[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome everybody to the Lakers Legacy podcast where a do a deer, a flying o-dear, ray a drop of holy shite sun.
[SPEAKER_00]: Me, a name, I call myself far a long, long way to jump because he's still jumping and he's still rising and he's still destroying rims.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host Jonathan Hernandez and welcome to the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tangible Lakers basketball is now officially done till October and though the Lakers suffered their first loss in Las Vegas last night versus the Golden State Warriors and failed to advance to the summer league finals, they still had a very fun, exciting and prescriptive run that should actually have some real trickle down effect on the parent roster moving forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: In today's show, we are going to talk about one will do a temperature check on the roster where we stand what the lakers are potentially planning to do planning to jigsaw.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we shall get into the main focus of today's episode will be on the defensive end of the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I've been able to take a step back accurately assess this roster, even with Jonathan Kominga, even without Jonathan Kominga.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we are severely underrating this liquor's team when it comes to the defensive end of the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's before we even get to the Walker Kessler side of things, which Kessler himself should dramatically, and I mean, dramatically paradigm shift the entire team to a different tier of defensive competency.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're gonna get into why I think this team is going to be a lot better defensively.
[SPEAKER_00]: then a lot of people think, then last year's team.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is baking into the fact that, you know, Coach JJ Reddick has done a good job of working with what he's got and actually pulling above his weight, his weight class when it comes to defense the last two years.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll get into all of that and then we'll also go through the summer league, the young core at summer league.
[SPEAKER_00]: go through sort of their development and progress.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, we will be talking about a do-fiero because my God.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there are no words to describe this adonace or adunace in the sky.
[SPEAKER_00]: Flying too close to the sun, although I don't think there's such a thing as an Icarus complex for a do-fiero.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to fly close to the sun and then
[SPEAKER_00]: keep flying to the moon until he finds like another dimension.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how crazy some of his aerial feeds have been recently.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we are going to talk about it due in the rest of the young core and then make sure to stay till the end because at the end I'm going to go through some quantum grimes defensive tape and it'll sort of tie back to our overall discussion on how I think this
[SPEAKER_00]: on the perimeter point of attack wise and that's before factoring in Walker Kessler, which again, he's going to change everything and not that we want him to be the the atlas who holds the whole defense on his shoulders like AD did, but I'm going to also point out why I don't think it's going to be, well, if Walker Kessler gets injured, we're screwed for sure, but I'm going to
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of, yeah, why it's not as dire as fans have, you know, made it out to see myself included.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll get into all of those things before we start.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I could please ask you guys to like this video, comment down below, mash the hype button and please hit subscribe.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would greatly appreciate it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, if you have any
[SPEAKER_00]: topics of discussion or questions or opinions that you want to throw out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please do so in the chat.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll see if I have time later on in the show to address them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Super chats and super thanks are very much welcome.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're the first thing that pop up in my notifications and I'll be able to see them and pull them up.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you are so inclined to help me out and support me in that way, I would greatly appreciate it.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, with that said, why don't we do a quick
[SPEAKER_00]: Temperature check on this roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: So as it stands, after signing Ziya Williams, the Lakers are all booked up.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've got all 15 roster spots filled at current.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll get into the Matisse Thibel of it all in just a second.
[SPEAKER_00]: But all 15 roster spots filled
[SPEAKER_00]: All three way to all three two way spots failed, but I think one of those two ways, and as you've already seen, I've gone ahead and swap Peter's suitor for Arthur Columa, but essentially all three two ways spots have been signed and the Lakers currently stand at $198.4 million factory and factoring in Austin Reeves, New Salary.
[SPEAKER_00]: Colin Sexton at the room, MLE, et cetera, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: So at point guard, right now I have the starting lineup as Austin Reeves at point guard, Quentin Grimes at shooting guard, look at Don Shitch at small forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: Power forward is an ongoing discussion because we don't currently have like a legit starting for, but I'm gonna slot Mamu at that spot because he's making the, what the fifth, fourth or fifth highest,
[SPEAKER_00]: contract on this team fifth.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to put Sandra mom with the starting for for now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Although, you know, obviously you could put Luke at the four and then put Zeir at the three, or you can put Jake at the four.
[SPEAKER_00]: But for now, I'm going to put Sandra with the four, and then obviously starting at center is Walker Kessler.
[SPEAKER_00]: At PointGuard we've got Colin Sexton at backup points, Ronnie James behind him, Jaden Hardy behind him, although some of these guys can also slot to the two.
[SPEAKER_00]: At shooting guard behind Quentin Grimes, we've got Cameron Carr, Dalton Connect, Chris Minion, the names highlighted in blue are obviously two way spots.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the lakers get off of some guys, we could see guys converted to standard deals like Chris Minion.
[SPEAKER_00]: At small forward behind look at Donchitch, we've got Ziya Williams, Jake LaRavia, although Jake can also slot at the four.
[SPEAKER_00]: At power forward behind Mamu, we've got Jared Vanderbilt, a do-fiero, although maybe we want to put a do-fiero above Vando after what we saw in Summer League.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we've got the two way guys, Arthur Columa, aka Ocaricay.
[SPEAKER_00]: At center, we've got Walker Kessler, behind him will essentially be Sandra Mamu.
[SPEAKER_00]: as a back of five and then I don't know why this is kthani, this should say kvon looney, I think I put up the wrong graphic.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who the heck is kthani?
