10 GOOD MINUTES: Are the Lakers Just Not That Good? Plus Mailbag Questions!

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on the current struggles of the Los Angeles Lakers, who have shifted from a strong start of 15-4 to an 8-10 record over their past 18 games, notably performing poorly without key player Austin Reeves. The analysis also touches on other teams in the league, specifically the disappointing performance of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the unexpected dominance of the Houston Rockets during recent matchups.

Key takeaways

• Lakers' record glows, yet their point differential dims – stats reveal the mask of success.
• Sacramento's rising while Cleveland spirals downward; the NBA's landscape shifts, but expectations can be misleading.
• Inconsistency breeds despair: Lakers' 4-4 stretch without Reeves signals deeper systemic issues beyond mere injuries.
• Houston’s dominance over the Lakers: a New Age David vs. Goliath, where youth outperforms experience.
• Defensive lapses haunt the Lakers: double trouble when rotation fails, leaving them wide open for bad vibes.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Ryen Russillo (Host) · 33 min speaking
• Sir Rudy (Guest) · 4 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Austin Reeves, Houston Rockets, NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Michael De Luca, Emma Chamberlain, Jerry West
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Brooklyn Nets, Austin Reeves, Donald C. Murphy, Utah Jazz
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Austin Reeves, Donald C. Murphy, Rich Paul, Memphis Grizzlies
5. 20:00 – 25:00: NBA, Indiana Pacers
6. 25:00 – 30:00: 2001 NBA Finals, NBA Finals, G-League, Wizards Daily
7. 30:00 – 35:00: Memphis Grizzlies

Notable quotes from "10 GOOD MINUTES: Are the Lakers Just Not That Good? Plus Mailbag Questions!"

• Start the day then I'll be Oh, that game was actually on Saturday or Sunday. Little Clippers, Hornets, Utah. How about their win in Cleveland?

  about Utah Jazz · at 0:18

• Don't let the Kings get hot again, beating Houston on Sunday. So, the Lakers are kind of a mess right now. And I don't know if this is just going to be their bad stretch like everybody.

  about Houston Rockets · at 2:51

• Possible because of who he is and what he's able to create. And on top of everything else, this free throw stuff that's happening with Luca is disgusting. So, he right now is…

  about Michael De Luca · at 8:25

• Hands, like longterm it's not really that great. And then you start to think of well, how do they get to the NBA finals if this is what he did with a high usage? Does the team…

  about NBA Finals · at 10:00

• What we can do is chill on the updates of these stories as if it's breaking news that the price for Trey Murphy is going to be high. Let me know when the price on somebody…

  about Donald C. Murphy · at 15:58

• To them, but just things off of things that I heard you just talk about. one Lakers six and seven since Rich Paul became a podcast host. Just saying. I like Rich I like Max. The breakouts for that I've got to give the pot a full.

  about Rich Paul · at 17:55

• I would agree. I kind of want to see Austin Reeves traded though, just because I like Austin Reeves and I want to see him explore the space a little bit. Maybe get his, his own.

  about Austin Reeves · at 18:53

• About the guys that aren't even playing, I'm this is a really, really deep league. I think it's the deepest level of talent that we've ever seen in the league. So, I don't know…

  about NBA · at 25:29

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Michael De Luca — Person · Core topic (player critique: usage/defense/FTs) · 1 mention · first at 6:04
  A major segment critiques Luka's defense, ball dominance, and free-throw rate, and how that plays differently as a Laker versus in Dallas.
• Austin Reeves — Person · Referenced player (key absence/asset discussion) · 6 mentions · first at 0:57
  Used as a lens for evaluating the Lakers' recent record and as a trade/fit talking point (including a hypothetical Anthony Black swap).
• Donald C. Murphy — Person · Referenced asset (trade-value discussion) · 3 mentions · first at 12:33
  Used as the anchor 'best asset' for the Pelicans and as an example of obvious high trade cost; also referenced in 'guard Mount No More' chatter.
• Rich Paul — Person · Referenced influencer (agent/podcast host) · 2 mentions · first at 18:00
  Brought up as newly podcasting and as someone whose comments about LeBron's future are notable given his Lakers influence.
• Zion Williamson — Person · Referenced player (asset ranking; injury caveat) · 2 mentions · first at 12:37
  Included in Pelicans asset ranking with emphasis on injury risk and defensive targeting in matchups.
  New Orleans, I still think it's Trey, then maybe it's Queen, then Fierce, then my guy Herb, Eves, or Zion. Maybe Zion's third for you. Maybe Zion's second for some of you guys.…
• Derrick Rose — Person · Referenced player (in-game action example) · 1 mention · first at 3:32
  Mentioned as the ball-handler the Lakers attempted to trap/blitz in a key defensive breakdown sequence.
  Because it was so bad. It's like 112 102. So we're under the fourminute mark and they want to trap D Rozan. They want to blitz him hard double. But it wasn't even really like…
• Emma Chamberlain — Person · Referenced historical comparator · 1 mention · first at 8:47
  Named in a list of historical players associated with extreme free-throw attempt seasons.
  Giannis was a touch higher just a couple years ago. And then everybody else, it's like Wilt, there's a Jerry Wester in there. My guy Chuck's got a year in there. Jordan's behind Luca on this one.
• Jerry West — Person · Referenced historical comparator · 1 mention · first at 8:49
  Mentioned as part of the historical list of high free-throw attempt seasons.
  Giannis was a touch higher just a couple years ago. And then everybody else, it's like Wilt, there's a Jerry Wester in there. My guy Chuck's got a year in there. Jordan's behind Luca on this one.

