Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - The Lakers Hire a New (and Luka Dončić Approved!) Strength and Conditioning Coach

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

The Lakers have had a tremendous amount of turnover in their strength/training/sports medicine departments over the last decade. And once again, they have a new man in charge. This time, though, it's... a bigger deal than normal because 1) the hire—Jeremy Holsopple—is getting excellent reviews from smart people who know about this stuff around the league, and 2) because Holsopple was once a critical part of Luka's trusted circle in Dallas. By bringing him into the org, the Lakers are not only (hopefully) bringing expertise and stability, but also strengthening the bond with Luka. A wise move on multiple levels, and the type of thing the Lakers have historically done well. It was the dismissal of Holsopple that contributed to the souring of the relationship between Team Luka and the Mavs. Meanwhile, the Lakers have some folks at the end of the roster, not projected to be part of the rotation. Some of them, like Dalton Knecht, will watched carefully to see if they can break through and find regular minutes. Others... well, sometimes you have to remind folks they're still on the team. Namely Maxi Kleber, who didn't appear in a regular season game last season after arriving in the trade, making his debut in some bonkers minutes in Game 5 against the Wolves. There are many, many reasons to doubt Kleber's ability to contribute this yea for the Lakers, and there's a very good chance that his expiring deal (the only thing people talk about in relation to Kleber) is the most important thing about him in the 2025-26 season. But there's at least a possibility that Kleber can provide the Lakers backup center minutes when the matchups demand a player who is significantly different than Jaxson Hayes, the only other C on the roster after Deandre Ayton. It would certainly be a major boost were it to turn out that way.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers have a new strength and conditioning coach! SEGMENT 2: Improving on the margins?  SEGMENT 3: Kleber as a contributor? Rui as a sumo?  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first yearGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Wednesday, Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, the Lakers have a new strength and conditioning coach. I'll tell you why that is a big deal. 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 Lockdown Lakers.
Starting point is 00:00:30 First listen to every day Monday through Friday, no matter how where you get your podcast, this one's always free. never find a paywall locked on Lakers on YouTube where over 36,000 subscribers are all hanging out and getting excited, Andy, as fan bases usually do, about new strength
Starting point is 00:00:47 and conditioning coaches, because that's usually something that sets people on fire. They're so excited, but in this particular case, it's actually kind of a big deal and we'll explain why in a minute. We will get to that conversation we did not get to on Tuesday regarding
Starting point is 00:01:03 potential help for the Lakers in unexpected places, namely the back end of the roster. But first, I've got to tell you that today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Football season is around the corner. Visit the Fandual app today and start planning your futures bets now. So over the last, I don't know, 10 years or so, the strength and conditioning coach, the trainer, like the, This section of the Lakers basketball architecture has been a little bit like the defense against the dark arts teacher and Harry Potter.
Starting point is 00:01:44 Like there's a new one every year. Like they can't seem to hold on to the good people. Something seems to happen. There's been tremendous turnover in this part of the basketball building for the Lakers. But finally, Andy, the Lakers not only hope they've found somebody. that can lead them boldly into the future, they've found the guy that Luca would like for them to lead them boldly into the future. Yeah, his name, excuse me, is Jeremy Halsoppel.
Starting point is 00:02:16 I apologize if we are mispronouncing his last name. We're actually going to have Jeff Stott's, a very well-known and respected sports medicine expert on our show for Thursday. And that is, among other things, something we can clarify with Jeff Stott's. How do you actually say, Jeremy, But I could be wrong. I think it is, but I'm not 100% sure. What I do know is he was a former strength and conditioning coach with the Mavericks.
Starting point is 00:02:45 In 2021, he was recognized as the NBA's top strength and conditioning coach. He was with the Mavericks during the run that they had to the Western Conference finals with Luca and the run to the finals with Luca. he was fired shortly after that run to the finals in 2024, which coincided with or either coincided with or was sort of in the same time period of others within the organization that in particular, Luca had very good relationships with getting dismissed. It has been a well-documented source of tension between the Mavericks and team Luca that I think was among many things that from the Maverick side eventually led to the trade to the Lakers.
