Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Will Jarred Vanderbilt Stay in the Rotation? Can the Lakers Resurrect Dalton Knecht's Value?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Lakers fans have a fever. Is the only cure more Jared Vanderbilt? That's next. You are locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers first listen every day, Monday through Friday, sometimes on weekends,

Starting point is 00:00:28 no matter how, where you get your podcasts. This one is never, ever going to be locked behind a paywall. and it is part of the number one podcast network in this or any other known universe, no matter how or where you get your podcast, Spotify, Apple, maybe you're one of the 37,000-plus subscribers to the Lockdown Liquors YouTube channel. Andy and I, I'm Brian, he's Andy,

Starting point is 00:00:53 Kamenetsky brothers. We appreciate you guys checking in every day. A lot to cover in today's show, including Dalton Connect, getting some run with the South Bay Lakers. That's not good. And it will get you ready for games later in the week. But first, Andy, we do need to start with the player of the week.

Starting point is 00:01:15 The player on everyone's mind. Jared Vanderbilt. He obviously played a great game for the Lakers on Sunday. And it was one that a lot of Lakers fans had been clamoring for certain Lakers. podcasts, hosts have been clamoring for, and now the big question is what comes next? Because as we've talked about with Vando, Andy, it's not just Vando.

Starting point is 00:01:42 When you're talking Jared Vanderbilt, you're not just talking about Jared Vanderbilt. There's sort of a ripple effect of other things that you're talking about and the things about this Lakers team that you're trying to make better. So what comes next? Well, first I just wanted to mention because I had talked about in the post game, after the Phoenix win about how Vando's night 7.7 rebound sticks on the offensive glass, steals, blocks, just disruption all over the place that he finished plus seven for the night.

Starting point is 00:02:18 But I had a feeling that a lot of the overall metrics, you know, whether they're talking about the raw plus minus or the advanced numbers, defensive ratings, stuff like that, took a hit in just the. a couple minutes right when Marcus Smart and LeBron committed back-to-back turnover, seemingly trying to get Vando the ball as a way of just getting in more shots, hopefully more points, like celebrating the big guy on a big night as opposed to just run the offense guy. Now, you don't know this, by the way. This is your projection of what you feel was happening in the moment with your trained eyes. Yes, it is my projection of what I think happened.

Starting point is 00:03:04 And given the way that they seemingly went so far out of their way to involve Jared Vanderbilt, when easier shots were right in front of them and you're looking to simply bury your opponent and that we've seen plenty of evidence that this team will lose the thread down the stretch and fourth quarters, frankly, over anything. I am sticking with my theory until somebody tells me that it was the opposite. but I looked up these numbers. Okay, 747 left in the fourth quarter. This is pre the back-to-back turnovers. Vando is at a plus 14 for the game with a defensive rating of 84.

Starting point is 00:03:45 Post-turnovers, pre-Jared Vanderbilt Corner 3 heat check. This is about a minute or so later. Vando's sitting at plus 9 for the game and a defensive rating of 103.6, because after the turnovers, Phoenix scored. And then in about a minute past between the corner three heat check and Vando checking out of the game for good. So we're talking over about two minutes, Vando lost seven points in his plus minus and 20-something points in his defensive rating.

Starting point is 00:04:23 So to my original point, I don't think the overall numbers really did, Vando justice because other than the corner three heat check, none of the other stuff was his fault. I, before we just get into the... It's truly one of those like, you know, the, what is the expression? The road to heaven is, or the road to hell is paved with good intentions. This was truly everything going to hell with the best intentions towards Jared Banderbilt. I am deeply impressed with the level of dedication that you have displayed for the Jared Vanderbilt cause going so far, Andy, as to dig up the stats for the peak of Vanderbilt's impact.

