into a wall of marble and getting this stuff right like no typos allowed with the entire speech but it just tells you how locked into the Lakers we are Andy that I go to this iconic play in American history and immediately am transported to typos in Kobe's statue. Look, as long as we're on that, I had a random thought yesterday or yesterday or today, the paces are in the finals, and obviously that features Miles Turner and the idea of if the Lakers had pulled the trigger on the deal that was widely reported on the table, if the Lakers have been willing to give up two firsts.

Starting point is 00:12:24 They could have gotten Miles Turner and Buddy Heel. That would have been the deal where they moved Russell Westbro. I could eventually turn into the one with D.Lo and Vando and Beasley. But I was thinking about this. I'm like, if the Lakers make that move, are the Pacers even in the finals right now? And I texted Tony East, the host of Locked on Pacers, with that question. and his response was no chance. In the meantime, if the Lakers do this,

Starting point is 00:12:57 maybe they solve the future with AD moving forward. You know, one of the things we both liked about the deal with Miles Turner and the Pacers was that AD and Miles Turner could play well together on both sides of the ball, but maybe they still make the deal, you know, AD for Luca. And then you have Lucas Center with Miles Turner, who may not be the perfect prototype center for Luca, but he's still a really good center. No, and now you're looking for just a really bouncy, like, power forward or something like that.

Starting point is 00:13:32 Like, you know, Turner can play with, you know, the idea was he's going to play with Anthony Davis, so he can certainly play with a different forward. The NBA is great like that, and we don't have to get too deep into it, but there's a really fun story on a silver screen role from Brian Toporick, I believe, is how you say his name. But it was all about how Jaron Jackson Jr.

Starting point is 00:13:54 Not making an all NBA team has like this ripple effect on his contract, which means he might, the Grizzlies might, there are so many of these like, you know, Butterfly effect moments in the NBA.

Starting point is 00:14:07 Like what if this hadn't happened or, you know, it was, was it, who was it the guy? You know, the Pacers, didn't the Pacers try to sign DeAndre Aiton?

Starting point is 00:14:18 And it didn't work? Like, didn't they put it like an offer sheet out to him or something like that? Somebody did. I don't remember if it was the paper. Right. But like somebody puts out an offer sheet that DeAndre ate. He'd be like hindsight 2020. Like, you know, it's just, it is amazing, you know, how many moments like that there are in sports, period.

Starting point is 00:14:37 But like with LeBron, like, do you, what do you think about this? I, I love this sort of concept of like, because you can't officiate. The game has to be the same. in the, you know, the, I think, in the regular season in the postseason, or at least close to it. But you certainly can't have, you can't have 82 games of this. You know, guys wouldn't make it their way through. I could deal with something dial back a little bit, but I think the, I'm in the minority there. I think most people, when the playoffs roll around, they want to see the kind of physicality

Starting point is 00:15:14 that is on display. I do. Most people do. And I get that. I don't have a problem with it. So if that's going to be the case and that's what people want, and you obviously can't do that for 82 games, I think what LeBron is talking about is a much better solution than how it's done now, where we're like he says,

Starting point is 00:15:32 they basically just flip a switch and all of a sudden you're allowed to hit people with steel chairs. Yeah, I mean, I understand where LeBron's coming from, and I think there might be a way to implement it. I think his suggestion is still too drastic, like in terms of the timing of it. I think like 12 to 15 games before the playoffs begin. A, I'm not sure you're giving yourself enough of a ramp up anyway, and it still could be pretty jarring.

Starting point is 00:15:59 But B, if you are, if it's that soon before the playoffs, it starts raising the question of why are you doing it one way for 70 games? And then for 12, you know what I mean? Like, sure. And the bigger issue there is like, okay, we start getting a lot more physical. which three stars every year are going to get hurt. I think there could be something to the idea of an incremental buildup, but I think it needs to be more incremental as opposed to the idea of,

Starting point is 00:16:32 okay, it's officially hitting season. Like I, because at that point, it's like a version of an NBA version of the purge. It's just, yes, very much so.