Starting point is 00:03:38 But this has been thus far treated by a lot of people who follow this stuff very closely as a very, very good get for the Lakers beyond just the relationship between Luca and Halzoppel, which, to be clear, matters as well. Yeah, I mean, look, your star players are always going to have their own guys. They're going to have their own strength and conditioning team. They're going to have, but you know, you want to be able to have people integrated into the organization. And you certainly want, you know, the in-house team, so to speak, to be somebody that your best players are comfortable working with. And, you know, I see, you know, one of the comments we'll get to here in a second, you know,
Starting point is 00:04:28 gets to maybe why Dallas let him go, there was the idea, excuse me, that the Mavs believed that, you know, Hulsopel and, you know, the rest of that sort of team that was around Luca kind of enabled him as dad of three points out. Luca got fat on this guy's watch. Why are the Lakers hiring him?
Starting point is 00:04:49 I'm not totally sure that's a fair and accurate assessment of Luca. But, you know, it is reasonable to say, like these questions about fitness aren't. knew and this was a guy who was with and around Luca for a lot of that time. I think, you know, okay, I don't know if a different trainer would have made a difference there or not. I mean, they let him go and like last year was the last part of in Dallas and it really didn't work and people weren't happy with his conditioning and there was a lot of belief that the Mavs and Luca's team were at odds as.
Starting point is 00:05:28 to how fast he should come back from that calf injury, as we have seen with. Again, another source of tension. Yes. Team Luca and the Mavericks. And this was very specific under the new slash current ownership and during Eco Harrison era. Like this growing tension between the people that Luca is comfortable with and the people that the Mavericks were uncomfortable with. and you know it's it's one of those things too where like especially now you look at the
Starting point is 00:06:01 the haliburton injury and you know and then dame lillard and all these other guys who are you know hurt themselves torn you know we've suffered Achilles injuries after strained calves like you you got to take this stuff seriously and pushing a player back from that is going to um it's going to create create some tension. I think it's there. But like, I am willing to take the word of people who know better than me. Again, we're going to talk tomorrow and get a little more background on what this means,
Starting point is 00:06:37 on what Lucas Fitness regime means, like all of these things. And that with Jeff Stotz. But I will take the word of people who talk about this as winning on the margins. And the importance of the Lakers do. stuff like this, hiring the best, you know, infrastructure, getting the best infrastructure around their basketball department, the best trainers, the best nutrition guys, the best like, these are things that should be commonplace for a team like the Lakers. And I think if you're looking for where they're going to improve in the Mark Walter era,
Starting point is 00:07:23 it's in this sort of space. Like I'm not saying this is a Mark Walter hire. This is a classic Lakers hire of, let's go get the team that makes our star player comfortable. Let's show that good faith to the guy who just inked on the first day that he was able that we're going to get him, you know, put back in place the support system inside the organization that he likes and that he appreciates.
Starting point is 00:07:52 And these are things that the Lakers in the past did with Kobe. They've done this with LeBron. Like, as you mentioned before, these are things that happen around the league. Like, it is something that the Lakers are doing for Luca, and that's great. But it's not like, it's not a team, for lack of a better way of putting it, kissing a superstar's ass in a way that other teams wouldn't do. But, like, I agree with you. But like I want to see the Lakers do more of this, build out their nutrition, build out their, you know, sleep specialists.
Starting point is 00:08:30 Like all of these things, these little things that you can do if you're a team with money that you can spend in places that can't be spent on players because there is a limit. It is a capped league. You can only do so much. But there is no limit to the nutritional infrastructure, or the fitness and, you know, strength and conditioning, the analytics department, the basketball ops department,
Starting point is 00:08:58 the guys who, you know, they should have the best, you know, person who helps new players find, you know, an apartment or a house. To be fair, they've always been good at that. I was going to say that's one of the things that I believe Linda Rambis, among other things does, and by all accounts, very good at it. just in the interest of fairness because Lord knows the rambi have taken a lot of shots over the years. So like, but like all of these things, these sort of architectural things, um, that's what they should excel at.
Starting point is 00:09:32 And to some degree, I see this as, as a reflection of that push. They've, they've nothing else. They've got to stop the turnover in the, uh, strength and conditioning department. They just have to. Where have you gone? Gunner Peterson. Jeez. I mean, I remember.
Starting point is 00:09:47 That was that by the way and I'm not saying that Gunner Peterson was just like some superstar influencer or something like that like I mean he had credentials and whatever but when they brought in Gunner Peterson aka trainer to the Kardashians trainer to the stars even with his credentials that everybody agreed upon that was the most lakery the jokes write them Oh, my God. All right. But let's talk about, excuse me, a little bit more about that. And we'll get into this question of dudes hiding out at the back of the roster that might be able to help the Lakers this year.
