Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Undermanned Lakers Throttled by Thunder... Can They Hold on to Home Court Advantage?
Episode Date: April 8, 2026In addition to the big names already out of the lineup, the Lakers entered Thursday's game against the NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder without LeBron James, Marcus Smart and Jaxson Hayes. It was a... situation where absolutely nothing had to give, and nothing did. Lakers lose 123-87. The big questions from this one aren't really about the game—players tried hard, but had basically no chance to win. The Lakers now fall behind Denver for the three-spot in the West, and have to find ways to win a game or two to keep Houston from passing them and losing home court advantage in the first round. In the end, it might not make a difference, but if the Lakers want to give themselves every opportunity to pull an upset, the four seed is a big deal. HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers are shorthanded, and lose big to OKC. SEGMENT 2: JJ looks for the right mix. SEGMENT 3: Trying to hold on to a top four seed. Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. QuoMake this the year where no opportunity - and no cutsomer - slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to http://Quo.com/lockedonnba. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBA BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast WayfairGet last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less.Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style. Every home. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game. 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
Discussion (0)
No surprise, an underman Lakers squad lose to the thunder, but are bigger problems brewing?
That's next.
You are Locked on Lakers.
Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts network, your team every day.
Thanks to everybody for joining Locked on Lakers.
I'm Brian Kaminetsky.
welcoming Andy Kaminetsky back on, you know, picked a great night to show up and talk Lakers.
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So we'll break down kind of a breakdown there for the Lakers.
They are down four starters plus Jackson A's.
No surprise.
They lose to Oklahoma City big at home on Tuesday night.
Bigger news there.
We'll talk about some injury reports.
Marcus Smart thought might play on Tuesday.
He did not.
JJ Reddick gave an update on him.
And then, of course, some tension on the bench in the first half
between Reddick and Jared Vanderbilt, which we'll talk about.
So first the game, Andy, from a score standpoint,
it was truly an episode where nothing had to give and it didn't.
But what did you see?
Was there anything that we can.
pull from that that might be useful for the Lakers as we finish up the regular season.
Yeah, I think there could be potentially a couple things, although it is funny.
They lost by 26, no, 36, if I'm doing the math correct on this.
And the line, I believe, heading into this game, last I heard was Thunder by 18.5,
which is a massive spread, much less the spread for the road team favored that way.
And the thunder nearly doubled it, assuming that's the correct spread or the last line or whatever.
So damn, this was decisive.
To your point, nothing really had to give.
But it's also important to remember that the thunder are still playing for a one seed.
They have been open about wanting they're also still playing in sort of an unspoken way to try.
and cement Chey Gilges Alexander as a back-to-back MVP.
And I think the biggest threat from him not winning it
because he's been considered, I think,
the wire-to-wire favorite this season
would be a last-minute surge by the Spurs.
The Spurs get the number one seed.
Victor Wemagnama then becomes, I think,
a very live possibility to win.
So there still is a lot on the line for the Thunder.
I'm not going to say they played with,
playoff intensity because that would be straight
bull bleep.
But they did treat the game
with enough seriousness
to make sure that
no, after maybe a quarter
and a half of reasonably
close play, it was like, no,
really, putting this thing away,
we are not leaving anything
even sort of the chance.
We are the much better team, even without
Jalen Williams. F out of
here if you think you're going to possibly pull an
upset. I think it was a
23 to 5 run at the end of the first half that, you know, kind of ended any.
Yeah.
And I know.
And I think there was intentionality behind that.
For sure.
Just to make sure to provide that context of despite the fact that the thunder were so heavily
favored and the Lakers were so undermanned, I do think there was a certain amount of
seriousness.
That being said, as far as potential positives from the game, the thing that stood out to me
most was nine assists against zero turnovers for Luke Kennard. It was another good game as a
facilitator on the heels of 11 assists versus just three turnovers versus Dallas. He set up the first
four baskets for the Lakers in this game after checking out halfway or three quarters of the
way, whatever it was through the first quarter. When he came back in, he immediately set up the, he set
Rui for if not back-to-back baskets because there was a sequence where he had three almost
consecutive scores. Two of the three were set up by Conard. So he did a really nice job of
playmaking. And I think that matters because even if Marcus Smart is healthy for the playoffs,
they're going to be at minimum at the start of the playoffs down Luca and down Reeves.