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, that should say kvon looney.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's where the lakers stand with their roster right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Currently, all five roster spots failed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, there has been recent news that
[SPEAKER_00]: The Lakers are interested in Matisse Thibel, which is interesting because one, all 15 roster spots are filled, and then two, the Lakers are also chasing Jonathan Kaminka.
[SPEAKER_00]: But let's take a look and see what Matisse Thibel on this team would look like.
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's an updated chart, and I've gone ahead and made some changes.
[SPEAKER_00]: In this updated chart, I have essentially, so in order to sign with T-stival and open up a roster spot, the Lakers will obviously have to offload a couple of players to free up that roster spot.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've gone ahead and shipped Jaden Hardy and Dalton connect somewhere else using a second round pick or even two.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully just one second round pick.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Dalton connect on his own, Ken.
[SPEAKER_00]: have value in it of itself for the right team.
[SPEAKER_00]: The beauty is in the eye of the boulder with Dalton Connect.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I've shipped out Dalton and Jaden Hardy.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now what I did with those, we freed up two roster spots.
[SPEAKER_00]: What I did there with those two open roster spots is simultaneously stable to the veteran minimum.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's all we can give him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I've converted Chris Manion to a standard deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: On top of it, I have taken because since we're converting Chris Manion to a standard deal, that opens up one two way roster spot.
[SPEAKER_00]: And with that open two way roster spot, I'm going to give it to that big man who played against us for the Golden State Warriors.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like an undersized big man, but he has insane wingspan six foot nine with a seven foot five plus wingspan gobbles up rebounds, uh, really physical body down low, really like what he gives a brought to the table.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um,
[SPEAKER_00]: So I converted Chris Minion to a standard deal, gave his open two-way roster spot to great him E.K.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now we are bolstering our center position up a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so this is how the Lakers roster would stand if we brought in Matiz Thibel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Austin Reeves, Clinton Grimes, Luka Donchitch, Sanjo Mamu, Walker Kessler, for the traditional starting five.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a scenario where we could, could,
[SPEAKER_00]: start Matisse Diable at the small four position and move Luca to the four, which would be interesting because then we'd really be flanking Luca and Reeves with three defenders.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that'll be the starting lineup, but it's just an interesting look.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, there's also a starting lineup look where we put Ziya Williams, who's a legit 69 at the starting small forward spot, and then shift Luca to the four, making Sondro, you know, a more...
[SPEAKER_00]: slotted in his right place as the back of four slash five, but more back of five for Walker Kessler.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there are a lot of interesting things that we can do if we bring what's he's stable into the fold.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, yeah, so this is where we stand.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, honestly, even without Jonathan Kominga.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know we want Jonathan Kominga, the roster right now isn't done for sure, but even without Jonathan Kominga, I am actually okay with this roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm actually okay with this roster, at least heading into the regular season, I'm actually okay with this roster because of what we've seen in Summer League.
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously we're going to get to a do-fiero Cam car, Chris Minion, Arthur Kaluma, in the
[SPEAKER_00]: Even as it stands right now, even without Jonathan Kominga or insert your preferred starting for slash three.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we're able to get Matisse Thibel, I don't know, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know there's a lot of question marks with Matisse Thibel, given the fact that his last two two and a half years have been pretty injury riddled, but prior to his time with the Portland Trailblazers, he had actually been sort of an Iron Man.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know whether to chalk up his last two
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, the wheels are starting to fall off because of how hard he's played, but I don't know, if Matisse Diable has a bounce back year health wise in the same way that Marcus Smart had a bounce back year for us health wise last year and can play at least 65 games.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you can tell me one, we sign Matisse Diable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then two, he actually has his first healthy season in the last two or three years.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you can tell me that, then I'm actually okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: without the Jonathan Kominga equation of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this might sound blasphemous to say, but I almost think, and there's a huge caveat here, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything I'm saying revolves around Matiste Ibo being healthy, which, you know, is definitely not a given given the last few years, but,
[SPEAKER_00]: If Mati's style is healthy, I would almost say that I think it's more important for the Lakers to secure Mati's style than it is for them to secure Jonathan coming good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that's crazy to say, but I think the Lakers just need Mati's style is elite perimeter point of it hack physical defense because this dude, this is an all all defense guy first team all defense guy and so if Mati's style is healthy, I obviously this doesn't this
[SPEAKER_00]: This doesn't supplant Jonathan Kominga, you can have both of these players, but what I'm saying is if I had to choose right now, Jonathan Kominga, he has like intriguing defensive ceiling because of his physical tools and his ability to rack up steals and blocks, and he's just an explosive athlete, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But given what we've seen from a do, I'm kind of like,
[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm, I don't know, I would, I'm actually prioritizing my tea style if he's healthy first and then seeing what happens with Jonathan Kominga, especially because we've kind of short things up by signing Ziya Williams to this veteran minimum deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I don't know, maybe I'm putting too much of my purple and gold tinted glasses on and like seeing what I want to see with regards to the young core and getting ahead of myself, my, myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know we want to win now, and we should for Luca, but I don't know, from what we've seen in Summer League, and again, we'll get to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we have something good going on here, and I would like to continue to groom the young guys along and give them real reps. And I think the perfect veteran to have to help usher them along, and that respect would be a guy like
[SPEAKER_00]: a very highly intellectual, very articulate player who would be very much in sync with JJ Reddick's basketball philosophies.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, so that's why I, and again, it's relative, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Mattie Stable will only be making the veteran minimum.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Kominga, if we sign and trade for him would be making around $15 to $17 million, we'd have to commit more years to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of why I
[SPEAKER_00]: right now, if I had to pick, would prioritize securing Matisse's liable, granted, if everything checks out with him health wise.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's currently where I stand on where the Lakers roster is at.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now I want to talk about the defensive side of the ball.
