Lakers' Last Chance?, Christian Wood Injury Report, D"Angelo Russell, LA's Big Decision

Speaker 40s - 70.66s

We're driven by the search for better, but when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search match with Indeed ORG. Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indeed data, and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast. Ditch the busy work. Use Indeed for scheduling, screening, screening, and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster. Leveraging over 140 million qualifications and preferences every day, Indeed ORG's matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences, so the more you use Indeed, the better it gets. Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed ORG to hire great talent fast. And listeners of this showwill get a $75 sponsor job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash bluewire. Just go to Indeed.com slash Bluewire right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed ORG on this podcast. That's Indeed.com slash Bluewire. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need indeed.

Speaker 071.96s - 1567.6s

Hello, Lakers Nation ORG. Welcome to the Lakers Nation.com podcast. It's game day. Hopefully not for the last time. Lakers Nuggets tonight. Game four.Can the Lakers keep their season alive? I'm going to talk a bit about the game. Talk about the mindset of the Lakers ORG. We need to talk about DeAngelo Russell PERSON. Oh, boy, do we need to talk about DeAngelo Russell PERSON? We'll talk about him.We'll also get into the injury report. Who's available? Who might be making a return for tonight's game? In fact, who looks like they will be making a return for tonight's game. Plus, I need to get into the mailbag. So a lot to talk about for this one.The first quick reminder, if you haven't done so yet, hit this subscribe button over on the Lakers Nation ORG YouTube channel. Turn on those notifications. Here's the thing, even if the Lakers season comes to an end tonight, even if that's the world that we're living in come Sunday morning, that just means the offseason is that much closer.We're going to have so much to talk about trades, free agency, the draft, all kinds of things. We're going to keep you up to date on all of it. So make sure you do hit that subscribe button. All right, let's get into it. Let's start things off with the injury report.This is what the Lakers put out the other night. Actually, this was last night. The Lakers injury report lists LeBron James PERSON as probable Anthony Davis with a wrist sprain as questionable. Come on, he's playing. If Anthony Davis doesn't play in tonight's gamebeing listed as questionable, then you know the Lakers ORG have fully set their minds on Cancun and they're done. But look at this. Christian Wood PERSON, questionable. I know the guy we've all been waiting on. It's Jared Vanderb this. Christian Wood PERSON. Questionable.I know the guy we've all been waiting on. It's Jared Vanderbilt PERSON. He's still listed as out. No Jared Vanderbilt, no Kim Reddish, no Jalen Hood, but Christian Wood now questionable to play in tonight's game. Might that make a difference? Probably not.I mean, let's be real, right? I mean, no offense to Christian Wood PERSON, but that's probably not going to, like, change the outcome of the game. Could it be nice to have another big-ish body to throw out there on the floor for the Lakers ORG?Sure, especially when they got crushed on the offensive glass in the first half, last go round against the Denver Nuggets ORG. So Christian Wood PERSON coming back, I think it's a positive. It's a positive for the Lakers ORG,just having another big body to put out there. Is he suddenly going to jump into the lineup? Is he suddenly going to play 20, 25 minutes, drop 30 and 15 or something? No, of course not. He's not going to do that. That's not what he is. It's not what he's been over the course of the season. But he's another big player. He's an option as a big that can shoot a little bit from the outside, or at least ideally hasn't shot the ball that well this season. So I'm not expectingbig things here, but just to have another player with some size to put out there on the floor. That's something. The fact that he's been upgraded to questionable suggests there's a pretty good chance that he will be a go, especially when we had the report from Shams Tarania PERSON earlier in the week that he was planning on returning for game three. Obviously, that didn't come to fruition, but here we are. Game four seems fairly likely right now that Christian Wood PERSON will be a go.Never know for sure until he is declared in or declared available is how the Lakers ORG list him. And that will be probably 30 minutes prior to game time that we'll find out about that. But Christian Wood PERSON questionable getting that designation right now probably means he's going to be a go for tonight's game. All right. We also need to talk a little bit about DeAngelo Russell PERSON.So I went over it on the YouTube channel yesterday. I broke down DeAngel Russell's contract and why the Lakers ORG are in a very difficult situation with Delo, at least this coming summer, whenever it is that this offseason starts. If it starts tonight, if it starts a week from now, if it starts two months from now, whenever the offseason starts, the Lakers ORG are in a very difficult situation with DeAngelo Russell.And his contract, so the Lakers gave him a player option for this season. This was part of the give and take in his contract negotiations. It's part of the reason why he went ahead and waived his no trade clause that he would have had on this kind of two-year deal. He would have had a de facto no trade clause, but he went ahead and waived that. It was the first, actually the first time this has ever happened.In NBA history, as far as I know, unless there wasived that. It was the first, actually the first time this has ever happened, right? In NBA ORG history, as far as I know, unless there was a wrinkle where in the past, this was something that was available, but under the old CBA, you couldn't do this. Under the new CBA, you can waive the de facto no trade clause that comes with a two-year deal that has an option year in between. And DeGentra Russell PERSON went ahead and waived that. Part of the give and take of that, which the Lakers then had the ability to trade him all season.It also means that he does have a player option. He can become a free agent. Well, Brian Winhorst of ESPN said it is likely that DeAngel Russell PERSON will become a free agent. He will not pick up his option, which is for $18 million and change just shy of $19 million. That's how much money he would have on his contract if he picked up his option for next