The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Warriors/Mavs Game 3 + Wiggins Emergence with Jason Timpf

Episode Date: May 23, 2022

First, (3:00) Colin gives his instant reaction to the Warriors taking a commanding 3-0 Western Conference Finals lead over the Mavs, and why Andrew Wiggins has flourished for Golden State. Then, Hoops Tonight  and Lakers Tonight Podcast host Jason Timpf joins Colin to break down Game 3 action, including what makes the Warriors so difficult to defend (10:00), and why the Warriors have had success defending Luka (12:00). They also discuss the Celtics Game 3 dud against the Heat (15:00), where the Celtics need to upgrade their roster (23:00), if the Warriors dynasty gets enough credit (27:00), if the they might need to move a key player to get under the 2023 cap (29:00), and if the Lakers can find anyone to take Russell Westbrook off their hands (32:00). Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule. of two.

Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

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You can bet five or ten bucks in one 150 bucks or more. If you are new, just download the Fandul Sportsbook app. Get started now. Sign up promo code Colin so they know we and I sent you. The Colin Coward podcast presented by the Fandululh Sportsbook. Hi, everybody. And welcome in. Warriors, let's be honest, kind of thrash the Mavericks.

Yeah, I want to talk about Andrew Wiggins. So years ago when I worked at the other place, he was the number one pick out of Kansas. Very skinny. You know, his Canadian background, parents were very athletic. And years ago in college basketball, you knew when a Tim Duncan or a Patrick Ewan came out. They were such dominant multiple-year players in college basketball. you could see there were pros playing college basketball, almost like watching Jamar Chase, the wide receiver for LSU in college.

You were watching a pro at the collegiate level. Like some guys are obvious. Chase Young for Ohio State was a pro just happened to be not eligible for the National Football League. But in this last 15 to 20 years, you'll see guys that are super talented, but they're 18, they're 19. And I remember saying about Andrew Wiggins, he can't bust. And a friend of mine who's a scout said, be careful.

You just don't know with these guys. Like they may get into this league. So he comes in with Minnesota. I don't watch a lot of T-Wolves games. And it has coincidence would have it. I went to a Clipper game. It was against the T-Wills. I went to a Laker game.

It was against the T-Wolves. And I thought, oh, good, I'm going to size him up. And my takeaway was that he wasn't a bust, but he would score 23 or 24 points. And I didn't remember any of them. Everything was just inconsequential. I didn't remember any of his points. And I remember I had a couple friends. One of my friends in radio, Scott Shapiro, was from Minnesota.

And I would be like, I just don't get it. He's like, just be patient, patient. And like, by the third year, I'm like, I don't remember a single basket of his career. And then he goes to the Warriors. And what you found out with Wiggins pretty quickly was he's not an alpha. He's not a one. He doesn't like the pressure. he's a one talent, but he's not a one mindset.

And the longer he was in Minnesota, you started questioning whether he was a two. So he goes to Golden State eventually. And his game is the opposite of Minnesota. I remember every basket. Everything matters. Everything is perfectly timed. Forget just the dunks. He's such a tough matchup for Luca.

He's a much more vertical player than Luca. So Luca pump fakes, he can block that shot without having. to leave his feet. He's that quick. He's so fast and twitchy vertically. So he's a tough matchup for Luca. And nobody's going to stop Luca. But he's in tremendous shape as Wiggins. He's very twitchy. They can throw Draymond at Luca. They can put Wiggins on him. But I think what's interesting about Luca is when these kids come out of college now, these one and done kids, it's he was never a one personality. You probably would have been able to tell that with two more years of college. Or if if he stays to a junior or a senior year. But so much of the draft now is projecting what his

personality is, projecting how he will handle the spotlight. It's almost as if the warriors are the perfect culture for him. It's Steph's team. He drives to the arena every night with no pressure to score 25. If he does, it's icing. He doesn't even have to be the two. He doesn't have to be the soul of the team. He doesn't have to be the number one defender. Drake can do that. He didn't have to be a catalyst on either end of the floor. And I think that's his personality. When the pressure's not on, and he can just play and give you his defense, his athletic ability, I mean, he got a nice stroke. That dunk he did tonight, I mean, maybe it's not Dr. J. Rock the Cradle at the Spectrum against Michael Cooper. That's a top 10 playoff dunk. I mean, that thing was a poster. And

And I just think when Wiggins came over to the Warriors, we all looked at him as a trade piece, yet they'll move off him. He's become really, really valuable. And as Steph ages and as Clay, you know, we don't know if Clay will ever be exactly what he was. And as much as I like Jordan Poole, Wiggins was the number one pick. Jordan Poole was a 28th pick. You know, Andrew is really different athletically than virtually everybody on that team. And I just, as I watch him in this Warrior series, he's the opposite of Minnesota. He's relaxed.

