[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, welcome everybody to the Lakers Legacy podcast where the latest Lakers Domino has fallen and it's Kavan looney looney tunes.
[SPEAKER_00]: We hope that ain't all folks.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host Jonathan Hernandez and the Lakers have just completed a mini flurry of moves.
[SPEAKER_00]: Signing veteran center, Kavon Looney to a one year veteran minimum deal, as well as officially completing the DeAndre A10 for Jaden Hardy in two second round picks trade.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Lakers needed to complete that trade first before doing anything else in order to preserve their cap space to sign their own guys and potentially make some sign and trades.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Lakers needed to announce this deal first and complete this deal first because it's a they're working through a whole lot of orders of operations process related things right now as they get there.
[SPEAKER_00]: offseason in order.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know right now it may seem like with 14 field roster spots, the Lakers are done, but something tells me they're not done, or at least we hope they're not done, but if you look, if you read the T leaves, if you look at the two second round picks coming in, the current imbalance in the roster, regardless of us bringing in Kavan Looney, I am hoping that he's not the Lakers primary back of center, but we'll get into that in a second.
[SPEAKER_00]: All that to say,
[SPEAKER_00]: The DeAndre 18 for Jayden Hardy deal needed to happen first, and it should be noted that Jayden Hardy, even though he got sent Lakers balloons, purple and gold Lakers balloons, and the Lakers X Lakers Twitter officially.
[SPEAKER_00]: tweeted out his photo in a Lakers jersey, even with all that said, that does not mean Jaden Hardy is 100% going to be a Laker this upcoming season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I also don't want to create a Jaden Hardy breakdown video even though he is kind of a fun player.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you really dig into his game, you've got a little you've got your cam Thomas version of a player in some senses, but
[SPEAKER_00]: All that to say, because the Lakers made this move first and are still operating as a cap space team, they will still be able to, they are still able to aggregate Jaden Hardy in a larger deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so keep that in mind, the Lakers by making this deal for Jaden Hardy and shipping out DeAndre 8 and save around $1.5 to $2 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're right around $1.5 million below the cap.
[SPEAKER_00]: So anyways, that is why this deal was done.
[SPEAKER_00]: First, we shall see what happens from here.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Kavang Looney signing will not be officially, will not officially be announced to everything else is done.
[SPEAKER_00]: He, his official signing will happen along with Austin Reeves.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all of the cap space guys are,
[SPEAKER_00]: Officially signed and after the Lakers figure out what they want to do with this Jonathan coming a situation we'll get into all of those things, but first welcome to the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: In today's episode, we are going to talk about.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kavan Looney.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm wondering right now, whether I will have to make Kavan Looney breakdown video, I really don't want to, but I might have to.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk about the Kavan Looney signing.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll talk about Rui Hashimura being a clipper now, which is kind of sad.
[SPEAKER_00]: will look at the current roster, look at what an ideal roster would look like from here on out, how the Lakers may be able to round out.
[SPEAKER_00]: their off season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we'll just talk about the weird comming a chase and how thirsty the lakers have been for Jonathan commingah and why I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just confused by it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would like Jonathan commingah as well, but all of this doing all of this stuff for Jonathan commingah just seems.
[SPEAKER_00]: out of character.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it seems in character for the lakers and some senses, but out of character with how the lakers have been operating this summer trying to, I don't know, establish a new culture, trying to establish
[SPEAKER_00]: some semblance of a new foundation and continuity, and us chasing and thirsting after Jonathan Camingo right now, kind of feels like old Lakers name brand basketball, but beggars can't be choosers.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Camingo is a very fun, explosive player.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll get into Camingo once we get to that portion of the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: But first, let's really quickly take a look at where the Lakers stand, and then we'll talk about Jonathan, sorry, and then we'll talk about Kavon Looney.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so here is the Lakers current roster right now, we've got 14 roster spilled 14 roster spots filled at current.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, these, I group guys in different positions, but this is not like hard and set.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some guys can play shooting guard and point guard.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look at Don Shish, obviously play small forward, but he can play power forward and power forward and some lineups.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can also shift the point guard and some lineups.
[SPEAKER_00]: So these, the way that I group these guys are not set, but I put them in their most,
[SPEAKER_00]: natural positions.
[SPEAKER_00]: So 14 players, three two way spots filled.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got about $1.5 million in cap space.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got three second round picks to trade.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks to the two seconds that came in the Washington Wizard deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Plus our own picks swap in 2032.
[SPEAKER_00]: At point guard, we've got Austin Reeves, Colin Sexton, Ronnie James, Jayden Hardy, you will notice that I asked to risk some Lakers players and highlighted them blue.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those asked to risk mean, I could see them being shipped out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could see them being dumped to sign Jonathan Kominga.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are the TBD players in my opinion.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Austin Reeves, Colin Sexton,
[SPEAKER_00]: Bronti James, Asterisk, Jaden Hardy, Asterisk, although again, we just saw him in a Lakers jersey being tweeted out by the Lakers official account.
[SPEAKER_00]: At shooting guard, we've got Quentin Grimes, Cameron Carr, Dalton Connect, Asterisk.