Starting point is 00:10:28 We'll get to all of the next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul, August 26, coming up at the end of the month. It is officially Fandual Futures Day, a brand new holiday for football fans who live for the bold prediction and preseason hunches business. in just for just 24 hours on the 26th. Fan duel is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you're calling your MVP, eyeing a long shot division winner, or ready to crown your Super Bowl champ
Starting point is 00:11:00 before week one even kicks off, this is your moment. You can take a flyer on the MVP race right now. I feel like it's going to be Lamar Jackson. It's just a traveling MVP trophy going back and forth between him and Josh Allen. Dark Horse candidate could be C.J. Stroud if you believe in a third year bounceback.
Starting point is 00:11:17 You could also crown your champion in August, I actually think this is going to be the year. Buffalo finally breaks through and wins a Super Bowl. Either way, you can visit the Fandul app today and start planning your futures bets now because Futures Day is one day and one day only, August 26. Fandul, play your game. So, Andy, it's been interesting to respond to a lot of the comments. We've been talking about Dalton Connect for a couple days. And in the content, Certainly in my deep concern over Dalton's progress from last year to this year, over what was a very poor summer league and some of, I feel like just this kind of mounting evidence that it's not going as well with Dalton as the Lakers would want. I'm not writing him off.
Starting point is 00:12:14 I'm not calling him a bust. I'm not saying he can't contribute this year. But to that point, we mentioned earlier in the week, Yovan Buhha, who just, now is a solo artist, the solo artist known as Yovon. He did a podcast with Tim underscore NBA, Cranjus McBasketball, the guy at Lakers Exceptionals and Pod, two really smart dudes. They did a minutes breakdown of the projected rotation. And there were some discrepancies in who had this money minutes. like Gabe Vincent's going to get 10, is he going to get 15, whatever it is.
Starting point is 00:12:51 But a commonality there was in their groups of starters and backups, regular rotation guys. Dalton wasn't in it. And I don't think that was inaccurate. So that means if Dalton does elevate and play to the level that there's certainly Lakers hope he can, that is found money for the Lakers in terms of their rotation this year. That improves them in significant ways.
Starting point is 00:13:21 I am not rooting against Dalton Connect. I'm very much, Andy, rooting for Dalton because him being really good has a huge effect on the team. Absolutely. I mean, again, like I said before, I understand all of the concerns about Dalton. I've shared many of them. I do think that some of the criticisms of him or, frankly, judgments about him as a player in his progress, I don't agree. I don't disagree with the conclusions, like on their face.
Starting point is 00:13:53 I disagree in some respects with context that I think is being ignored with him or overlooked. But either way, though, they are going to, it would be, it would be big for Dalton to resurface in training camp in the beginning of the season, looking like the guy, the first couple months of the season, who, for a little bit, bit was in the starting lineup and was making a difficult case for JJ to take him out. I don't think he'll be in the starting lineup this coming season regardless, just because if you're going to take Rui out of the starting lineup, one of last year's starters, it needs to be for somebody who brings different skill sets than Rui or frankly, Dalton. But Dalton being in the rotation as a reliable source of production and shooting and scoring and if nothing else, passable defense would be very big for this team.
Starting point is 00:14:53 Along those lines, too, we talked about Brony James, somebody I do not expect to be part of the regular rotation, but he's improved enough. He's shown enough that, you know, we mentioned on Tuesday the comments from Lakers assistant Nate McMillan about, you know, the possibility of Brony earning rotation minutes at some point this season. I do think there will be a you know, because of attrition, the guys get hurt. I do think there's going to be a seven or eight game stretch this year where they're going to need Bronny to play.
Starting point is 00:15:24 But that's different than, and I think we'll actually allow him to try to do it as opposed to last year, where the only time he played in a game in between, let's make some history and the end of the season, really, was total garbage time or the disaster in the Phoenix game.