year.I broke it down in a fair amount of detail. So that's all there on the Lakers Nation ORG YouTube channel for you guys to check out. I won't rehash that too much right now, but just because we're going to have plenty of time to talk about it. But Delo's play in tonight's game matters a lot.And I brought up this point and it feels bad. Let me just, let me just tell you, this does not feel good saying this. It doesn't. But if, and I know some of you out there right now are still in the mindset of Lakers ORG,ride or die, let's go, we're winning in seven, all of that. Hey, Bravo PERSON, I commend you. And your faith in this club is, okay, maybe bordering on crazy. I'll say that, but it's also, you know, impressive. So I get it. Some of you out there are still saying,oh, they're going to win the series. They're going to get it done in seven. At some point, somebody's going to come back from being down 03, but I think it's going to be more like a star returns or something like that. And then they become a very different team. I think that I don't think the Lakers ORG are going to be that team.Let me say that. I don't think the Lakers are going to be the first team ever to come back from down O'3. If it happens, great. It'll be historic. It'll be amazing. I will love it.And I would love to say I'm wrong on that. But I don't think it's going to be the Lakers ORG. Some of you are still there. But DeAngler Russell tonight against the Nuggets ORG, I wonder if it actually helps the Lakers more. But DeAngelo Russell tonight against the Nuggets ORG, I wonder if it actually helps the Lakers ORG more.It doesn't help Dilo, but it helps the Lakers ORG if he has another stinker performance. And that feels all kinds of bad. Let me tell you. Feels awful saying that because I like DeAndre Russell. I like Delo, the player. I thought he was not good but great during the regular season. I thought he was phenomenal. He gave the Lakers the shooting they needed. He was one of the best three-point shooting players in the NBA ORG. He gave them the ball handling they needed, the passing, the distribution, did the stuff that theyneeded him to do. He's their third best player. and I don't think that's open for much debate. I really hoped that DeAndro Russell in the playoffs was going to prove a lot of people wrong because the narrative about Deelow PERSON has been ever since last year and even before that really. This has been a narrative for a while that Deelow PERSON, he's terrible in the playoffs. He falls to pieces when it matters most. That's been a narrative for a while, that Dela PERSON, he's terrible in the playoffs. He falls to pieces when it matters most. That's been the narrative around him. And I hoped that given how good he was this season and given how much was writing on this,he was going to continue to be at the very least good in the playoffs. He was awful in game one. It was bad Dilo PERSON all over again. It was almost, it was eerily similar to Lakers Nuggets from last year, where DeAndre Russell PERSON, it looked like the moment was too big for him. And then he bounced back in game two and he was great.Great. Seven for 11 from Deep LOC did what you needed him to do. The Lakers ORG really should have won that game. No reason why they lost it. That was e egregious and then along comes game three and he erased everything he did in game two didn't he just gone wiped the way it's out it's done zero points zero points for de angelo russle oh four oh for shooting. 0 for 6 from 3 played 24 minutes. Darvin PERSONham got him off the floor. Darvin is already committed to keeping the starting lineup thesame for game four. He's not switching it up. He's not changing that. But you'd have to imagine that the leeway that DeAngel Russell PERSON had probably gone at this point. So all of that being said, knowing that the Lakers ORG, the threat is real, that they could lose him for nothing this summer. He's probably going to opt out, which Brian Winders PERSON talked about. Again, he had a great season.He's probably going to opt out. I don't know how much this game matters for DeAngo Russell's PERSON market. I don't know how many teams out there would be interested in signing DeAngel Russell PERSON. There's a couple that come to mine off top of my head. You've got the San Antonio Spurs. They need a guard. Is he really a Spurs style guard? I don't know. There's a rumor out there that they're not going to be that interested in Trey Young PERSON because he's not really their type of guy. If Trey Young's not their type of guy, is it going to be D-Lo?Probably not, but the Spurs ORG are a team out there that need a guard, need a point guard. Okay. The Orlando Magic, maybe. Maybe that's a team that could go after him. I don't think he's going to have a super robust market. But if you're the Lakers ORG and you have made the determination that this series is not going to go your way.Then specifically from the Lakers ORG perspective, if DeAndre Russell PERSON has another poor performance that could depress his market that much further, I think the best thing that could happen to the Lakers right now in regards to DeAndro Russell is he picks up his player option. And I know there's a lot of Lakers fans out there that say, get DELO off this team, just let them go and free agency, all that. I think one of the things we have to keep in mind is that the Lakers ORG will not be able to replace him. It's very unlikely that they will have cap room. UnlessLeBron PERSON is also gone, they're not going to have cap room to play with. It's not like DeAndro Russell walks away and that $18.7 million that they're not giving Delo PERSON, they can turn around and give to somebody else to take his spot. Uh-uh, not the way it's going to work. They're way over the cap. It's not going to happen.So I think the best thing for the Lakers would be DeAngel Russell PERSON picks up his player option and then you could potentially trade him and you could at least recoup some value. That's if you're still of the mindset that he's got to go, that it doesn't fit, it doesn't work. Despite what we saw in the regular season, it's not happening. You still should be rooting for Delo PERSON to pick up that player option.The only way he's going to pick up that player option is if there is no market for him. The only way there's going to be no market for him is if the last thing people have from DeAndre Russell PERSON is a really bad performance. In fact, a bad playoff series. Again, it feels terrible. I don't want bad things for DeAngel Russell PERSON.Obviously, that's a terrible situation for him. He had a great season. I'd like to see him get paid. I'd like to see him get a kind of contract that he deserves for that, understanding that he has issues