Companies & orgs

• NBA — Company · Core context (league-wide talent/era/expansion) · 2 mentions · first at 0:29
  The mailbag pivots to league depth, rules/era changes, and whether expansion (Seattle/Vegas) should happen given talent levels.
• Houston Rockets — Company · Referenced team (physicality benchmark) · 2 mentions · first at 1:08
  Used as a comparison point for how overmatched the Lakers looked athletically; also referenced as a Kings opponent and playoff matchup concern.
• Utah Jazz — Company · Referenced team (win in Cleveland; asset ranking) · 1 mention · first at 14:33
  Mentioned for a notable win in Cleveland and later evaluated in a detailed asset ranking list.
• Brooklyn Nets — Company · Referenced team (bottom-roster assets) · 2 mentions · first at 13:29
  Included in the bottom-team asset ranking, with discussion of roster pieces and usage changes for a player referenced as coming from Denver.
  Didn't mention Dylan Cardwell with Sacramento. Gave some nice effort minutes last night. Brooklyn, Michael Porter Jr.'s numbers are off the charts.
• Memphis Grizzlies — Company · Referenced team (Ja context) · 2 mentions · first at 19:07
  Appears in the Ja Morant trade discussion and as a possible 'reset' destination mentioned for Austin Reaves.
  I don't want to see him there. With all due respect, no, it would be fun. Like a reset in Memphis and it's just his team.
• Cleveland Cavaliers — Company · Referenced team (disappointment example) · 1 mention · first at 0:24
  Mentioned early as a surprisingly disappointing team and as the site of a notable Utah win.
  That game was actually on Saturday or Sunday. Little Clippers, Hornets, Utah. How about their win in Cleveland?
• Indiana Pacers — Company · Referenced team (aside; comparison) · 1 mention · first at 21:21
  Briefly referenced in the bottom-team list and as a 'not just a Pacers game' aside during the Paulo discussion.
  Long-term team and trying to think about their best asset. So, if you looked at the bottom six records in the NBA, it's New Orleans, it's the Pacers, Sacramento Washington Brooklyn Utah.
• G-League — Company · Referenced league (talent-depth comparison) · 1 mention · first at 26:41
  Used to contrast past eras where low-end NBA rosters were described as having players who 'should be G-League guys.'
  Had no talent and people were do we need to like cut this because like there's guys that should be G-League guys. They're in the NBA and it's not working. And now it's like…

Concepts & topics

• Mount No More — Concept · Referenced concept (categorizing certain guards) · 1 mention · first at 16:42
  A framing device for discussing a class of smaller scoring guards with defensive limitations and trade rumors.
  Trey getting traded, Jaw in the market, LaMelo being talked about with all this stuff. I don't know who the fourth guard would be on Mount No more. I'll have to think about…

Places & events

• NBA Finals — Event · Referenced event (benchmark for team-building) · 2 mentions · first at 10:03
  Used as the ultimate bar for evaluating whether a high-usage heliocentric style can win at the highest level.
• 2001 NBA Finals — Event · Referenced historical event (Iverson run context) · 1 mention · first at 28:53
  Cited as an example of a Finals appearance that carries outsized legacy weight despite little chance versus the Lakers.
  Some NBA finals appearances historically that are doing even more work than a ring. And I think that Iverson 2001 finals appearance is like it's almost like a half ring. Like…

Media & podcasts

• Wizards Daily — Media · Referenced show (nostalgia/inside joke) · 1 mention · first at 29:33
  Mentioned as a past segment/show tied to Wizards stretches, used to illustrate early-2000s roster quality and fandom nostalgia.
  Yeah, that was the Wizards Daily was like Van Pelt and I started in 2009, but like anytime the Wizards any has any stretch, they're Hey, you got to bring back Wizards Daily. And you're.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:01 It's Tuesday, a good 10 minutes NBA style. A little mini tales from the couch. Uh might call it tales from the chair. I got kind of locked into some of the bad teams. Uh last night I watched Sacramento win. Um sometimes I get a little confused on Monday because I'm catching up on other games and then I start the day then I'll be like, "Oh, that game was actually on Saturday or Sunday." Uh Little Clippers, Hornets, Utah. How about their win in Cleveland? How about their last 24 hours? You want to talk about weird? Uh, Cleveland continues to be probably the mis most disappointing team in the entire NBA. I do not want to know what's going on with that. We can talk about shooting, but just seems like something's off there.

0:38 But I've already talked about Cleveland this year. So, I want to talk a little bit about the Lakers loss in Sacramento. All right. I didn't think I was going to start with Lakers today, but that's what we have. And then I'll I'll transition that into something else and we'll get to the mailbag. So, the Lakers started the season 15-4. They're now 23 and 14. So, 8-10 stretch over the last 18 games. four and four without Austin Reeves. Um you could say four and five because he only played 15 minutes in that Houston game. If you watch that Houston game, that was one of those games where you're like, "This is alarming." Um because Houston just looked so dominant athletically, physically in comparison to playing against the Lakers. It it just looked like two completely different teams. Granted, Houston has had their problems uh recently. We can get to maybe the scheduling part of it.

