Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Why Losing Reaves (Probably) for the Playoffs Complicates the Offseason

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers got bad news this week on the playoff front. Now they have to make some hard decisions about next year's roster. We'll break it down. 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 joining Locked on Lakers and Brian Kemenzky.

Starting point is 00:00:28 joined today by DeAndre Hawkins. You know him from Lakers Talk Daily every weekday at 11 a.m. I'm on ESPN LA's YouTube feed. You can also hear him on with Travis and DeMarco from 3 to 6 on weekday afternoons. Andy, of course, is still in mourning from the Luca and Austin News and just had to go. He's on walkabout. He's out of cell phone service. I believe he's just sort of sitting on a mountaintop, perhaps under a tree,

Starting point is 00:01:01 contemplating what the heck happened to the Lakers. and their playoff chances this year. It's just quite sad. Are we all being like A-K? Yeah, we're all being like A-K. We all need a moment of quiet contemplation. So, you know, on the big show for Monday, we talked a lot, DeAndre, about kind of the now.

Starting point is 00:01:29 Like, do the Lakers have a chance to pull an upset in the first round? you know, what exactly happened on Thursday? Was it preventable? Was this something that, you know, the training staff and JJ Reddick and the players should have seen coming? And, you know, was it just sort of sometimes bad bleep happens? And in this case, a lot of it all at once. I want to look, you know, for this show, though, a little more forward.

Starting point is 00:01:57 Like, what happens now? Because the Lakers, obviously, Luca's future, is secure with the Lakers, but they have to figure out how to build a team around him. And one of the huge things that they were trying to get some data on in this playoffs,

Starting point is 00:02:14 beyond let's try to make a deep run and I think we're going to win that first round series. You know, let's see what we can do against St. Antonio in the second round. Or we'll pull an upset. What about a Western Conference finals run? Like that was like legitimately on the table,

Starting point is 00:02:28 I think, for the Lakers. And now it is not. They're not going to get a lot of the information that they wanted to see, particularly with this Austin Reeves decision coming. What does a Luca Austin core look like? Can Austin be a good partner for Luca long term in the play? They're not going to get any of that data. It is not good.

Starting point is 00:02:54 Man, I mean, it sucks because now if they really want to go off of this Luca and Austin Reeves duo, they're probably going to have to go back into last year's first round match up against the Minnesota Timberwolves if they really want to get like a playoff type feel and see where they are at. The only thing that sucks is that Austin Rees has been a different player from last year to this year because early in the season he was putting up all-star numbers. He was holding it down when Luca Donchitz and LeBron James were in and out the lineup and LeBron James missed the first couple weeks of this season.

Starting point is 00:03:26 And you saw glimpses of how the duo looked early on this season. And so now you put that two together, and you try to figure out, okay, how can the rest of the roster looks? And if we do want to pay Austin Reeves that amount of money, because he's definitely going to, you know, test the free agent market and he's definitely going to see his value go up because a lot of teams are probably going to try to be in the Austin Reeves business. Only thing is now is that you know, knowing that Luca Donchich and knowing that

Starting point is 00:03:55 everything is primarily in his hands, the ball is always in his hands. And Osprey Reeves, where Luca Donchers likes that secondary ball handler. Lukey Donchers had that, you know, with Carrey Irving. I know Carrie Irving and, you know, Osiris are two totally different types of players and what they can do. But it still helps. But conceptually, there is some overlap, even if the style doesn't look exactly the same. Exactly.

Starting point is 00:04:18 And so they're able to, you know, play off of each other. And Osreys, if Luca Donchers is not getting it going or if he wants a little breather, you know, Osreves, they able to get into the mix and able to take guys off the drivel. and get to the free-thel line. He does things really, really well offensively to pair alongside with Luca Dantzich, realistically. Only thing is that I think it's going to hold the Lakers back is, can you add a defender like, like, Austria, as far as him not being that good of a defender?

Starting point is 00:04:48 But that's what the Lakers roster as a whole is going to come into play. And we understand that there's still any more 3-&D wing guys. They're going to need another big man, and they're going to try to add it more, you know, you know, I mean, the type of play style that they do want to acquire, I do believe it's going to be those two things that they want to look at. Guys, they're going to look at, guys that can run the lanes, a big man that is a little bit better than Dianjur Aidan. So, I mean, I think those are going to be the real eye test to see what the

Starting point is 00:05:18 Lakers can be. Yeah, and we'll talk a little bit about LeBron too in the back half of the show. But like, I think like you don't, there are going to be people like, Well, Austin keeps getting hurt. This is true. And, you know, because he was injured in last year's playoffs, too. And like the style with which Reeves plays is injury inducing. Like he is a player who seeks contact.