Starting point is 00:05:17 I mean, you're perfectly honest. So badly do you want to make sure that the experiment sustains itself going forward that you've don't want anybody, including JJ Redding, to forget just how good things were going before to clearly, desperately want him to stay on the floor

Starting point is 00:05:38 because they almost lost the game to prove the point. After they sat him, by the way. You have to make sure there's no confusion whatsoever. We've been doing this a long time. I've never seen you pull mid-game plus-minus

Starting point is 00:05:57 defensive ratings. Like 20 years, basically, we've been doing a podcast in one form or another. And this is the first time you've gone to those lengths, and it's for Jared Vanderbilt in game whatever, 27 or whatever we're at. Dirty little secret of it. It's not so much that Vando motivated me to this degree. I only recently

Starting point is 00:06:19 figured out how to do it, and it's not that hard. But I did want to I did want to prove my theory, or at least surely everyone has an abacus and some other things. No, it's actually props to NBA.com. It's actually pretty easy to do. But either way, that doesn't, that doesn't to me diminish your devotion to the cause here.

Starting point is 00:06:42 I do want to let people know that today's episode's brought to you by Fandul. If you want to be right in middle of the action this season, visit fenduel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. But as I mentioned, like, I joke, but the what's next question is kind of important just because, you know, the Lakers have to figure out like the Rui Hachamura part of it. They need to figure out how they're going to improve their defense. They need to figure out how they're going to improve their offense. They've got, they're winning a lot of games, but it's not a mystery what their problems are and what problems they, want to try to solve and can you do that in trade? Can you do that? You have to wait till free agency.

Starting point is 00:07:31 Can you which lineup do you want to use and then supplement it with something else? Like they got to land on the parts that work and the stuff that they work. And figuring out does Jared Vanderbilt work on a night in, night out basis is really important to that process. My basic thought is, and I've talked about this before, I feel like if you, this is not a team that profiles to have a lot of inherent defensive strength, even with all hands on deck, all your choices available. But even if you let them all play at once. But you clearly, though, have to try to find the, unless you can manufacture an offense that is so elite and runs so well. that you can basically count on with a fairly comfortable margin, outscoring your opponents because they simply will not be able to stop you.

Starting point is 00:08:32 And thus far, the Lakers have not landed on that formula, or I think, frankly, even come close to it. You need to find some form of defensive integrity. And Jared Vanderbilt is an imperfect player, even as somebody who has, I think, been a proponent of his positives, he's imperfect, but he offers things, and this was something that I remember you eventually noticed, like how much he actually matters in terms of singularity.

Starting point is 00:09:04 There are things that you need to be able to win basketball games in a wider variety than simply outscoring your opponents that Vando does. Is it perfect? No. Am I proposing he play starters minutes, 30 minutes a night? No, because I think after a while those limitations will start to catch up to the team. But if in particular, JJ wants this to be a team with not just defensive integrity, but physicality and energy and rebounding and corner crashing and all of these other attributes that he's talked up a lot, just like a general urgency, a general intensity, you need to put Vando out there because, A, he brings. brings a lot of those things, but also a lot of the players on this team who are better players

Starting point is 00:09:54 than Vando, frankly, don't. Like, that's just not what they do on a game in, game out 30 to 40 minutes a night. It's not what they do. So if you want these things, and JJ seems to, and I believe that he does, he's going to have to find some degree of balance and some type of patience and tolerance for the imperfections and frankly the imperfections that he often has a longer leash for with players that are flawed but offensively skewed. I have thoughts and it's worth looking at Phoenix and maybe what was successful about the Sun's game and we'll get to all those things next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fanduel and

Starting point is 00:10:49 NFL seasons, they move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different, just like when your computer unfreezes after a moment panicking you. It's what makes live betting with Fanduil so exciting, like that moment when you're trying to figure out your computer. You're reacting to everything in real time. Live bets, can Andy make it to the end of the read? With Fandul, you can place bets as the action unfolds.

