Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - What's Next for Rob Pelinka and the Lakers? Maybe a Trade for Andrew Wiggins?

Starting point is 00:00:01 Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked on Lakers for Thursday, Brian Komenetsky with special guest, Anthony Irwin. First night of the NBA draft is in the books. No big action for the Lakers, no surprise there. But one thing was made clear that definitely impacts the Lakers. We'll tell you what that is 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 Lakers. Locked on Lakers, first listen to every day Monday through Friday, no matter how where you get your podcast, this one's always free, never behind a paywall.

Starting point is 00:00:44 Locked on Lakers on YouTube is breaking hang out with over 35,000 subscribers to the channel, all of whom are wondering if the Lakers are going to get around to doing anything. Last year, they kind of didn't. I don't think there were necessarily huge expectations that they were going to get something done on the first night of the NBA draft, although I will discuss that with our special guest, Anthony Irwin, who was hopping on generously after. because Andy is away for the rest of the week.

Starting point is 00:01:13 So we actually, we talked about this. I popped on Anthony's show, the Lakers Lounge. Of course, you can read, what is your official title? With clutch points? With clutch points, yeah. Senior Lakers insider because I'm more. New Lakers, because I was going to get that wrong. You can see what he wrote about, Andrew Wiggins,

Starting point is 00:01:32 and you can read all this stuff at clutch points, but I was going to get your title wrong. But we hopped on the Lakers lounge earlier to talk about the draft. And one of the things you asked me that I thought was kind of both fascinating and surprising was like if I had expectations for this, like you were sort of hoping the Lakers would have solved a couple of their problems before we got to this point. So are you sad, mad, disappointed? I'm sad that I watched four hours of that, Brian.

Starting point is 00:02:04 I'm really sad that. Respondent. on on a night where the bear was was released i sat and watched four hours of kendrick perkins bungling kids names that's what i'm not you didn't have to do that you could have you know i was listening to podcasts and just checking twitter every once in a while we'll see what was going on like i figured somebody would ping me if the lakers did anything and if they didn't i really didn't need very close attention yeah i mean like all right so in and i guess a little bit more seriousness although i am a little annoyed at

Starting point is 00:02:36 has so many people that they can lean on. What? Why? But anyway, the part of this that, that I didn't, I didn't go in with like crazy expectations. I didn't think that the Lakers would solve anything on a night

Starting point is 00:02:56 where they don't have a draft pick in that first round. I did hope to like come away with a little bit of clarity on, on some of these situations. And I think we got. some of that in that, you know, Portland has too many centers. I would say Phoenix probably has too many centers. They do now. Yeah. They didn't, they didn't before, but they do now. Well, but maybe, maybe to your point a second ago, it might just be that, you know, centers are like teams are basically doing with the center position, what some teams do with the quarterback position, where it's like, we'll just

Starting point is 00:03:34 keep on taking quarterbacks till we find one. And if we have a backup there too, that also functions well, then even better. And I don't know. I'm curious what you think about that theory. Well, I think there's a lot of truth. At the very least, there is a, what was it, three or four years ago. It wasn't that long ago that, oh, everybody's, everybody's playing down. You want everybody on your team to be six, eight. Like, you know, like, you remember like in old, I think you can maybe be slightly older than you. So maybe you don't remember, but like an old Nintendo hockey, where you could choose the skinny guy, the middle guy, or the fat guy.

Starting point is 00:04:14 Like, and run out a lineup that way. And, you know, you mix it all up. Like the idealized NBA lineup became all the guys in the middle where everybody is 6'8. Yeah. And centers and size are deep out of piece. Oh, like, they're being played off the floor and this, that, whatever. I think that trend has officially ended. And you look at it.

Starting point is 00:04:32 Yeah. Teams are drafting for size and drafting for length again in ways that they weren't doing a couple years ago. Like I'm looking just at the draft and I'm counting one, two, three, four, five centers, six centers, five or six centers drafted in the first round. That's a lot. And, you know, another center, the only trade of note that involved a non-draftee was with the center. It was Mark Williams going from the Hornets to Phoenix, literally while the sons were drafting the kid from Duke. So, like, to say the least, they addressed their center problem. And Nick Richards is probably going, what did I do wrong? The sons were like a lot.