1:21 I don't know. I might give it another week and then but I've already spent a lot of time talking about Houston as well. So four and four without Reeves. You can say four and five because he only played 15 minutes. I think they're going to lose that game no matter what. When they were 15 and five, they were the two seed behind OKC who I think was 20- one at that point because you can go to basketball reference and look up the standings by date if you want to. And I was doing that this morning. But even when they were the two seed and there's a bit, you know, maybe I kind of look at a little differently because I live in Los Angeles or the South Bay and there's a premature kind of victory lap for like, hey, you guys, you know, doubted this team. I guess I'm making it too personal because I run into it a lot.

1:58 It's like, yeah, I don't know. I don't think they're better than like five teams in the West and they have this great record, but they didn't have a very good point differential and there was some stuff there that I still think was concerning uh about what it was. But hell, if I were a Lakers fan and they had the two seed and had that kind of record, you're like, "All right, let's go." But that's not who they've been. Um, and that point differential may have told you that it was a little misleading record-wise. Their point differential today is eighth best in the West, 18th best in the NBA.

2:26 Usually that that'll tell a little bit more truth um about your team, you know, at this stage of the season, right? So, if you look at the full audit on the season, they're 11th on offense, 26th on defense. If you go from December 1st through this last 18game stretch where they've been a below 500 basketball team, they're 17th on offense, 28th on defense. Sacramento gets them last night. Um, two in a row for the Kings. Don't let the Kings get hot again, beating Houston on Sunday. So, um, the Lakers are kind of a mess right now. And I and I don't know if this is just going to be their bad stretch like everybody else has a bad stretch. And I'll kind of summarize this whole thing, but we knew they were going to be bad on defense, but there's nights like last night. And sure, you could look at the shooting differential and say it's a make or miss. I don't think that was a make or miss game. Like, oh, we had good looks.

3:16 All right, fine. You had good looks, but so did they. There's one series here where I want to I want to point this out because it was so bad. It's like 112 102. So we're under the fourminute mark and they want to trap D Rozan. They want to blitz him hard double. But it wasn't even really like it was in some sort of action. He's really far away from the hoop. He's like beyond the three-point line. But it was like let's double D Rozan and then we're going to be in rotation off of that. But if we know our rotations, we should be fine and we're going to leave Precious Aua alone. Like there's always somebody you're going to leave alone. Like if you watch what they were doing to Vando last night, like Vando, there were possessions where Sacramento Kings weren't even pretending that anybody cared that he was in the corner. So it's on, if you're watching on TV, Sacramento's going right to left.

4:08 D Rozan's closest to us. D Rozan gets doubled. He swings it to Monk. Okay. And Monk doesn't even have the basketball yet. And LeBron is in the opposite corner closed out on Precious Sichua. And JJ Naberea Reic is waving LeBron up like, "You're going to have to go to Monk. You're going to have to go to Monk." And they swing it to Monk. LeBron is incredibly late. Hits the three. JJ just puts his head down like you got to be kidding me. So then they do it again. They double. This time LeBron knows, okay, I've got to get out on Monk. Monk has the ball.

4:50 He has LeBron, but Luca is still on that side. And so he's like, you know what? I'm going to just run a screen. I think it's um it wasn't a chew because of what I'm going to tell you what happens. Screen comes up. Monk switches into Luca, blows right past him, goes baseline. Baseline's coming up to help. Aua is in the opposite corner, which they don't care about. That's by design. They get a chew and then he hits the three. You're like, "All right, this this isn't a lot of fun." Um, when your perimeter defenders are this bad, Luca, LeBron, and then, you know, Austin, I think, at least fights to get in a position and knows what he's supposed to do as opposed to Luca who just freelances and takes possessions off, and LeBron who's very clever at making it look like he's closing out on something that's an assignment, but it's just whatever the shortest distance is to make it look like there's going to be some effort

5:40 there defensively. It's just not. And by the way, I think the league is almost too respectful about LeBron defensively. I don't think they hunt him the way they probably should be like, "Come on, buddy. Come on up here in this switch and then I'm going to take you off the dribble." And look, for a possession, I think LeBron's still so athletic at this age that he can close off the angle or something. But if you're asking him to do it consistently all night, it's just not going to happen. The offense is still, you know, obviously really, you know, remarkable. But Luca is, as we know, such a a poor defender. You're adding all these things together. So then you go, "Okay, well, what's the back line part of this?" I think Lorravia actually fights his ass off.

6:16 I'd like to, as an aside, when Laravia has the ball in the corner and is driving into the paint at his size and his handle, just go up to the rim, man. And I know he's like a little differential because it's Luca or it's LeBron or when Austin's got it going, but there's some buckets in there for Lorravia that he's passing on. Um, but if you have eight and I I don't need to do a huge eight and thing, even though, you know, they closed with Jackson for a really long time in one of the games last week. Um, you know, he's not going to he he's really only there for Luca Lobs and he's going to hit a pick and pop every now and then, but he's never making anyone feel him. He's never going to have you feel like he's being forceful physically. He just doesn't want to do it. He's never going to do it. He's never done it. Uh, he is the most talented.