Starting point is 00:11:16 Every drive, every moment, momentum swing, every highlight moment. Like live betting, it's best when the game starts to shift. A receiver gets hot. Hopefully that someday includes Justin Jefferson for your fantasy team. A defense tightens up,

Starting point is 00:11:29 or the momentum flips after a turnover. It's not going to be Jefferson. FanDuel lets you jump into the moment with live spreads and money lines that adjust instantly in player props that update as the guys heat up. It keeps you locked in to every step, every drive, every possibility.

Starting point is 00:11:46 So if you want to be right in the middle of the action, this season, visit fandul.com, place your NFL live bets all season long. Fan do you want to let people know, Andy, about the everydayers club. Everybody here has helped make Lockdown Lakers your first listen to every day. And one of the more successful, if I do say so myself, shows on the network. We certainly appreciate it. We appreciate your support of us and your support of the network. You already live your team every day.

Starting point is 00:12:21 Take it up a level. And if you want, you can go ad free. I'll explain how you do that by your support. joining the everyday or club. You get Locked on Lakers with no interruptions. Members only Discord access and more, and that's just $5 a month or $50 a year. If that is interesting to you, you can go to

Starting point is 00:12:39 Lockedonlakers.com. Again, locked onlakers. dot supercast.com to get more information, you can check out the show notes to see how to do that. Again, this is only if you want something different. If you want the shows ad free, and all that kind of stuff. And I mean,

Starting point is 00:12:58 some people do because we get the emails. If you don't want to do that stuff, you don't have to. Show stays exactly the same. Either way, we appreciate your support of Locked-on Lakers and the Locked-on podcast network. I just thought,

Starting point is 00:13:15 this is to me one of these things where, like, the Phoenix game, you see, there's a few things JJ talked about it after the game. We've seen some other people, kind of the post-game analysis up at the Lakers went hard at the offensive glass.

Starting point is 00:13:31 And this was by design. It was a strategic choice against the team that is vulnerable to that kind of thing. The sons are a small group. The Lakers could use their size, could slow down a Phoenix attack just by making them stay on their own glass. That's obviously not going to work against every time. team. It won't be as effective. And I think the challenge with Jared Vanderbilt has always been, like you say, that balance, what is the right? A, I think, you know, he's not a totally complete

Starting point is 00:14:11 defensive player. So you do have to think about who you're putting him with, the combinations, what combinations are the most successful. And then what is that sweet spot? Is it 12 minutes in one game? Is it 17 minutes? And the next one is it 14? Is it eight and some? Is it the occasional 23 or 24? And really finding and understanding those four combinations and that balance. Because to me, at least, the problem with Vando and the reason he's other than health

Starting point is 00:14:43 that he's kind of gone in and out of the lineup is just because it's hard. He's, the imperfections are there. It's hard to find that right balance and the right combos and use him defensively in the way that makes him most effective. Because there's certain things he's not great at. And so that's the challenge for JJ. And then who do you pull off the floor to allow that? You know, I've suggested Gabe Vincent because I think JJ, I think you would agree, JJ sees him as the combination of offense and defense.

Starting point is 00:15:26 You get a little bit of floor spaces and with the shooting, a little bit of ball handling, but provides you with some defensive integrity in the back court. We saw the defensive part on Sunday, but generally that has not fared very well. And offensively, he just hasn't done it. He is a concept. He is not successful.

Starting point is 00:15:47 I think sometimes Vando falls in that category, but at least there's not the evidence yet. We haven't seen enough of it yet. Maybe there's a better role for him than there is for Gabe. I think Gabe was a good matchup in Phoenix because Phoenix is a smaller team. And we noted this was a game where both of us thought Gabe was better than his stats. Like if you just looked at the box score, you would not get a full impression of what he did in this game. That being said, though, his offense, I think for the most part, doesn't really translate because he is,

Starting point is 00:16:20 basically just a spot-up shooter. Like he does not do anything around the rim. He isn't even a great three-point shooter. He is a fine. He's like a league average three-point shooter. He's not great. He's not terrible. But he's not good enough, I think, to make him really a weapon, nor prolific enough. And then in the meantime, he works hard defensively. He will occasionally be, I think, effective as a disruptor. But he is very easy to. to work size against. And he doesn't, in the meantime, I think, address a lot of the stuff that the team doesn't have

Starting point is 00:16:58 and needs in the way Vando does in terms of the size, the athleticism. Like, you are correct that there are certain things that Vando does not do as well defensively as others, but he still does most things better defensively than most guys on this team. Like, he just does. Right.