[SPEAKER_00]: At small forward, we've got Luca Donchich,
[SPEAKER_00]: do Fierro, Jake Leravia, Asterisk, although out of all of these Asterisk players, I would imagine that Jake Leravia is probably more likely to return than not, but I could also see him, I could also see him being considered somewhat of a sweetener in another deal because I think teens could actually use Jake Leravia.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's still young, he's only 24, 24, 25.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, Jake will rave you asterisk and then at power forward, we've got a very lean power forward position right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got Sandra O'Mamu.
[SPEAKER_00]: and Jared Vanderbilt, Asterisk at Center.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got Walker Kestler and newly signed, newly quote unquote signed, Kavon Looney.
[SPEAKER_00]: So obviously right now, we are very thin in the front court position with two players of power forward, two players at center, and one of those players is Jared Vanderbilt, who is an Asterisk, Jake LaRavia, could potentially play power forward, a do-fiero could potentially play power forward,
[SPEAKER_00]: our front court, still a lot of work to be done.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if we add Jonathan coming to this list, then obviously that would bolster the front court a little bit more, depending on where you want to put him because I guess Jonathan coming could also technically play small forward and then you could put Sandra Mamu at the power forward position.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of this is still up in the air.
[SPEAKER_00]: The lake is roster is still up in the air.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's kind of hard right now to give them a tangible concrete grade.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not going, I'm gonna try not to over react to stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I will only view these deals in the vacuum.
[SPEAKER_00]: of where they're happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is where we currently stand.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will loop back around to this roster depth chart in a bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll also show you guys like what I would preferably do.
[SPEAKER_00]: How I would fill out the rest of this in a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: But first, let's talk about the Lakers new
[SPEAKER_00]: Kavan Looney, the oldest 30-year-old in NBA history because though he's only 30 years old, one would imagine that he was 35, 36 years old, with how long he's been in the NBA.
[SPEAKER_00]: And coming out of UCLA, it's crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first few summer leagues I went to in Vegas.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still remember Kavan Looney as this Lanky,
[SPEAKER_00]: Brandon Ingram, Kevin Durant, asked Claire on the war years with so much explosiveness and potential.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's hard to remember, it's crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been in the NBA for 11 years.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he came in when he was like 19 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Kivon Looney at six foot nine, when he first came out of UCLA, he was scrawny as heck.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I kid you not.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of his NBA comps and their ridiculous when you hear them now were Kevin Durant was one of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I have this pull up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who else was he being compared to?
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kevin Durant, Lomar Odom, and Tation Prince, were some of Kavan Loonese NBA comps coming out of the
[SPEAKER_00]: which is really funny because now we know him as this bruising big man who can barely get off of the ground.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Kavan Looney, by all respects, has had a really great career for himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just kind of crazy to see his progression from being this highly touted recruit out of UCLA who because of his ball handling was being compared to guys like Lamar Odom and Kevin Durant.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think his ball handling and his playmaking has completely disappeared from his game.
[SPEAKER_00]: So even though he's morphed himself into being this like Burley power forward slash center who's pretty low thing, but can eat up space in the paint, he's still a very good connective playmaker who knows how to make high level reads, especially.
[SPEAKER_00]: at the top of the key serving as this DHO hub, DHO screening hub.
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously he got a lot of these skills refined a lot of these skills by playing with probably one of the best three-point shooting teams in NBA history with the Golden State Warriors.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if I had to
[SPEAKER_00]: And look, I'll just, I'll just get it out right now and say that I'm, I'm not that enthusiasm with this signing, but I'm also not losing my head over it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just hope that he's healthier this year because last season, Kavon Looney was dealing with a knee injury that caused him to only play what 21 games or so.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the prior seasons before that, Kavon Looney was relatively healthy playing in like 76 plus games.
[SPEAKER_00]: The,
[SPEAKER_00]: three or four years prior, you just have to wonder whether the tires are falling off because again, he's 30 years old, but he's kind of more like 33 when you take into account how many playoffs, playoff games he's played with the Golden State Warriors.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so you have to wonder whether,
[SPEAKER_00]: is starting to accumulate and we're getting Cavaloonia just a long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Having said that, this is a veteran minimum contract.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can cut him if we need to.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as it pertains to the Lakers roster, they did need an adult in the locker room and Kevin Luke Cavaloonie has a lot of championship experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a great leader.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a great enforcer who will stick up for
[SPEAKER_00]: Jared Vanderbilt in the past, then again, who hasn't gotten into a scuffle with Jared Vanderbilt, that should all be okay because Jared Vanderbilt might not be on the team next season.
[SPEAKER_00]: But all that to say, I like the signing from an adult in the room veteran leadership standpoint.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a huge question mark on whether
[SPEAKER_00]: If he's the primary backup point guard, then I am not that enthused with this deal at all, because I think I mentioned it in the last life, but I watched every single one of Kavan Looney's 25 field goes made last season.
[SPEAKER_00]: Only one of those field goes was a dunk.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything else was him lifting off the ground.
[SPEAKER_00]: by two inches and laying the ball in.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the way that he was moving up and down the court, moving is very generous to describe what he was doing last season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of this is probably exacerbated by the knee injury, but that's something we have to take into account.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is he fully recovered from that knee injury?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it only gonna get worse from here?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is this gonna be an ongoing chronic thing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because he's already 30 going on 37.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so,
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are some things to worry about, but if Kawan Looney is just a great glass and case of emergency, type back a big man in the way that Maxi Kleiba was for us last season.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I'm okay with it because, I mean, Maxie Cleba himself gave us some pretty decent minutes and some useful games in which he helped us actually win some games.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'd imagine Kavallouni can do the same for us, but I just wouldn't rely on him to do what he's been doing the last couple of years where he's going to play 76 games and 12 minutes per game.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I just hope he's our third string backup center.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll serve the role as Maxi Kleiba, Jared Dudley, the token veteran who gives sage advice to the guys on the bench.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's going to be his role on the Lakers.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if that's the role for him, that's great.