7:01 He's unbelievably talented, which is why everybody falls for this in the beginning of it. So, like there's all these things that I'm pointing out here defensively. It's like where's where's the guy you're actually afraid of? I think in theory it's supposed to be Vando um and maybe Ruie against some bigger guys because I think at times he's matched up well against them, but on the perimeter is different. The Luca part of this on offense because now it's going to start getting ugly. If they keep losing like this and it's when you're doing your thing and you're the man in Dallas, it's an entirely different ballgame than being the face of the Lakers. even though this really was a gap year, which I think that start screwed everybody up and starting to think like, hey, what's the high-end possibility here for the Lakers and so now it's being watched through that lens and then when it's been this bad and

7:40 Lucas having these games where it just you're like, wow, he really has the ball a lot like what what is going on here? And then the defense isn't very good. Now, his overall numbers, if you're going to statline me, you're going to be like, you're going to be sitting here when he goes 427 and eight me giving him a hard time. Yeah. Yeah. I thought that third quarter was gross last night. I don't know. was him being pissed off about the game in general. I think Sacramento was amped up. I don't know if it was the Shruder stuff, but it looked like Monk was out for blood last night.

8:07 But in that third quarter, Luca, who has a career-high usage rate um at 38, his usage rate in that third quarter, cuz I looked it up this morning, was 46. I thought it was going to be 100. Just possession after possession, nobody else is touching the basketball, and he's working it. and it's still the best shot possible because of who he is and what he's able to create. And on top of everything else, this free throw stuff that's happening with Luca is disgusting. So, he right now is averaging 11.9 free throw attempts per game. That is the second most free throw attempts per game in a season for any player in the last 38 years.

8:45 Giannis was a touch higher just a couple years ago. And then everybody else, it's like Wilt, there's a Jerry Wester in there. My guy Chuck's got a year in there. Jordan's behind Luca on this one. And the crazy thing is that Luca career-high usage, career-high free throw rate, which is 0.525, just under the absurd Harden years. Um, he's shooting in the restricted area at a career low level. Not his conversions, but the actual number of attempts he's in the restricted area. It was usually like 0.2. Now it's like 07. Um 02 was like in the beginning of his career. And then look, he doesn't need to be right at 3.3 foot line. He's he's just so good and crafty and all these things are going to happen. But he's getting literally every single call on top of everything else. And in that third quarter, despite the shots and the 42 points, I think he had 40 with a minute and a half left to go in the third

9:41 quarter. It it's just not very good basketball. It's not fun for anybody else to play with. Um, and you know, it gets back to one of those long-term, you know, it's it was an epiphany years and years ago where I'm like, you know, even though you have these guys that are so dynamic and the points per possession are so much better with this guy having the ball in his hands, like longterm it's not really that great. And then you start to think of like, well, how do they get to the NBA finals if this is what he did with a high usage? Does the team have to be designed perfectly around him? Do you need multiple lob options? Do you need dynamic corner three guys? Do you need an awesome defensive guard right next to him? Because that's not necessarily what he had in Kyrie during that run. So, these things aren't like mandatory, but it's pretty clear with this Lakers thing, and this is really what it is is

10:27 I think that start got people thinking about this team a lot differently than the reality of it. Maybe this isn't a reality. you know, maybe they figure out something, but I don't know if Reeves just coming back and offensing the hell out of everybody going, "We're going to be so great offensively that we'll be able to survive a little bit." Because I think ultimately you start projecting them out going, "All right, who are they going to beat? Who are they beating in the playoffs?" If they're not in the top four, who do you like them against? Do you like them against OKC? No. Even though I know they've hit a weird stretch here as well. Do you like them against Denver?

11:00 No. Houston? I cannot get that Houston regular season game a couple weeks ago out of my head. So, we'll see, you know, what the next matchup is. Doesn't mean like they can't beat him for a game. Minnesota, San Antonio, you know, San Antonio against this front line of guys. I guess they would just put Vando into his hip or Ruie, but I'm talking about Wyama. So, look, I I just I think if you're looking at them, you're going, "Okay, realistically, that point differential probably told us a lot more truth." Um, but I I thought last night was pretty tough. Anyway, uh, as I was looking at this, I was going, "Okay, Sacramento's not an exciting long-term team and trying to think about their best asset." So, if you looked at the bottom six records in the NBA, it's New Orleans, it's the Pacers, Sacramento Washington Brooklyn Utah.

11:49 Did you just say seven teams? Um, I'm going to not include Indiana in this cuz I want to rank the bottom six. All right. So, we're going to go New Orleans, Sacramento, Washington, Brooklyn, Utah, um, and Sacramento. Well, I already have Sacramento in there. One, two, three, four, five. Did you hear that Rascilopod the other day where you started counting out loud? Sure did. Uh, Charlotte would be the other team that's in that group. So, if we went through it and said, "Okay, forget the picks, forget about contracts. If we just went talent on the roster, rank the bottom six in order of the ones that you would most want." So, if you went best assets on these teams, New Orleans, I still think it's Trey, then maybe it's Queen, then Fierce, then my guy Herb, Eves, or Zion. Maybe Zion's third for you. Maybe Zion's second for some of you guys. I don't know. one injury away um from from him being

12:48 behind all those other guys. I would I would allow the argument. Sacramento not asset re at this point. Uh Keegan, he's had a tough year this year. He's out for three weeks with his ankle thing. He's not shooting it great, but he's 25 years old and he's 37% from three for his career. And you figure you can survive with him defensively. Washington, Keshan George, Trey Johnson, SAR in that order. Um, depends on who you like better between Koulali and his defense or Bub Carrington shooting. 21 20 years old, both of them, so they're still pretty young. Um, although I didn't mention Dylan Cardwell with Sacramento. Gave some nice nice effort minutes last night. Brooklyn, Michael Porter Jr.'s numbers are off the charts.