Starting point is 00:17:17 And to me, that's an easy, an easy place to start is you know and you know i i think you can explore those combinations with vanderbilt and uh mark smart on the floor at the same time where you know you're not trying to bolster your defense you know with a smart vincent back court where you're still running that size problem um how you figure that stuff out like somebody's got to give way And, you know, they need the, you know, they need to try to figure out something with Rui. Although, I mean, I'm developing as we get closer to when trade season can actually start happening. You know, important dates are passing as we speak.

Starting point is 00:18:06 December 15th for those who did not know is the day where about 90% of the league who sign their contracts in free agency become trade eligible. editors note, Herb Jones is not one of them. He is not trade eligible until January 15th. According to our friend Dan Wojke over at the Athletic, his sources are indicating that the Pelicans are not interested in trading Herb Jones at all. I would like not to buy that simply because I think that's lunacy for this franchise. But regardless, Rob Belinka cannot trade for Herb Jones, even if the pelicans are going to turn him into a fire, sale until mid-January. So don't until then yell at Rob for not having traded for Herb Jones.

Starting point is 00:18:52 Don't yell at us over Rob having not traded for Herb Jones until January 15th. He can't PSA over. That's the stuff they got to figure out. Like what are you going to do? If you can go get a Herb Jones or a wing, the Lakers, it's pretty obvious. They need more athleticism on the wing. they could use a small forward more than they can, you know, I think they need to balance out their roster a little bit.

Starting point is 00:19:21 Every team in the league wants a legitimate three and D wing. So the price on these guys is high. But I, there is a role for Vanderbilt if they can really maximize how he's been used. And I think that's been a challenge throughout Jared's career, is being placed in that right context because he's not, he's not useless as an NBA player, but he's also difficult enough that you have to kind of think about how you're using him in ways that I think sometimes becomes tiring for coaches.

Starting point is 00:20:06 We're like, is it worth this much effort to try to make this guy happen? I think, I mean, I guess we're not talking about him becoming like an all-N-B-8 player. I think JJ has tried to make Gabe happen. It's tried really hard to make Gabe happen. And I don't think it's working very well. And I think you could take that same energy and try it with Vanderbilt and see if you get a better result. Sure. I mean, again, I think I am not critical of JJ for, in my opinion, being an offensively skewed coach.

Starting point is 00:20:40 Because most coaches around the league are skewed in one direction. or another, that's fine. My criticism of JJ at times is I think he has a, excuse me, a tighter leash for players with flaws that skew defensively, even in the face of, I think, very obvious evidence that those players are needed on the floor. And in general, particularly as games get tighter, I think sometimes JJ starts. Who other than Vanderbilt fits? that category.

Starting point is 00:21:14 Jordan Goodwin to me, did. I said that a lot during the playoffs. I thought during the playoffs last year that he should have been playing, if not Vando more, Goodwin more. The point being, I think sometimes JJ, he will sometimes see these flaws as, at least in my opinion, bigger or more problematic than they are. Because in the case of Vando, for example, he looked at the numbers on him this year. In the wash, on balance, he was not really hurting this team to.

Starting point is 00:21:44 the level that I think would merit essentially being told, dude, you don't even have to show up to these games if you don't want to. I'm not playing you. That was, I'm not the biggest Vanderbilt booster out there. I'm not even talking about like, well, when you get to the playoffs, that's a whole different deal. I'm talking purely about the first 82. I'm not the biggest Vanderbilt booster out there, I think he can be a more challenging player. He's just so aesthetically appealing to fans who want to, who love all the stuff that he does, that it's really easy to like him as a player. But I agree with you. It's one thing to be like, I think Vanderbilt should be playing 18 minutes a game and JJ's only playing him 10. Don't appear on the floor.