[SPEAKER_00]: That makes a whole lot of sense to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I don't know if you guys have seen this in this video that's been going around of like a off season workout with a bunch of NBA players and they have Kavon Looney step up to talk to all of the young players and Russell Westbrook interrupts everybody and says, hey, listen up, y'all better listen to Kavon Looney.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been around.
[SPEAKER_00]: He knows what he's talking about what he has to say is important.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, I'm paraphrasing, but
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that video that clip was just a good encapsulation of the fact that even at just 30 years old because Kavon Looney has been to so many crucial playoff games and series and one multiple championships he has a lot of insight to share with the young guys and I think this is the type of
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this is the type of veteran we could use if we're not relying on him to be Walker Kester's primary backup because if we are and Kavan Looney has the same sort of injury riddled season as he did last season, we have to pray and hail Mary for Walker Kester every single day because if Walker Kester goes down and we're starting Kavan Looney, then I don't know what we're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Having said that,
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not think Kavon Looney is the answer at back of center.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do still think once the liquor is consolidate some players.
[SPEAKER_00]: free of some cap space, do a sign-and-trade, expand the Walker Kessler deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we'll get some open roster spots where we can properly slot Kavan Looney down to the third string backup center spot and in that position, he makes perfect sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: The other thing too is the way that the Lakers want to play next season.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think, you know, with JJ Reddick as their coach, I think they wanted to identify a bona fide.
[SPEAKER_00]: screen center who's not just a screen center, but one who can operate at the top of the key knows how to swing the ball around to different cutters.
[SPEAKER_00]: knows how to work and operate these spain-pick-and-roll sets that fold into different actions.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because, I mean, what better system could you have asked for, for a center to learn under, then Steve Kurz like beautiful game motion offense?
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think that's the type of play we want to emulate.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I imagine JJ Reddick deploying Kavon Looney
[SPEAKER_00]: who's just going to set bone crushing screens flip skip passes to wide open shooters throw bounce passes to cutters in the lane.
[SPEAKER_00]: and just help facilitate healthy offense all around.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think from that perspective, Kavan-Luny is a little more skilled than you might think.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know we see him as this garbage man type big who will just clean up in the paint and he'll definitely do that, especially from an offensive rebounding perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do think he has utility as a DHO screening hub who can also pass and play make and help promote
[SPEAKER_00]: healthy offense with all of the shooters and ball handlers and dribble past shoot guys that we anticipate to have on this roster next season.
[SPEAKER_00]: So from that perspective, even from, yeah, even from that perspective, I seek Kavon Looney being potentially beneficial in spurts, obviously.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, looking at his season last year, obviously he only played like 21, 25 games or so, only 2.8 points per game, he did average 5.6 rebounds in just 14 minutes, which is pretty crazy, crazy rebounding rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: He also had 1.6 assists, nearly 2 assists, and just 14 minutes, also a pretty crazy stat for a center, which once again shows how, which once again shows his underrated playmaking skill, and probably harkens back to when he was coming out of UCLA, why he was getting those crazy Kevin Durant Lamar Odom camps, because the dude could actually put the ball on the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I don't know if he can do it these days, but
[SPEAKER_00]: maybe hints and flashes of that are still in him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we don't want him to, though, because he might tear his Achilles.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, so those are Kavon Looney's main stats.
[SPEAKER_00]: Five point six rebounds in just 14 minutes, one point six assists per game.
[SPEAKER_00]: Half a steal, half a block.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm surprised he even gets half a block to be honest with you with the way that he gets very little lift from what I saw.
[SPEAKER_00]: So obviously, nothing to write home about, but you like the rebounding numbers,
[SPEAKER_00]: knows how to move bodies in the paint, still a very, still a very physical big man and also randomly he can kind of surprise you by knocking down a mid range jump shot or two and sometimes we'll take a three point shot and knock it down.
[SPEAKER_00]: So just something to keep a lookout for.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now when it comes, let's look at his career stats really quickly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so I wanted to dissect his last five seasons because obviously it doesn't make sense to analyze his first two or three years in the league because that's so long ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: We just went through his 21 games very injury riddled season last year 5.6 rebounds the season before that in 2024 25 with the warriors he played 76 games 15 minutes 6.1 rebound so that rebounding rate is pretty consistent throughout.
[SPEAKER_00]: his career.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he's only playing 15, 16 minutes, but he's consistently gobbling up nearly six rebounds per game.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has 1.6 assists once again, 0.60, 0.5 blocks.