There is no pressure. He doesn't have to be the top defender, the catalyst, the soul of the offense. And I just think that fits his personality. It's just the Warriors just work for Andrew Wiggins. And he made that first All-Star game. And then didn't necessarily have a great second half of the regular season, but he's been magnificent in the playoffs. and what the Warriors do against Luca, and this is kind of what I predicted.

I said outside of McHale Bridges, Booker and Chris Paul can't defend Luca. Just can't. But the Warriors have so many different options. They're not even playing Jonathan Coominga, who I think matches up with him pretty well. They don't even have to play him. So this is a bad matchup for Dallas. And you can just see it. They're pressing.

You get Kerr's coaching where they box in one Luca. They zone him. They trap him. And, you know, a Spencer Dinwiddie on a night that Luca is free is wonderful. But on a night where Luke is not getting great shots and Didwitty has to step up and a lot of possessions be a one, he's a three in this league. So it just feels like to me this is a really bad matchup for the Dallas Mavericks. I want to bring in Jason Temp. Now, Jason is a guy that we brought on the NBA season had started, and he does hoops tonight and Lakers tonight.

He's really grown with us at the volume. He absolutely plays the sport, loves the sport, obsessed by the sport, and he can really break it down, almost like a coach. And, you know, I wanted to kind of keep it on, for my commentary tonight, on Wiggins and Luca. and so let's bring Jason on and dive a little deeper on what he saw tonight. You know, Jason, I understand people who hate the Warriors. They acquire KD, you know, Steph's mugging for the camera. They've won a lot. Like, I get it.

But I think it's beautiful basketball. The cutting, you know, there are a lot of teams say they get along. I can watch the Warriors until they get along. And I don't know if it's Kerr, it's Steph, it's Clay. But there is a harmony, Jason. You can go to the Y. And there are just times you get the right five guys and they're just, they move without the ball. But I, the harmony watching the Warriors play, you can hate them.

They don't even look like the remaining three offenses to me. I mean, you're a Hooper. I love watching them play. I think it's tremendous television. That's my take on Golden State. They're impossible to replicate. You know, they're the most unique team in the NBA and teams have tried, but they failed. Do you remember the Luca Donchitz trade, the one that sent the Atlanta Hawks two first-round picks,

one for Trey Young, one for Kevin Herder, and all the talks surrounding that day was, we're trying to replicate the Steph Clay backcourt. And then they went out to play basketball and they played just like everyone else. Because it's such a unique style and it requires a selflessness and a commitment to moving without the basketball, being a threat at all times, you know, being a part of something bigger than yourself, but not only that, but a commitment to the defensive end. Stefan Clay pretty much from their time, when they first started playing with Team USA, embrace the defensive end in a way that so many offensive-minded guards have not.

And when you combine that with their unique offensive play style, they're extremely difficult to replicate, to prepare for. I think Dallas, you know, they're making Dallas look bad. is not bad. Dallas was the second best team in the league since January 1st. They beat Phoenix for a good reason. You know, they demonstrated, you know, their ability to completely dissect, you know, traditional basketball teams. But Golden State's not a traditional basketball team. They're going to put you in tough spots and Dallas just hasn't been able to match it. You know, I said before the series, I thought Phoenix, outside of Mikhail Bridges, you know, Booker and Chris Paul just don't match up at all with Luca. He's thick. You know, people lament his.