Starting point is 00:22:36 I mean, that was tough in certain spots. Another thing, Andy, that's a little bit tough. Dalton Connect, the bottom has dropped out news on that front next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Skims. When Skims announced they were making underwear from men, a lot of people were skeptical that the average guy would even care. Like most guys just pick up whatever underwear they've been wearing since high school, college. I happen to be picky about underwear.

Starting point is 00:23:08 I only like boxer briefs. They've got to be a certain feel, can't be too tight or too loose. It's like Goldilocks. It's going to be just right. So I was skeptical for the opposite reason thinking, eh, it's just a hot brand I'm going to be met about. I was so wrong. I try both the 3-inch and the 5-inch boxer briefs.

Starting point is 00:23:23 They're both awesome. They're comfortable. They're soft. They don't bunch up. They look great. Your significant other will dig them. Highly, highly recommend. The lightweight material, it's awesome.

Starting point is 00:23:36 It's like you're wearing nothing at all. Commando! Shop skimsmen's now at skims. com and when you place your order, this is really important. Choose podcast in the post-purchase survey. Select our show, even more important from the drop down to let them know we sent you. Don't give some other show our credit. Skims Holiday Shop is open, so if you're looking for the perfect gift, the season Skims has you covered.

Starting point is 00:24:03 Locked on Lakers is also brought to you by Wayfair. The holidays always show up faster than we expect. Like, we're already into Hanukkah. Christmas is only like what, like eight days away or something like that. And then nine days, if you're still putting together gifts, last minute decor, getting your home ready for guests, Wayfair has got you covered, whether you need a quick room refresh, new bedding of those final seasonal touches. Wayfair makes it easy to get what you need and get it fast. Wayfair truly is your one-stop shop for everything home of decor, furniture, kitchen essentials and gifts for every style and every budget,

Starting point is 00:24:35 all delivered quickly and easy. We've got a bunch of stuff at my house. in the front and the back on the outside. A lot of our outdoor furniture and our outdoor rug came from Wayfair. We can use these things in California in December, which is kind of fun. Wayfair is truly your one-stop shop for everything home at decor, furniture, kitchen essentials, gifts for every style and budget, all delivered quickly and easily.

Starting point is 00:24:57 Huge selection. Everything you need. Prices that you love. Great for gifting tons of options there. Last minute hosting essentials, gifts for your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holiday for way less. Go to Wayfair.com right now to shop for all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com, Wayfair, every style, every home.

Starting point is 00:25:23 So at this time last year, Andy, I may not have the exact timeline correct, but we were kind of thinking about like Dalton Connect, sneaky rookie the year candidate or, you know, all rookie team or stuff like that. Like this was, we were at Peak Dalton around this time last year. Peak Dalton season appears to be over. Dalton Connect, the Lakers just announced along with the Dutero, are getting assigned to the South Bay Lakers. In the case of Thero, nothing to see here.

Starting point is 00:26:04 He's a second round rookie with Vando, seemingly now in the rotation for a little bit. Thero's few opportunities were going to become non-existent. He might as well be getting some time with South Bay. Who knows if he'll be asked to rejoin the team with Utah or against the clippers or whatever. But in the case of a due thero, this is part of the normal process. In the case of Dalton Connect, though, this is a much more eye-opening development. Again, it may be the same principles.

Starting point is 00:26:37 He may not be getting much playing time moving forward. So he might as well get some run with South Bay. There's a non-year- Even if you're, Andy, even if it's not foreshadowing what's coming, he's not getting a lot of playing time now. Sure. And so, you know, granted, I don't think there's a lot of playing time on the horizon. I don't think there is either. But like, you know, he's not getting any now.