Starting point is 00:05:29 I mean, he didn't play very well. Maybe. Probably that, for starters. But, you know, like, there was a lot going on there with centers and you've seen teams trading for length and all this. Like, it is back. And that is, it probably complicates things a little bit for the Lakers. Although, like you say, there are going to maybe be a couple teams that have too many players

Starting point is 00:05:58 and might need to offload a little bit of size to make their rosters work. Well, especially expensive size. Like, as you were talking, it was kind of striking me, you know, with so many teams taking centers in the first round, that maybe that's part of the strategy here

Starting point is 00:06:15 is that essentially you want cost-controlled centers so that while they're figuring out and while you're learning about them and while you're essentially gathering data on whether this center is your long-term player at that position, that hopefully and ideally that player would be cheap. And, you know, so it makes me wonder what's going to happen with Aiton. It makes me wonder what's going to happen with Kessler because he's going to be expensive

Starting point is 00:06:47 after this season. It makes me wonder what's going to happen with any number of players of varying degrees and talents who are not going to be cost controlled moving forward because, you know, these teams and in this CBA, every dollar has to be so strictly spoken for that you don't have, you don't have time to basically second draft centers anymore. You have to draft them and then, and then use those few years to figure out what you got and then probably give them the boot and then do, you know, start the cycle all the way over again. You look at it in like, you know, Portland was one of those teams that drafted a center.

Starting point is 00:07:34 They took a kid from China who this will surprise no one. I've never heard of. But apparently, you know, all the reports they've been scouting. Like this is another thing. Maybe we'll save this for the next segment, but just as like a side note to why. And I don't know if I don't even know, totally the correct pronunciation. and young, Hanson, the kid they drafted is good or not, Hansen Young. I don't know if he's good.

Starting point is 00:08:05 But apparently Portland's been following him pretty closely for two years. And you know how you do that with human beings who traveled China who watch teams play. That's called a scouting department. And that's something the Lakers just really don't have in a meaningful way. And so, like, that's the kind of thing that they really ought to be building out. But now you look at their roster and DeAndre Aiton is there still. And, you know, 35 minutes, you talk about a guy who is an expensive player. The kid they just drafted.

Starting point is 00:08:41 Donovan Klingin was drafted last year. Robert Williams is still on that roster. Doop Reith is still on that roster. Now, I know centers may be back in vogue, Anthony, but that's probably too many. Five is probably too many. It reminds me of that one dude in your draft who takes like four or five quarterbacks. Right. And then after the draft, you know, group text is like, who's ready?

Starting point is 00:09:06 Who's ready? Who's ready? Who's got a running back for me, baby? It's not even one of those like quarterback super leagues where you can play two. Like you. Yeah. He's got like four Philip Rivers. He has Philip Rivers and half of his, half of the kids that he's birth.

Starting point is 00:09:21 Right. All right. Who's ready? Who's ready for who? Who's ready for business? And then the funny thing is that guy almost never finds the deal that he wants. No, of course not. Never.

Starting point is 00:09:32 And, you know, it's a tricky thing in the NBA. Like you drafting for need versus drafting for, you know, for sort of positionality in your roster. And the worst you are as a team, the harder that that job is. I will say this, just a quick perusal of Portland's roster really reinforces what I was saying before about this emphasis on size. they have two players. They've got like, you know, offseason roster. They've got like 36 people on it.

Starting point is 00:10:00 Two of them are shorter than 6.5. I think that's where the sport is heading. Yeah. One of them is Scoot and the other one is Drew Holiday. Yeah. Who's the space is way bigger? Everyone else is 6566, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6. Like, Portland is in a different universe.

Starting point is 00:10:19 This is, you know, we'll have to be two sidetracked, but this is why the New Orleans trade is so strange. Like Portland's not a garbage team, and they're going to have a terrible time getting to the playoffs next year, making that kind of leap. But they weren't even terrible last year until they shut everything down. After the break, let's dig into how this center thing might impact the Lakers. Anthony, who you are looking at.