They need a third ball handler out there. And not just a ball handler.
or somebody that can actually help LeBron, help Marcus Smart make plays.
And these are some positive signs for Luke Kinnard in this role.
I'm not saying he can replace Luke.
I'm not saying he can replace Austin.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hot take artist there.
You're not saying Luke Kinnard's going to rise up to the level of either of those guys?
Because we're talking about three white boys, Brian.
Not all white boys are created equally in court.
But it is good, though, that he was able to do this.
There were some passes that, and I thought this mattered too.
There were some assist created off penetration and Knard getting into the paint.
Like, there were a lot of really good plays he made.
And again, every bit, even incrementally small bits the Lakers can do to try to make up in any way for the absences of Luca and Austin matters.
Well, I think in the game on Sunday, too.
I mean, obviously, Kinnard didn't shoot well, but he had 11 assists on Sunday, like he said.
The adjustment JJ made in this one was he didn't have Luke bring up and bring the ball up quite as much, which I think will help.
But they are, even when smart plays, we're getting a lot of Luke Kinnart.
And that's just how it's going to have to be because the offense just isn't going to function without it.
Like he is very capable, as we've seen since he arrived in, in LA, of doing more than just standing outside and hit three pointers.
Now, the downside to what I think is going to be 30 plus minutes of Knard in most of these games is, I mean, teams are going to, I mean, pick on doesn't even begin to describe what they're going to.
Did you see him defending Cooper Flagg?
And he was, I mean, Dallas was hunting him and Cooper Flag was hunting him.
There was less sort of hunting going on in this game.
But like, you know, but like when it comes to it, Oklahoma City,
you'd need to hunt.
Like it was, the food was on the table.
It was dressed.
It was prepared.
There was nothing to hunt.
It was a defensive buffet.
Right.
I mean, like, they were my friend, I have a friend who had a farm growing up and like it was
stocked with fish.
Like you could essentially reach into the.
pond and just pull one out.
That's kind of what this was, you know, for the for the thunder.
But when you get into the playoffs, like it's, they're going to have to just live with
Conard's defensive deficiencies because without his, you know, ball handling and shooting
and all that, it's been real difficult for them to generate points.
So I agree with you.
He's really shown that, that kind of complete, uh, offensive.
game and you'll have smart to be able to handle, you know, bring the ball up.
What they really don't want to do is put LeBron in a situation where he's got to not only
put up probably 35 a night for the Lakers to get through the first round, but also have to
bring up the ball to do it against a team like Houston that can put a lot of ball pressure
on of it. That is just, it is unsustainable and unfair. I realize we're talking about, I think,
the greatest NBA player of all time.
It is unfair to ask LeBron
to try to do that and
think you're going to get results
over the course of a series. Maybe you can
do it for a game, for a quarter, whatever.
Well, and it's also too
really quick. It's very clear
that, again, assuming
smart is back and you're talking about... By the way,
LeBron didn't play in this game, basically
maintenance on that foot. There's no
reason to burn any
of LeBron's energy
to try to win a game like this against the thunder
that they had no chance of winning.
Yeah, my hope, but it's that it's purely that as opposed to anything going on with
the foot at all.
And with LeBron, both are live possibilities.
But in either case, whether it's purely out of caution or pragmatism, yeah, he should not be playing in this game.
And they held smart out, I think, in part for this like, you know.
Or Jackson Hayes.
And Jackson Hayes.
Like anybody who's got dings right now, as JJ said, like, you're not, we're going to talk about seating.
here in a second because it does matter.
But like the first priority has to be making sure guys are healthy.
And smart Redick said is on track to play this week, meaning he'll play before the playoffs.
So get a game in, two games in, whatever it might be before the playoffs start.
But really quick, I was going to say it matters with Kinar being able to do this and especially
being able to bring the ball up because we've seen like under pressure Jake is a decent ball handler
for his position.
Can't do it.
He can't do that.
The experiment of brawny bringing up the ball does not work.
They're, you know, not against, not against elite teams.
Right, exactly.
I'm not taking a shot at Brony.
I'm saying he's not a candidate.
No, it works against second units, third units and stuff like that.
It's not going to work against Tari Eason.