[SPEAKER_00]: You like that season before that, 2023, 24 with the Warriors, 16 minutes, 5.7 rebounds, nearly two assists a game.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then probably his best season out of this
[SPEAKER_00]: three and a half seasons ago, three or four seasons ago, when he averaged seven points, nine point three rebounds, two point five of this, half a steal, half a block in 23.9 minutes per game.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I don't even know why I'm bringing that setup because he's not gonna be playing 23 minutes per game, and if he is, there's a huge problem with our roster, but just to show you, it wasn't that long ago that this dude was, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: Still gobbling up rebounds seven seven points nine rebounds 2.5 assists again showing off his playmaking skill.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the last two years is more representative of, you know, he's not going to score for you whatsoever, but I think he is going to generate points with screen assist with actual assist throwing Chris bounce passes cross court skip passes et cetera et cetera et cetera and then of course he's going to rebound the hell out of the ball and crash the glass and that's going to be his main utility on this team.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's where we stand on Kavan Looney.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still holding out hope for an actual backup big man.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you compare Kavan Looney to Jackson Hayes,
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not even comparable.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would feel a whole lot better about this roster if we had secure Jackson Hayes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And with the way things happened with Jackson signing shortly after we traded for Walker Kessler, but then us trading beyond rate eight and shortly after that, you have to wonder whether we could have worked things out with Bill Duffy to have Jackson Hayes sit tight and let him know that hey, we're still working stuff out, we're about to get rid of
[SPEAKER_00]: DeAndre 810, we'd love to have Jackson Hayes back at just $6 million, but you know what?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's done and over with, Jackson Hayes is gonna go to Utah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Could we wrap him into a larger sign-in trade deal?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, but obviously, Hayes wouldn't be retained in that respect, but maybe we can do some of our consolidation stuff if we're able to expand the Walker Kessler trade, if we're able to, if we do get Jonathan Kominga, turn that into a sign-in trade.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll get into those logistics when we get to Kominga,
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's where I stand on Kavon Looney.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, I don't anticipate him being the main backup big.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he is, I would be very concerned.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, but otherwise I think for the veteran minimum and again, we can just cut this guy if he doesn't work out, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: At any point in this season, we can cut him, free up the roster spot, sign a new veteran minimum guy, et cetera, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get you Mario and Sharpe who was the defensive player of the year last season, and yeah, maybe that could be an option, but we'll see what the Lakers do.
[SPEAKER_00]: They technically still could sign you Mario and Sharpe, but then, but then we've got two loafing guys, you know, I only want one loafing guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would want our
[SPEAKER_00]: real backup center to be fast and jumpy, kind of like Jackson Hayes.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll get into some options in a bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: But for now, Kavan Looney, welcome to the Lakers.
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to Los Angeles.
[SPEAKER_00]: Glad to have you.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, what?
[SPEAKER_00]: What is on this agenda?
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, next up, really as a clipper.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, ugh, ugh, this just doesn't, just doesn't look right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rui Hatchimura in red and blue with new aspirations pun intended.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so the Rui stuff has been very strange this off season.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the one hand, I can understand moving on from Rui.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the other hand, I also can't, when you tell me that
[SPEAKER_00]: the prize that we're chasing for is Jonathan Kominga.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you had told me, we are moving on from Rui to chase a guy like Kelly Ubrei who, even though he's older and not as explosive as Jonathan Kominga, just feels a lot more boxes, especially the one that's marked can play on competitive teams and knows his role.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you had told me, we're moving on from Rui Hatchimura because we're going after Kelly Ubra for cheaper, or because we're going after John Collins, I would have been like, okay, that makes perfect sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then it's,
[SPEAKER_00]: peculiar to me that the Lakers let really walk for $14 million, which is below the non-tax pair MLE.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're talking about again, one of the Lakers organic developmental wins, who this is a player that they traded for, they actually groomed, turned him into the NBA's best
[SPEAKER_00]: Luka Donchitch loves him, Luka Donchitch had him on his preferred list of players he wanted back.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for whatever reason, I just thought it was weird that the lakers didn't didn't seem to, it didn't seem like the lakers wanted to retain him at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, there may be something behind that story, but by all accounts, it seemed like they made up their mind that they were going to move on from really, and we heard that they had been talking to Jonathan coming as camp, like as early as June 30, so I don't know if they decided to just make that pivot and make that swap right then and there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just weird that Rui didn't factor into their plans whatsoever.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you consider how many trade deadlines they held on to Rui.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in my opinion, and in my opinion, held on to Rui rightly, because if you remember in the past, we've had crazy discussions of trade Rui and two first-round picks for Jeremy Grant.
[SPEAKER_00]: Trade Rui for Nicola Vusavage, straight up, trade Rui for Bruce Brown, you know, et cetera, et cetera, and all of these deals I was like, no, keep Rui,
[SPEAKER_00]: When it came time to potentially retain him and retain him at a pretty cheap number, the lake you're said, nah, it's okay, really.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your services.
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you got theございます?
[SPEAKER_00]: See you later.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, that's wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, no, that's right.