Starting point is 00:10:44 Also, too, you've written about Andrew Wiggins as a possible trade target for the Lakers. So is that a good idea? And we'll break all that down next. But first, I'd tell you that Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Wayfair. There's nothing like stepping into your own outdoor space. Anthony likes to post photos and stuff like that of his outdoor spaces. And it's sort of like a little humble brag of all the cool little things he's got in his house because, you know, clutch points and the Lakers lounge and all that.

Starting point is 00:11:14 It's like, let's go to Wayfair and trick out my outdoor spaces. It's summertime. And that's where you can find Anthony, drinking fine wine in his outdoor space. They have everything you need. Conversations that. I don't know what a conversation set is. Outdoor bars, fire pits, hot tubs, gazebos, and even the perfect string lights to set the vibe. I will say, we have ordered outdoor furniture from Wayfair.

Starting point is 00:11:39 We've got some of the front. We've got some of the back. And I use that stuff all the time. It was really fast. It was really, really easy. We even had one thing where something broke during shipping, emailed them, and we just wanted them to send a little part, like just, hey, can you replace this little thing? They just sent us a whole new couch, basically.

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Starting point is 00:12:38 We had a long sort of debate in people back and forth in the comment section and stuff like that about Clint Capella and if all the Lakers could do this offseason is Clint Capella and I think he's at least a reasonable shot at signing with that taxpayer mid level, I think ultimately he'll probably cost more, but it's at least realistic. If all they could do is Clint Capella, a lot of people are, well, that sucks. He's kind of a backup and like, they need better than that. And that may be true, but it also may be the best you can do. And so you can't, it's not Hogwarts. You can't just conjure a center out of thin air. They may end up going into the season with a higher quality backup, but it's still light years better

Starting point is 00:13:25 of what they had last year. That's just maybe where they are. Here's my thing. If that's your reality, then you've got to start laying down the groundwork to eventually get yourself that center, or centers plural. So if you're basically saying,

Starting point is 00:13:41 all right, well, Capella is going to be our stop gap there. We're going to do this. We're going to do that. We know that we eventually need a center. Well, then what do you get,

Starting point is 00:13:48 are you going to move Rui to get some first round draft capital to get cost controlled centers? Are you going to, to make some cost-cutting moves so that you could maybe, instead of having your taxpayer mid-level exception, you are bringing in somebody using the full exception, which is worth almost triple of the taxpayer mid-level. I understand the whole cliche that Rob likes to lean on,

Starting point is 00:14:19 which is you can't buy a house that isn't for sale. Okay, that's fair. but you also eventually have to start plant. Like you did nobody, nobody is who is fed up with the housing market now. Um, and there's plenty of people fed up with the housing market now. But the people who are fed up with the housing market now,

Starting point is 00:14:42 you should put your angry about the fact that they're indoor spaces, outdoor spaces. But they're, but they're angry about like the lack of a path to eventually being able to buy a house. Right. Whereas the Lakers, some of the stuff is within their control. And I think, you know, because they essentially kept trying to tell Anthony Davis, you are a center.

Starting point is 00:15:04 We are not going to bring in a center who allows you to play power forward more frequently because they have basically disassociated themselves from the center position, even though center death was how they won a championship. Sure. Although I will say in fairness, Anthony Davis is a center. Yes. No, he's not wrong. Anthony Davis is a center. And like they're going to play, you know, you can't carry Anthony Davis and three centers. But you can carry Anthony Davis in something better than Jackson Hayes. There is no question.

Starting point is 00:15:34 You know. And that's where that's where I kind of arrive is like, I guess, I guess to me it's like you can't lay the groundwork for where we arrive now where centers really, really matter. Because the Lakers were the first team that showed center depth mattered when they won in 2019 and 2020. You can't, you can't lay out the groundwork for that prototype and then be shocked when the rest of the league is like, ooh, actually in a sport where size matters, we should maybe carry a few of the really, really big guys. These tall people are handy. Like, I agree with you. And is this, you know, again, talk about the impact of the sale.