Starting point is 00:27:00 And I think the hope is, you know, A, he needs run, but also maybe he can get some confidence, find a groove or whatever so that he can contribute. But it's not the optics here are atrocious. maybe there is a chance that the time with the G League gets him some of that rhythm back, gets him some confidence back. If nothing else, maybe he just looks great with the G League. And if it doesn't translate to anything with the Lakers, it could make him look like a player to another team that needs a change of scenery. And to be fair to Dalton, he would not be the first player in NBA history to ever need to go

Starting point is 00:27:44 somewhere else in in order to become the player that everyone hoped he could be case in point Rui Hachamora, case in point DeAndre Aiton, we are hoping that's the that's going to be the development moving forward like this stuff happens. Shannon Brown was almost out of the league before the Lakers ended up getting him as a throw in Shannon's words, not mine, in the Adam Morrison Vlad Rodmanovich deal. Shannon ended up a rotation player for back-to-back championship team. these things can develop in ways that are unexpected. Shannon also, I wrote a profile of them years ago. He told me that he needed a change of scenery,

Starting point is 00:28:24 not just because he needed a team that believed in him, but frankly, he needed to grow up in certain ways. He needed to develop better professionalism. So these things can happen. And if Dalton looks, if he plays in South Bay games, good, I think there is a real chance that another team could say, you know what, especially after the rescinded Mark Williams deal and all this other stuff.

Starting point is 00:28:44 The guy just needs to get out of LA. The price form is not going to be high. Let's take a flyer. Or he just gets his mojo back and becomes a useful player for the Lakers. Either way, they need this South Bay thing to pop. It's reached a point where I think they are in the short term just hoping. The idea that Dalton Connect is going to get you something is, fiction at this point. It's just it is it's wish casting. It's all of these other things. And

Starting point is 00:29:22 fair or not has he been given the right opportunities? It's, you know, it's hard as a rookie and now a second year player to crack rotations on teams that have aspirations. You do not get a lot of wiggle room to make a lot of mistakes. He has not shown himself to be a particularly good defender and he hasn't hit shots, you know, at a high enough level to justify being said, look, the Lakers are starved for shooting. They are starved for bench offense. They will tolerate a certain level, as you've said, and I think actually in this case would rightly tolerate a certain level of defensive inefficiency for a guy who really truly spread the floor was an offensive marksman and produced offensive numbers in a lot of ways that D.K.

Starting point is 00:30:14 looks like he could if everything was going well, like in those games where he blows up. It is never a good look to send a second-year player like him down for G-League minutes. Unless that's guy that's like a development guy. That's not supposed to be connect. He was supposed to arrive in the NBA. is a fairly, fairly well-finished product. He's older than, you know, he got here older than the average rookie.

Starting point is 00:30:47 You know, Jake LaRavia is younger than Dalton Connect, despite having been in the league like three years more. And, you know, so the rehab here, I think it's two things. It is, like you say, trying to show people that the potential is there in a different situation. Maybe your situation looks like one of those things. But more importantly, I think they're just hoping he can find a way to become more useful to this team because right now he can't be. Yeah, we've talked about this before. I think in some ways he's supposed to be a finished product at 24 wasn't fair to Dalton. Because the role that he's being asked to do with the Lakers at least so far is very different than what he was doing in Juko and then Northern Colorado.

Starting point is 00:31:38 and then Tennessee that got him for a while so high up the draft boards that the general consensus was he's going to be somewhere between top five and top ten like that he fell to the Lakers at 17 shocked everybody like everybody we you and I did scouting reports for the players we saw most commonly linked to the Lakers like I remember we did Tristan De Silva we did I want to say Jaime Hockes, like other guys. We did scouting reports for Tristan De Silva, by the way, was the guy taken. For all the talk about pods and Jaime Hockes,

Starting point is 00:32:18 De Silva was taken by Orlando. One pick after Dalton. He was the guy that I saw most commonly linked to the Lakers, and he would have worked out considerably better. Well, look, I mean, all of them. I mean, De Silva has been okay in Orlando. He's been up and down, you know, and he's had trouble producing consistently.