Starting point is 00:15:47 Like I do, I think there's going to be here. Yeah, I'm sorry, Philadelphia, thank you. I do think there's going to be a stretch this year where they are going to need LeBron, or need Brony, I guess,
Starting point is 00:15:58 also LeBron, to play minutes and we'll give him an opportunity to do that. That's different, though, than being in the rotation. One guy that we never talk about, I mean never. Never. Is,
Starting point is 00:16:14 he looks today like he could snap an oak tree in half. Like if you need somebody, I saw somebody mention that he looks like he could, he's ready to storm the walls at Troy or something like that. Maxi Claiba is yoked. He's doing windmill dunks, so he's clearly healthy. It's been a minute since Claiba was even just
Starting point is 00:16:44 healthy enough to be a consistent and reasonably high-end contributor on a good team. Like, we're a few seasons away from, I think he finished like 10th once in a six-man voting or something. Like, we're a few seasons away from that. But it's not like the backup center position for the Lakers is like in, like, lockdown right now by anybody else on the roster. There is space there and everybody is forgetting about Maxi. Dude, every time we ever talk about Backup Center minutes on this team,
Starting point is 00:17:22 and you and I cover this team five days a week for Locked on Lakers, I host Lakers Talk weekly for 710 ESPN in Los Angeles. We talk an awful lot of Lakers. We talk a lot about Backup Center. We both are as guilty as frankly, everybody, who covers this team, who talks about this team, of forgetting that Maxi Kleba is on this team unless we are talking about potential trades. And he's expiring $11 million contract or 14, whatever it is.
Starting point is 00:17:56 We remember that all the time. But you're right. Well, at least it was 11 last year. Like, you're right. We, you forget there's a human attached to that. Right. And you were referencing before that he's looking like jacked and he could storm Troy. like this is from Instagram
Starting point is 00:18:13 videos and photos that he recently put out. He's now on the Rise and Grine game like everyone else. He's been seeing a bunch of his teammates posting and he wants to get in on that. But what's funny about this too, beyond the fact that Maxi Cleba has a track record with
Starting point is 00:18:29 Luca as being a productive, not a standout, but a productive and useful NBA player during playoff runs and stuff like that, he is quite literally the last backup center that we saw JJ play at all. In game five, Jackson Hayes did not play.
Starting point is 00:18:52 Obviously, Alex Lenn did not play, and it made no sense for him to be on the active roster in the first place, but I digress. Maxi Claiba ended up getting not just minutes in game five. He got crunch time minutes in game five, which side note, Galaxy Brain bat bleep crazy stuff from Jake. I understood the first run. Like, you know what? Let's try it.
Starting point is 00:19:15 Like we've got to try something. I don't think I would have put back. But that piece of it aside, like the what the bleep, man, piece of it. J.J. trusted Maxie Kleba in that moment, despite needing a name tag with the rest of the guys on the court. He'd never practiced with them, much less played with them. There's clearly something that JJ.
Starting point is 00:19:41 sees in Maxi that he would be willing to put him on the floor in that critical moment. Like, I'm not saying that Maxi has, I'm not saying Maxi has this thing locked up, nor should he. I'm not saying he's going to play. I'm not even guaranteeing he's going to be on this roster past the deadline. I'm just saying he offers at least some track record. He's been injured the last couple years. But he has a track record, a completely different skill set than any center on this team. I think that's a big one. I will say, I think the thing that he saw in Maxi, first and foremost, was that he wasn't Jackson-A's. Sure, but he could have had gone also. I don't think it was some sort of innate thing. I think it was just you're big and you're not
Starting point is 00:20:26 that guy and we need to try anything. Of course, but these are still the same options on the team now. I mean, whether he saw something, I mean, it doesn't matter if he saw him as an A-plus option or a D-plus option. The options are the same guys. Nobody's changed other than DeAndre Aiton as the obvious starter. But if you're going to go in backup center minutes that don't just go to LeBron or Rui, like it's either Maxie or Hayes. And we always forget that Maxie's on the team, despite the fact this is actually a pressing need for the team. I will give you the case against Maxi after the break.
Starting point is 00:21:07 And then I'll tell you, though, why all of the things. things that I'm about to tell you in the case against Maxi, it's okay. And I'll explain that next. I will give you a list of things that make me skeptical. Maxi, I know one of these is a, you know, there's some COVID in here in shortened seasons, but 50 games, 59 games, 37 games, 43 games, uh, 34 games. That's him since 2019, 2020 when Maxi played 74 games for Dallas, starting 21 of them. So that is, that's one thing. Claiba will be turning 34 in January.
Starting point is 00:21:59 So he's getting a little older. It's been a few seasons since he's been productive and he is older now than he used to be. From a, from a productivity standpoint, there was that, that moment where he thought, okay, we really have found a stretch big here in Dallas. In 2019, 2020, he was 37% from three-point range on, excuse me, decent volume over four shots a game. And then the next year was 41%. That was the high watermark.