13:33 Like his usage went from 20 with Denver to 30 with them. So, you knew he was going to have a million shots, but the efficiency and volume and what he's been the first half of the season, it's terrific. So he feels like more of an asset certainly than he was during that trade. But then after that it gets a little lean maybe maybe Jaor Yman I kind of like him blink test when you watched him in college you're like this is exciting look at this guy's handle and how he sees the court at this size like what's going on with his shooting his shooting fig if he figures out his shooting he might be the best overall asset in the team maybe a little bit early for that. Um, Cam Thomas is a 20minut a game guy as they've shift to prioritizing defense. I like a little Danny Wolf. Numbers aren't great.

14:16 Doesn't matter. Claxton Clowney to me that's I mean I don't know why Claxton's ever taking any threes, but if you said deficiency numbers and the defense rebounding, you take him probably over Clowny. Utah in this order. Keonte George, Larry Markin, Ace Bailey, Walker Kesler, Taylor Hendrickx, Clayton. I still hold out a little hope for Taylor Hendricks, but I am a little bit worried about guys that don't have a ton of onball experience that are then off the ball in the offense and coming off an injury and everything else. It's just it's tough to become a guy that's more dynamic with the ball in your hands when you never get to touch it. NBA games. I think there's maybe even a concern on like Moy going is this ever going to happen or is this kind of the full thing and we'd all take Mobly on our team, but you know what what's that what's that thing that gets you to that next next level?

15:16 Some of these guys just never end up dribbling the ball enough and that's probably not something to be like hey you know what my handle really picked up at 28 years old. Uh Charlotte Canipple Miller. Uh LaMelo, is he the third best asset? I don't know. Diiamat's numbers are just outrageous. Best efficiency numbers. He's 24 years old. I like Diabate. Um so look, I'll do it in this order. I think Charlotte has the best roster of the bottom six because of Canipple. I'll go New Orleans because of Trey over anyone over Utah. Maybe I am valuing Trey Murphy too much. That's fine. You know what we can do is chill on the updates of these stories as if it's breaking news that the price for Trey Murphy is going to be high. Let me know when the price on somebody really good and young is low. That's interesting. Like yeah, talking to league sources, they kind of just want to get rid of this guy. He's

16:14 not a vibes guy. That would be an interesting story. No [ __ ] Trey Murphy's going to cost a lot. He's 25, can handle. jump out of the gym and hit threes and can hit threes off of his own creation. I think I'd probably still rather have that than Kee George despite the fact that George is like ridiculous. He's so good right now. But there's also another conversation of like looking at some of the smaller guards that score a lot that don't play any defense. the advanced stuff isn't necessarily that great like especially in this this sort of Mount Nore phase of the guards of where it's Trey getting traded, Jaw in the market, LaMelo being talked about with all this stuff. I don't know who the fourth guard would be on Mount No more. Um, I'll have to think about that one, but Keont is like a great kid. Everybody loves him out in Salt Lake, but I still think I'd rather have Trey over him. So, I'll go

17:06 Charlotte, you uh Charlotte, New Orleans, Utah, then Washington, then Brooklyn, and Sacramento. There's no They should be 31st. It's tough. It's tough out there from an asset standpoint. Okay, NBA mailbag, let's bring in Sir Rudy. You can hit us up with your questions and we will read a couple of them every week. NBA mailbagrgmail.com. Um, good to see you, Ser. You look well.

17:31 What's up? Thank you. Appreciate that. Is that a shot of Kyle or? No. God, man. You guys, I gotta be careful because like I think I'm just giving Kyle the what for the business as two pals would and now I

17:44 I don't know. I got to We'll be I'll be better on Wednesday. No, it was just a joke. We love you, Kyle. Um I got a couple nuggets before. Not not about the Denver Nuggets, but nuggets. You don't even have to respond to them, but just things off of things that I heard you just talk about. one um Lakers six and seven since Rich Paul became a podcast host. Just saying. Um

18:05 I like Rich I like Max. The breakouts for that I I I've got to give the pot a full listen. I like both guys, but the the breakouts like if I were Austin Reeves agents being like you [ __ ] trading us, you know? You're not you're not just some podcast host, man. You're like, you're a pretty important dude with the Lakers.

18:29 Yeah. Y although perhaps less important and that's why they don't like their current plight. I did like when Rich said like, "Hey, where the hell's LeBron going? Like what are we doing?" Despite the fact that we spent what, August, September suggesting like something weird could happen. Like who's trading for him with that contract for one year?

18:53 I I would agree. I I kind of want to see Austin Reeves traded though, just because I like Austin Reeves and I want to see him explore the space a little bit. Maybe get his, you know, his own thing going. Who knows?

19:02 He'd make a hell of a Celtic. I don't want to see him there. With all due respect, no, it would be fun. Like a reset in Memphis and it's just his team. I

19:12 would you trade Anthony Black for Reeves? Yeah. You said that fast. Well, I because I love Ree, but now I'm like

19:21 fast. No, no, no, no, no. Actually, I I don't Oh, man, that's a good question. Like Reeves obviously is a better player, but I kind of like what Anthony Black brings to the Magic more than maybe what Reeves would bring to the Magic, if that makes sense.