Starting point is 00:32:42 Pods has been obviously a better contributor at the NBA level. Hockes for sure. You know, Cam Whitmore was another guy that a lot of people wanted and he can't crack big minutes on a terrible Washington team. So like the, you know, I think actually the stuff that Dalton's not good at, I do wonder if the Lakers would have picked up if he was ever in the building. Like the facts as he fell to them made it so they never actually interviewed him. They never got him in the building.

Starting point is 00:33:13 They never did all that stuff because they weren't expecting to be available. And I wonder if they would have picked up on what essentially amounts to defensive IQ, general basketball IQ, stuff like that, had they worked them out. Or also just, okay, JJ, you know, we were told by Rob Polinka that JJ, when they drafted Dalton, was immediately envisioning sets where they run Dalton off multiple screens and get him open very similar to what happened with JJ when he was a player. I get why you would think that for a guy with that type of shot, you know, that JJ said he thought was like 1% level three point shooting. That's not how Dalton Connect was used in college. And the idea that you would automatically assume,

Starting point is 00:33:59 and I don't mean even necessarily the Lakers, I'm talking about media, I'm talking about fans, I'm talking about everybody. The idea that Dalton would be able to automatically do all of that stuff that he never did in college simply because he's 24 and therefore must be a finished product or close, I think a lot of people, and I would say we were as guilty as anybody of at least initially not thinking about this stuff, especially because he popped in the beginning so quickly, it felt like he had everything nailed down. Like it felt like, yeah, this clicks for him.

Starting point is 00:34:37 He's ready for the NBA. Great. In retrospect, I think we all got ahead of ourselves, including with assumptions of what type of player he actually was. But also I think you people make assumptions of like you're going to narrow down, you know, they're essentially just narrowing down his lane. And. And you think with a guy who's played that, the hope is with a lot of players who've played that much in college,

Starting point is 00:35:07 that they understand sort of implicitly. So a lot of the concepts and things that they, and that is, I think, part of the biggest problem, like smarter minds than us have, you know, you see these sort of breakdown videos of like things that he does wrong that infuriate coaches, whether that's, you know, bad screens going to, wrong way doing all this stuff offensively defensively i think they thought i'm not disputing what they don't like just to ask you all right when i say a more finished product i mean understanding those things sure being better at those things because you know people are asking us on the chat for example as we're doing the show live on youtube um you know what's keeping him on the bet it's iq it's basketball iq is really i mean i don't like calling guy i don't know if dalton connect is a smart or dumb human. I don't care. You know, he seems like a perfectly nice, nice guy. But his basketball

Starting point is 00:36:07 IQ in the context of being a fourth or fifth or sixth or seventh wheel kind of a specialist, you know, ideally like an instant offense six man, is just way behind what I am I'm absolutely sure. They're way behind, is way behind what the Lakers thought it would be. Yes. And I just, I feel like this is stuff that they, they would have seen if he was in the building, the fact that he slipped that far. And I don't know why he slipped.

Starting point is 00:36:40 You know, stuff happens on draft night. People were shock Cam Whitmore slid as far. Right. And, you know, some of those rumors about his motor and drive may, you know, you're hearing a lot of that out of Washington. Like, yeah, just not getting what they want out of them. I feel bad for Connect because it's a, really difficult situation.

Starting point is 00:37:01 He is, he's going to get another shot somewhere. I hope the Lakers can find a way to use him here because they need to help now. And adding a viable connect is one of these sort of rotation changers. We can talk a little bit more about this tomorrow and we can get into some of the trade stuff that you alluded to in the previous segment. But I just find, I find this whole thing interesting.

Starting point is 00:37:29 So we'll stick on this. We'll do a little more Vando. We'll get you ready for the game later in the week. Locked on Liquors on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 37,000 subscribers. We'll see everyone tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Will Jarred Vanderbilt Stay in the Rotation? Can the Lakers Resurrect Dalton Knecht's Value?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.