Starting point is 00:16:17 And we did learn today, Wednesday afternoon, that it does look like it'll be third quarter, fourth quarter, like fiscal a year before this goes through. And so in the interim, you do wonder like how much change there will really be. Do some of these investments that we're all expecting start? But this is another place where a larger basketball ops department probably doesn't run into some of the same problems. A larger, more good brains, more, you know, guys plugging stuff into the to the to the, to the, spreadsheets and whatever because where the Lakers got themselves into trouble and couldn't extricate

Starting point is 00:16:58 themselves was because guys like Jackson Hayes all of them picked up their options they had no flexibility last year to even try to reshape their center position and do all this stuff because they had these players they were harder like they don't have the capital to use second like done that before like let's get rid of Marcassal it's just a second round pick whatever like you do that enough times and you run out of things to do to make it so you don't have camera outish on your roster anymore. And that was the box that they put themselves in. So I agree with you. Like, what do you do now to try to, you know, make your team as good as it can,

Starting point is 00:17:40 set yourself up to be able to fix as many of your problems as you can, if not now, over the course of the next year? And maybe to the next point, like maybe that's pivoting off of the center, quest because it's like we're going to either get one for our taxpayer mid-level or, I don't know, throw darts at veterans minimum guys until we find someone that works. Maybe we pivot to Andrew Wiggins. Like, is that a better idea and try to solve our defensive problems on the wing? I think it's a combination of all that stuff.

Starting point is 00:18:17 You know, I thought we had a really good conversation about the notion of overreacting to immediate need and ignoring value elsewhere on the market in so doing. And, you know, the Wiggins thing and the noise that has been kind of swirling around it would indicate that the Lakers are like, all right, look, everybody that we talk to knows that we desperately need a center and the only avenue that we can get to a playable center or a starting center next year that we feel good about is via trade. So everybody is asking for, you know, things that would make us a worse team even while we address that, that, that, that whole. And I think that, you know, that kind of self-awareness is valuable. I think it, it's, it's a honest conversation that I would hope

Starting point is 00:19:10 involve some looking in the mirror of like, all right, how do we arrive here? How do we avoid that happening again? But the, the thing that, the thing that, you know, with, um, the way that a lot of these teams are going about getting their centers or the way that they are prioritizing the center position is it's not just any one way. And they, you know, when they, when they acquire their centers, they do so without the rest of the league knowing that they need centers. And yeah, I think to me the big lesson from their inactivity on, on night one of this draft, which I can't believe we're doing the night one, night two thing of the draft,

Starting point is 00:19:52 but you're muted. But like the, I guess the lesson to me, again, for, you know, what feels like about a half of a decade now is the Lakers need to stop operating in a way

Starting point is 00:20:09 where the rest of the league knows they need to do something. Well, I agree with that. And I will say this, though, I don't know how you hide that. Yeah. Well, you build your roster better so that you don't.

Starting point is 00:20:23 No, I understand. I understand how you, I understand how you avoid the problem. But like this idea that the Lakers should, you know, like the Lakers are suffering because the entire league knows they need a center. I mean, they could pretend that they don't.

Starting point is 00:20:40 But it's like it's pretty clear that they do. They don't have one under contract. And the guys that they have the most access to, are inadequate, you know, whether it's Christian Coloco on a two-way, like, you know, who is, smart signing. But like, you can't rely on him for meaningful minutes. Jackson Hayes, you know, if he's your second or third, more likely, you know, a third center on your, me like, okay, that's fine.

Starting point is 00:21:08 He did okay last year. But we saw the problems with the playoffs. And like, there's no working around it. And then they try to trade for. one and then backed out of it. And I will see if that over time, if that was a good idea or not with the failed physical with Mark Williams. But I mean, I just, I, they, they can't hide this hole. Like it's, well, that's where it's really interesting with what the Blazers are doing and with what Brooklyn did. Because they are trying to hide the fact that everybody knows they need to move.

Starting point is 00:21:47 like the Blazers need to move one of their centers. You know, whether it's Aiton, whether it's Williams, you know, like they aren't moving Klingin. They obviously aren't moving young after they just drafted him. So those guys are there to stay. Reith maybe is movable, but it's most likely. I don't know. Yeah. I know he doesn't make a ton of money, but I don't know how long he's under contract or what it's for.