[SPEAKER_00]: And why I think,
[SPEAKER_00]: The lakers are being heavily slept on defensively, especially if we get Matisse's thibal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I'm baking in a lot of things, including what we just saw from Summer League and projecting up some of these guys a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I'm hoping that Chris Minion gets actual reps and minutes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm hoping a do-fiero gets actual reps and minutes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hope cam car, I think cam car will.
[SPEAKER_00]: just by virtue of the fact that he was the lakers, you know, first round pick, but also he seems the most plug and playable with regards to JJ Reddick's offensive philosophy.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if we're talking about what these guys can do on the defensive end as well, I just see a lot of motor, a lot of hustle, a lot of activity, a lot of defensive playmaking in the form of pick sixes,
[SPEAKER_00]: blocked shots on the perimeter and in the paint, like a lot of leaking out transition points, like the way that the Lakers Summer League team played, they look like banshee's out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the type of infectious energy engagement and activity we want to see on the parent team.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the reason why I have this like sort of new viewpoint on the Lakers actually being a pretty damn good defensive team, it's because of what we saw from the Summer League squad.
[SPEAKER_00]: With that said, let's now take a look at the Lakers roster from the sense of, let's look at the guys that went out, let's look at the guys that came in and let's actually mark out who would be a plus defender on this team while trying to maintain a level head and be somewhat realistic.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let me bring up this defensive chart that I compiled.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so I made this this Lakers offseason tracker and I highlighted guys based off of their defensive tier.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you look at this chart, I gave guys one star means solid, your solid defender, or if not solid, you're like sometimes good, sometimes bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: Two stars means you're very good, and that's highlighted in yellow.
[SPEAKER_00]: Solid is highlighted in purple.
[SPEAKER_00]: One star is solid, two stars is very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Three stars is elite, you're in the green text here.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's give in that.
[SPEAKER_00]: given that template and rubric, let's take a look at who went out, who came in and who he retained to see, to get a more accurate assessment of like, just how good is this Lakers defensive team?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or just how good is this Lakers team defensively?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because, again,
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand why we overreacted when we overreacted at the start when it was just Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Sontro, and Colin Sexton.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the more this roster has taken shape and the more that we've seen progress from the young guys, I think we're going to be a good defensive team man, especially when you factor in JJ Reddix propensity to rising tide lifts all boats are defense the last two seasons.
[SPEAKER_00]: really quickly, guys who went out, LeBron James, he was a solid defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: He could be elite in the playoffs like he showed, but in the regular season, he's a solid defender when he wants to be, he's out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rui Hachimura, I didn't even give him a grade.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can be solid sometimes in the playoffs, in the right schemes as he was in the Houston rocket series, but he doesn't rebound the ball.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's not even graded out in this defensive tiers set up that I made.
[SPEAKER_00]: So LeBron James is out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rui Hachimura is out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Marcus Smart is out.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has two stars.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's in the very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could understand the argument if you want to put him in the elite tier, but I'm putting him at very good because he was still pretty banged up this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: He missed a couple of games.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was resting towards the end of the season just to get his body right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously that paid off in the playoffs because he was tremendous against the Houston Rockets.
[SPEAKER_00]: We saw the defensive playmaking all that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Mark is smart, very good to semi elite still, but he's gonna be 32, 33.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got Luka Nard going out.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't have a defensive grade.
[SPEAKER_00]: DeAndre 8's in, he's Mark with one star, solid.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just like LeBron James, he could be solid to very good to delete depending on which game, but he's not consistently very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not consistently elite.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was very good in the Houston Rocket series, very bad and very poor in the okay C Thunder series.
[SPEAKER_00]: which is why I gave him a one-star solid defensive grade, and then there's Jackson Hay's same deal, solid defender, he's out, and then Maxi Cleba.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once upon a blue moon, Maxi Cleba was like a solid to very good defender, but he obviously is probably going to retire soon or play overseas.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's Maxi Cleba.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are the players we lost, okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now let's look at the players who came in.
[SPEAKER_00]: The players that we gained.
[SPEAKER_00]: So by my count, we've got three solid defenders who left our team.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lebron James, DeAndre, Aethan, and Jackson Hayes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And with Lebron, I'm not even sure if you can say he was solid consistently, because sometimes he was downright detrimental if he was taking a play, a possession, or a game off from on that end of the floor, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So we've got three solid defenders going out.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got one very good to elite defender leaving in Marcus Smart.
[SPEAKER_00]: So three solid, one very good defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now let's see who came in.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know this is kind of reductive, the way that I've set things up, but it's a little bit more, I think it's an added glance look.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot more nuances and details to this and the way people play defense.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, it's not this black and white, but I just wanted to give a more macro look so it's easier to digest.
[SPEAKER_00]: The players that we brought in obviously Walker Kessler, three star elite guy, okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna change everything for the better.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna be a defensive anchor of the future.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna man everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna funnel everything to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the game changer.
[SPEAKER_00]: So by that, by Walker Kessler alone, we are a better team than last year's team.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if you want to say Marcus Mart was an elite defender that we lost, well, guess what, we got Walker Kessler and he's a seven footer and arguably a more important piece defensive piece than Marcus Mart.
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe that's a wash, but I don't think it's a watch.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Walker Kessler elite.