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you got theございます?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sayonara.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, it's just weird.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I'm glad that Rui Hachimura was able to stay in LA.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sounds like he had potentially bigger deals with the Brooklyn Nets, but obviously he prioritized his life in Los Angeles.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that outside of Hawaii, Los Angeles houses, the biggest Japanese, slash Japanese American community in the United States, little Tokyo is right there in LA.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will always go back to the fact that before the lake is traded for Rui, he was in a bad place mentally, he was ready to potentially give up on basketball, he took a long hiatus from the Washington Wizards to sort of reevaluate his life and it's sort of cool that
[SPEAKER_00]: when you watch really story throughout the years with the lakeers outside of the fact that he was just a good basketball player who you know really improved his shooting and like fit into his role.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not the perfect player.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's very flawed.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't rebound.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't play defense.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know everything already, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But if we're looking at what he did well and how he progressed, it's kind of cool to know that the Lakers were part of sort of reviving really hatching more as basketball joy in some senses.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think a large part of that was obviously being in Los Angeles.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's why he probably wanted to prioritize staying in LA.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I hate that he's a clipper, obviously.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm glad that Rui
[SPEAKER_00]: is still here.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, if you bump into him, still say what's up, give him a fist bump, and tell him to come back to LA, which I guess he can still throw up, and that's just now angle would.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but and I wouldn't be surprised if in the future really returns, but I think the whole situation for me is just a little bit bizarre with how the Lakers handled it, even though I understand why they would move on, it's just kind of crazy that
[SPEAKER_00]: a player that they groomed and seemed to love, and a player, again, we're talking about the Mark Walter group, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who they have ownership over the Dodgers, Shohei Otani.
[SPEAKER_00]: You think that they want the Japanese dude as part of their market, but I guess not.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's where we stand with Rui.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's sad, but I
[SPEAKER_00]: I very much enjoy the last three and a half years with Rui in spite of the fan hysteria over this dude and this constant scapegoating.
[SPEAKER_00]: The dude put his head down, went to work, refound his basketball joy.
[SPEAKER_00]: and became one of the best three-point shooters and Lakers history and one of the best three-point shooters in playoff history and had some crazy moments with the Lakers.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that he was able to learn under the LeBron James, they were able to establish a relationship, the fact that his rise coincided with Austin Reeves, all really cool stuff, best of luck to Rui Hashimura,
[SPEAKER_00]: John Matte.
[SPEAKER_00]: See you soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's the right phrase.
[SPEAKER_00]: Need a brush up on my terrace ass.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's really how she more let us before we talk about Jonathan Kominga.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go back to this roster depth chart and let me show you what I would potentially do about rounding out this roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we do that, let's pitch to a couple of sponsors and then I'll catch you guys after the turn.
[SPEAKER_00]: Alright, really quickly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to pull up some comments here.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you do have any questions or comments, you want to throw please feel free to do so.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also super chats and super things are always welcome.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will I do want to throw this up.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is from at Eric Dane.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we kept Rui for another year, J.J. was going to have a heart attack.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Rui did frustrate J.J. Luca Lebron at times, but he was our idiot.
[SPEAKER_00]: We love our idiot.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, but anyways, that's not a backhand and compliment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rui is very smart player.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that he'd had to come to
[SPEAKER_00]: the United States and learned English via vampire diaries apparently.
[SPEAKER_00]: Huge kudos to really learning an entirely new language and getting acclimated and such.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say this comment if we kept really for another year, JJ was going to have a heart attack.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, let me tell you, let me tell you about Jonathan Kominga and we'll get to Kominga in a second.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know I keep teasing the Kominga thing, but
[SPEAKER_00]: If JJ was going to have a heart attack with Rui coming back, then I don't know what coming is going to do to JJ because he may have multiple aneurysms before he has the heart attack on top of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's going to be a triple quadruple whammy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me tell you because Jonathan coming to me, I love to be wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan coming to me does not strike
[SPEAKER_00]: with Rui, JJ and him were very aligned on the three-point shooting aspect and spacing aspect of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm just warning you guys right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not trying to throw a wet blanket on the come bucket, pause, come bucket, parade.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, but.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see the rhetoric coming of it being one that makes a lot of sense and one that will be seamless.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, back to where we stand on this roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so again, here we are way about 14 roster spots filled.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got one, two, three, four, five players who I have asked a wrist and marked as, these are TBD guys who may go out still in an aggregated trade or may go out in a consolidated trade, or for some players just be waived and stretched.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now,
[SPEAKER_00]: It should be noted, if the link is wanted to, there is no maximum to the amount of players you can wave in stretch in a single season, believe it or not.
[SPEAKER_00]: They could wave and stretch your Vanderbilt, they could wave and stretch Jekyll Revia, the only problem is I believe you can only wave and stretch.
[SPEAKER_00]: The amount that you wave in stretch can not exceed 15% of the cap.
[SPEAKER_00]: I doubt that if you wave in stretch, Vando and LaRavi, you get to that number.
[SPEAKER_00]: But all that to say, in the very worst case scenario, the Lakers could wave in stretch, Vando and LaRavi, but then they would have obviously dead cap on their books for.
[SPEAKER_00]: In Vando's case, five years in LaRavi's case, three years.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that's the route they're going to go.
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, wave and stretching is an option, and it can be done to as many players as you want as long as the stretched amount does not equal 15% of the cap.
[SPEAKER_00]: So anyways, here's our roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you guys think about it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, very incomplete, very underwhelming.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would be surprised if,
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a roster, it clearly isn't because they're making moves.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've got like a slot save for Jonathan Kominga.
[SPEAKER_00]: So with that said, why don't we actually look at what an ideal roster would look like or what I where I think the lakers are going with this and let's already slot in Jonathan Kominga so we can get a better sense and better look of what this looks like.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I'll I'm in this upcoming graphic.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've also plugged in some other spots that I would that are preferable to me that I would rather have.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, here we go.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you look at this chart, I have now asterist several players.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are now highlighted in green.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are players that I would sign or trade for.