I don't even know if it's going to work against Houston's second unit.
Like he's not really an option for this.
Kobe Buffkin's not an option.
Nick Smith is not an option.
We'll get into the Vando.
Ironically, all the guards, not an option.
Right.
I was going to say, we'll get into the Vando of it later in the show.
Also not an option.
Well, but I was going to say he's actually among the better ball handlers, I think, left at this point.
Well, it's all relative.
Let's talk about this next because the J.J. Vando relationship,
relationship doesn't seem great.
It never really did.
But what he potentially could offer versus, I think, what we might be getting is an
interesting one based on events from Tuesday nights.
We'll cover that next.
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Okay, so before we get to Vando, let's talk about this seating issue here because the Lakers are now a, now the fourth seed.
Denver has moved past them.
Theoretically, Lakers could catch them again.
If they finish in a tie, the Lakers would have the three seed over Denver because they own the tie breaker.
I don't think that's going to happen, but it's possible.
The bigger question now becomes whether or not the Lakers can hold on to the four seat and keep home court advantage.
for the first round.
And I don't know if that would be enough
to get them past almost surely the Rockets.
But if you want to try to win that series,
it certainly would help to open on your home floor
and have that extra game and whatever it might be.
For that to happen,
the Lakers need to find a way to win a game,
possibly two.
If they win two, they will almost,
I think, certainly be the four seed.
if they win one, they at least have a chance
because again, their lead,
they do own the tiebreaker over the rockets.
It's J.J. sort of downplayed it,
talked about seeding,
I mean, talked about health and all that kind of stuff,
which I totally understand.
They, they, keeping this foreseed is important.
There's only so much you can do.
Obviously, you can't risk smarts health,
LeBron's health, health, whatever.
But if you can find a way to hold on to this,
thing, maybe figure out how to beat Golden State, beat Utah in that last game, it would be
valuable.
Here's some of the things going for them, hopefully, and it does not help, obviously, that
the Rockets beat the Suns this evening.
They are going to play the Sixers who have something to play for, and then on the second
end of a back-to-back play the Wolf.
Houston will play those teams.
Yeah, Houston will play the Sixers second end of a back, and then the Wolf's second end of a back-to-
back. That game still may have implications for the wolves. Houston's going to be hosting both of
those games. The wolves are extremely banged up. None of this may matter. And then they play Memphis
who has one of the most insanely long injury lists right now. So it's not a great situation for the
Lakers right now. They could potentially catch a break with obviously they have Utah that's trying to
even outtank the Grizzlies in their last game. And
By the time they play Phoenix, there is a chance that Phoenix could be deadlocked into their seed.
They're pretty close to that right now.
And maybe they have some guys that could use resting on.
So maybe a little bit of pragmatism on Phoenix's side helps them out.
But right now, the odds don't look great.
I don't think they look impossible.
it is extremely important now that they have this tiebreaker.
Like without the tiebreaker, I would say it's over.
They're tied for people.
They finish Tuesday night tied in the lost column.
So if the Lakers finish tied with them and two wins or three wins, you know, two wins,
obviously three wins would would do it.
But that's a tall order with this group.
And then, but two wins means Houston would have to win out.
And, you know, you at least give yourself a shot with that.
So I mean, we'll see.
see what happens, but it's, it is not for nothing to try to hold on to this.
I realize a lot of Laker fans have, have sort of given up hope after the Reeves injury,
and I'm not going to sit here and lie and try to say that things are looking great,
but they at least give themselves, I think, a puncher's chance if they open up at home.
It's just a reminder that a lot of things are not going well for the Lakers right now.
March was such an incredible month.
April has sucked.
April's just like barely a week into it.
Yeah.
I mean,
these are the,
these are the April showers that hopefully bring some Mayflowers,
but right now it just feels like a flood.
It feels like a flood consuming Los Angeles.
So without getting into a debate about Jared Vanderbilt's ball handling act as a potential outlet there.
The defining moment of this game for, I think, Lakers fans, was after about Jared's fifth minute in the game, I believe this was late first quarter, or is it early second, I forget.
I'm not going to lie, I was paying super close attention to the timing of everything.
Right.
He, JJ said after the game, he called a timeout specifically to pull Vanderbilt from the floor.
