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, 2026

In 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)
Starting point is 00:00:00 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. Do want to let everybody know that today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel.
Starting point is 00:00:42 Download right now, excuse me, new customers can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Head to fendual.com to get started. 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.
Starting point is 00:01:09 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?
Starting point is 00:01:34 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.
Starting point is 00:02:17 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.
Starting point is 00:02:49 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
Starting point is 00:03:08 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.
Starting point is 00:03:23 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.
Starting point is 00:03:42 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
Starting point is 00:04:24 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.
Starting point is 00:05:12 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.
Starting point is 00:05:36 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.
Starting point is 00:06:26 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.
Starting point is 00:07:08 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.
Starting point is 00:07:22 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.
Starting point is 00:07:57 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
Starting point is 00:08:29 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
Starting point is 00:08:45 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.
Starting point is 00:09:11 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.
Starting point is 00:09:43 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.
Starting point is 00:10:04 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.
Starting point is 00:10:24 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,
Starting point is 00:10:47 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. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul. The NBA playoffs are here where every possession matters. Every matchup magnified.
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Starting point is 00:13:13 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.
Starting point is 00:13:38 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.
Starting point is 00:14:00 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.
Starting point is 00:14:20 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.
Starting point is 00:14:47 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.
Starting point is 00:15:31 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.
Starting point is 00:16:01 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,
Starting point is 00:16:33 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,
Starting point is 00:17:01 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.
Starting point is 00:17:40 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
Starting point is 00:18:25 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.
Starting point is 00:19:00 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.
Starting point is 00:19:27 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.
Starting point is 00:19:48 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.
Starting point is 00:20:08 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
Starting point is 00:20:38 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
Starting point is 00:21:01 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
Starting point is 00:21:20 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.
Starting point is 00:22:18 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. Now, explain what I mean coming up next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Quo. Spring is a natural reset point. And if there's one thing that can quietly cost businesses money, it's messy communication missed calls, scattered text, no clear threat of who said what. That's why today's episode, brought to you by Quo, QUO, is the smarter way to run your business communications. Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3,000 reviews trusted by more than 90,000 businesses. It lets your entire team share one business number. so you never miss a call, text, or opportunity.
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Starting point is 00:24:07 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.
Starting point is 00:25:07 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
Starting point is 00:25:42 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.
Starting point is 00:26:16 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.
Starting point is 00:26:55 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.
Starting point is 00:27:18 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.
Starting point is 00:28:02 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,
Starting point is 00:28:46 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
Starting point is 00:29:20 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
Starting point is 00:30:00 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,
Starting point is 00:30:14 but they, like, they, I thought it might have been worth starting, uh, Vando, even though from a basketball standpoint, it actually been more,
Starting point is 00:30:21 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,
Starting point is 00:30:35 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.
Starting point is 00:30:51 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
Starting point is 00:31:11 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.
Starting point is 00:31:59 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.
Starting point is 00:32:21 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
Starting point is 00:32:55 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,
Starting point is 00:33:11 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
Starting point is 00:33:35 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
Starting point is 00:34:02 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
Starting point is 00:34:21 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.
Starting point is 00:34:48 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
Starting point is 00:35:31 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. Lockdown Liquors on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 38,000 subscribers to the channel. Do check out the Everyday Air Club and see if it is for you. It's all the information you need is in the show notes.
Starting point is 00:36:10 We'll see everyone next time.

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