[SPEAKER_00]: And these are the new players.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is how I would personally round out this roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now obviously, players have gone out in this new roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: Namely, Jared Vanderbilt, Dalton Connect, and Brawny James.
[SPEAKER_00]: How they go out, I'm not sure it's probably a combination of
[SPEAKER_00]: signing and trading them elsewhere, waving and stretching some players using our three second round picks and a pick swap to offload guys, regardless of how we do it, I would expect Vando connect and potentially Brownie depending on where LeBron James goes to be out the door.
[SPEAKER_00]: I should also say Jaden Hardie is not part of this list.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also have him being aggregated out somewhere,
[SPEAKER_00]: If he stays, I could, I could wrap my head around that because Jaden Hardy is a career 39% 3. shooter and I guess you could always use shot creators and microwave scores off the bench.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I wouldn't be too perturbed if Jaden Hardy was on the team provided that we're able to actually get another backup big man and
[SPEAKER_00]: wing defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, acid reflux.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so this is how I have things shaping up, shaking out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw a comment that says the lakers are keeping chain and hearty again.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I went through this at the beginning of the episode, they might, but that is far from a certainty, they can still aggregate his deal in a larger trade or in a trade because they did the deandry eight and trade
[SPEAKER_00]: they can still aggregate hardy to another or re aggregate and reroute him to another team.
[SPEAKER_00]: Him being publicized in a Lakers jersey by Lakers Twitter does not mean anything as we know from Mark Williams and other acquisitions.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, having said that here's how I have like
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not really my ideal.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is like a combination of what I think the Lakers will do and how I would personally round out the rest of the roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: So at the point guard position, we've got Austin Reeves, backup guard, Colin Sexton.
[SPEAKER_00]: In my scenario, I would just give Chris Manion a guarantee deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Give him the AJ Mitchell special that the Oklahoma City Thunder gave AJ Mitchell.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe it was a three year deal, third year team option.
[SPEAKER_00]: at pretty much the veteran minimum, Chris Manions there at shooting guard.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got Quentin Grimes and then I have the Lakers signing Matisse Thibel to the veteran minimum, somehow J.J. Reddit is able to convince him to come onto the team because he fills a tremendous role.
[SPEAKER_00]: Him being next to Chris Manion and helping groom Chris Manion would be awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: After that at the shooting guard position, Quentin Grimes, Matisse Thibel, Cameron Carr,
[SPEAKER_00]: At the small four position, we've got Luca Donchich.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I've also got the Lakers signing Zaire Williams.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe he's still only 24 years old, six foot nine.
[SPEAKER_00]: Zaire Williams, this would also be for a veteran minimum, another young player, but with nice length and size, could be the Lakers fully realized can reddish project from a defensive standpoint.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we've obviously got to do the arrow in this scenario we're keeping jakele ravea.
[SPEAKER_00]: At power four, the lakers have done what they needed to do to get Jonathan Kominga.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's Jonathan Kominga behind him is Sandra Mamu in a much more appropriately slotted slot.
[SPEAKER_00]: There obviously could be scenarios where the lakers start Austin Reeves and look at Donchitch in the back court.
[SPEAKER_00]: Put Jonathan Kominga at the three and Sandra what the four.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how much I would like that, honestly.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think AR, Grimes, Luka, Kominga, Walker Kessler is the more balanced offensive defensive, like starting unit.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, power 4, we've got Jonathan Kominga and Sandra Mamu.
[SPEAKER_00]: At center, we've got Walker Kessler, and then I have the Lakers trading for Jericho Sims.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's only making the veteran minimum.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, throw them a second round pick.
[SPEAKER_00]: Give them Dalton connect.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dalton connect for Jericho Sims swap Milwaukee.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you even need Sims for?
[SPEAKER_00]: Take a flyer on Dalton connect.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, so yeah, we've got Jericho Sims.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will be the true backup for the Lakers.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when it comes to replacing Jackson Hayes, I think that's a very appropriate backup for him, or appropriate replacement for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then behind Jericho Sims, we've got Kavon Looney.
[SPEAKER_00]: So in this new roster, round it out roster for the Lakers, we have all 15 roster spots filled.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know Rob Hulinka likes to go into training camp with one open roster spot, but it is what it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is how I would round out the rest of the roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it a championship roster?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, is it better than what we have currently?
[SPEAKER_00]: with Dalton Connect, Ronnie James, Jaden Hardy, Jared Vanderbilt, occupying fluff spots for us, and with Kavon Lune as our backup big man, is it a better roster than that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Hell yeah, it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we've got to take baby steps, folks, and beggars can't be choosers, you're not going to make a championship team out of this with what we've done, but I'm making the bow stat of it, and I think if we can get Matisse Thibosir Williams,
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Gominga and Jericho Sims.
[SPEAKER_00]: We get a hell of a lot more athletic.
[SPEAKER_00]: We add some defensive aptitude.
[SPEAKER_00]: We add some length.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think we can work from here, you know?
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is what I would do.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see what the Lakers do with that said.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about Jonathan Gominga to close this show, shall we?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I have some thoughts.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Gominga, the most recent news
[SPEAKER_00]: out of the com bucket front, I'm going to stop using that phrase.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, apologize.