cardio shape, but he's heavy. I mean, he's like a he's like a lumbering fullback. He's just a lot of body on you. But Draymond and Wiggins and they didn't play Cuminga much, but he, and I, I just found throughout the course of this series is they, they didn't buy his pump fakes. Like Wiggins is so twitchy. He doesn't have to, he'll block the shot. And I, and I think there was a real disciplined the way Golden State played. They're like, listen, we're going to just keep him in front of us. Don't buy his fakes. If he hits the shots, he hits the shots. And I thought, as good, Monty Williams is a good coach, but I didn't think they were terribly disciplined with Luca. God, any pump fake and Phoenix was in the air. And I think Golden States just said, we're not leaving our feet. I mean, I can almost

hear Kerr. We're not leaving our feet. That's what, when I watched them against Luca, whether it's a box, a trap, the zone. It's all the same principles. to me. And I think Luca, not that he's frustrated, but it's, he gets almost everybody in the league, Jason, in the air. And Golden State's not buying any of it. Yeah, Andrew Wiggins' twitchiness

buys him margin for error on defense. He doesn't have to beat you to a spot. He can recover. That elite recovery athleticism basically allows him to play more disciplined on defense. You know, I thought a huge swing factor in this series was, you know, coming into the series, the question was, are we going to

let Luca play isolation ball and stay home on shooters? Or are we going to send help towards Luca and, you know, play the gambling game with the shooting? And throughout this entire series, there's been one stretch where Dallas has consistently made shots. And it was the first half of game two. And they decided to mail in the defensive end in the second half, a thing that young, young inexperienced teams that haven't built up the necessary scar tissue, the pain of losing, they let an opportunity slip there because they rely so heavily because of Golden State was sending so much help to Luca, they rely on people knocking down those open shots. And to be clear, they did through two rounds. They were an amazing, wide open three-point

shooting team. But they got into this series, and they stopped going down, and they had no second punch. And versatility wins in the playoffs. If you can take away a team's best punch and they don't have a counter that they can go to, you're almost always going to win in that case. Golden State has a bunch of different ways they can go. Yeah. Listen, I just, I feel it's a bad matchup for Dallas. I think listen, you can watch football games, basketball games. There are times when one team just has more dudes. And it's like Golden State's got flexibility and the ability to, they've got just so many guys that can do different things.

And this is without Peyton, who's going to come back probably in the finals. So he's another guy that can guard a one, he can guard a two. I want to pivot. I think Boston's better than Miami. But I think Spolstra, this is my belief, I think he incur the best two coaches in the league. and Popovich certainly is in that space. I said after Golden State and Boston won game two, I said, what I fear with both is they both know they're more talented,

deeper and better. I said, what I fear is, because I've seen this with Golden State during the KD times, too, they really don't show up. I mean, you know, Jason, when offense is easy, it is easy to mail it in because if you're a defensive team, what scares me about Boston is offense isn't easy for Boston. And they still mailed it in. And it was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Like, come on now. This, like, you and I have seen Golden State. I've seen this with football teams. Kansas City. Like, sometimes the defense knows they don't have to make a stop. Right. It matters. Boston has to work on the offensive end of score.

I thought that performance in game three. I mean, I did think Miami would be competitive. I thought it would. what did you make of it? It was almost arrogant. It was bizarre, you know, because they've had, they've been the Jekyll and Hyde team of this playoff run. When they are going on both ends of the floor, nobody can touch them. But it's been their offense that's been inconsistent. You know, the cliche, like, oh, they need a point guard. Well, in this case, the cliche is actually true for Boston. They lack a floor general, like a game manager, someone who understands the flow of the game,

it can get people in spots and settle them down when they're losing, you know, when they're losing side of what they're supposed to be doing. What was so strange about last night was they mailed it in on defense. And that's just completely inexcusable. And so that's a thing like, you know, we can safely assume Golden State's going to the finals. You and I both like Boston to make it. So we're looking at that series. And, you know, my basketball mind tells me, you know, Boston's the better team. They should be able to get this done. Right. But I don't trust them. I don't trust them. I don't trust them at all. And meanwhile, Golden State, again, with exception of that weird. game in Memphis and game five, they've been pretty reliable in terms of their night-to-night

focus. And so, you know, Boston may be the better team, but Golden State might be the safer bet in the sense that you can at least count on them to bring their best punch every night. The playoffs are here. You can make every game feel like game seven on Fandall's Sportsbook, an official partner of the NBA, Fandals hooking you up free bets through the playoffs, free bets. Doesn't matter if you're a new customer or already have an account. Be sure to check out the app. Exclusive weekly same game parlay promos. Fandul's got so many ways to play.