during the playoffs. But for the Lakers ORG perspective and solely the Lakers' perspective,DeAnd Andrew Russell going on a heater in tonight's game and drop and save 40 points or something and then perhaps strengthening his market value probably doesn't help the Lakers and their efforts this summer.Again, that only matters if you're of the mindset that the series is over. If you're thinking, hey, they still have a shot here. Let's go out here and win this thing. All right. Then let's go Delo PERSON.Fire it up. Fire it up. But an interesting subplot, I think, to keep an eye on DeAngel Russell PERSON, what's the market going to look like for him this summer? How do the Lakers ORG navigate this situation? Is there some way to avoid losing him for nothing?Keep in mind, you could just sign him to a new contract, but what does that contract look like? Especially if you're not convinced he should be the guy for you handling the ball moving forward, because then you've got to be really careful because you've got to sign him to a contract that's very tradable if you don't think he's the guy, because you'd be signing him essentially to trade him just to make sure that you don't lose him because again, most likely they're not going to be able to replace him.All right, little subplot there for us to keep an eye on in tonight's game. What does DeAndro Russell do? Don't get me wrong. Over on playback, playback.combeck.combeckers Nation. I will be cheering for the guy. I want him.If he goes on a heater, I'll be thrilled. Just from a Lakers perspective, it may be this could matter going into the summertime. All right. We do need to talk a little bit about the game tonight. Talk about X's and O's, that type of stuff. Before I get to it, though, so if you guys have been watching the show for a long time,listening to the show, if you're over on the podcast side, you guys know the beginning of the season, Sean Davis PERSON and I, we had a little bet. A friendly bet. And it was as as friendly as it gets, really.We bet on who would play more games. Would it be Anthony Davis or LeBron James PERSON? I took the LeBron PERSON side. Sean took the Anthony Davis PERSON side.Obviously, Sean PERSON won. We decided, though, when we made this bet, that we would not be betting for a gain for either of us. No, no, no. We would be betting. And the benefactor of this bet is going to be you guys.One of you. We bet a Lakers ORG jersey. So I am now officially going to be buying a Lakers ORG jersey for one of you. Here's how it's going to go. All you guys have to do, if you want to be considered,and it's a very simple, would you like a Lakers ORG jersey, I will be buying one for one person. All you have to do is make sure, first of all, you follow me over on Instagram, at Trevor Lane, NBA ORG.Follow me on Instagram, follow me on X, at Trevor underscore Lane ORG over on X. Shoot me on Instagram. Follow me on X. At Trevor underscore Lane over on X. Shoot me a message. Say enter me in the contest. Something along those lines.It's all you got to do. And let's face it, I know a lot of Lakers ORG fans, they've tuned tuned out right now. So I know those you watch in the show at this moment, you're the real ones. You're like me. You're going down with the ship in game fourif that's what it takes. So, shoot me a message, either on X at Trevor underscore Lane or over on Instagram at Trevor Lane PERSON, NBA ORG. You've got to be following me both places.Shoot me a message. And in a few days, I will randomly select someone to send them a Lakers ORG jersey. Pretty simple? Cool.There you go. Get your chance to get some free Lakers ORG gear just for watching the show and being a part of things. And again, hopefully you are around when we actually made the bet and now you're seeing the fruition of it. So here it is.Again, at Trevor underscore Lane ORG over on X. At Trevor Lane, NBA ORG. Once again, you must be following me both places. Shoot me a message and either one to officially be entered to potentially get that Lakers ORG jersey. All right. Tonight's game, Lakers Nuggets ORG. So normally this is where we would get into, okay, the Lakers ORG need to do this, this and that. They need to run more of this play.They need to mix up their pitches in terms of how they're doubling Nicola Yokic PERSON. We've talked about that. You need to box out more on Aaron Gordon, not allow so many offensive rebounds. You need to shoot like you've done it before and not shoot 12% or whatever from three through the serious parts of the game. All of these things were issues last game. But you know what?As much as the X's and O's and all of that and the big keys and everything like that, that stuff all matters. Let me tell you guys something. keys and everything like that that stuff all matters let me tell you guys something it only matters if the lakers believe they can win if the lakers don't believe they can win then none of it matters or let me rephrase that if the lakers want to win if they don't none of that stuff matters the biggest issue the lakers have with the denver nuggets right now it's not physical it's not strategic it's mental it's all upstairs what i'm talkingabout is right now we see teams in this situation every year. If you go down 03 in a series, you're at home, right? Especially if you're the road team right now in this situation. I'm sorry, you're the home team right now. You were the road team to start the series. You have a decision to make, don't you? Because winning the game means that on Sunday, you've got to go get on a planeand you're going to fly to Denver ORG. Losing the game would mean that on Sunday, you can get on a plane and you're going to go to Cancun ORG. You're going to go to St. Lucia GPE.You're going to go to Antigua GPE. Maybe you're going to go to Tahiti GPE, which is beautiful, by the way. You're going to go on vacation with your family. Do you want to get on that plane and go to Denver ORG? Or do you want to go to a tropical beach?It takes a lot of willpower. It takes a lot of conviction to, in this situation, say, I know it's not likely. I know no one's ever done it before coming back from down 03, but damn it, we're going to be the ones to do it. And I want to take that shot that we're going to do it.That means I got to go pack up my stuff and I got to get on a plane. I got to go back to Denver ORG. That's what we're going to do. I talked about this last game that if the Lakers don't believe they could beat Denver ORG, that was going to come out at some point. That was going to come out.They were going to take a punch from the Denver Nuggets ORG. They were going to make a run. And the Lakers ORG' body language in those moments was going to tell us a lot. And it did seem like they kind of folded