[SPEAKER_00]: Apparently, from Anthony Slater, at Anthony V Slater, he tweeted this out about seven hours ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: According to him, the Lakers are in the most active pursuit of unrestricted free agent Jonathan Kominga, but have not yet made an enticing enough offer for him to commit per sources.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then there was a follow report from the LA Times and Brad Turner, I believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: That mention, the link is we're only offering Jonathan Caminga, a two year $10 million per year offer.
[SPEAKER_00]: How they are creating that cap space, I'm not sure, maybe they're dumping Jared Vanderbilt, maybe they're waving and stretching Jared Vanderbilt and
[SPEAKER_00]: dumping Dalton connect at which point they'd free up around $11 million, maybe that's how they do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: All I know is the Lakers believe they have at least $10 million to give Jonathan Kominga, or they believe that they can open up that space whenever they need to, whenever Jonathan Kominga signs in the dotted line.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, and apparently the Lakers contacted Jonathan Kominga on June 30th, like pretty much right when free agency opened.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a little bit weird to me that
[SPEAKER_00]: The leakers are hard after Caminga, they have a hard on for come bucket right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And are only offering him $10 million per year while showing him and his agent that they have prioritized, Sondro Mamukilish Vili over him and that Sondro, a player who made the veteran minimum last season, will be making $13 million, but hey Jonathan, we only have $10 million to give you.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I was coming as camp, I'd be like, what the hell, and I know the Lakers probably prioritized and contacted Zondro and Quentin Grimes first, but even like Colin Sexton, it's like, hey, Kominga, Colin Sexton's only gonna be making a million less than you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you gonna be happy and on board?
[SPEAKER_00]: So even with regards to the context surrounding our chase for Kominga, to me, it's already off on the wrong foot
[SPEAKER_00]: Will Comingo be happy with how all of this has started?
[SPEAKER_00]: Will he be happy taking it because no matter what, he's going to be taking a discount, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the Lakers can up their offer because clearly Comingo's camp is not happy with the current offer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they can up it's a 15 to $17 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: But to me, again, and this is what I mentioned in the last episode when we did our Rui versus Comingo breakdown,
[SPEAKER_00]: I, I all, all signs and all roads for me lead to us just signing, Jonathan coming to a renegade one year, second year player option deal at like $14 million, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then that scenario, what am I signing up for here?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm signing up for a player who knows he's not going to be here for the long term, knows he's taking a discount on a one year private deal, a player who
[SPEAKER_00]: During his time with the Golden State Warriors and then his like lone half season with the Atlanta Hawks has still not been able to find a consistent role and really buy into that role yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm just concerned that the red flags are lighting up before we've even got the player.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you just look at the on paper, like fit of, again, JJ, Reddit and Jonathan Kominga, I can already see it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not to say that it will happen, not to say that I'm shit casting it for it to happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's just, you can already see JJ Reddick, Benchinkominga, like he benched the Andre 8 and in certain games, because he's not doing what he's supposed to do, and he's not spacing the floor adequately enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so what happens when that happens?
[SPEAKER_00]: John of the coming of it's not going to be happy.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is going to be a one year wasted sort of flyer because I guess the Lakers were desperate.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess my biggest issue here is like, why are we doing all of this for Jonathan Kominga?
[SPEAKER_00]: I love his first name.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't get me wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: Love his athleticism and has aerial explosiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of that is fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are going to get a lot of top 10 sports center highlights especially with Luca Donchitch being the trigger man.
[SPEAKER_00]: to some of these lab passes.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's gonna all be fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand things from a run fast jump high perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when you take a zoom out look of what we've tried to do with these three year deals with most of these guys trying to lay the foundation for letting, you know, it's like creating a group that can actually grow together, Jonathan Kominga seems to me, again, it's a Renegade deal once again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I would feel more comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how comfortable I would feel about this, but I would feel more comfortable if the makers are able to sign him to a team-friendly deal where they control his future.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's at least on for the next two years, so that I know that if Jonathan coming up does well, we can retain him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not like, well, we just wasted our continuity for nothing by relying on a power forward who's not even gonna be here next year, which is why I was team Ruby when it came to, if we're just gonna sign a one-year renegade dude to a below-market value for him, I would rather the devil that we do know and Ruby Hashimura, who knows how to fill his role is a low usage player and at the very least can space the floor for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not like you can't fit him into defensive schemes
[SPEAKER_00]: paint within the colors, x, y, z, it's not like he can't do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: John for coming up obviously has a higher ceiling when it comes to his defensive physical tools, his athleticism, his explosiveness, et cetera, et cetera, but I guess where I get to is I'm just not sure if doing all of this is worth it for John for coming up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now,
[SPEAKER_00]: Lakers all day every day at L-A-D-E-I-G, who kind of broke the Rui news, he set it before anybody else that, you know, Rui and the Lakers are pretty much parting ways and the Lakers did not pretty much inform Rui that they were moving on from him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had that before anybody else, so Kudos to I believe his name is Aaron.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kudos to Lakers all day every day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's someone who doesn't tweet out something willy-nilly.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he doesn't actually have backing to it because he has relationships with these players, he had a video up on YouTube with, you know, a day in the life of Jackson Hayes, he obviously has a relationship with Ruihachimura, Ruih replied to his tweet, all that to say, I think there is some smoke to this tweet that he tweeted out, where he mentioned, the liquors are trying to set up a sign and trade with Atlanta for Kaminga, a source tells me.
