Andy and Brian Kamenetzky bring you a regular look into the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA. The Kamenetzky Brothers have covered the Lakers since 2005 for a variety of media outlets including the LA Times, ESPN and The Athletic, with a unique style combining traditional journalism, informal commentary and offbeat humor. Be sure to subscribe to the "Locked On Lakers" podcast, a daily part of the "Locked On Podcast Network."
It was exciting to hear the maturity of DLo, Vanderbilt and Vincent. Seems like everyone is committed to the Team, even Christian Wood sounded like he is bought in to the JJ regime. Lock Rob out of the Gym and for God's sake don't let Kurt in the gym either. Let JJ coach.
AK’s skepticism about all things LeBron is very telling and he’s trying to be polite. Your best case scenario is that LeBron retires tomorrow because as someone like yourself who lives and breathes the success of the Lakers, that’s the fastest way to jump start the rebuild. If LeBron says he feels great, any Lakers fan should look at that as, “wow, that’s great to hear considering is shortened summer due to the Olympics gold run”. But I know that Kobe fans don’t think that way. If you like for him to be traded back Cleveland, the Lakers rebuild time table would be just as long as if he was still playing until he is 43. Let’s see what this season tells us about JJ, everyone in the starting 5, Max and Knecht.
Appreciate the comment. I'm not even necessarily talking about entering a total rebuild when LeBron leaves (although that's obviously a possibility) as just my concern that the Lakers will be stuck as a solidly good team with a low ceiling the longer they remain in the Lebron business at 40 and beyond. The older he gets, the more help he'll need (for that matter, AD as well), and unless he takes a serious pay cut, the avenues for providing adequate help will be quite limited. From a practical team-building standpoint, I don't know if there will be much opportunity to grow, other than just hoping for better health, internal improvement among a small handful of candidates, and catching breaks. That LeBron is still playing at this level is legitimately incredible, and I'm not sincerely trying to take away from that. It's one of those situations where two things can be true at once, and may not align as neatly as needed. AK (So it's clear, I'm not criticizing LeBron for not taking a serious pay cut. He's entitled to take whatever he wants and can get. And the Lakers can always put their foot down if they choose. But in a salary-capped league, there are ramifications.)
Problem is, AK, paying lebron on a one plus one contract has just as good a chance paying off than what the lakers would have to pay any young-ish top-30 player that will not bring with them the ceiling that lebron does. And ANYONE younger person can still get hurt immediately, so it’s still a big bet to try to guess when lebron will no longer be top-20 effective. Not even counting butts in seats and needle-moving due specifically to Lebron- even from the haters.
If lebron plays like he did last yr at age 45. Kobe and mj fan here. Please give that man the GOAT. You will be hard pressed to see anyone so great for so long
No argument. I really don't have a problem with anybody declaring LeBron the GOAT *now*. Whether you agree or disagree, he's certainly worthy of that debate. (Truth be told, I also don't care much about GOAT debates, but that's neither here nor there.) But for me, that's a legacy question, rather than a Lakers question for the here and now, which is what I'm concerned about. They're very different issues, regardless of how one feels about either. Appreciate you watching. AK
@LockedOnLakers tbh. That's my sentiment exactly. I could care less about the goat debate. All I care about is the lakers. I used to dislike lebron until maybe 3 or 4yrs ago. I'm all Anthony Davis as he's the most important player on our team even during 2020, In my opinion. Also I think all the players are keeping JJs plan close to the vest. They're giving the same regurgitating responses, shooting lots of 3s, he's a smart coach etc etc. This is about to be lakers 2008 all over again. Beat expectations. Start great. Ar15 avg 12fga last yr, I see that number getting to 15or 16fga for both him and dlo. I honestly won't be surprise if they make 8 of those, 4 of the 8 being 3pfgs. That's going to be a 20ppg +fts. 23ppg avg Dlo ar15 rui will all hv career yrs. Lebron plays the Drummond role. Avg about 70% from the field. Same 18fga. I believe the starters will all avg 25ppg or close it except rui.18ppg. The offense will be very efficient. Might be very easy for these guards.
JJ said in an earlier interview, that he had spent more time with Russell than any other Laker so far. Yesterday Russell Manned up about some of the things that happened last year. It's clear Coach told Russell get in shape, quit complaining and I will make you a star.