Starting point is 00:05:45 He plays, to his credit, plays very, very hard. And but like, you know, he's always trying to drive. Like he literally is always trying to draw contact. He takes an enormous amount of abuse. He's always being punched in the face, it seems like. He takes more punches to the face than like any all-star caliber player in the league. And, you know, all of these things are happening. And so you, he's not, he's also not 22.

Starting point is 00:06:14 You know, he's not 30 yet, but you're going to sign him into his age 30. It's like, you know, the health thing is reasonable to at least question. And then I know a lot of Lakers fans are looking at this like, well, the guy's never really proven himself on a really big stage. And so before Luca got hurt, the Lakers really would have liked to see a great first round from those two. And to see what happens in the second against a better. But like just a little bit more proof of concept.

Starting point is 00:06:46 Or once Luke is out, AR goes into that series as, you know, LeBron is going to be LeBron, but AR is going to have the ball on his hands from, most of that series because they've been operating so well with LeBron as an offball guy, getting it in positions to attack rather than being somebody who initiates the offense. That would have been a great sample. Now you've got to make these choices without that. And I think I know what they're going to do, but I think they're going to become less

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Starting point is 00:10:14 Like, yeah, there have been a couple of big moments where, like, against like the really good team, like big physical defenders can give him a lot of trouble. I think it's just going to be something that's true, you know, throughout the rest of his career. that said, like a Lou Dort or Amman Thompson, guys like that or Jay McDaniels. They kind of give everyone a lot of trouble, which is why they make

Starting point is 00:10:36 tens of million dollars every year. That's what they're doing. But that said, I don't see an alternative. The Lakers can't just burn another year sort of rebuilding around Luca. I mean, if you can trade Austin for that 3 and D wing that you were describing,

Starting point is 00:10:57 you know, Scotty Barnes, like perfect running mate for Luca. Great. That's not a choice. That's not a thing that's going to happen. And so with that in mind, I don't see really any alternative to the Lakers to just hold their breath

Starting point is 00:11:12 and pay Austin, you know, if not the maximum of what he's going to get, something pretty close. Because what's the alternative? Yeah. And honestly, you don't want to go into a moment where you don't have, of, you know, if Osiris does walk,

Starting point is 00:11:26 so the Lakers don't attend to sign him and he does walk. Then all of a sudden, like, he loads out in a guy who does have all-star value and it does not have, you don't have that, you know, co-star along Luca Donchich. And, you know, you don't want that. You want to try to make a decision if,

Starting point is 00:11:41 if you don't want to fully commit into giving Osiris that money, okay, try to find other scenarios into where you possibly assign and trade and things like that. You just don't want to let Ospreys just walk. Well, that would be a total disaster. Yeah, that would be a total disaster. But it's hard because, I mean, if you want to take a recent example into why the Lakers could be skeptical going in as far as giving Austin Reeves that contract extension is that we're seeing what Oklahoma City Thunder was able to do. And realistically, we go in.

Starting point is 00:12:12 That is what the Lakers want to get to. Their goal is to try to find ways and find complementary pieces to, you know, beat a team like Oklahoma City to compete with a team like the San Antonio Spurs who are going to be good for. a couple of years and um we see what osse rees was you know doing in that game and trying to come on a pick and roll yeah right and we see yeah we seen him trying to get off you know trying to get you know get in a pick and roll game and getting bumped and then you know trying to force you know into the pocket for diondraiden or lebron rolling to the basket turnovers and they're live by turnovers and so then like you'd start to get into that moment because osprey's great regular season and then as soon as the playoffs came

Starting point is 00:12:54 His numbers started getting down. He wasn't able to get to his right spots. And then we already know that the referees and as far as how they blow the whistle, calls get very, very limited. They start to let the players play through it. And so, you know, so things like that is, you know, Osiris does every single thing well offensively. But if you're going to pay someone that much amount of money,

Starting point is 00:13:15 you have to hit around your other complementary pieces. You've got to get more 3&D wing guys. You got to get a big man. You got to actually get a knockdown shooter, which I do believe I saw some recent reports that the Lakers are possibly going to try to bring back Luke Kinnard. Hopefully if they do do that, I think that's a good decision because he's proven that he can be a really solid role player for the Lakers. But the biggest question is like this, it sucks because I think that's what we were all looking forward to. Okay, now not only having our eyes, you know, open as far as, okay, they can potentially win a first round matchup if they get the right matchup.

Starting point is 00:13:51 Okay, now you look at it. If they can win the second round, cool. But if not, at least we know, we got to test and see how to do a lot. You go give San Antonio a really good. Like, San Antonio is really effing good. Like, you give them a really good series on the road. You know, you take that to six or seven or something like that. Like, you see the potential.