last game. That game, I put it out there next.I said that game was there for the taking. That game was sitting right there. Keith Smith and I talked about yesterday on the NBA ORG front office show. That game was sitting right there, right in front. All the Lakers ORG had to do was pick it up. Just don't shoot horrifically bad from three.Don't shoot like you're shooting all of your shots with your offhand from three. That's the way the Lakers shot in that must win game three. Don't do that. Box out. Pay attention to the details. And game three was right there for them.It was like the Denver Nuggets ORG were messing around, mess around, because they did not play a very good game. They're messing around. And then they went, are they really not going to take this game? Okay. Well, I guess we'll take it then.If you're just going to give it to us, because that's really what the Lakers ORG did. Against Denver in game three. Now, the Lakers ORG have said all the right things since then. Darvin Ham PERSON talked about how the guys are frustrated and they're confident. They know they can be better than this and all of that.None of that matters. Darwin PERSON said all that. They're saying all the right stuff. It doesn't matter. What they do on the floor will tell you what they really think. The words they say don't matter.Not right now. The words they say don't matter. What they do on the floor will tell you what they really think. The words they say don't matter. Not right now. The words they say don't matter. What they do on the floor will tell you what they actually think, what they actually feel deep down. Do they actually think they can win this game?Do they actually have that conviction? If nothing else, do they actually have that pride that, hey, even if we're going down, we're going down swinging? And if that means we come back to Denver ORG, then we go back to Denver. If that means we can get it back here to LA for a game six, let's go. We're going to make sure that we fight you tooth and nail all the way through. I wish I could say, I believe that's what they're goingto do. I didn't like what we saw in game three EVENT in terms of the letdown. I didn't like what we saw the looks on the faces. It would almost seem like there was a realization that yeah, we're not winning this thing. I wasn't thrilled with that. So I don't have a lot of hope right now. And you guys know me. I'm not Matt the optimist Peralta, but I tend to be pretty optimistic about the Lakers ORG. I tend to look at the positive side of things when I can, but I hope I'm wrong.I'm not optimistic that we're going to see that fight in them. What I think most likely is going to happen is the nuggets are going to be motivated, get this thing done, especially seeing what the wolves have done to the suns, what else is happening in the West. I think the nuggets are going to be motivated to get this thing done. At some point, they're going to run on a stretch of 10 scoring possessions out of 12. They do that.13 scoring possessions out of 16, something like that. They're going to go on a run. Four minutes, five minutes, something like that. They're going to go on a run. And that, five minutes, something like that. They're going to go and that's where the Lakers ORG will have the opportunity to tap out of the series or grit their teeth, dig their heels in and fight. And until we know the answer to that, that question of whatare they going to do? Are they going to tap out or are they going to keep fighting? Nothing else matters. It doesn't matter how well they shoot. Doesn't matter how they defend. Doesn't matter. Because that moment's going to come.I don't care how well they play. Denver ORG is good enough. That moment is going to come. Denver ORG's going to make a run. They'll make a push. That could come in the first quarter. It could come in the third quarter whenever.How the Lakers ORG respond to that moment will tell us everything. And if the Lakers fight back, if the Lakers say, no, not today, we might be going down, but it's not happening today. If that is truly deep down the mindset of the Lakers ORG, okay, game on. Got to box out Aaron Gordon. Got a box out in general. The team, much more attention to detail. 48 minutes, mistake-free basketball because the Denver Nuggets ORG will capitalize on your mistakes. It's part of what makes them a great team. You have to play mistake-free basketball.You have to close out on everything. Defend like your lives depend on it. Mix up your pitches when you're doubling Yokic PERSON. You can't send the double from the same place every single time because Yokic PERSON will pick that apart. We saw in game three.Your offense has got to cherish every single possession. You can't have empty possessions on the offensive. You can't. Denver ORG will feed on those. Denver is fueled by Lakers ORG' carelessness in their own offensive possessions. Can't come up dry.You have to at the very least get yourself to the free throw line, if not generate a really good look each time down. And you have to be diligent in your efforts to do so. All of those things are going to be keys to tonight's game. But the number one key, first of all, what's in here? What are they made of?What's their mindset? Are they thinking about that beach? Or are they thinking about making sure that Denver ORG has to earn it if they're going to win? Are they thinking about making sure that the last thing they show this season, their home crowd in L.A. GPE is not a loss that they give them a win. Let's say they win.Is it likely they're going to go win game five in Denver ORG? No. Probably not. Probably not. Not given the history between these two teams. We're driven by the search for better.

Speaker 41567.86s - 1639.58s

But when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search match with Indeed ORG. Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indeed ORG data, and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast. Ditch the busy work. Use Indeed ORG for scheduling, screening, and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster. Leveraging over 140 million qualifications and preferences every day,Indeed ORG's matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences, so the more you use Indeed, the better it gets. Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed ORG to hire great talent fast. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsor job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash bluewire. Just go to Indeed.com ORG slash bluewire right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed ORG on this podcast.That's Indeed.com ORG slash Blue Wire. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed ORG. Get ready for the greatest roast of all time.