19:36 Um I think it makes a ton of sense. I I think um love both obviously. No. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of just a fun little exercise there. But him shooting 35% from three on four and a half attempts per game. Now, you know, he had a Paulo there was a bunch of matchups that they could exploit last night like New Orleans decided to close with the bad defensive group. Herb wasn't around. So, you've got Zion out there to pick on Fierce Queen. Um, what else? I think Eve was out there and then obviously Trey, but then there was a pool combo. Like at one point when I was charting it, there was like there's four different guys to pick on here and anytime Paulo could get deep, he was just going to work it. Although I got to tell you, I'm a little worried about some of the Paulo like he looks a little slow at times. I don't know if he's working himself back into shape here, but there's some stuff that I'm noticing

20:33 off ball with him. I don't know if it's like a lack of interest or what what's going on. But anyway, I know you're going to jump in here.

20:40 Yeah, Paulo had like a matchup he liked, but Black was wide open in the corner and he had just hit one and he was kind of like, "Hey, where's where's the ball?

20:48 I like that. I want my guy." Yeah. Listen, I've been This is a pro-Anthony Black podcast for a while since the draft. Um, but the Paulo thing just quickly, I think he uh I think he's still struggling to figure out how he fits in with like with the Bane thing and obviously France's out so it should be easier for him, but I don't know. like it almost feels like he doesn't really know what his role should be and he's not kind of he hasn't really figured out the like hey move the ball quickly everybody kind of gets touched.

21:14 It's and it I'm not I'm not sitting here telling you I'm worried but it is a little bit of a concern. I'll just say that.

21:21 Yeah. It's it's not just a Pacers game like hey everybody shut up about him. I I think we're on the same p I'm not like turning the page on it. I just I feel like there's awkward possessions in there where I'm like not quite sure what he's doing. And I don't know if it's his own frustration or what you're talking about, but like there was another play last night where he lost he was lucky. It didn't matter, but he just lost somebody. I mean, everybody loses guys on the baseline now, but it was just him not being engaged at all. Um, so whatever. Let's table that. It's a It's a teaser on like I'd like to see it look a little bit better and it's not just a raw number thing with him.

21:55 All right. Yeah, we'll do it after the Germany trip. So there you go. Fron might be back. Mo's back, too. So, that's great. Love

22:00 Mo was back last night. Love Mo. That's a I mean, again, we'll table this. Underrated guy. One of the most underrated players in the league in my opinion. Okay. Um

22:08 I know a girl named Mo. She's tall. That's That's It's unfortunate for her. Um Okay. Unless she's in the WNBA. Maybe it's awesome. Uh question, Ari. This is Ryan. Do the Nuggets, sorry. Does the Nuggets win over the Sixers without any of their starters indicate that the NBA should look to expand sooner rather than later? The talent pool seems off the charts and a lot of these players are not getting a shot to showcase their talents. Enjoy the show. Ari expansion seems like it's cooled.

22:38 It does seem like it's cooled. So, I mean, two years ago, a year ago, it was like, oh yeah, like done. Two teams, you know, Seattle, Vegas, LeBron's going to own one of them. And now I don't I feel like I haven't heard about that in a long time. You would think just because of like everything that's out there like any business is going how do we continue to create more and more revenue the entire time and we're in the midst of no one really caring like could we be doing any long-term damage of the product. It's just like whatever. And you know in the moment to moment concerns and worries and these things that we forget about immediately like maybe the businesses are generally right with this stuff. I don't know. I I seem I don't know if it's my age or what I'm married to traditionally, but I would say there's just a lot of stuff that's happening in sports in general. It's like is this really the best? Like I think college

23:26 football's whatever that arc of where the hell is this going, it's on the other side of like you've gone too far and

23:33 all the problems that they have, they've literally created for themselves. Yeah. Right. And so I don't know that it means like college football is doomed or it's ruined, but I've already done that segment plenty of times here. I do think that there's more depth of talent now than than ever before. I don't, you know, this era argument that is really cyclical that nobody ever wants to change their mind on. Um, you know, I I've did it with PJ a little bit. There's things today that I see that I think are just so special that I I can't believe anybody thinks that these other eras were as good as what we're seeing now from just a talent standpoint. Having said that, you can travel, you can carry, this whole pivot foot thing blows my mind that now all of a sudden you can just change your pivot foot as a guy that modeled his postup game after male and if I got it going a little bit and then there could be a guy

24:26 on another team being like, "Oh, you you moving your pivot foot there a little bit." And I just like, "Fuck off." Uh

24:31 yeah, now you can just plan it, pivot, and then change it. and some guy's gonna tell me that in the rule book it's like well okay but it was like the same as the step back three where you could step back and then go to like the side it's like I don't know everyone just kind of knew that that was a travel and you weren't supposed to do that the entire time so they're traveling and I would s also say this bulldozing thing that you're allowed to do on offense which has just gotten out of hand this year where you can run as f you can be Bo Jackson smashing into a middle linebacker into the paint and as a guy that used to say ban charges I say thank god for charges But they don't even call those really anymore if the guy's not, you know, this whole leading legal guarding position thing to me is total [ __ ] because it's this catchall that whatever. So anyway, those little mini era rant all over again here because the old school

25:20 guys that show you the Pistons highlight where they foul the guy really hard and tell you how tough it was back then. When I look at teams and I'm thinking about the guys that aren't even playing, I'm like, this is a really, really deep league. I think it's the deepest level of talent that we've ever seen in the league. So, I don't know that that win necessarily means like, hey, cuz it's a oneame result. I mean, it is a crazy result. Denver comes back, they play their ass off. You want to talk Doc Rivers rule of like, hey, I'd rather them have all their players because that's who we prepared for when the best player isn't playing my guys are going to take the night off. And how many times that applies throughout the course of the season is incredible. That's like the alltime Doc Rivers rule of like I don't even know if they would have a scattering report on that group of five dudes that they had had out there at