[SPEAKER_00]: Quentin Grimes, some people are gonna say he should just be solid.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna put him at very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a different, very good defensively than Marcus Smart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm gonna show you at the end of this, why I think it's very good because I pulled up some tape, chopped up some tape.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Quentin Grimes, in my opinion, is a very good defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless of what the warp, short, de-lo-bron advanced analytics say about his last,
[SPEAKER_00]: one and a half years with the 76ers.
[SPEAKER_00]: Quentin Grimes, especially in the right scheme, is a very good defender and he's still young, he's still hungry, he just got his contract, he's now going to stop, you know, focusing on the offense, the bend of the floor and get back to his next days of
[SPEAKER_00]: just locking in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Quentin Grimes, very good defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, he's not the same very good as Marcus Smart where Marcus Smart is a little bit more rabid chaotic and he's more of a defensive playmaker where the stats kind of reflect his banshee play.
[SPEAKER_00]: with the steals and the blocks, Quentin Grimes is very good in the sense that he's just very good positionally, engagement wise, like verticality wise, the fundamentals of defense, Quentin Grimes is very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now he does have his deficiencies, he's smaller than you'd like him to be, so bigger guys can take advantage of him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't have tremendous foot speed, but neither did Marcus smart, but
[SPEAKER_00]: At the end of the day, I view Quentin Grimes, especially if you're factoring in the age and the fact that he's bigger than Marcus Mark, I put them on the same tier.
[SPEAKER_00]: So very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then if we add Mati style to this, I know I'm getting ahead of myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to cross my fingers, but if we add Mati style to this, and again, he's a huge caveat.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he's healthy, Mati style would be in the elite tier defensively.
[SPEAKER_00]: which is why again, I prioritize nabbing him over Jonathan Kominga.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because if we get Matisse Thibel, Matisse Thibel is in the Alex Caruso camp of six five guards who have career averages of nearly two steals per game and half a block per game.
[SPEAKER_00]: and also guys who hit at least one three a game.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are not a lot of the six five defenders who can guard one through three, one through four, who average those stocks numbers and can knock down an open three.
[SPEAKER_00]: And over the last few years, that's what Mati Sibel has been able to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: But also, his first three or four years in the league with the sixers, I believe he got
[SPEAKER_00]: all defensive first team honors in two out of those first four years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he is an elite defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just has to stay healthy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even last season with the Portland Trailblazers in like the 25 games he played, two steals per game, 0.6 blocks.
[SPEAKER_00]: He hit 1.43 is or 1.13.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, Matys Thibel is an elite defender if he's healthy.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to add him to this list, but obviously you can
[SPEAKER_00]: remove him if you don't think that he should be already slotted in.
[SPEAKER_00]: But regardless, coming in, Walker Kessler, elite tier defender, Quentin Grimes, very good defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mattie Stibel may be, but he would be an elite defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sandra Mamu, I'm not even gonna give him a defensive grade, but obviously he can help because he's physical and he can rebound, which is a good check mark on his box on the defensive end of the four.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a good rebounder.
[SPEAKER_00]: Colin Sexton, not gonna give him a defensive grade, no matter how loud he yells, no matter how many times
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a messy defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the Angela Russell scored 44 points on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a bad defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I will say Colin Sexton in the right scheme can be, you can hone his rabbit energy and his relentless motor.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I like about Colin Sexton.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can never fault him for trying at the very least in being active and harassing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Colin Sexton, given all of that, I'm still going to give him no defensive grade right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will give him a one-star solid defensive break because
[SPEAKER_00]: You cannot teach six foot nine with a six foot 10, a six foot 11 wing span, who has the athleticism that he has, who has like the mobility and quick twitch, you know, pick six ability that he has.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm telling you, Zair will, you put Zair Williams, a do-fiero and Chris Manjona on the court together, we are gonna be pick six thing that hell out of these teams so much so that we're gonna have to be tracking touchdowns.
[SPEAKER_00]: because Xair Williams is one of these players along with Mati Stibel if we can get him who they're going to wreak havoc in the open court in passing lanes, etc.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Xair Williams, I give him a solid grade, even though obviously he still has some work to do on offensive end of the floor, he still has to bulk up, etc, etc.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we've got Cameron Carr,
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to give him a defensive grade.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought about giving him a one-star solid, but we still have a lot we need to see from him, even though in the summer league in Vegas, he averaged like 0.8 blocks per game.
[SPEAKER_00]: Clearly, kind of like Zion Williams.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like Zion Williams before Zion progressed to this stage defensively.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got the physical tools to be a good defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: He now just needs to put everything together, including, you know, bulking up his body, but with regards to the want,
[SPEAKER_00]: and the engagement, camp cars got it, and so that's good, fundamental play to work with from the start.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I didn't give him a defensive grade.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got Kavon Looney, no defensive grade.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would have given him a solid, I'd given him a solid, but he's like 30 years old now and his can't really move.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a good rebounder, though.
[SPEAKER_00]: Better rebounder than Jackson Hayes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he will eat up space in the paint and sort of stone wall dudes off and move bodies.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's one positive for Kavon Looney, but given everything that we know about him, I'm not gonna give him a defensive grade.