Speaker 11639.8s - 1667.7s

The roast of Tom Brady PERSON. A Netflix live event happening May 5th. Hosted by Kevin Hart. The seven-time world champion gets his cleats held to the fire by famous friends and frenemies on an unforgettable night where everything is fair game. Tune in on May 5th at 5 p.m. Pacific Time for the Roast of Tom Brady, live only on Netflix ORG. But how do you want to go out But how do you want to go out?

Speaker 01668.98s - 2745.9s

How do you want to go out? That's what the Lakers ORG have to decide. And I don't expect them to consciously think, how do we want to go out? I think they should be still focused on, hey, we're good enough to still win this series.Nobody's ever done it, but we're still good enough to do it. But at the end of the day, it's a question of pride. And we'll see where their heads are at. Are their heads on a tropical beach somewhere? Is that where their mind is? Or is it on how they really want to finish this?And what they have left. So we'll see. That's what we're going to find out tonight. All right. I need to get into some of the super chats here. Now, you guys know the way I do these,I will use these as springboards into a lot of different topics. I may not, the question itself may not be exactly the way I take this, but there's a lot of things for us to talk about in here. Digital snowflakes said, fire polika, fire ham, get new players, please. Well, here's the deal. I think if that is what you want,in terms of big changes, let's just sum it all up if you want big changes, I think that's coming. I think that's very much coming. I think that the results of this series, and this was what we said going into the series, the benefit of taking on Denver now, one of the benefits anyway is that you know, you know with certainty what this team is and what this team is not.If you have a bad, which it's been bad. If you clearly show you are not on Denver ORG's level, then you know changes are coming this summer. The front office is then, whoever's at the helm of the front office, I'm assuming Rob Blake PERSON will probably still be around, but I don't know.Whoever's at the helm of the front office, they know with certainty that big changes have to be made, assuming this series continues to go the way that it has been. Had it gone the other way, then they would know, okay, hey, we got something here. We can tweak some things, add something, whatever, but we got something.They've gotten the opposite message from this series. I think big changes are coming. As far as Darwin Ham PERSON goes, I, you know, there's times when I think I,I'm tired of being negative about Darwin PERSON. I like Darwin PERSON. As a person, he's a good guy. I think he'd be a really fun guy just to sit down and like, have a conversation,have a beer with, right? But I don't think he's the right coach for this team. And I think the Lakers have to make a very serious decision this summer on the head coaching spot. And they have to be very convinced in that belief that he's not the guy because they're going to pay him for two years to not coach their team if they decide to move on.But I think there have been enough issues that that's probably the path you need to go down. As far as getting new players, yeah, that's coming. That's coming. They're not bringing back this group. It may not be as big of an overhaul as drastic of an overhaul as you want there's a lot of cap stuff we need to get into and there'll be plenty of timefor that but change is coming at times they are changing darius said we hit our ceiling it's time to blow it up fire ham any idea what our roster will look like next season no tell you this it's going to be a hell of a summer if this thing comes to an end tonight that the roster is going to look very different next year i'm confident in that it will look very different trades free agency all that it's it will look very different next year.McKell said always the third quarter, even regular season games. Darwin PERSON doesn't know how to react to adjustments. You see it so often, Darwin PERSON's got to go. Yeah, I mean,that's been part of the problem in the series. Playoff series in the NBA ORG, in general, playoff series, they are about adjustments and then countering those adjustments. Whenever one team loses, it is then falling upon them, the burden falls upon them to make adjustments. To fix what went wrong in that game that caused them to lose and then to take it back at the opponent.Then that opponent, what they do is they counter those adjustments and off they go. Frank Vogel PERSON was really good at this. Of course, he also had a team that was tailor-made for making adjustments. Play big, play small, whatever. I said going in that I thought Darwin PERSON had a team that could play just about any style. Only problem was they're one big short from playing any style,and that I think has hurt them in the series. But Frank Vogel PERSON was great at that. Making adjustments that worked in series. Anytime they lost in the series. But Frank Vogel PERSON was great at that. Making adjustments that worked in series. Anytime they lost in the playoffs in 2020, Vogel PERSON made adjustments. Think about game one against Houston GPE.Then he goes small. Brings in Markief Morris PERSON into the starting lineup. Think about the Denver Nuggets ORG. Okay, hey, Dwight PERSON. Go get them. That worked out pretty well.Even Miami in the finals that year, it was an adjustment game six. Okay, Alex Caruso PERSON, you're starting now. And my God, I mean, that was one of the best, the first half of that game was one of the best defensive performances I've ever seen. That was incredible what the Lakers did to Miami GPE on the defensive side of the ball, the first half of that game was one of the best defensive performances I've ever seen. That was incredible what the Lakers did to Miami on the defensive side of the ball in that first half. So that's the way playoff series is supposed to go. I think what we've seen happen in this series, and we saw it happen last year too, is the Nuggets, Mike Malone PERSON, they wouldmake, they would counter something the Lakers ORG were doing, and then the Lakers struggled to adjust to that in-game and struggled to adjust to it game to game to game. So I think this comment is spot on that Darvin PERSON doesn't react and doesn't make the right adjustments. He's not having success with the adjustments that he's made in this series. Miguel said, I'm already thinking of the offseason.What are we doing at number 17? And who's our next coach? I don't know why, but Terry Stott PERSON seems to be a good choice. Hope Klingen PERSON slides