Best of all, when you win, you get paid faster than a fast break. If you're new to Fandul, download the Fandul Sportsbook app. Sign up with a promo code, Colin. If you already have an account, you're all set to get in on the action. Either way, you'll get an assist from Fandul when you bet a same game parlay during the playoffs. Vandul Sportsbook, an official partner with the NBA. 21 plus and present in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut. Indiana and Louisiana, permitted parishes only.

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Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way,

this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok. Talk Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun,

thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, I think you bring up a really, Jason, a really good point is that what you're seeing with Boston, and I saw it, as Dallas tried to make several runs of the Warriors, you know, Curry just has an ability. He's so elusive.

You know, he just starts, he gets every, you know, he gets past, he's still got. Sometimes I think he doesn't have the separation quite that he did three years ago on his shot. but boy does he have a great first step when he puts the ball on the deck. Like he gets past virtually everybody in this league. And whereas Harden now can't get either. He can't get the separation on the shot or past you. And so when Golden State's having, you know, a little, the avalanche works against you. I always feel like Curry can kind of bring it back.

They'll at least get good shots. They may not hit him, but they'll get it. Boston's an interesting team. Smart's a defensive player. He's not respected enough offensively to scare anybody, right? So I do think sometimes Boston lacks a, again, Jalen Brown's more the athlete. Jason's the Tatum's the wing, the dominant wing score. Who's the guy?

And my thing, Jason, if they lose this series, I've seen Marcus Mark, Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum for five years. They're all better versions of what we knew they were by the All-Star break at their first year. one's a defender, one's an elite, B plus player, but an elite athlete, and one's a star. Okay, after five years of this thing, Chris Middleton's not getting hurt. My takeaway is, I keep Tatum,

I probably keep Marcus smart. Isn't there an argument that if you guys cannot get past the heat with two undrafted starters and Milwaukee without Middleton and Philly was kind of a mess, could I not make the argument? you got to take a swing in the off-season? Well, regardless of what happens the rest of this playoff run,

because Boston still very well could win, but regardless of what happens, this has been exposed as a massive weakness. And you're right, it's a redundancy. You've got three guys that when they have it going look good as playmakers, but they don't always have it going, and they can very easily lose,

you know, they lose their identity in that sense. When you have this many guys that all kind of do the same thing, driving kick guys that aren't, you know, what you're referring to is that guy like, what Steph is for Golden State. The guy that can methodically break down a defense on every possession, meaning on every possession, they can consistently get to a spot where either they're comfortable as a score

or they're comfortable reading the defense as they send additional attention. Brown and Tatum have gotten better at that over the years, but it's not their natural instinct. And so even when they have, no matter what you are as a basketball player, you always will fight whatever your original identity was. So for LeBron, for instance, he never wanted to take the big shot. And he's gotten to the point where he's gotten better at it, you know,

but it's still naturally upstairs, he's a playmaker. So, like, he'll fight that for the rest of his career. Meanwhile, all the great scores of all time will constantly fight the urge to shoot over double teams. It's like a, it's an identity thing. And Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum have gotten better as passers, but their natural identity is to be a score. And so when teams are sending like Miami, what they're doing essentially is they're sending all sorts of defensive attention to those guys, tons of pressure, tons of playing the passing

lanes, tons of gambling and things like that. They're just not disciplined enough to methodically break Miami down. Yeah, I mean, that's exactly, you put it better than I did. It's, Curry can just, again, these playoff games, especially on the road, it's just a series of runs. The home team makes a run. And every time Dallas did, Curry comes down, gets past his guy, The Mavericks are chasing him. Yeah, it's, it's, I really fundamentally like the construct of Phoenix and Boston. It feels very old school to me, the classic defensive big, the wing score, the kind of the past first point guard.