Yeah, I've got the exact quotes if you want.
everything. Sure. I'll sort of just break it down and it was a confluence of things as he described it.
He had also, you know, had Banish Rui Hachamura earlier in the game, very clearly trying to take
guys who are more established and hold them to a very high standard in this game.
At the time out where Vando was pulled, instead of going to the bench, he walked over to the
coach, you know, where the coaches assemble on the Florida drop the next.
play and all that kind of stuff and started trying to start a conversation there there was another
moment a little bit later when everybody had moved back to the bench where he was clearly jawing
with with reddick uh Nate McMillan eventually intervened as JJ moved off and
McMillan kind of approached Vanderbilt I mean it's very clear Jared was hot and while redick
didn't exactly you know he didn't try to make a big deal out of it you know
normal interaction, all that kind of stuff.
He didn't get into detail of what it was,
and he didn't exactly go out of his way to support Vando.
And he was a great guy.
He's like, this is maybe the part of the quote
that's important about what he's expecting from players right now.
Yeah, let me read everything that JJ said.
When he was asked what led to that exchange between him and Vando,
as you know it, he used the phrase of a confluence of things a couple of times.
but then said, quote, again, nothing personal with him, normal stuff on my end.
I think for all of us being under man, we got a scrapping claw.
We got to be all in on the same page.
We got to be great teammates.
We got to all play hard, called a timeout to get him out of the game.
You know, he reacted.
But again, normal interaction for me.
He was then asked by Dan Wojke from the athletic.
What was Vando not doing that led to this?
And JJ said, quote, again, it was a confluence of things.
Dan then asked, and I thought this was also really revealing.
about sort of the emotional whiplash of, as he said,
the guys that are still healthy and playing,
having gone from thinking about a potentially good playoff run
to, as Dan put it, treading water.
And JJ said, quote, that's one way to look at it.
That's not the way I look at it.
It's my job to make sure.
And again, this is the way things started at.
I called an early time out because Rui didn't do his job.
And I took him out of the game.
We've got to find nine guys who are all in on us fighting
and willing to go out on a whatever metaphor.
you want to use. I don't want to use a more metaphor in this time. Whatever you've got to do
to be all in on the team. We'll find the nine guys. It's a great opportunity for us over the next
three games to find those guys. And there's a few things about this that I want to get into,
and we can get into it after the break as well. First of all, JJ's saying nothing personal
jumped out at me big time. Like it felt very much like that scene in the fugitive when the
detectives go to interview the
X-ray technician to
ask about Dr. Kimball, Harrison Ford's character,
and they asked the technician
who, by the way, had seen
Dr. Kimball, who was a fugitive on the run
right now. He went by the
hospital because he's trying to figure out
where to find the one-armed man who killed his wife.
But he visited this
technician. Spoiler alert.
Well, I haven't said what happened yet.
I have to be. This is established
at the beginning of the film that the one-armed
killed. I was planning on sitting down and watching that one for the first time after the show and now I can't because you
well again established in the first and and in the trailer and in the trailer shut up anyway so the technician
when asked about his relate you know having worked with dr. Kimball responds I haven't seen Dr. Kimball
to which the detective said that's not what I asked you and JJ having to note
nothing personal felt very much nobody asked you if this was personal jj um which i think stands out just
because jj in in my estimation i know the estimation of certainly fans but also some fans at least
and also some people who cover the team seems to have a lower tolerance for vando's either flaws or
mistakes he might make than other players on this team or just sort of the player that
Vando is flawed versus other flawed players.
That jumped out of me just in the sense that I didn't think that needed to be
clarified at all.
But there's another element of this that I think JJ needs to be careful in the way
he treats the next few games, in particular in the way he framed this and the why and all
of it.
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I understand, at least in theory, what JJ is talking about, just in terms of we are all going to have to ratchet up our level of play if we're going to, frankly, survive this period.
And you pointed out the importance of maintaining the foreseed, best case scenario, try to avoid the worst case scenario where it feels like everything is falling apart before you can even attempt the playoffs.
I understand all of that.
I also think, though, that this is a tense time for the players, too.
Like, they're going to be feeling a certain degree of pressure to try to, again, maintain this and try to keep a ship that all of a sudden feels like it went from, you know, cruising across the ocean, like a party boat, 100 miles an hour, and everybody's on the deck drinking margaritas to it's suddenly the Titanic.
and it just hit an iceberg and it's sinking.