Starting point is 00:22:13 Like I guess like the rest of the league knows that they have to do that there. The Brooklyn Nets is another interesting example where they went into the first run of the draft and everybody that I talked to was like, yeah, of course they can't take, they can't use all of their first rounders tonight. Of course they won't do that. The Nets were like, oh yeah, we won't. You know, so I guess I guess it just depends also on how you sell it. And it, but is that smart? Like, and I wonder too, like, and I wonder too, like, and I wonder too if Brooklyn wanted to do that or if they just couldn't get enough people. people to be like, I think they probably thought we could use our five picks, we'll trade up. Like we could use our five picks. We'll trade back. Somebody's going to want to trade up into the first round with us. And maybe they just weren't getting the kind of action. I mean, it did look like they took, like I don't know if that kid they took from Israel is somebody that they can keep over there. Like there may be some. Yeah. Some wrinkles. Graft and stash isn't as much of a thing anymore. No. It seems like, you know, like the,

Starting point is 00:23:11 the Celtics took a guy from Spain that they right away like instantly said like, no, we are bringing him over. Yeah. But, you know, there's the, the, who took the kid from France, the center from France? That was, Minnesota ended up. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so the French guy playing behind Rudy Gobert.

Starting point is 00:23:32 I heard the interview with him. He said, you know, he's so excited to play with Rudy. He knows really like he's, I guess, the one guy in the league who likes Rudy. He hasn't played with him yet. But they're countrymen. So maybe that's part of it. Maybe just have to be from the same place as Rudy. But let's talk about Andrew Wiggins next because that is another one that is a potentially intriguing deal.

Starting point is 00:23:53 So we'll do that one next. Locked on Lakers, though, is also brought to you by Skims. When I found out that Skims was making underwear for men, Anthony, I was intrigued. I've heard so many people talking about the quality of skims, friends, family. I had to give it a try. And it lives up to the hype. I have always had issues with underwear, whether it's fit, comfort, finding the right style. I know this is a problem for you as well.

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Starting point is 00:25:17 menu that follows when you click on those podcast menus. So skims.com. I know people kind of, Andrew Wiggins is one of those guys, and I think this happens fairly frequently around the league, Anthony, where players go, like they have so much shine around them so much, and then they get kind of controversial, and then they feel sort of underwhelming. And then they just become kind of perennially underrated. Andrew Wiggins is not an all-star.

Starting point is 00:25:55 He is not ever going to live up to the Hall of Fame, like whatever, from when he was drafted. But he's really good, and he's very good at certain things the Lakers lack. Obviously, everything's price dependent, but the idea of the Lakers acquiring Wiggins to me is very, very intriguing and something that I would certainly explore. according your reporting that's what they've been doing yeah so i was asked about wiggins in a recent q and a in the lounge and um said that i knew that the lakers checked in on wiggins they asked about what his price might be that got aggregated um my bosses at clutch points were like hey if you do that again can you just like let us know um so i i checked back in on it and uh over the course of today, you know, found out that those conversations have kind of, you know, it's, it's like stages

Starting point is 00:26:56 with relationships with these kids now. And, and, you know, where it's like, yeah, we're talking or or we're hanging out or, you know, we're exchanging DMs. I don't know. I'm old. So I've been pretty, you know, steadfast. I don't do. I haven't done any of those things. I haven't done any of those things. Since 2004. Yeah. What's that? So, so, so yeah, I haven't done those things since 2004. So I. But anyway, in checking in on it, it turns out that the Lakers in the heat, they have gone back and forth on this. The heat like Rui quite a bit. And the heat are also looking to acquire one of the Lakers.

Starting point is 00:27:34 You know, they can either move 231 or 232, the first rounder from that year. So the heat are trying to get Rui and a first rounder. I personally wouldn't do that. I, you know, for me, it's like if you're going to trade Rui on an expiring contract, for another starter who has a player option at $30 million next year, I would say helping them with that expense should be enough, seeing as the two guys are comparable players. Ruby's a little younger, a little bigger.

Starting point is 00:28:08 So personally, based on the fact that the deal hasn't been made yet, I think the Lakers would agree with that sentiment. So that's where, to the extent that I can continue to say, that's where it seems like things have kind of been left off, whether they get picked back up or whatever remains to be seen. But to the point that we were making a second ago, Brian, about not letting the rest of the league know about the, or not just kind of giving yourself up to the fact that everybody knows what you need to do.