Starting point is 00:16:41 And like, you can't just, you can't just declare a day of physicality. Like, things start. looking to orchestrate it, you know, the NBA is a league that deals with too much blank is rigged anyway. Like I think the idea of, you know, treating this like hunting season or something just doesn't work. I think you could build it up incrementally. I think also just the league needs

Starting point is 00:17:06 to decide what type of basketball does it want to have. And if it likes physicality, then I think you need to have a league where somewhere between half to three quarters of the year, you know, year is pretty physical and players learn to adjust to it over time. Like, if that's what you want in the playoffs, I don't understand why you wouldn't want it during the regular season. Like, I know you want things ratcheted up to some degree for quote unquote playoff intensity, but at the same time, if that's something you find appealing. I think the context matters.

Starting point is 00:17:44 I think what is appealing about playoff basketball in late May. early June would be unappealing in November, December. I think, I think, I just think watching that over the course of the season where every game is a wrestling match, every game. I don't think every game is actually a wrestling match, but the point. Scoring goes down, scoring goes down considerably player movement, all this. I, you know, I think, I'll go back to my original thing. I think what would be best is to find some sort of millground where you have a

Starting point is 00:18:20 sure point. The scoring's really going down that much in the playoffs, to be perfectly honest. I think it does. I mean, I'll look, maybe I'm wrong. I mean, I see you certainly get certain games and sort of, you know, where it kind of pops off the charts. But I feel like you get more. Teams are still, I mean, it go, here's the thing.

Starting point is 00:18:36 It goes down some in the playoffs, but going down in the playoffs, you're still talking about teams at the upper end averaging close to 120 points a game. It's more like, you know, middle of the pack starts getting to like mid-105s. Yeah, it's not like, and it's not like it was in the 90s where it's like, you know, you're rolling into fourth quarters and it's, you know, New York 78. Right. You know, it's three minutes left in the fourth and the bulls are beating the next. To some degree, you want scoring to go down a bit because it's supposed to get harder.

Starting point is 00:19:09 And also it goes down to some degree because guys are getting triggered. And you're playing better defense as all the time. Right. I mean, there are a lot, again, it's there a lot of. But I think it has to be incremental. For what LeBron's talking about, it needs to be a much more incremental build over the course of the season. It can't just be all of a sudden in April. You're allowed to start doing something that you couldn't do for the first 65 to 70 games.

Starting point is 00:19:32 Because I think it starts making the first 65 to 70 games in hindsight look kind of silly. Like guys really weren't allowed to play. Or I guess, like any of it. if you're concerned about injuries. Everybody understands the rule. Like, you know what? Guys are getting hurt during a period where you're apparently not allowed to touch anyone anyway. Guys are getting hurt constantly.

Starting point is 00:19:51 That's true. And baseball is like this to some degree. Like, you know, you build a roster and you manage a team and you do all that stuff for a 162 game season. And in a lot of ways, the first round of five game series, you know, the wild card's still three,

Starting point is 00:20:07 isn't it? Like, you know, some of these things are there one or whatever it is? I mean, which wildcourt? They play like two innings and then it's like a trivia contest. I'm not sure exactly how it's done. Feats of strength.

Starting point is 00:20:20 I forget every year. I honestly forget every year. But like, you know, just we'll go with five games, even seven games. Like that is a, it's a different sport in a lot of ways when you're managing and trying to,

Starting point is 00:20:34 you know, win three out of five or four out of seven. And it is when you're trying to build the best record over 162. games. Speaking of somebody who's trying to build the best record, Andy, it's not the greatest say, but it'll do. Brony James, can he contribute to the Lakers having a better record as soon as next season? It's next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by better help, and we should talk more about subject that doesn't get talked about nearly enough men's mental health. There's always a pressure for men to keep it together, to perform, to provide, to never show weakness. But the truth is,

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Starting point is 00:22:31 What is Brani's future? Is he expected to grow and take this next step? That is the question that was left. and perfect timing ECW and WWE because according to Sean Devaney from writing for I believe Athlon. Athlon, I think, was where this one popped up. Long time NBA writer. Yeah, he's been around for a long time.