26:04 different times. You're like wait Payton Watson isos high pick and rolls for pick it all night like Zeke Naji we could close out on this guy like what the hell's going on here? So I think yes to expansion I don't know if that result proves that that's why it should happen. Um, and I'm a little surprised that all the momentum it seemed that it was going to have to adding two more teams has basically come to a standstill. Um, but I don't have any inside info on that lately because I haven't asked anybody. I'm I'm old enough to remember 15 20 years ago, remember they were talking about there were too many teams like there were like the bottom six just like had no talent and people were like, do we need to like cut this because like there's guys that should be G-League guys. They're in the NBA and it's not working. And now it's like it's crazy how it's just completely flipped in like a decade, maybe more than a decade, 15,

26:49 20 years. I I think those early 2000s were rough, man. It was awful. Yeah. Yeah. Which is funny because like that's like my peak. I I grew up that's like when I watched probably the most basketball and I was the most in love with it and like it was it actually looking back was kind of terrible. Um, but I I don't know if it's like the international thing that's exploded because there's just more talent around the world or the US market has gotten better, but like legitimately there were six teams that had nobody you could look forward to back in the day and now it's like the bad teams. You just nailed the like the Pelicans. You just listed off like six guys that I would want. Like legitimately,

27:27 I would terrible. Trey, I would want Fierce. I would want Queen. I would want Herb. I would want Zion.

27:32 It's crazy. You're like internet access. Um, Ees I would want. I don't want Pool.

27:40 Nope. I don't know that I'd hold out any more hope for Hawkins to translate those NBA shots that he made at Yukon to I guess not making him in the NBA.

27:49 Um, you know, I there's just a lot of guys there's a lot of guys on bad teams that I'm like really excited to watch all the time. Look, the Lakers, the Sha Kobe thing early 2000s was so much fun and that Portland team was so much fun. So, there's the Sacramento thing that there's some high-end teams there that were appointment viewing, especially when you had limited ability to be able to watch all these teams play. You know what I mean? It's not like I had league pass

28:13 25 years ago in my shitty apartment when I was late on rent every single month. So when I'm when I'm talking about like in g but once you once you got a little deeper into the league especially some of those East years like these are the teams that may have a chance of coming out of the east and yeah that's kind of that Iris and Sixers team like I don't think that that was a nice story and it's a huge like you and I always talk about like how much work is Aaron Rogers ring doing you know which we need to do that full segment of like listing which rings are doing the most work. There's some NBA finals appearances historically that are doing even more work than a ring. And I think that Iverson 2001 finals appearance is like it's almost like a half ring. Like no, see like you know they went on that run and they had no chance against the Lakers. Although when they won that first game it was

29:04 hilarious. People were like they really gonna do this like no. I always think about those Wizards teams, the the Gilbert Arenas teams that were like those teams weren't good, but they were like a five seed every year. They had no like like was it Javarus Kittton? Yeah. You know, I don't want to bring up the

29:21 They were teammates. Yes. Yeah, that was a thing. Um who else? Andre Bl, right? Like those teams were bad and they were a five seed every year. Felt like they played the Cavs every year. Yeah, that was the Wizards Daily was like Van Pelt and I started in 2009, but like anytime the Wizards any has any stretch, they're like, "Hey, you got to bring back Wizards Daily." And you're like, "No, it can't ever be brought back." That was the most absurd roster of dudes.

29:46 Um, Andre Blanch tweets. Yeah. Jale McGee I think Jale Nick Young, Jale McGee, I think, tweeted one time about being pissed off that like four Wizards couldn't get into a club. Like they wouldn't even let us cut the line. That might have been a flash. This is a five seed in 2005. Uh Gilberina, Steve Blake,Wami Brown, Juan Dixon, Brendan Haywood, Larry Hughes, Antoine Jameson.

30:11 It's better than I thought it was going to be. Is it? There's two Turpps on that squad.

30:18 Yeah, Juan Dixon didn't really work out. Blake had a nice career. Yeah. No, no. Yeah, but Juan Dixon from the Maryland days. Sorry to Vampel, but yeah, just probably expect I think Juan did enough for our guy Van Pelt.

30:32 Oh, definitely. That's fair. All right. Uh, one more. And this is actually, this is two emails, but basically one question. Um, two guys. It's uh, GC and who's this? Nicholas. They basically are asking like, "What do we what do we think of a jaw for LaMelo trade?"

30:48 I put it in the trade machine. It is possible. We got to ask Bobby Marks if it's like actually possible though. I don't know. The trade machine.

30:53 It's almost identical salary. It's 39 and high 37 for Melo, I think. So y all right, let me just throw it to you. Who says no?

31:04 Uh, I don't want Jaw. I don't And I don't like LaMelo, but I don't I don't want Jaw. So, no. I'm saying no if I'm Why would I want him if I'm the Hornets?

31:14 Yeah, I want nothing to do with it. I would I'd like I'd extend LaMelo before I would do that.

31:21 I would agree. And I'm not a LaMelo guy either. Uh, it is funny though. Did you see Carmemelllo Anony's comments on LaMelo? He said it's like he's playing 2K out there.