[SPEAKER_00]: It'll cost them a combo of Dalton Connect, Jake LaRavia, Jared Vanderbilt, and one of their second rounders.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, if the Lakers can get off of Vando, connect LaRavia and get back coming up and just give up one second, which I don't really see as realistic, but if that's true, then I would do that 100%.
[SPEAKER_00]: And hopefully, I believe in a sign and trade deal, we would have to lock up the player to three years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it'll likely be two years and a team option the third year or a player option the third year.
[SPEAKER_00]: But to me, that makes a lot more sense and sounds a lot
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Caminga take a discount on a one one plus one deal and hopefully you either were able to retain you next year or you don't suck and you know opt into that player option and we're stuck with you next season as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I
[SPEAKER_00]: That's where I stand.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see where the sign-and-trade thing falls.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if the lakers are actually able to accomplish this, but this would be my preferred route to getting Jonathan Camingo.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't want to burn up so much of our second round picks and our lone picks swap just to free up cap space for the rights to sign Jonathan Camingo to $17 million over three years or something like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a recipe for disaster and we are potentially
[SPEAKER_00]: handcuffing ourselves to a player that has, by all accounts, a great human being.
[SPEAKER_00]: He does a lot of stuff for his home country in Nigeria, but just from a basketball fit perspective, it has clashed and I think it's going to clash with J. J. Redick once again.
[SPEAKER_00]: I, uh, which is why I would rather if we get John to come and go this sign and trade potential with Atlanta where we're able to offload other players to me that would be the most ideal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I could maybe see it from Atlanta's perspective where they could actually use a player like J.G.L.
[SPEAKER_00]: Revia.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take a flyer on a Dalton connect and get a second round pick for their troubles.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the Vanderbilt part of this is where I'm like, we only give up a second rounder regardless.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we're able to do this deal, I would 100%.
[SPEAKER_00]: do it, even understanding the risk for Jonathan Kominga and even understanding that in a sign-in trade deal, we would have to lock this guy up for three years.
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, it would probably be a fake three years, two years guaranteed, third year team option or third year player option.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's where I stand on the Kominga stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think at the end of the day, I just think it's weird that we are
[SPEAKER_00]: is he from the Congo?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you might be right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, I may have mispoken.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember watching some like my journey videos of Kominga.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you might be right.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Kominga is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so I stand corrected, but yes, he does a lot of things for his home country in the Congo and is a great representative of his hometown all of those things I like about Jonathan coming outside of obviously the fact that he can poster am on anybody at any given moment, but having said that I just find it bizarre that the lakers are crawling on hands and knees so thirsty.
[SPEAKER_00]: for Jonathan Kominga.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's just, can we not be so desperate?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, in some senses, I would almost, if the lakers are able to open up like $10 million, I would almost rather split that money up and just secure Matisse's thibal and zir Williams.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, to me, that makes a little bit more sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, I would gladly have Jonathan Kominga if we're able to do what we need to do in the other positions of need.
[SPEAKER_00]: All I know is we Matisse thibal to bring this locker room together
[SPEAKER_00]: is a great locker room presence.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a great, highly intellectual articulate guy and our locker room could use some of these.
[SPEAKER_00]: Diabol is what I'll say.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me see if you guys have any questions of last five minutes or so, plop the man and I'll try and answer them while I try and get up this last sheet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to really quickly look at some other big man, besides the Jericho Sims things that I, the, besides the Jericho Sim option that I pointed out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I brought this up in the last live, but now that we have Kavon Looney.
[SPEAKER_00]: So obviously, Kavon Looney, if you're looking at this list, we've got him.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we're not able to trade for a big man, I would like it if the Lakers were able to get someone young as well and Nick Richards is still out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I would still, you know, view him as a viable option.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, everybody in the veterans bracket, no more.
[SPEAKER_00]: No more old guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that Kavon Looney is our oldest
[SPEAKER_00]: is funny at 30 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I would X-ray on the veterans bracket and then look to either the younger vets or the young moneyball section for just to get additional backup big men, besides Kavangluni.
[SPEAKER_00]: So
[SPEAKER_00]: I think for me, I would still be looking at Charles Bassie, Omar Yurt 7, or ideally Kai Jones.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think we need to replace Jackson Hayes' athleticism and explosiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: So...
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's what I would look at trade wise.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I mentioned, I would still look at Jericho Sims.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see what the Denver nuggets end up doing with the roster who they end up dumping.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if not Jericho Sims, if the Lakers can trade for, you know, Isaiah Jackson or Jay Huff, that could also be serviceable enough, but all I know is the backup big man position is not.
[SPEAKER_00]: is not set in my eyes and I hope the lakers have plans to still fill out that roster spot.
[SPEAKER_00]: So anyways, that'll do it for this episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you guys for hopping on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me see if there are any.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, I think that'll do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hope everybody has a good night.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for hopping on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once again, please like this video, comment down below, mash the hype button.
[SPEAKER_00]: And most importantly, hit subscribe.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just released a new breakdown
[SPEAKER_00]: regarding Chris Manion's breakout, some really game the last game versus the San Antonio Spurs, make sure to check that out on the channel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, if you haven't checked out my one-on-one interview with Chris Manion from last season, check that out as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Got a lot of Chris Manion stuff on the channel.
[SPEAKER_00]: With that said, thanks for hopping on once again.
[SPEAKER_00]: This has been Jonathan Hernandez of the Lakers Legacy podcast, and I will catch you guys next time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peace.