I think JJ needs to be careful not to turn what are run-of-the-mill mistakes or omissions
or just things that happen in a basketball game and happen often with your stars,
happen with everybody into something bigger than it actually is.
And I thought it was interesting.
A lot of people know him on Twitter at B-ball Breakdown, Coach Nick.
He's been on, I don't remember if he's been on this show,
but he's been on other shows.
did. He isolated this on Twitter and said another angle of JJ very upset. You can hear him angrily calling
timeout only 16 seconds into the second quarter to Yank Vanderbilt. For what it's worth, it appeared
he ran the play correctly, setting a pin down for brawny cutting the corner. Calling timeout like
this seems intended to embarrass Vando. I'm sure JJ felt disrespected by Vando, but it's not the best
idea as a head coach to be so dismissive of a player who is clearly upset at being shown
up by calling timeout to pull him out of a game.
Why not sub them between quarters?
And look, obviously, Coach Nick is not, he knows basketball extremely well, but he's not
there to know exactly the play that's called, exactly what all the confluence of events were
leading up to JJ being this mad.
But I think his point about, is it worth showing up a guy like Vando, who already has
been in and out of the rotation and has.
felt a certain way about this, that you, that you very loudly yanked out of a, you know,
out of a rotation and, you know, second half last year in the playoffs, like all that stuff,
is it worth it? Is it, you know, Rui eventually re-entered the game? But J.J. was not just
yelling at Rui during the game. There was one point where the camera, I mean, the audio picked up
during the game, J.J. yelling at Rui, get the bleep over there. Like, I think he wanted him to move to
an opposite corner or something like that.
And then he was screaming at Rui after pulling him, like on the sideline.
We've talked before about JJ running hot.
And at times, I think losing some perspective of things going on.
And that's been at times a weakness for him.
I think it's just something he needs to be careful of.
I see what you're saying.
And by the way, it should be noted, Vando left without talking to reporters.
So we didn't hear from him after this game left the arena.
I understand what you're saying.
And I agree.
I think, you know, for example, with Rui, if they're going to win these series or give themselves
a chance to win the series, the mistakes that can be tolerated under normal circumstances
from a player like Rui, from a player like Vando can't be tolerated.
And like they need to change the mind frame, change the attention to detail and sort of not to get to sports cliche.
Lock in now.
Sure.
And so, you know, but he put Rui back in the game in part, I think, because Rui didn't stop to argue with him.
Also, I think he's got a better relationship with Rui.
I mean, it's when, you know, I don't think it's necessarily personal.
I mean, I understood what you're saying before.
like I've heard almost any time there's an argument between a player or coach
like some version of like it's not a personal thing it's just part of the game
wasn't a big deal the difference here is everybody knows that they don't have a
at the very I don't know how they think of each other as humans as professionally they don't
have a good relationship and that that's pretty clear doesn't seem like it and I think
It's also pretty clear that if the Lakers could have found a way to put Jared Vanderbilt on another team,
he would be on another team by now.
They can't.
And so he's still here.
You know, I don't know what the right answer is here.
I think Vando is one of these guys.
He's simultaneously a player that they're probably going to.
a need, but also, you know, a player that is a challenge.
I was thinking at the beginning of the game that I might have started Vando just as a sort of
sign of like appreciation or respect.
I understand from a lineup standpoint why it essentially started Drew Timmy instead.
And it did kind of pay off.
Timmy was red hot at the beginning, hit a bunch of
buckets until Oklahoma City was like, okay, somebody go guard headband guy. I'm not sure they knew who
he was, but guard the guy with the headband. The guy with the headband that's not Austin.
Not Austin Reeves, right. So no, no, no, the other white guy with a headband. No, they have two.
It's funny. They have a lot of them. I mean, Austin, actually, he was not wearing his headband
on the sideline in street clothes, which is semi-surprising. I actually would, I would love the
The commitment to the bit if Austin just wore his headband everywhere,
like to the grocery store,
yeah,
to the golf course,
just always wore his headband.
I would respect that.
I mean,
but they,
like,
they,
I thought it might have been worth starting,
uh,
Vando,
even though from a basketball standpoint,
it actually been more,
I do think it made more sense to start Timmy.