Starting point is 00:22:36 He has not cracked, you know, without rounding up, he's not cracked 35% since then. So it's- Jackson Hayes, by the way, there's video, him now taking three. So maybe he's the Maxiclaba we needed but didn't know that we had. Maybe. Maxi is obviously the raw numbers go down when you play less, you know, your minutes go down and things like that. But his rebounding rates and all these, like they have gone down significantly since, you know,
Starting point is 00:23:09 his best seasons in Dallas. So like the statistical production has dropped off meaningfully in a lot of. lot of different categories, although the defensive numbers have stayed relatively consistent. But the reason that this is worth noting, but not worth dwelling on, is because of what you said it before, Andy, like nobody remembers that he's on the team, let alone put him in a position where the Lakers are counting on a bounceback season from Maxi Claiba. in the way that they were counting on, you know, Jackson Hayes to really, you know, ball out for them and give them an opportunity to bolster that center position before they,
Starting point is 00:23:58 they managed to get DeAndre 8. Like, if Dalton Connect has found money, Maxi Claiba is like found treasure, like not even the couch cushion stuff. This is like, excuse me, you get a letter in the mail that your uncle has died. and he's left you, you know, a small fortune. And it's real. It's not like a, I was going to say, it's the email from the Nigerian prince. But in this case, it really is a Nigerian prince.
Starting point is 00:24:29 And he turns out you didn't realize that you were, right. You were somehow related to one of these guys. And you just didn't know. Like if he turns out to be able to give them quality minutes over the course of the season, filling a very different role than Jackson Hayes on nights where you need a little bit more of a stretch guy. Let's say he shoots 34, 35, 36 percent. But, you know, better ball mover a little bit. You know, just it's a different skill set than what Hayes is bringing.
Starting point is 00:25:01 And if he manages to be able to give that to you, that is a piece of your rotation that you were absolutely not counting on before. and, you know, bolsters your depth. Our friend Nick Engstatt at Locked on Mavs, you know, has a running joke about this in terms of, you know, people relying on Maxi Claybet. It'll be, we're just waiting for Maxi to get like, this is a running thing at Locked on Mavs. But big difference between relying on a guy to play a big role in your rotation
Starting point is 00:25:34 and being like, you know what? If he can give us every, you know, two out of five games when he's, needed a quality 12 minutes because that's what the matchup calls for, huge boost. Yeah, absolutely. Again, if nothing else, it's just worth remembering and reminding that he's on the roster. Like there are occasionally there will be moments when you and I are even throwing out all the names of people and we forget that the dude is on the team other than when we come up with potential trade ideas, and then we remember that Clebe is there.
Starting point is 00:26:11 I think I saw, I forget who made it, Andy. I think I saw somebody, one of the NBA pundits put together, like a depth chart or like, you know, salary, like, and they left Claib off it. And I didn't notice. Like, yeah, it wasn't to me just going, what about Maxie? It was like, I didn't even see it. Yeah. Again, I just feel like beyond just going through all the possibilities of the roster, we should
Starting point is 00:26:36 just every now and then remind people that he is on the roster. Speaking of workouts, too, because again, Maxi's out there letting everybody know that he's in the lab. Rui doing a very different type of lab. He has been in Japan. He may be back now, I'm not sure, but working out with sumos. He has been posting photos of himself in Japan doing these workouts with different sumo wrestlers. Those of you be watching on YouTube, that's really. Rui in the middle.
Starting point is 00:27:07 Yeah. Rui, center. Thank you. Good to point that out. Rui there, second from the left. Good. I mean, it is important to clarify these things.
Starting point is 00:27:22 One of the, I was trying to figure out like the, and this is obviously speculation, like the, whatever could be directly useful from these sorts of workouts. I mean, obviously you think about just, increased strength and things like that, but how it could be applied.
Starting point is 00:27:40 And on a Lakers talk, one of the things that we, we landed on was the ability to improve boxing out and rebounding and things like that. Because if you learn to get your position with one of these sumos, that's even useful trying to get your position among the Nicola Yokic's of the world. You joke, maybe sort of, but I was going to say that the last time that we really saw a sumo NBA crossover was a few years ago. Remember when ESPN Sports Center, they used to do those sports science segments? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:20 And they had a segment where Kevin Love was boxing out a sumo wrestler. Like the, and they measure like the impact and all that other kinds of stuff. And it worked. You know, so, you know, that kind of base or whatever it is. that's the only time I've ever seen sumo and NBA crossover so that to me is the only possible correct answer there is boxing out its base, its balance. It's probably kind of fun. Like I think he was, you know, I'm not sure he's doing this every day.