in the draft, but unlikely.Okay. So first of all, I don't know if you guys know this, but I do have a substack called the Basketball Bulletin ORG. Keith Smith, Bryce Simon PERSON and I have teamed up, and we have this substack going on.You can find it basketball bulletin.substack.com. You guys want to check it out. Bryce PERSON is incredible when it comes to draft stuff. We just did a mock draft that's going to be out on Monday. I would highly recommend you guys check that out. But I don't know that Klingan's going to be there for the Lakers ORG.I don't know that the Lakers are going to be there at 17. In fact, I would say it's probably unlikely. Look, 17 last year, I thought the Lakers ORG were going to trade it. So maybe don't trust me here. I have a hard time, though, believing that they're not going to trade this pick. Assuming the Pelicans ORG don't take the pick, which I'm all. Let me also say this. Please take the pick, Pelicans ORG. Please take this pick because I think the 2025 pick is more valuable. I think 2025, even if the Lakers are going to trade the pick, whether it's 2024 or2025, they're going to trade it this summer. I think 2025, 2025 has more value on the trade market. So I would hope that the Pelicans will take this year's pick and leave 2025. I don't think that's what they're going to do. It doesn't make any sense for New Orleans to take this year's pick. So the Lakers will probably get this year's pick.They'll lose their 2025 pick. I don't think the Lakers ORG probably trade it. That's my gut. With LeBron PERSON, free agency coming up, he's going to want a show of good faith. He's going to want them to move future assets in order to help win right now. I think they trade the pick.If they don't, going after a big would be a nice idea. And there's some bigs that could be available in this draft. But I still think, I think there's going to be a deal that they'll find. Armin said trade for Mitchell or Trey PERSON and a viable big. Oh. Trade for Mitchell or Trey PERSON is difficult enough as it is.Trade for Mitchell Trey PERSON plus a big. That will be tough. If they pull it off, great. But I do think that Donovan Mitchell PERSON in particular, should he say no to the cabs ORG in terms of signing a max extension, which is what would need to happen in order for him to hit the trade market?I think the market will be very robust for him. I think there's a pretty good chance the Lakers ORG would get outbid. Trey Young PERSON, probably more realistic, especially with the whole clutch sports connection and all that sort of stuff too. So probably more realistic to get Tray Young PERSON. The question is, do you want to get Tray Young PERSON?Is he the guy, right? Whoever you, if the Lakers go and trade for a third star, which we will have plenty of time to discuss whether or not that's even the right path for them. But if the Lakers do go for a third star, whoever they go for, assuming you're going to give up multiple future picks,assuming you're going to give up multiple future picks, assuming you're going to give up players like Rui, Austin PERSON, this is part of why it would be great if Dilo PERSON picked up his player option because you could put him into a trade. If he doesn't pick up his player option, putting him into a trade is very unlikely, which it's also very unlikely he picks up his player option.But you're going to be parting with some significant pieces. And at that point, the cupboard will be pretty bare for the future. So whoever you trade for, if you're going to make that move, you have to be convinced this is the guy that we're going to build our future around. That post-Lebron, this is the guy. Is that Trey Young PERSON?I think we could argue that. Maybe yes, maybe no. Oh, Mikkel PERSON's comment came up twice there. KM said I mostly blamed Darwin for the season. The Lakers ORG had a mental collapse after the in-season tournament and plunged in the standings.A good coach would not allow that to happen. Never would have happened under film. I think Darwin-Han PERSON deserves plenty of the blame pie. I don't think it's all on him. And as KM said here, mostly blamed Darwin PERSON. I think there's other things that happened too.Some things were beyond Ham PERSON's control, like injuries. Those were a big deal this year. A big deal. Bad luck in terms of the schedule. Those were a big deal this year. A big deal. Bad luck in terms of the schedule. It was a very difficult schedule. That was something too.But I also think for a team that preached continuity and the benefits of that, they started the season off with a roster that didn't have continuity by choosing a lineup that didn't have much continuity. Now, it didn't help that Ruby Hutchamorrow PERSON was in and out of the lineup. Again, Darvin PERSON overall, I think Darvin probably gets a little too much of the blame,which is par for the course with sports, right? A team is not successful. The coach tends to get a lot of the blame. It's the way it goes. That's sports. That's not even just basketball.That's sports. But we also see this effect where fans we tend to latch on to one thing even if we acknowledge that the truth is that there are a lot of thingsthat can contribute to a team's lack of success we tend to focus our frustration in one spot. Years ago, it was Russell Westbrook PERSON. It was all focused on Russ PERSON. Was Russ the sole reason why the Lakers ORG struggled?No, was he the biggest reason? Yes. And I'm not even necessarily talking about Russell Westbrook PERSON, the player. I'm talking about the contract, the trade that you made. Arguably, I mean, aside from an injury, arguably the worst trade in sports history, certainly one of the worsttrades in sports history, given what has happened since then. And I'm talking about trades that there's trades that have happened where a player gets injured immediately after the trade. That's a different story. Where guys were healthy. I mean, like the Lakers ORG are still paying for the sins of that trade. That's a different story. Where guys were healthy. I mean, like the Lakers ORG are still paying for the sins of that trade. But while we can focus on one thing and blame that one thing, Darwin definitely deserves plenty of criticism for the season.I also think that's fair. I know people have gotten frustrated with his postgame pressers, with him not taking accountability for things himself. Instead, pointing fingers elsewhere. The lack of timeouts, the lack of challenges, the rotations, the starting lineup for parts of the season, the defensive schemes being in drop coverage.There's nights where the scheme of we're going to leave the