Sure.
It's just,
it's a bad,
it's a bad situation where I,
I think,
I am sympathetic to both sides.
I am sympathetic to sort of,
sort of your argument, which is
talking about this with Harrison
yesterday for Monday's
Tuesday's show. You know, he's
kind of in that
you know, because we have that debate about like
does JJ not play
his bench guys enough? They all think they suck.
They don't have competent. It's really a
conversation about does he play Jared Vanderbilt enough?
There's nobody else on the bench that anybody's like
why isn't he playing that guy more?
And so
I'm sympathetic to
some of those arguments, but I'm
also sympathetic to the idea that Jared Vanderbilt does an extremely flawed player and a challenge
to work around. And I hope the ultimately what I hope is the Lakers can find a way to find him
another home this offseason. Sure. Because it's just not a great, I think it's not a great idea
to bring him back for another year. But in the meantime, I think it would be helpful.
at the very least, if they can both figure out a way to kind of get the most out of it.
And, you know, Vando, I think probably it has to give a little bit.
JJ is going to have to give a little bit.
We'll see what it looks like with Smart in the lineup and with LeBron back.
But like they're going to need 15 minutes a night from Vando in the first round of playoffs.
But to me, what everything you're saying, I think is true.
And I'm sure they will look for potential opportunity.
to move Vando.
And even as somebody who I've made it pretty clear over the last couple of years,
I think J.J sees Vando's flaws as louder and more problematic than they actually are.
Whatever.
Philosophical difference on all this.
JJ's closer to all, whatever.
Like that to me is almost separate, though, from what I was talking about in how you handle this.
Because I'm willing to bet Vando was not the only guy that made some type of mistake during this game.
or that maybe could have hustled.
I mean, it's very hard to accuse Jared Vanderbilt
of not being a guy that plays hard.
Yeah, but again, he at least on the surface
was holding two of his veteran players to that standard.
One of whom did reenter the game and play
and the other one didn't.
Sure, but I mean, let me put it this way.
This is how my point being, like there are other guys,
when JJ was originally yelling at Rui
and then I rewound a couple times
watching the game in real time
and then I figured out that it was Rui
because Rui was on the bench,
I originally thought he was yelling at Aiton
because there was a play where
Chet Holmgren got past DeAndre Aiton
to end up getting, I think it was a dunk
like in transition, where Aiton was not getting back
quick enough. And I'm not saying this to pick on Aiton.
My point is there are other guys
throughout the course of any game who are going to make these type of mistakes or not move to
the right spot on the floor or whatever.
And you just want to make sure that you don't magnify this into something bigger than it
actually is just because, again, the mood of the team matters.
And if JJ has shown a weakness as a coach, and you and I both think he's grown as a coach,
we both think he's a good coach.
This is not me lobbying
doubt,
lobbying fans to have doubt about
JJ or lobbying the organization of doubt.
I think he's a good coach.
He can wear both his emotions
and especially his trust on his sleeve
very loudly.
And I just feel like there is a better way,
I think in this context,
knowing that these guys are also under a tremendous
amount of pressure trying to keep
this thing that is sinking afloat
just to survive, I don't know if you need to show up guys that way.
I don't think it's necessary.
It's fair.
And the flip side is if Vando gets pulled from the game, sits down,
and whatever, he probably plays another shift.
I mean, I don't have played a ton more because it's a 40-point game at one point.
But like, yeah.
And then it becomes a matter of like, are you actually insulting him by making him play?
But I just, it's, they don't have a good relationship.
It is not a basketball relationship that is that is that is that is is at all solid.
I don't you know, they need to find a way to get 15 to 20 minutes a night out of them,
or at least the possibility of 15 to 20 a night in the playoffs and then find a way to trade him
because it's just he's taking, he's taking up a roster spot that ultimately be better off used by someone else.
we'll see we'll see what happens later in the week who plays who doesn't who's available
who's not obviously that'll have a lot to do with um how vando gets used wouldn't shock me if
jj just gave them you know if all things going if things are going well if vando got 18 20
minutes in that game just to kind of diffuse the situation Thursday night against uh golden state
wouldn't shock me um but we'll see uh in the meantime lakers got to try to get
healthy and try to get ready for two important games at the end of the week.
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