[SPEAKER_00]: So out of the new guys that came in, we've got one elite guy in Walker Kessler.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got one very good defender in Quentin Grimes, and one solid defender in Zayah Williams.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then if we bring in Matiz Thibel, that's another elite defender, Asteris, the health, Yada, Yada.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, in terms of the guys we retained, it's easy to forget that we've still got Jake LaRavia and I would consider him a one star solid defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've still got Jared Vanderbilt
[SPEAKER_00]: annoying he is on the offense event and how soft he is going into the paint and not finishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jared Vanderbilt does one thing very well and it's point of attack defense and bringing the motor getting rebounds, getting us out into transition.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Jared Vanderbilt is still a two-star
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm tempted to give a dufiero very good, but you know, he's still essentially like a rookie because he read shared it last year, but a dufiero at this stage, I'm willing to give him a one-star solid defender grade.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if we pump up his usage, we pump up his reps.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this dude is ready to wreak havoc, just cause chaos.
[SPEAKER_00]: It could be chaos for our purposes, but he's going to cause chaos regardless for better or for worse.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm willing to give him a
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got Brani James.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see if he ends up following his father.
[SPEAKER_00]: But for now, it seems like the lake is going to retain him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would say Brani James is borderline on the one star solid defensive spectrum, because he actually played real playoff minutes for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: He actually held it down.
[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, he looked better than Reed Shepherd.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you factor in Brani James is just athleticism and explosiveness, even if it's just in a six, two, six, three guards body, like
[SPEAKER_00]: He could be, if he continues to progress and he gets more reps, he could be in the solid defender tier.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we've seen flashes of him being a very good defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: But for now, I gave him no defensive grade.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dalton connect no defensive grade for obvious reasons.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, dark horse, wild card, swing card, Chris Minion.
[SPEAKER_00]: I gave him obviously a solid defensive grade.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll see if JJ Reddick actually plays in this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if he does, I mean, Chris Manion does one thing and he does one thing very well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he does more than one thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But like he hangs his hat on the defense event of the floor and never shutting off the motor.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Chris Manion solid to very good defender depending on how many minutes and reps he gets from JJ Reddick.
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
[SPEAKER_00]: We take a look at the retained list.
[SPEAKER_00]: We take a look at the guys who came in list.
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously you're like, well, there's more green.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's more yellow.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's more purple defensive players on our roster than there were last season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I know this is a bit reductive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like this is not how we view defense.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's a kind of gives you an at a glance look
[SPEAKER_00]: especially when you're factoring and factoring in Walker Kessler to the equation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's actually let's move Walker Kessler out first.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even with Walker Kessler out of the picture, I think we're a better collective defensive team.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have more defensive depth on this year's roster, even without Walker Kessler and Jonathan
[SPEAKER_00]: You look at the perimeter defense.
[SPEAKER_00]: It looked dire at the beginning of the summer, but once you realize that Quentin Grimes is a good defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once you realize that we got Zyro Williams who has real defensive upside and that we kept Jake LaRavia, Jared Vanderbilt and Jared Vanderbilt should do better.
[SPEAKER_00]: He might have a resurgence season with a real big man behind him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think him and Walker Kessler ever overlapped in Utah.
[SPEAKER_00]: They may have once actually.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, they did.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Vando actually played with Walker Kessler, I believe, at least for at least one year.
[SPEAKER_00]: So in a drop-covered scheme, Jared Vanderbilt can like, hound and harass the ball handler and literally just funnel him into Walker Kessler.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why I'm a little bit excited about the types of schemes that J.J. Braddock is able to concoct because
[SPEAKER_00]: He was able to turn last year's team into one, one of the top defensive teams in the playoffs, and granted, I know the entire starting line, it does no longer on the Lakers, but he was able to turn last year's Lakers team into one of the top defensive teams in the playoffs and from January 2026 till the end of the regular season, the Lakers were a top 15 defensively rated team.
[SPEAKER_00]: with Deandra Atenezzo Center, Luca Donchich, Austin Reeves, LeBron James, Ruby Hatchimura.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you're telling me we're gonna bring in Walker, Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Ziya Williams, and Jake LaRavia and Jared Vanderbilt, who did well for us in spurts last season, especially Jake LaRavia.
[SPEAKER_00]: We still retain them, and now we can pump up a Dufieros progress, maybe even bring in Chris Minion.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, man, I could be putting on the purple and gold glasses and projecting out too highly,
[SPEAKER_00]: Given what JJ Redick has shown and what he's been able to do with less talented defensive personnel.
[SPEAKER_00]: You actually give him not only competent defenders, but elite ones and Walker Kestler and potentially Matisse Thibel, but also young, fresh legs who can sustain for longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm feeling a lot better about this team, even without the Peyton Watson, PJ Washington.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Kominga, named brand who would make us all feel a little bit better about our defensive prospects.
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
[SPEAKER_00]: That's just kind of what I've sort of come around to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, we'll see how it plays out and a lot hinges on health and whether or not we simultaneously style or whether we get Jonathan coming about even right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: The DeAndre 8 into Walker Kessler swap is huge.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the fact that we can rely, we have a reliable, tent pole lighthouse defensively.
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker Kessler is going to be the rising tide that lifts all defensive boats in this respect.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to make Colin Sexton look good defensively.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe.
[SPEAKER_00]: I say that, and I eat my words immediately because they did play together in Utah.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't know how their defense, I don't remember how Colin Sexton's defensive grade
[SPEAKER_00]: was.
[SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, Walker Kessler is going to make Quentin Grimes look a hell of a lot better.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to make Ziya Williams look a hell of a lot better.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to make Dando and LaRevia look better because these guys and the way that JJ Reddick likes to one play zone, these modified zones where we switch to man, we switch into switching schemes, we can you know switch into a drop,
[SPEAKER_00]: Our defense is predicated on motion and communication, being able to rotate, being able to trap all of a sudden.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got the horses to finally do that, and not only do we have the horses, again, we have the lighthouse that will make everything click into place because very smart defenders like Quentin Grimes and Matisse Ibel, they will know how to funnel.