But I do think something's missing. If I want to, I want to go back to Golden State before I get to a Laker topic. And, and those of you who have not seen. Jason. He's growing in popularity very quick on the volume sports YouTube channel, had over 100,000 views on one of his latest rants, really knows the stuff. But I made this argument the other day. When the Patriots had their dynasty, they could have won all of them or lost all of them. I mean, they were all. I mean, people lament the Mario Manningham catch if they're a Patriot fan or David Tyree. Every single game, other than maybe the Rams, was. an absolute peril with four minutes to go. The Warriors are different. The Warriors have had bad breaks. They fell apart against Toronto.

Literally, all but one starter was hurt. They were a better team, easily. You know, certainly Kyrie hit maybe the shot of the decade, but there was a Draymond suspension. I think Andrew Bogot got hurt. Steph was hurt. That's right. That's right.

And I look at the Warriors and I think, I think they're a better dynasty than we think. That's my takeaway. Now, I may be a little hyperbolic because I love their style. Where do we put them? How is there, there's two versions. Now we're moving to a third version. Is it possible they're actually in a sport that tends to popularize the fun and flashy? They don't get enough credit. No, they don't get nearly enough credit. You know, it's, I think what you're seeing, too, that people are glossing over here is just how insanely talented the league is. And I think, I think LeBron gets hurt in this regard as well. People, Stefan LeBron, the Warriors and LeBron made this look easy when it's not.

When the league is as talented as it is, like, this is a very good Dallas team that they are dismantling right now. You know, that Memphis team was even without John Morant, an entirely different beast that they had to deal with. But, you know, most importantly, it speaks to the consistency. You talked about luck. One of the easiest ways to counter that is to give yourself a bunch of shots at the table. You know, in terms of winning a championship, a lot of things do have to go your way. But if you put yourself in position seven times, chances are you win three or four of them. And that's the advantage of consistent success.

Sometimes things break your way. It's like the 2020 titles for the Lakers, you know, a lot of things went their way. Steph got hurt. Kevin Durant got hurt. you end up playing a Miami Heat team in the finals that's very flawed. But again, just you get enough cracks at the table that goes your way. It's the counterbalance to Kyrie getting hurt and Kevin Love getting hurt in 2015. You've got to get to the table enough times so that some things can go your way.

When Wiggins came over, we all kind of thought he was a trade piece initially. And then as we often see in basketball, guys can really flourish if the culture is right. Miami's got a really good culture. You know, if you play for the Celtics now, you play defense. You know, even if you're not a great defense, you defend. You defend. And all of a sudden, you start watching Wiggins. And he's still inconsistent, maddeningly so.

Steph gets hurt. He doesn't step up. But I'm sitting there watching him and I'm like, man, he's a six, seven and a half, twitchy. This culture works for him. And there's a weird thing. So Draymond makes a lot. And Wiggins does. And you can't break up Stefan.

because they're like, I mean, it's just, you can't do it. It's breaking up the band. And then they have all these young pieces, kind of hybrid pieces that can do multiple things. What are the Warriors going to look like? Like if they win the championship with this team, who do you move? Like what, I mean, or does Joe Lacob say, I'll pay the penalty. You know, I'm just, I'm just going to, but it's interesting. They draft Jason so well.

They develop so well. Weisman's a miss. it feels like. But outside of that, like, who do they move on this team? Well, Warriors people will tell you that it's, that Wiseman was a miss, but that's a whole other story.

You know, I don't know who you move. That's a good question. The Jordan Pool thing is the most interesting piece of all of this because he ended up being a bridge piece for the Warriors. The Warriors fans were incensed last year as it felt like they were trapped between two eras. You had the Steph Clay Draymond, Trayon. And then you had that Wiseman coming.

Minga has like all of these flashes. It reminds me a little bit of Jeff Green, just like freak athleticism at the small forward position. But you're like stuck between eras and you're not good enough now to win and who knows if these guys are going to be as good as Stefan Clay were, right? And Jordan Poole blossoming into an all-star prospect, that just builds a bridge so that you don't necessarily have to cash in assets. Because if you cash in assets, you hope to bring back someone like Jordan Poole.