other team's worst shooter wide open is not fun because Marcus Smart goes berserk from three. Draymond Green goes berserk from three. Dante X-Sum PERSON. Because sometimes even you leave a bad three-point shooter wide open,they're suddenly not such a bad three-point shooter. There's plenty to blame Darwin PERSON for, but I also think there has to be a realization that just removing Darwin PERSON, and this is really where the plane needs to land here, just switching your coach doesn't fix all that ails the Lakers ORG. It's not like if you just swapped out Darwin PERSON suddenly, oh, boom, that's it.This is a championship team. Let's go. No, there is more that has to be done. Chris, we've stopped listening to our Lakers ORG legends who used to consult one-on-one in practices. Guys like Robert Ory should come in wearing seven rings and give this team the mentorship and inspiration in needs. Frank Vogel PERSON used to bring in people.Rob PERSON was part of that too. I can't say with certainty that that's not happening. You know what I mean? Like we don't know everything that happens behind closed doors. We don't know a lot of things that happened behind closed doors. So I can't say for sure that it didn't happen and the Lakers ORG just maybe didn'tpublicize it because they don't have to. Usually that is the type of thing you would publicize though. So I think it's a fair point here by Chris PERSON that reminding everybody kind of what's the legacy of this franchise, what you're really playing for when you put on that jersey, how much it means reminding players of that isn't a bad idea. But again,I can't say with certainty that it didn't happen at all of this season. Joseph PERSON said, how can you watch anything Darwin PERSON has done and want to bring him back? He's such a bad coach that does not set up as players for success. Front office needs to take a good, hard look at themselves. Yeah, and that's why ultimately I land on.I don't think he comes back in part because I think that enough mistakes have been made that you need to move on. And also because I think you just, you kind of need some fresh blood in there. I look at the body language of some of the guys. It doesn't like Darwin PERSON's whole thing coming in was supposed to be this is the dude. Right.This guy you're going to want to run through a brick wall for every single night. He's going to have you fired up. Guys are going to be focused. Guys are going to be locked in. He may not be the best when it comes to X's and O's, but boy, is he going to get the most out of his team effort-wise?That hasn't been the case, has it? That doesn't sound like the team we've seen this year. Or last year, really. So if that's the case, Darwin PERSON's, air quotes, superpower was to get the best out of his playersand that's not what's happening, doesn't really suggest that you should hang on to that coach. Now, again, it's not my money. I'm not the one having to write the check to the guy that's no longer coaching the team. That's a genie bus decision. So there's that to factor in. And also, as somebodymentioned in a previous question, I didn't answer this part of it, but it was who could coach this team. I mean, Terry Stotz PERSON, that name was brought up, but essentially you're looking at either or first year head coach, which, I mean, Jordie Fernandez PERSON, a good one is already off the board, went to the Nets ORG. Joanne Howard yesterday is apparently going to the Nets ORG as an assistant coach. But do you go with another first time head coach?Or is it a retread? In which case, you're looking at Terry Stotz PERSON of the world. Terry Stats, I know a lot of people still like Mark Jackson PERSON. Is it people like that? Is that who you're going towards? Are you just praying the clippers get bounced in round oneand are dumb enough to fire Tailu PERSON? And then you can write that wrong and bring him in. That'd be great. I don't think it's likely but that's got to be a factor here too if you're the lakers if you're going to be in the hunt for a new coach you'd better feel pretty confident that whoever you're going to bring in is going to do a better job than the guy you got right now because if it's if that's a, you're not going to upgrade by bringing somebody in, then you might as well just keep Darwin PERSON and not pay him to sit at home and not coach for you.I don't think that's the way they should go. I think there are some options out that they can find, but they better have a read of who wants to come coach the Lakers ORG before they pull the trigger on something like that. You ready?

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No one ever ever really dies. Is this username? Imagine if we sign Clay and still have Delo PERSON. Don't think my heart can take play in clay and play off Delo going 0 for 10 in the same game.Oh man. And here my brain went to, okay, I'm going to have to break down all the cap reasons why. That can't happen. That's not going to happen. But yes, that would be very tough. That would be very tough.God, I was really hoping. I was hoping for Deelow's sake, because I like Delo PERSON. And I've talked about this. Like, he's our guy, right? The Lakers ORG drafted him. And he's one of the most fun players in the league when he's on a heater. I was really hoping he was going to have a great playoff series. Esham, blow it up. All need to go. Plus Grandpa James. Okay. Digital snowflakes said,wasted season. Lakers don't waste seasons. Ugh. You know, I've seen this sentiment. And in years past, I've always dismissed it as the Lakers ORG are going to blow it up. And I don't think they're going to this year either. I think if LeBron PERSON says I'll come back and I don't think he's going to,they're going to continue to try to win. That's what they're going to do. Because when you've got LeBron PERSON, that's what you do. Is it what they should do? At some point, you're going to need to rebuild.At some point, that's going to become the reality. The Lakers ORG don't want to. Lakers ORG fans, we know are not super patient when it comes to a rebuild. Nor should you be. The Lakers ORG have set the standard very, very high.But at some point, that Band-Aid's going to have to get ripped off. And I think that if LeBron PERSON wasn't LeBron, right? If LeBron PERSON was not maybe the greatest ever, we'd be talking more seriously about a full tear down. Now, there's a lot more to this than just that.The draft pick situation. It's hard to rebuild when you don't have your own picks. You're not going to have either 2024 this year or 2025, especially if you don't have 2025. It's really tough to go into a rebuild