Starting point is 00:28:43 If the Lakers, everybody needs wings, always. That is something that even while centers become very, yes, yeah. You know, every team out there needs three and D wings specifically. Guys, you can knock down open shots, don't come up your offense, but also really help you defensively. And for the Lakers here, what it seems like they're doing is everybody is trying to take advantage of their desperation at the center position. And what they're doing instead is saying, you know what, fine. We know that eventually we're going to need a player like Andrew, Wiggins anyway. Let's just go out and get Andrew Wiggins instead. If it costs, you know,

Starting point is 00:29:21 like if it costs you roughly the same to get DeAndre Aton or Andrew Wiggins, who would you rather have? To me, I think I'd rather have Andrew Wiggins and it's not even close. Yeah. And the reasons are A, Wiggins is better at what he does than what, than, than, then, than Aiton is at what he does. Aiton is constantly hurt. And just as, and, and, and, just as critically built off that is in the last year of a deal. So if you give up a lot to get Aiton, and you almost definitionally would have to, if nothing else,

Starting point is 00:29:55 just to get to the 30-something million that Aiton makes and make the money work, you have to give up multiple pieces to do that. Now you're in a position where you have to make a decision about signing him long term. Do you want to put yourself in the D'Andre Aiton business? If I had to pick one guy that I thought I might need to be committed to long,

Starting point is 00:30:15 term, somebody who I thought would age, you know, into like you play their role and all this other stuff. There's no question it's Andrew Wiggins, you know, who is barely 30 or just turning 30, just finished his age 29 season. You know, so he's not super duper duper young. He's been in the league. It seems like forever at this point. But he's not old. And, you know, he's, I would much rather have Wiggins. I wouldn't even, you know, if Aiton is my other option, I would much rather have wiggins well it's also you know with wiggins he's already won a championship and he was a critical player on that championship team in golden state aton helped get the phoenix sons to a championship you know because at that time he was still setting screens at a high level he was

Starting point is 00:31:03 rolling hard to the basket he was focused on the small things now it's so funny because i feel like in a few years we'll be talking about dionre aton the way that that we're kind of talking about Andrew Wiggins right now. He is not as bad as, it's not the play I think can be rehabbed a little bit. I'm much more concerned about the contract and the injury industry. But I agree with you. He's another guy who's been ragged on to the point that you look at him.

Starting point is 00:31:29 And he's like, okay, he's got some holes. You know, he's not a great rim protector and, you know, attention to detail, not necessarily a strength. But he averaged like 14 and 10 last year. it's not like he was terrible. He's averaged a double double over the course of his career. And this is a guy who, you know, has motor questions about him. He's averaged 10 rebounds a season pretty consistently.

Starting point is 00:31:53 Now he's huge and that certainly helps. But the Lakers had a real big rebounding problem last year. So he would also address, you know, a hole here and there. Here's the thing, too. And this is a theory that I put out in the report that I wrote up, you know, today, which is if I'm the, Lakers and all of these teams are asking for everything, for every center that I, that I talked to them about, there's opportunity costs with those, with those teams if they

Starting point is 00:32:22 turn down a reasonable offer for their guy. So if I'm the Lakers and I say, you know what, I'm going to go to Miami. I'm going to talk to Pat Riley, who we have a, a longstanding relationship with. I'm going to talk to them and I'm going to be like, hey, they're asking for this and that and the other for a lesser player than Andrew Wiggins. What would it take to get Andrew Wiggins. And if Riley comes back and says it's a reasonable enough offer, then cool, we move forward that way. But it also lets those other teams know, hey, we are serious about identifying other issues on this roster. And we are willing to move off of these conversations. We're willing to push away from the table and not let you take advantage of our desperation here. I think there's also value in that.

Starting point is 00:33:04 Yeah, no question. I think you have to, you can't get so locked in to the to the, to the of greatest need that you use more capital, which they have very little, you use more capital, perhaps for a lesser quality player than you might to fill a slightly lesser need. The need on the wing is pretty strong. Well, the only, you know, we got Dorian Finney Smith, who is significantly older than people realize that he is. And played okay last year.

Starting point is 00:33:35 It wasn't that it was bad playoffs. But like, he did okay and he wasn't super healthy when they acquired him. and he never really got healthy over the course of the season. But he's much more suited at this point to be a backup. And he's not somebody that you can have chase around point guards and twos in addition to threes like Andrew Wiggins can. Andrew Wiggins can guard your best two, you know, if that's what you need them to do. Yeah. You're like, that's a pretty big hole that they've got.