I think Andy was right about how Lebron felt in the Olympics. I think the tides were turning during the playoffs last year with Anthony Edwards show boating and all the old dogs getting knocked out. We are all human and I think Lebron felt the pressure of father time. When going through Serbia and France and Lebron was needed to rally everyone and be the guy that played a huge role in winning the gold, it was almost validation that he still has it at the top level and win the big whatever. The new guys are still in awe of him and he can feel that and I think that ignited him. Now as far as Lebron retiring a Laker or Cav, I think the story of Lebron ending his career on the Cavs makes a lot of sense. I do think that the Lakers understand that Lebron will go down as the GOAT and is already one of the GOATs and they really want his career to end on the Lakers so they can have that knotch in the belt so to speak. I think the only way Lebron goes to the Cavs for the end of his career is if he specifically asks for it. I dont think he is going to do that but who knows!
@deddiev1718 Im not a liar. You dont know how to read and dont have common sense. I said one of the GOATs currently and will go down once he retires. If you can look at Lebrons career and what he is doing right now and say he isnt the best player to play basketball, you just a Jordan rider. Thats completely fine by the way but dont pretend you are being unbiased 😂
Dantoni is the reason Kobe career was cut short. They ran Kobe into the ground that year. And I said it all year talking to my buddies. I was very very upset watching it unfold. And sure enough he busts his Achilles
I agree, that's why the wrong coach can ruin a highly talented team! The wrong rotations can not only limit the team's success, it can cause discord leading to a coach losing the locker room! My overall impression is renewed confidence by the players, I believe JJ convinced them he believes in them and they will leave it all out on the floor! I don't see the Lakers as a play in tournament team this season
10 Takeaways from media day and JJ Rob interview: 1. Check the stab wounds on Ham and staff. Everyone took turns burying the previous staff..."no structure", "won purely on talent", "no kindness(DLo)... and so JJ and staff got instantaneously appreciated for their "attention to detail"....etc 2. Shooting the 3s, just about everyone spoke about taking more 3s. Lakers will take more 3s ... Period ... Let's hope they make enough in a"make or miss league" 3. Focus on rebounding... Max, Rui, DLo, Hayes all spoke about doing the little things that creates additional possessions.... 4. Vando will not be ready opening night ....it was plain as day... It'll be a while before he suits up... 5. Reddish sounded like he'll be on the bench or traded... Even Woods spoke about leveraging more of his strengths as a scorer. 6. Lebron will be in mid season form going in to season.... He's always needed a few weeks to get into groove entering a season.... That's spells optimism for early season results. 7. Max, Gabe and Knecht will make an impact to winning in roles that suit their strengths. All of them point to players impact winning once their roles are well defined... 8. You'll see a good season from DLo and AR backcourt.... They might leak on defense but could kill on offense to more than make up their defensive deficiencies... 9. AD spoke about defense and Max a bit.... But I beleive this is something we need to hear from Nate Mac.... Who has typically focused on physicality on D... 10. Lakers staff will put to use the 2-way players, rookies, JHS etc in early rotations with Vando and Woods out....Ham and co. never used their 2 way and young players... Let's hope this turns out positive results.
Brian cooked today and the Lakers want LeBron even at 50 because they can sell his jersey forever and make so much more on his likeness than they could ever pay him Also LeBron seems willing to take less if the front office will do something with it
We directly reacted to what players were saying, which were obvious (if not entirely spelled out) comparisons between Ham and Redick with their communication styles and approaches. Check out all the Lakers Media Day coverage. They're all commenting on this as well. We wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't talk about this. If we continue discussing Darvin a couple of months from now without specific prompting, your complaint will be valid. But for now, comparisons between last season and this season - including JJ vs. Darvin - are relevant. AK
@@tdagodd8732 I didn’t say anything about JJ. Ham took them to the bottom of the conference until they made a trade and then lebron and ad carried the team to the seven seed when they finally had some help. He didn’t do anything creative to take them anywhere. Funneling ja morant into ad and toplocking Steph and klay is not impressive any coach would do that if they have ad. That’s why he couldn’t even sniff a game against a well coached team like Denver. he barely had to do anything coaching two of the best of all time and couldn’t even manage that
@jourdanzero9312 You don't have to explain yourself. Anybody trying to say that what we saw was good coaching from Ham last season is obviously mentally challenged. And anything you say their going to say something dumb like they did. You don't agree with me so you know basketball smh straight idiot 😂😂
What to expect from a maniacal asset, but to say that he feels great? The only situation where he did not, it was to narcisisticly steal the attention from Denver title.. it's a strange situation where, usually sports teach somebody about real life, here real life and the story telling about this living legend go to me in completely opposite way..
Stop fckn mentioning JHS 💯 Just Horse Shit 🐴 💩💩💩 as if he was an asset for a team. Also 4x in show commercials for a 30 min ep, are you fckn kidding me?? Unsub & downvote.