[SPEAKER_00]: the ball handler into the exact right trap, and into the exact right wall, Kerr, Kessler.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what kind of has me excited and sort of changing my tune up with regards to, yeah, we've been talking about the Lakers are a great defensive team, Yadayada, Yadayada.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're gonna be a good defensive team.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see, but the Walker Kessler addition alone, but if we get Matisse Thibel,
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's going to be, mark my words, I think the link is going to be like a top 10 defensive team early on, even if we don't get Jonathan coming up because Jonathan coming up is not known to be a reliable defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: So keep that in mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: With that said, why don't we take it to break right here, pitch it to a couple of sponsors.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we return, let's talk about the lake or summer league team really quick and then close the show with some quench and grinds tape.
[SPEAKER_00]: While I drink some water and some coffee, if I could please ask you guys once again to just hit like,
[SPEAKER_00]: Comment down below, help drum up the engagement, mash the hype button, and most importantly, if I could please ask you guys to subscribe to the YouTube channel.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're watching this on X, if you could take a moment to open up your YouTube app, hit subscribe, I would greatly appreciate it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And with that said, let's take a quick break.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me drink some liquids and we'll get on with the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so we are back.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's really quickly talk about the Lakers Summer League team.
[SPEAKER_00]: very fun squad surprisingly connected squad.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were, I mean, the Laker summer league team was kind of a microcosm of how the parent team wants to play in terms of their activity, their engagement, their motor came back to bite them in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors obviously because we'd had a lack of
[SPEAKER_00]: like top tier ball handlers and we were giving the ball to a do and Chris Manion.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was an adventure every single time we were turning the ball over on top of that Anton Watson was getting eaten alive defensively.
[SPEAKER_00]: He also turned the ball over on an inbound's pass.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are reasons why they lost in the end, but to have a four and one record and overall I think they were what?
[SPEAKER_00]: Six and two or seven and two, including California Classic, like
[SPEAKER_00]: This was a good proof of concept for the Lakers future moving forward and the young guys that they have in their stalls who these guys can go, man, and they have shown that they are more than just defensive players, they've shown off their versatility.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we first have to start off with.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do the arrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have run out of words.
[SPEAKER_00]: to describe a due because he just takes my breath away.
[SPEAKER_00]: What he does at this point is unfathomable, the
[SPEAKER_00]: The lift that he gets, it is, it makes you want to hija kids hija wife, you know, like the dunks that he had last night, the two alley dunks that Chris Manion threw him from the left-handed crusher where he just, it almost, he gets up so high, it looks like he's in slow motion in real time, because he's just figuring out what he wants to do mid-air.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the way that he jams the rim down, I'm telling you, one of these days he's actually going to tear the rim down, which is a feat in it of itself with today's you know fortified rims and plexiglass, you know, boards, but
[SPEAKER_00]: I would not be surprised with how powerful this dude jams and yams.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the fourth quarter alieu where he kind of put on the style points and Caesar kicked his legs while cocking the ball back and I mean, a doothiero, the mutant freak you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: But besides the highlight real dunks,
[SPEAKER_00]: He just looked so good last night on both ends of the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: He looked good as a ball handler.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's really settled into making these high level reads as a secondary playmaker, as a primary playmaker.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had that one like drive into the lane where he was getting his, you know, bag on and saucing dudes up a little bit with his crossovers.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's still very much a Tasmanian double adventure.
[SPEAKER_00]: But,
[SPEAKER_00]: a toothierle.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is why in the last breakdown video I did of a due, I was like, look, cam car is easily probably the most the best plug and play player because of his offensive versatility and his shooting, but I'm telling you, man, a toothierle.
[SPEAKER_00]: because of his combination of explosive athleticism in that chiseled rock hard physical body and then his speed on top of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you tack on the playmate, the quirky playmaking and ball handling that he has, I do has the higher ceiling if he clicks on everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Cam Carm may be the better player right now and in the future, but I do if if things align, you cannot teach this generational athleticism.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you can't.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's the most athletic and explosive player in the NBA right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would stack him up against anybody.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think anybody who saw him live in summer league could attest to that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So in Summer League, Adufiero in five games in Las Vegas, he averaged 15.4 points, six point two rebounds, which is what you love to see.
[SPEAKER_00]: Three assists.
[SPEAKER_00]: Adufiero, point zero, it's crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Two steals per game, beautiful.
[SPEAKER_00]: The defensive playmaking from Aduh was tremendous.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is gonna be,
[SPEAKER_00]: an insane pick six player, 55.3% from the field.
[SPEAKER_00]: He did knock down his last two three pointers or he did knock down a three pointer in each of the last two games.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he was like two for 13 or something like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he did hit his threes including that nice baseline three the other night in the fourth quarter.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, a due is really coming into his own and this is why I'm so excited to be like,
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Kominga would love to have you, but also I kind of want to see it do stumble fall and then rise and get back up again, stumble again and then rise three levels higher than that.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's always going to keep rising.
[SPEAKER_00]: This dude is a maniac and I want to see him play.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to see him get his reps, even if it looks ugly at times because the highs.
[SPEAKER_00]: are so high and when you keep in mind that this is his first time playing summer league because he didn't play at all last season because he was injured.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, what are we looking at?