31:31 I didn't, but yes, it was. I'm like, I'm glad somebody else said it because LaMelo people think that because I was very anti him before the draft and then, you know, he comes on the scene, you're like, "Oh, wow. This guy's like pretty talented guys. He's put up these numbers and everything and it's like, okay, you know, I'm going to get draft stuff wrong all the time." But it was like, "Oh, you got that one really wrong." And then as it's played out, I'm like, like this is maybe worse. It might have been better if he was just bad.

32:03 Yeah, because you're in limbo. You're stuck. Yeah, cuz that clearly like the guy is something. And I I still get I still get crap from people with our NBA uh star versus NFL QB comps because I did the Caleb LaMelo thing and you know, obviously Caleb's had a nice run since then, but like and I was wrong. That's not correct. So, I'll openly admit that. But

32:23 did you think it was right or were you throwing it out as a hypothetical? It was kind of more of like a I knew you'd be mad about it and I think it was it was a good content play, but like I don't I didn't actually believe that.

32:33 Um but people got mad about that and they still are mad and now I get tweets when Caleb has good games like you still think he's LaMelo. And the point of it is that like both guys are really talented. Like I think Caleb's incredible. I mean that throw obviously to Love was the was one of the most ridiculous throws I've ever seen. Um but I also think LaMelo is insanely talented when you watch him on a night night in night out basis. Um, Caleb has seemed to figure it out a little bit more than LaMelo has, but that was kind of the point of that. And so, yeah, like you're you're sort of stuck because you're like, "This guy could be great." And if we trade him, you know, what if he ends up being like a multi-time all-star and maybe he's second fiddle on on a pretty good team? I don't believe that to be true, but you never know. Uh, cuz you, if you're the Hornets, you're looking at going, "Hey, he's an asset. This guy's

33:10 really talented. Like, other teams would want to have him. Why would we just going to give him away for free?" But I'm definitely not trading him for Jaw because Jaw, I think, not only is Jaw now probably a worse player, but like what even is Jaw? like what does he want to be at this point? Like you get all the you get all the off the court stuff. Like I don't want any of that. At least Melo like you know the injury stuff is there but he's still I don't I have any questions about him as like a dude.

33:31 Yeah, that's the thing is I don't I don't know like whatever you think about LaMelo and his approach to things or whatever. Uh I don't think it's at the same level of concern that it is for Jaw. And that's what's going to be so interesting about whether or not Jaws actually moved somewhere, right? because he is going to be so defiant, delusional. There's probably another word in there when he does that first sit down interview when he's on the new team and it's everybody else's fault and they don't get it and take over right and then and then his dad's there courtside wearing his hoodie after he gets suspended being like, "Oh, okay." So, like this is a super accountable group. Um,

34:15 but this goes this goes back to my point about the NBA 15 20 years ago being so like the lack of talent. I guess there were there would be six teams that would line up a trade for Jaw back then. Just be like, "Hey, we got to kick the tires." Now there's not a team that it's worth it for. There just isn't.

34:31 I also think you had dumber front offices back then, too. That's there still could be. I think the Wizards in that group is a really smart group and I'm still surprised about this Trey thing. I do wonder if it was ownership going. you guys need to be better next year. All right, like end a story like be better and the obsession of just which I talked about on the podcast is there is a very common thread when you have that job of like it's so hard to make moves especially now with all these extra restrictions. We've talked about it all the time like you wait around with cap space for what? Everybody signs extensions now and then if they sign the extension they worry about it later like I may not even want to be here. I'll take the extension now. I'll get the higher raises. Boom. I don't need to even wait. Like this list of players that wait around for free agency, it doesn't really happen anymore. Um, so

35:22 now hoarding cap space is pointless other than taking advantage of somebody else who has to dump some kind of contract. But I'd say a lot of the contracts, like we don't have the outrageous contracts that we used to have all the time. Although, you know, there's some high-end numbers of some of these guys that get maxed out where you're just kind of like, "Hey, is there any chance we could like not max you out?" Um, so you the trade restrictions that you have, you've got to hit it in the draft, which they apparently want to change again. Um, like I'm ve I'm very anti- messing with rewarding bad teams just because I think it's so hard. I think it's so hard even if you know the idea of tanking goes against everything that we would ever prioritize uh for those of us that care about competition.

36:06 So, good luck on that trade. That'll do it for a good um 36 minutes today. So, just over. I thought we'd go under 30. I told everybody we'd go under 30 and there's just

36:18 maybe one day. I hope not. But not today. Make sure you check out the Ryan Rillo show and subscribe to the podcast. And uh we're cranking out four shows a week. Thanks. Talk to you next week.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "10 GOOD MINUTES: Are the Lakers Just Not That Good? Plus Mailbag Questions!"?

Ryen Russillo (Host), Sir Rudy (Guest).

What is "10 GOOD MINUTES: Are the Lakers Just Not That Good? Plus Mailbag Questions!" about?

The discussion centers on the current struggles of the Los Angeles Lakers, who have shifted from a strong start of 15-4 to an 8-10 record over their past 18 games, notably performing poorly without key player Austin Reeves. The analysis also touches on other teams in the league, specifically the disappointing performance of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the unexpected dominance of the Houston…

What is mentioned in this The Ryen Russillo Show episode?

20 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Michael De Luca, Austin Reeves, NBA, Donald C. Murphy, Houston Rockets, Rich Paul. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "10 GOOD MINUTES: Are the Lakers Just Not That Good? Plus Mailbag Questions!"?

The episode runs 37 min; the transcript is about 7,693 words in 76 timestamped sections.

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