Starting point is 00:14:11 I'll tell you who else was, I think, looking forward to this opportunity for Austin. Was Austin? Like, you know, he is a hyper. competitive guy and he is very much aware of the conversation around him and the perceived flaws. But I just like, look, I wish there was a guy out there that you could go out and get that was, you know, clearly a better fit. I wish there was a guy who could, you know, be that three and the complementary offensive player, but also plays defense next to Luca. Austin is a willing defender, but he's going to always have certain shortcomings that he's just not going to be able to

Starting point is 00:14:51 overcome. It's not quite Canardian. Like, we saw on Sunday, like some of the downside of 39 minutes of Luke Conard, who I really like, and want them to bring back. I mean, Cooper Flagg was hunting for Conard.

Starting point is 00:15:07 And he's another guy who tries really hard, but like, it doesn't matter how hard Luke Canard tries. He's, canard's not a good defender. It just doesn't have the quicks and, you know, the lateral speed at the NBA level. I mean, he'd lock me down. same thing. But like, you know,

Starting point is 00:15:24 Peyton Watson would be great. They're going to have to, if you're going to pry Peyton Watson away from Denver, you're going to have to overpay him by a ton. You're going to have to give him close to a max. Denver's not going to let him go. They'll figure out a way to keep him. And then,

Starting point is 00:15:37 you know, from an injury standpoint, he's missed, you know, 40% of this season and he's young. So, I mean, there is no,

Starting point is 00:15:45 there are no, like, sure things out there anymore. The other question, and we, maybe don't have time to get, super deep into it. And I suspect this will be the last time anybody talks about it is the potential future for LeBron because things went from there is a zero percent chance that anybody wants

Starting point is 00:16:03 him to come back, including LeBron, to it might make the most sense for him to come back assuming the number is right. Like obviously he's not going to make 50 million. He's not going to make 50 million anywhere. But let's just say you come up with a good number. I'm thinking like exception money. given what we've seen, if the Lakers can, you know, you keep Austin, you fill in with that, you know, the cap space you have, probably not Peyton Watson, but you're bringing in as many guys as you can. And then sort of the icing there is LeBron. If everybody's like cool with what the role will look like and how this looks going forward and they don't pass up on other things to bring back LeBron, because you've got to build to the future. and LeBron's one more year, probably at the max. I don't object to that at this point.

Starting point is 00:16:55 Do you? I don't object to that either because we went in, you know, after the All-Star break, we're like, man, like, we really didn't like have that, that hype for a Lakers, meaning, we didn't think that they would actually correct those little things. We didn't actually, because we saw the things and numbers as far as how the trio was looking and how LeBron was better off on the floor when Luca Donchich and Austin Reeves were on the floor without him. They were awful.

Starting point is 00:17:24 They were awful. And then, you know, they got to jageretic needs to stagger their minutes. You need to see LeBron James start to get it implemented with the second core and then keep Austin and Luca Dant just on the court together. So we saw all those different types of things. And then, no, it was one moment we see LeBron James. You guys remember, they went in. They beat the Knicks.

Starting point is 00:17:45 They beat the Knicks. they beat the Timberwolves. And it was like, oh, this was without LeBron James on the basketball court. And LeBron James comes in that Bulls game. They win. Everyone's like, okay, let's see it against the Denver Nuggets. And I know the Lakers go out there and they beat the Denver Nuggets. And LeBron James' role was just, it was real smooth.

Starting point is 00:18:03 He only was averaging about 10 to 15 shots. But, you know, him not having to set the offense up, him able to play offball, which we always talk about it. He's been wanting to do that for a very, very long time. And we've seen it work. You don't just go 15 and 2 in the month of March. And the way they won those games, if it wasn't for him, you know, buying into his role, but other guys on his team buying into their role as well.

Starting point is 00:18:28 And we seen it. We thought it wasn't going to work because the numbers told us it wasn't going to work. And they seemed to figure out a way to actually make it work. In a way that like seems satisfying to everybody. Like LeBron doesn't feel like an afterthought. Like when they were going through what they were doing, LeBron didn't feel like an afterthought. He was integral to what they were doing.

Starting point is 00:18:51 He was very effective. And I think the tricky part will just be if you bring those three back, but you've also added two more, like another young piece, like some other little stuff around. Can you replicate that the same way and have these other guys be happy as well? We'll see. But it would be nice to have a problem of having too many good players as opposed to too few.

Starting point is 00:19:17 DeAndre Hawkins, you hear him on Lakers Talk Daily, 11 a.m. on ESPNLA's YouTube feed. Again, 3 to 6 on weekdays with Travis and DeMarco. So appreciative of you coming in and sitting in while Andy is in morning. And let's do this again under half of your circumstances. Any time, any time for you guys. I have no problem. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 3.

Starting point is 00:19:44 38,000 subscribers. Do check out the everyday air club. See if it's for you. It's in the show notes. Lockdownlakers.com. Lots of little goodies in there. You get the first month free with the code March. We'll see everybody next time.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Why Losing Reaves (Probably) for the Playoffs Complicates the Offseason

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