[SPEAKER_00]: One really bad poor sloppy game and then the rest of them, you're like, holy crap, this dude has at least two top 10 sports center highlights in each game and they're not all
[SPEAKER_00]: The, I mean, he looks like LeBron James sometimes when he gets that dribble combo down with the, you know, crossover, double crossover, gather dribble, low gather dribble into like the euro step and then he does like the whirling dervish layups at the rim that looks like prime LeBron James, but yeah, given the context of what we're working with the fact that this dude was.
[SPEAKER_00]: largely injured last season, pretty much red-shirted, hasn't played a lick of summer league.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is like his rookie season in summer league.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's putting up these numbers, grabbing these boards, dishing out these assists.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this guy was supposed to be what?
[SPEAKER_00]: This guy was supposed to be the another Jared Vanderbilt.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's supposed to be super raw.
[SPEAKER_00]: 15, six and three with two steals.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not Jared Vanderbilt folks.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's Jonathan Kominga, but with more playmaking and more defensive ceiling.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, my eyes just pop out whenever I see a doofero and I have my my hands to my heart and I'm like
[SPEAKER_00]: speechless.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what to say about this guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's an Adonis in the air.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's an adunis in the air.
[SPEAKER_00]: Air Force one, a due force one, never has a nickname that I've come up with fit so fittingly then fear of gravity because this dude just defies gravity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Shout out wicked.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not about the signature.
[SPEAKER_00]: Although should I bust out the magic mic?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll spare you guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: But
[SPEAKER_00]: Adoof Hero, this is why I think the Lakers are going to be much better defensive team than last year's team.
[SPEAKER_00]: If they give Adieu some reps and let him learn.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's talk about Cam Carr.
[SPEAKER_00]: Cam car had a much better California classic, at least from the percentages, but I think anybody who watched these games would know, yes, he didn't shoot well from three.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, he was five of 26 19% not great, but there is just such, again, a plug and play ability to camcars game, a smoothness and ease that I'm never too worried.
[SPEAKER_00]: He could work on his shot selection.
[SPEAKER_00]: for sure, but still, he had 17 points last game, cup he finally got an alieu, and a couple of dumps in transition.
[SPEAKER_00]: When he gets that first step, because he has such long strides, he can contort his body in the air, whether it's to scooply do in, like a contorting layup, or it's to yam on somebody.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like this dude,
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a contrast to a do in the sense that he's more fluid and water like, but he's like lightning.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I said this before.
[SPEAKER_00]: A do's like a rock, camcars like lightning.
[SPEAKER_00]: He strikes quick, but he's also sort of lightning and water.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what I'm saying.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm using a bunch of random avatar analogy is that I don't even really, that I can't even really speak to, because I wasn't huge avatar fan.
[SPEAKER_00]: But regardless, I think you guys know what I'm saying
[SPEAKER_00]: Camp car is just so fluid, so cool, common collected.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the KD like jumpers, he hits off of these curls.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can get that any single time.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's not bothered by defenders closing out on him, contesting shots.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: So even in this summer league, even given his struggles and his lack of efficiency from three point land, Cam Carr still averaged 18 points.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is just in Las Vegas.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a better California classic of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: California classic, obviously, with higher percentages, most especially from three.
[SPEAKER_00]: But in summer league in Vegas,
[SPEAKER_00]: 18 points per game, 2.3 rebounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't love that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you had an 8 rebound game in the California classic.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you didn't do a good job rebounding the ball, and I think Andre Igadala pointed that out in last night's game.
[SPEAKER_00]: 18 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1 assists, 0.5 steals, which is good, 0.8 locks, which is the number, the defensive stat to sort of hone it on.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think prior to last night, I do had had a block in each game,
[SPEAKER_00]: four or five blocks from the three point line, kind of just showing off his defense and versatility and ceiling.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I said he was a duo.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, Cam Carr kind of just showed off his defensive ceiling with his ability to lunge out and still block three point shots, his near seven foot one wing span on display.
[SPEAKER_00]: And at the very least, even though he still has a frail frame and he still stick thick thin, I like that he has that competitive fight and great about him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not going to back down against the physicality.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's willing to meet dudes head on.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just now about refining and shoring up some of his fundamentals defensively, his positioning, especially off-ball defensively.
[SPEAKER_00]: But overall, I'm still very encouraged by what we saw from Camcard because you don't even have the squint to be like plug him into the rotation right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know exactly what sets to run, which pinned down screens to run.
[SPEAKER_00]: This dude just gets it, especially when it comes to
[SPEAKER_00]: off-ball movement and route running.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when he lifts off on those two legs to shoot that jump shot, guys can't block it because he's got such a long wing span.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it does look like Kevin Durant at the end of the day.
[SPEAKER_00]: High above his head doesn't matter whether his shoulders are squared, whether his legs are flailing, he's going to nail that shock down.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's campcar.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have to end this pretty soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: So really quickly, Chris Manion, I want to point out Chris Manion stats because a lot of people were down on him last night because of the turnovers.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who cares, guys?
[SPEAKER_00]: Chris Manion's not gonna be doing this in crunch time.
[SPEAKER_00]: He still had a tremendous summer league and at times, if you factor in two way play, he was one of the lakers top two, top three best players when you're factoring in two way play.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the fact that he actually
[SPEAKER_00]: help the Lakers out from a floor-generaling perspective, especially when it comes to pushing the pace.
[SPEAKER_00]: Chris Manion, 11.4 points per game, 7.2 rebounds from a combo guard, a 6-4 combo guard, 7.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists showing off his secondary tertiary playmaking, especially in transition, especially in pushing the pace.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those labs to would do were all from Manion.