this summer. You already don't have 2027.It's lightly protected. So that makes it a little bit difficult to go into a rebuild. But if LeBron was like Paul George PERSON level player, and he started slowing down. Okay, probably a little bit easier. Right?Like Paul George PERSON is great. Extremely good player. But he's not in the running for greatest of all time or anything like that. Not like LeBron PERSON is. The Lakers ORG don't want to be known as the franchise that had to trade away or lost LeBron PERSON.They don't want that. They've cultivated an image as a very superstar friendly organization. They've done that very carefully for a long, long time. I think that they will do what they can to win right now. And that may be foolish.Because maybe we're at the point, or we're going to be at the point where LeBron PERSON needs more help than what the Lakers can provide, given the realities of their cap situation, given the trade market, all of that. Maybe we're at that point. Maybe an honest analysis of the situation would land in that spot this summer.But I think the Lakers, as long as they've got LeBron PERSON, they are going to continue to try to win. And I don't think they're going to go into a rebuild. I've had some people who even said, well, can we trade LeBron PERSON? Can we get something for LeBron PERSON?He'll have a player option. If LeBron PERSON's going to leave, he's going to leave. Now, and I think the only way the Lakers ORG would ever trade LeBron PERSON is if LeBron went to them and said, trade me. If LeBron signs a three-year deal, let's say, the Lakers ORG aren't going to turn around and trade him. They're not going to trade him until LeBron as if LeBron went to them and said, trade me. If LeBron signs a three-year deal, let's say, the Lakers aren't going to turn around and trade them.They're not going to trade them until LeBron PERSON says, please trade me. Once again, they've very painstakingly cultivated a superstar-friendly organization because they know that's going to matter, the next big star that comes up. So again, I don't think the Lakers ORG will go down that path. But with each passing year, the likelihood or the need for a rebuild just goes up. It may not be the biggest need right now.Maybe you say LeBron PERSON still has something left in the tank. Maybe you say AD is still great. If we just tweak this or that, we just add this kind of player. I can understand that, Pat. But each year you get closer to LeBron PERSON being done, that's just getting that much closer to a rebuild, which bleeds into the conversation about a third star and all that. We're going tohave a lot of time to talk more in depth about that topic. 11 straight, no answers, sweep is on the way. So here's the thing. I was thinking about this. Even if you were playing against the Charlotte Hornets ORG, the pistons, the spurs, the blazers, beating them 11 straight times, I would bet against it.Because there's still an NBA ORG team. I know the Pistons went on that crazy losing streak this year, but that's obviously an outlier. That's a rarity. There's still an NBA ORG team. So I'm saying even if you're playing the worst teams in the NBA ORG,an NBA ORG team. So I'm saying even if you're playing the worst teams in the NBA, beating them 11 straight times would not be likely. They'd find a way. Somebody would get hot one game and you'd have a cold game or whatever. You wouldn't beat them 11 straight times. This is pretty unbelievable. And the way, you know, somebody said, I think it was yesterday,said we, it feels like we've watched the same game 11 times. It really does. And is that accurate? No, I mean,there's been some differences for sure. But like we kind of knew, at least I knew. I knew at halftime game three when the Lakers were only up four. I knew. You could tell by the feel of the game, you're like, that's not enough. That's not enough because we know what's going to happen.Denver ORG's going to get going. They'll make a couple of tweaks adjustments. They're going to go on that stretch where they score 10 times out of 12 possessions. And that's going to be that and that's exactly what happened how do we know that's going to happen because we've seen it happen so many times we've kind of watched the same game 11 times at this point all right we'll do a few more big fish said darvin can't coach, outsiders, stars, teams trash.Okay. Brandon said, why can't the Lakers ORG just be consistent? I actually think losing the same team 11 straight times is very consistent. I mean, that's, like honestly, that's hard to do to lose 11 times to the same team as an NBA ORG team. As an arguably good NBA team losing 11 times to the same team that's incredible consistency joking aside I know what you're saying I know what you're saying the Lakers ORG aremaddening and that they can look great one game and terrible the next I think some of that's matchup related but but yeah, there hasn't been a lot of consistency this year. They look great during that in-season tournament run. Great. Defense was fantastic. And then a couple months later, they're one of the worst defenses in the NBA ORG with the same team. And yeah, there were injuries and things, but still. Yikes.See, the more I talk about this, the less optimistic I'm getting about this team. And it's fair, given where we're at, down 03 right now and everything that we're seeing. But, man, I hope they win game four. Don't get swept. I hope they show that pride. Don't get swept. I hope they show that pride that I was talking about earlier in the show.Don't get swept. Find a way to win game four. Don't be swayed by the palm trees and the hammock and all of that. Tropical drinks on the sand. Get it done. Get a win. at least one.I hope they do it. I hope they do it tonight. Lakers Nation ORG, I will be live over on playback. Playback.tv slash Lakers Nation ORG. We'll see. Do the Lakers show up tonight?Do they have that determination, that grit, to fight back or not? Come join me, hang out with me during the game. If this is it, I'm going down with the ship. Come hang out. We'll get through it together.One way or another. Win or lose. I'll be there. Playback.com slash Lakers Nation ORG as well as the Lakers Nation YouTube channel during the game, hang out, get our play-by-play. YouTube.com slash Lakers Nation ORG. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel as well.Thank you, everybody, for watching. Thank you, everybody for listening. Hope you guys are having a fantastic Saturday. And let's hope that the Lakers ORG can finally, finally snap this streak and get a win tonight.Until game time, everybody. See you. And stay safe.