So like that's the beauty of him. developing the way that he did. And as far as Wiggins goes, he was just miscast as this like lead swing man when that never was what his mentality was. He just, he never had the audacity. I always joke that like, if you could take Dylan Brooks's consciousness and put it into Andrew Wiggins, he'd be a superstar, right? He just on one night he has the audacity and the other night he doesn't. But in this system, he's allowed to just fall into the background, which is what he wants to do. And in the background, he can do the little things, which he's great at because he has tremendous. physical gifts. And he's not exactly the, he's not exactly the first offensive player to start playing with all the attention that Steph,

Steph gathers, and to instantly thrive. And I don't think that's a coincidence. Yeah. The, um, let me give you one Laker question. I, I, when the Lakers brought in Westbrook, I'm not a Westbrook fan. Um, and I, you know, my, my takeaway was an obvious one. He can't play off the ball. And LeBron is a de facto point guard and should be. It's, it's like what Janus or Luke has become. just that's where the offense gets the genesis of the offense for the box is Janus. I mean, I can see the offense. It's the same thing every time down the floor. Here comes Drew Holiday off the curl.

And it's like, okay, this is what they do. So LeBron's going to have the ball. Every offense that LeBron's on, they all look the same. They're all generated from the same space. And they should because he's a brilliant ball handler and one of the great passers of all time. So, but I thought that my takeaway was, well, Anthony Davis has heard a lot. LeBron gives you probably 65 games now.

Somebody's got to score 28. They just don't have enough scores. And then the toxicity was worse. He was worse than I thought. And I'm like the least Westbrook-centric guy in the media. I think you have to move him because it's not just a fit. He lacks self-awareness. And, you know, Jason, you can be a lot of things.

but if you don't get it and you don't get you don't get it, you're not coachable. I think you have to move him. And I think they're leaking the story that coaches are being asked how Westbrook would work because they want teams to think they're going to give it another try, but I don't think they want to. That's my take on it. Where do you think the Lakers look like game one next year? they simply can't bring him back.

In terms of how bad this year was, which is an all-time catastrophe. We're talking about a team that literally was the second leading favorite in Vegas going into the season. It's a catastrophe of all-time NBA history proportions. And you need to somehow cleanse that. And like, I don't care what Russ says, which by the way, his exit presser was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen in terms of a person deflecting any. and all blame for anything that happened to him during the season.

But if you're going to reset, you can't bring that guy back into training camp. I don't care if he makes apologies. I don't care if he works hard this summer. That would be such a bad gamble on their part. And what's dangerous here is the pride, because the reality is, is you might have to attach a first round pick to Russ to get rid of him. But the front office is concerned of the optics of that, which is exactly, because we've seen reporting, the Lakers don't want to attach a first round pick to Russ.

That's great. nobody wants him. So how are you going to get rid of him unless you're willing to attach an asset to him, right? And at a certain point, that pride and just, no one in the entire hierarchy of the Lakers is willing to just admit they made a mistake and move on. And clinging to that has been the biggest problem. But the only way I will feel even remotely optimistic about this is if they can get him out. And the advantage here is if you can flip him for, we'll call him overpaid role players because you're going to get bad contracts in return because Russ is a bad contract. But there are overpaid role players that are better basketball players in a small role next to

LeBron and AD than they would be elsewhere. Andrew Wiggins is a fantastic example of this. Max contract in Minnesota, you don't want anything to do with it. Role player alongside really good players, all of a sudden, he's a functional piece. So embracing that and understanding that, you know, flipping one bad contract that can't play for you for two or three bad contracts that can, immediately play roles alongside LeBron, James, and Anthony Davis,

that's a lot better option for you. So, I mean, I will feel horrible for Laker fans if they bring Russ back. That would be such an unbelievable disaster. Yeah, Jason Timp, YouTube channel for the volume sports. His stuff is great. I'd retweet him a lot right after games, really breaks it down. I've told you this before. We love having you.

We were really missing an element at the volume. somebody that could go on immediately after games and break it down with passion and expertise. We just love you so much. And welcome aboard. Keep kicking ass. You're doing great. I'm having the time of my life, Colin. I can't thank you enough for the opportunity.

All right, my man. The volume. Make sure to check out the Dremon Green show. I brought Dremont Green into the volume because one of the more entertaining voices in sports, unique perspective, understands behind the rope. Also chops up with guests like Gary Payton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download the Draymond Green Show wherever you get your podcast, only on the volume podcast network. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

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