[SPEAKER_00]: 1.4 steals 0.4 blocks knock down 3.3 of 10 you obviously that's the thing he has to work on, but in terms of the offensive versatility with regards to getting to his spots in the paint with his little Andre Miller old man crafty game and then all of a sudden hitting you with the first step burst.
[SPEAKER_00]: His ability to kind of play at his own pace down low and bump dudes off with his shoulder and then all of a sudden just throw in a reverse layup or his patented spin move into the jerk one-legged fade away that looks like it's moving in slow motion again look up Andre Miller's tape Chris Manion moves very much like him.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the seven revounds, the defensive stocks, 1.4 steals, the pick six is that he gets, everybody's will always rightfully focus on the crazy adieu, one-handed Cockback Alib Jam.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the play that started that off was Chris Minion, Marcus smarting it up, by tapping the ball in the air with his one hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know how he got to that pass, grabbing the ball and then throwing it to adieu.
[SPEAKER_00]: Adieu obviously gets all of the praise for the
[SPEAKER_00]: Feets of athleticism there, but Chris Manillo should also get some praise for the tremendous feet of athleticism and even just getting that ball.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a six four guy rising to tap the ball loose.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was an over the head past.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was able to pick that off, you know, which just shows you, that's so Marcus smart like.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so props to Chris Manillo.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope he gets converted to a standard deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hope we can actually see him play.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hope JJ Reddick will actually
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you can continue to hit that three point shot, there's enough here that he's not going to be another vando.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Arthur Kaluma.
[SPEAKER_00]: He actually led the Lakers in points per game in summer league.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, at this point, Peter Sutter didn't even suit up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter did not suit her up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last game, so I have a feeling his two-way spot is gonna go to Arthur Kaluma.
[SPEAKER_00]: Arthur Kaluma led the Lakers in scoring in Las Vegas, 18.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 60.9% from the field, 50% from 13 of 26 from three.
[SPEAKER_00]: This dude was automatic, but on top of the three-point shooting, the fact that he can move the ball around, he had that nice lob to, I believe, Anton Watson.
[SPEAKER_00]: He attacks close-outs well, he can finish at the rim with creativity, contorting his body every which way.
[SPEAKER_00]: two way this man, league this man, he's got the physical tools, the seven foot six or seven foot six, seven foot wings, span six foot seven, noz read, but again, I don't like the noz read comp as much.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get it, but I think he's more PJ Washington than noz read because he has more wing like qualities, but he does resemble noz read and how noz read attacks close outs and can do a little something something with the ball.
[SPEAKER_00]: But overall,
[SPEAKER_00]: This dude is a knockdown 3.2 or somehow really improved in that area of his game and he's got the physical tool so it's time to reward the dude because somebody is going to coach him if we don't and if I had to guess, I think we have promised him the two ways to spot so there is Arthur Columa to close this show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Upon Quentin Grimes' signing, I started seeing a lot of Lakers fans bonboning it and throwing up his Vorp Schlorp Delibron stats from the last two years and just looking at the advanced analytics very myopically and being like, this guy's a bad defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a minus 1.3 defender in comparison to Marcus Smart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Minus this minus that without contextualizing the situation, do you know the defensive scheme?
[SPEAKER_00]: that the sixers were playing in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you know Quentin Grimes' own context in which he had to take the qualifying offer because negotiations broke down with the sixers and he was still coming into his own as an offensive player and was probably focused more on getting his next contract which he did get with the Lakers.
[SPEAKER_00]: And outside of the, you know, all of the noise with the defensive analytics and what not, did you just watch the tape to see the flashes of real defensive engagement, physicality that Quentin Grimes still brought to the table even in the last two seasons with the six years.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then if we look at his tape from the Dallas Mavericks, his time with the New York Nix, this isn't that long ago, folks, Quentin Grimes is still 26 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: really good to elite point of attack perimeter defense during his first few years with the nicks.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I'm saying that, it's not like I'm talking about a 33 year old guy who has to channel his 22 year old self.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking about Quentin Grimes at 26 channeling 22 year old Quentin Grimes.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this dude, now that he has his contract, now that he has his bag,
[SPEAKER_00]: he can lock back in to New York Nick's Quentin Grimes.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want the eye test, also match the defense of analytics.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so let's look at some Quentin Grimes tape, so I can show you what I'm talking about because I don't care what the advanced analytics say.
[SPEAKER_00]: This dude is a very good defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's watch.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, that's Quentin Grimes.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I hope if you were,
[SPEAKER_00]: feeling low on Quentin Rhymes and you are too focused on the Vorp Shlorp defensive Lebron that you watch more of the tape.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not hard to project out what he did before in just the last three years to be like, I think he can do it again, especially in a new role, now that his contract is secure for the least the next three years, Quentin Grimes is a good defender, he's a very good defender, and I think people are going to be surprised with what he's able to do, not only on the offense
[SPEAKER_00]: With that said, that'll do it for the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have to head out for a lunch.
[SPEAKER_00]: But thank you guys for watching.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I could please ask you guys to once again, like this video, comment down below.
[SPEAKER_00]: And most importantly, hit subscribe.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would greatly appreciate it.
[SPEAKER_00]: With that said, have a great rest of your Sunday, World Cup finals at 12 p.m. Go Argentina, go Lionel Messi, or Go Spain.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Go both teams, go a great finals game.
[SPEAKER_00]: With that said, have a great rest of your Sunday.
[SPEAKER_00]: This has been Jonathan Hernandez of the Lakers Legacy Podcasts, and I will catch you guys next time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peace.