Starting point is 00:22:55 He reported this from a Western Conference executive. It appears the Lakers are dead set. I'm pushing for Brony James to be part of the rotation next year. I don't think there's any doubt that's their plan. one Western Conference executive set. I know the guy gets a lot of grief because of who his dad is, but we've been to a lot of, we've seen a lot of tape on Brunney. And the fact is he was a lot better player in April than he was in October,

Starting point is 00:23:18 and definitely in July. He's 20 years old, the exec said. He had a whole year where his development was thrown all out of whack, referencing the heart problem at USC. But he can defend the perimeter and he showed he can shoot the three. There are some, by the way, people who would say, I agree with you that the reference there is the season at USC. there are some people that would say the reference could just as easily be his first three months with the Lakers and the way certain things were being handled.

Starting point is 00:23:45 Probably. But yes, I mean, that is not what he was talking about. It is not. But I'm saying it could be. I continue. If he can show that it wasn't a fluke, if he can start, if he's going to start getting 10, 15 minutes a night because the team is going to feel like they can trust him, I think he's going to do all that. He's going to be a regular for them next year. It's an interesting quote.

Starting point is 00:24:05 And like, it's again, it's an unnamed Western Conference executive and that can mean a lot of different things. But it's interesting because there's sort of two sentiments there that come through. The first is like the Lakers are going to sort of force the issue. And then there's some stuff in there about also, you know, Brani was actually pretty good in his development last year. where do you think it's possible that he plays like you said 10 to 15 minutes a night or that the Lakers just shoehorn him in even if he isn't quite there yet? I'd like to think they're not going to do that just because I don't think that's what's best for Brani and beyond how it could hurt his development if he's just thrust into a situation

Starting point is 00:24:58 that he's not ready for. The guy, as this Western Conference exec noted, the guy takes a ton of heat as it is, and that's while barely playing on an NBA stage, think about the heat he's going to take if it feels like he's out there because of external reasons as opposed to he's really benefiting the team. I mean, there was that big, you know, namely from Stephen A. Smith, you know, after that game that Brony played in,

Starting point is 00:25:28 Philadelphia, which the context of it was the Lakers did not have any guards. They needed to put someone in there. I had actually said in our podcast before the Philly game, don't be surprised at all if Brony plays. And he did. And it was a disaster. But people were treating this like it was, I thought this was really unfair, LeBron pushing for Brony to get on the court, which I am willing to bet a size.

Starting point is 00:25:58 amount of money and whatever one thinks of my reputation, that that was not the case at all. Now, the money is probably more important here. Well, to me, it is than my reputation. I'll tell you that much. It's way more. My reputation is what it is at this point. That's not buying much either. The money is fungible.

Starting point is 00:26:19 The money I can do something with. Reputation is what it is. That's true. There's no way that. Prime tables, you know, at their best restaurants. in L.A. But like, think about that whole circus and, you know, that led to LeBron having the court side

Starting point is 00:26:35 confrontation with Stephen A. And that whole news cycle. And that all came from this moment that was blown out of proportion regarding Brania. That was him playing one. It was like the first time he'd played in a game in like two months. It was a

Starting point is 00:26:52 in an instant and Reddick admitted it was a really bad idea. And so like But it was JJ's idea, not LeBron's. Right. Exactly. I just, I think, too, it's, I mean, look, if he comes in and he's going to play Summer League and he goes, has a great summer league, has a great training camp, it would be a spectacular development for the Lakers if he's able to provide 10 or 15 minutes a night next year. Whether they give it to him every night, you would like to think it could be one of those situations where you know what?

Starting point is 00:27:28 capable of doing it, we just don't have the space because we've got a great roster here and it's going to be, you know, but if he's got, if he's up to a level where he's like, you know what, this guy can play 10 minutes a night legitimately at the NBA level. That is both a huge thing for the Lakers and a tremendous win for a guy who is the 55th pick in the draft. I realize we all focus on who he is, but 55th picks either don't hit at all or they sometimes take a couple years. and he's only 20. So, like, there's still a lot of, and, you know, he showed last year, I think by the end of the year, he looked more comfortable. I'm not going to say he was great all the time and all that, but he was certainly more comfortable.