Starting point is 00:34:06 And so you improve more by filling that with a better player than you were. by acquiring a lesser center, particularly if it costs you more to do it. So I 100% agree. Go get the best players that you can with what you have available and sort the rest out later. Because if you fill in enough holes, you can get by with a serviceable center who is a good offensive rebounder and sets a good screen. Or it gets above the rim. like fills two checkboxes for your Luca Donchich flow chart of things you want from the center.

Starting point is 00:34:43 Like maybe you get by. You used Dorian Finney Smith as an example a second ago. He was somebody who has been on the Lakers radar for years, plural. And as recently as last, not this most recent season that just ended, but the year before that, the Brooklyn Nets were asking for multiple first round picks for Doreen Phine Smith. And a year later, he goes for not even a first round pick. And, you know, I think that, you know, some of these teams that are, the Portland Trailblazers just experienced this with Anthony Simons,

Starting point is 00:35:15 where last year they, if you had, if you had any interest in Anthony Simons, it was going to cost you multiple first round picks. They had to give up. Yes. Two second round picks to get Drew Holiday in his place. So, yeah, I think, you know, there is some value in waiting this out and calling some teams bluffs and, and letting them face their, you know, the reality of what would happen if they don't move off of some of these guys

Starting point is 00:35:41 because you might be looking at, I don't think DeAndre Ait would ever be bought out. I don't think he would ever accept a buyout. But you might be looking at a reality where it's like right now, maybe in order to get DeAndre Aiton, last I heard, it was like Rui and a contract because I think Aiton makes about 30 something. 35. Yeah. So it was like Rui and. Aiton and you know, Shake or

Starting point is 00:36:11 Dalton or something like that and maybe a second rounder on top of it, that's where things stand right now. But if the Lakers call your bluff, you might wind up having to give up second round draft capital to move off of Aiton because everybody knows you need to you need to open up minutes for

Starting point is 00:36:27 Young and for Klingin and for William's a piece ever going to happen. Something is going to open up and I think this is, you know, we'll quit here but like the Lakers need activity. The Lakers need, you know, that there are now a couple teams that have too many bigs helps out the Lakers a little bit, that a couple teams might have to release veterans minimum type guys like a Joclondale like places, players like that where you just need

Starting point is 00:36:53 more, you need more supply in the pool, the more supply. It doesn't matter if the Lakers want that player or not. You just need guys in the pool to make it so who's there doesn't cost you a ton of money. The Drew Holiday thing, maybe that pulls, you know, when they, when they trade for Zengis, okay, maybe now Luke Cornett's not on the market anymore, but maybe somebody else pops on because of all the stuff we saw today. But they just, they need activity and they need to be very clever and opportunistic about how they jump into potential trades that other teams are making and try to maximize what they got. Anthony, thanks for coming on. Appreciate it. I liked it. One of the last

Starting point is 00:37:34 things that we talked about going into the draft was like don't get shot right was i think one of the they didn't get shot they didn't even they didn't even go to the play i think i think there was value in not being shot here because i would much rather be said even while it's kind of frustrating that the lakers still don't really have a center and that this wiggins thing is still up in the air i think the lakers were hoping also internally to get some clarity on lebron's contract situation before the draft happened that didn't happen either um i i even while some of those things can kind of annoy you and you're going to go, people or fans are going to go to bed tonight,

Starting point is 00:38:07 just kind of like punching their pillow a little bit. At least you're not the New Orleans Pelicans, who just traded away a unprotected 2006 first round pick when their prospects next season are banking on Zion Williams and being healthy. If they're a healthy team, they have a chance to be in the playoffs, but so do, by my count, 12 other teams in the Western Conference. It's not what I'm.

Starting point is 00:38:34 would have done. Lockdown Liquors on YouTube is where you're going to hang out with over 35,000 subscribers to the channel. Claire DeLoon will join the show tomorrow in Andy's absence. We'll see everyone then that button. There we go.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - What's Next for Rob Pelinka and the Lakers? Maybe a Trade for Andrew Wiggins?

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