Starting point is 00:28:55 But it was, it was pretty cool. Like it's fun to see like, and you know, it's half vacation photos. Obviously, Rui is from Japan. And so it's not, you know, I think people understand what I mean. It's like you're cataloging your offseason slash half. I'm in the lab videos slash. I think I wouldn't even surprise me a little bit of Rui thought he was poking a little bit of fun at all of these. Like everybody posts their workout videos.
Starting point is 00:29:25 Look what I'm doing kinds of things. All three of I think are valuable. So I'll take it. Yeah. It's cool too just when guys do creative. inventive things. Just because, to be honest, at this point, man, we've seen all the conventional rise and grind videos. Like we've, we've seen them all. We've seen you doing your workouts. We've seen you doing your on-the-court workouts. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate that you're
Starting point is 00:29:54 doing it. Some of these things that they do, like the windmill dunk that Kleba, we couldn't upload the video, but the video of him throwing down the windmill dunk, legitimately impressive. You know, Jackson Hayes putting together a string of threes. I don't think you'll be doing a new game, but nonetheless, cool stuff. But this is different. Like this is different. This is a little bit more fun. And again, I do think that there can be uses for this.
Starting point is 00:30:18 Like Rui is a, I think, a naturally strong guy. He is capable of being a physical player, particularly when it comes to punishing mismatches. But sometimes he doesn't fare well when he's the guy that. has to somehow get by when he's giving up some size and provide physicality in those type of situations. So I think there can be some benefit to this specific type of workout. There is all, you know, elite sumo wrestlers are truly elite athletes. And then as Red Orr points out, sumo is all about balance. Uh, a mercy or a roosti. I apologize for mispronouncing names. Excuse me. Balance. Uh,
Starting point is 00:31:05 aggressiveness, stand your ground, even when the opponent is bigger. There are, I mean, obviously, look, these are, again, finely tuned athletes. You can always learn a little bit crossing over, doing different kinds of workouts and different kinds of stuff. But we'll see. I am, I am, I think at this point, Ruy kind of is what he is on the defensive side. I disagree.
Starting point is 00:31:27 He's gotten better. He's actually gotten better. I know on the defensive side as a rebounder. I do not, you know, I think, you know, he's paid a lot more. attention to positioning, to attention to detail and all that kind of stuff, which are the things I think guys can improve on if they just, you know, with focus, a little more understanding, being more locked in and the mental approach. He has not at this point shown any inclination to somehow get better at rebounding. I think he's just that part I'm not super optimistic about.
Starting point is 00:31:59 I don't see these sumo workouts turning him into a better passer. possible. I mean, he's not going to make him worse. He's not going to average fewer assists because of this. I mean, the guys on the team, A.D. did this a few times when he was still with the Lakers. They love to point out the games where he has like three assists. I will, I'll close here. Our friend Patek, Chris, I was expecting this chat about Sumo to lead to a reference about former Lakers champion DJ Bengo,
Starting point is 00:32:27 who was a judo champion of some sort than, you know, Congo Cash, which was DJ's. nickname. I will close on this story. There was a, when DJ, who was one of my favorite players to cover, just a wonderful guy, great storyteller, super really bright guy, just, you know, this light experience that was fascinating to me.
Starting point is 00:32:49 Very. So there was a big earthquake one of these years in LA. And DJ, like a lot of players lived in like an apartment high rise or hotel or whatever it was, guys who weren't permanent residents.
Starting point is 00:33:03 He lived way up high. Earthquake happens, goes down, says like, you know, like, I went out of here, gets back and said, and in the concierge person at desk or whatever, you know, he finally started to get back to him. And the guy tells him about aftershocks. And so DJ, and he's like, I'm sorry, what? So DJ spent the next, he said, like five hours just driving around the city because he wasn't going back up to the top of his apartment. He was like, uh-uh, I'm not being up there if there are aftershocks.
Starting point is 00:33:44 Like he's like, F this, I'm driving around. It was one of my favorite DJ Banga Stories. And we'll close with that. Locked on Lackers on YouTube. Tacos. With over 36,000 subscribers. the station we'll see it uh to the channel we'll see everybody tomorrow

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