Starting point is 00:28:09 He looked more confident. He showed some capability. And in the G League, which is where he was supposed to be going and developing, he played pretty well for, you know, especially for somebody his age, averaged about 22 points a game, shot 44% from the floor, 38% from three, five rebounds a game, which is pretty good because he's three and a half feet tall, five and a half assists per game, it's almost two steals a game. Like, he showed he knows how to play. He's still very little. He's got long arms, but like at the NBA level, he's very short.

Starting point is 00:28:42 But it's, I think it's a reach to think that he, I agree, I don't think the Lakers will force it because just because of the opposite. I certainly hope not. if the Lakers are forced to put him on the floor for 15 minutes a night next year, I think it's much more likely it's because they didn't fill a hole or two or somebody's gotten hurt. Or it's the final season and they're really leaning into all elements of the retirement tour, I guess. Maybe. But I think the idea that he could grow into a player by, say, midseason next year that at least you feel comfortable with in a three, three-game stretch where an untraded Gabe Vincent is hurt and you need, you know, whatever,

Starting point is 00:29:29 I think that is actually possible. I can say it's bad, but, you know, I've got Brony on a three or a four-year development arc here. I think it's unfair to expect him to be able to contribute as a 20-year-old coming into this season. I don't think it's fair. So it would be exceeding expectations, at least for me, were he able to do that? Well, when you brought up that three to four year development, I, when this story came out, I thought about Max Christie.

Starting point is 00:29:58 And while I personally thought Max Christie was readier for regular minutes than Darwin Ham did. And, you know, I spent a lot of his rookie even season, but especially his second year saying this guy should be on the court or whatever. The consensus on Max was not formed until his third season. So to your point, and Max was also a second. round pick. And a young one, these things can take time. It's obviously premature to, you know, pencil, much less pen, Bronny for a spot in the rotation. If for no other reason, then we don't

Starting point is 00:30:36 even know who's going to be on the roster next year. And certainly, Brony did not, as much as I agree with you, that his G-League season, I think actually did move along pretty nicely. He certainly has not shown enough at the NBA. Oh, God, no. That you can think of him that way. But I will say this, beyond the usefulness that could be there just to have him be a rotation player, the one element he would bring to the table that this team desperately needs, even beyond youth, which they need a lot, athleticism.

Starting point is 00:31:11 Athleticism, for sure. This team. Especially on the perimeter. Right. This team lacks athletic, athletic, athletic. perimeter play and say what you will about brawny his like overall basketball skills his athleticism is actually one of the best on this team like the basketball skills may not be good enough that you can fully utilize that athleticism or there's not a lot there's not a good enough

Starting point is 00:31:36 shooter it's not whatever his athletic ability is high yeah it's very high i will say this and in and that brawny max and most second rounders who play when they're not expected to benefit from most people focus the the low expectations of like oh my god we got to play this guy when they don't suck it's like oh okay and like you tend to focus mostly on the three good plays out of the 10 or whatever and like if you go back in max's rookie year the actual net impacts of max playing were generally quite bad um but there was a lot you saw a lot of potentially. He looked like a player and so you get excited about him.

Starting point is 00:32:21 But he came into the league with no expectations. Brony, the level of resentment of that that was on him when he came in, he didn't get any of that. It was always look at the, you know, if he did three things that were good and two things that sucked, and he generally had more, especially early, more bad moments than good.

Starting point is 00:32:39 I'm not trying to sugarcoat how he played. I'm just saying he got none of that. And not, you know, and very little credit for doing well in G league. So I think, Step one for Brony is come back in Summer League and show you've gotten significantly better. For those who didn't know. Summer League last year. For those who didn't know, Brony is going to play in Summer League.

Starting point is 00:32:58 All right. It's an interesting conversation and one we will follow. And one of the big things this summer is the Lakers are going to need to find things like unexpected play from your draft pick from last year, whoever they pick at 55 this year. Stuff like that's going to have to go right for the Lakers for this season to get as far. as they would want. Lockdown Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 35,000 subscribers. Everyone have a great day. We'll see you tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Rotation Role on the Lakers for Bronny James? Plus, Could LeBron Fix Playoff Officiating?

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