Whatever 5 the Lakers get will barely see any playing time either way. Considering that guy will be either 2nd or 3rd string center. If there was no LeBron on the roster then yeah. But right now, AD is the freaking center and they already have multiple backup bigs. How come we don't hear Jokic and the Nuggets whining about getting a big? Or Philly with Embiid? AD is literally one of the best centers in the league along with those guys. Let him do his job. What you need is an upgrade at Dlo's spot for the playoffs. Thats it.
Jalen B. is the number one option on the Knicks who can shoot and shoot all he wants. AR is playing in a unit with Lebron, AD and DLO, who suck up all the shots. Plus, Rui rarely passes and shoots just about every time he touches the ball. AR knows he needs to sacrifice, compliment the others, and do what is needed from him game to game, which is what makes him very valuable.. Thus, to expect him to score 20-25 points a night is not realistic. He just won't get the same number of shots as the others.
It would be a huge mistake to trade a rotation player for an injured extremely limited offensively center, the knicks would require a rotation player or picks which is too much for Mitchell
VERSATILITY. Sorry, I wasn't yelling 😂 I just wanted to highlight what they need. It's what I have been saying since they got Marc Gasol. Who was OK but too old.
This is going to be a disaster of season. JJ’s know it all attitude and lack of experience are going to cause a lot of issues with the media surrounding this team
Look guys this is not up for WE DON'T NEED ANYMORE INJURED PLAYERS ON THIS TEAM WHO PROBABLY WON'T BE AVAILABLE COME PLAYOFFS...WE HAVE CASTLETON AND KOLOKO TO BACK UP JACKSON LET'S SEE HOW THIS LOOKS BEFORE WE MAKE ANOTHER BAD MOVE😢😢😢😢😢😢
We still stuck living in 2020. Not realizing that 2 of our top 5 guys from then have changed their playing styles. AD is a legit center now and LeBron for the most part can only play PF at his age. Where the heck they plan on putting the extra center? Point guard? Yeah we'll put Mitch at the point, dlo on the bench. Lmao.
@@diegobromfield if u have another center there would be less fatigue on AD's body from having to carry the offense and defense, he can be more consistent this way. However, I think perimeter defense and 3 pt shooting is more valuable for this team, since as you just said, AD is a legit center now
People were so open on the perimeter, because the only way for Jokic not to cook us was to double team, which compromises your perimeter defense greatly. People are going to learn eventually. When we made the conference championship, we had elite perimeter defense with Vando and Schroder, which shut down two prolific back courts, being Jah Morant and Banes, and Steph and Klay, but against the Nuggets, that perimeter defense evaporated, because we had to send help into the paint, because the mismatch that Joker creates, makes our best defender in AD, a negative defender. If AD has to call for help to double, your defense is screwed. I said this 3 years ago, but half the fan base is like, "NO, you are wrong, it is this reason or that reason." For 2 straight years, our defense got dismantled exactly as I said it would, and you still have people claiming the main reason we lost is perimeter defense or D'lo's shooting slumps, or Rui's struggles to chase around screens, or my personal favorite, "The Nuggets just keep hitting lucky shots on us in the clutch." Like when are people going to realize the obvious pattern here.
The potential trade between Towns and Randle could give the Lakers an unexpected advantage, especially if Minnesota takes time to adjust. Adding a traditional center like Mitchell Robinson would address the Lakers’ size concerns and strengthen their defense. Early season opportunities, like facing weakened teams, are crucial for the Lakers to build momentum. The team should carefully assess its roster before making mid-season adjustments, but the need for size remains a pressing issue.
1 the Lakers are getting worse with a 40 yrs no real draft pix and a injury prone big who 30 2 KNICKS are not trading a big shot blocking center for a non defense wing WE HAVE WINGS THEY WILL TRADE 4 ANOTHER BIG MAN what do you guys really be talking about
Imho, I don't think the Lakers NEED a big/burly center. But, we definitely WANT one. This could be considered an exercise in semantics, but...eh. If the Lakers aren't able to get that idea "big center", I think they'll be just fine. Granted, it may put a bit more pressure for them to be better in certain areas, as a team. And, for certain players to be better, individually (an improved Hayes; a healthy AD, Wood, Koloko).
Yeah and the general idea is they don't want to give up a good starting player nor first rounders. Not the fans, but the front office. Like the Lakers can easily go and overpay the Jazz and pickup Kessler for 2 first rounds+ salary fillers. Utah isn't going to just take 1 first and a second or whatever, especially if a quality player isn't being involved in the exchange. I personally don't think a center is what solves their issues. Not unless AD is going to some how starts shooting 40% from 3 so that there isn't spacing issues with another center out there 😂
