And now the lobe has come to the lobe post podcast late on a Monday night on the East
Coast and it's late because our guest is joining us from the opposite Coast Los Angeles
California Lakers third year player recently resigned team USA member international sensation
I'm not sure that that that's that we're quite there yet Austin Reeves how are you I'm good
how are y'all I'm good it was a big summer for you do you feel like you got a
enough rest and recovery means like that's the first big long NBA season play off grind
you feel ready to go yeah do the first you know a couple of months after the season that's
all I was doing was chilling you know obviously was in the gym a little bit just working
on my game but playing a lot of golf and like you said just trying to get that down time
because I knew with the USA stuff coming up it was going to be you know a long you know
a little bit over a month and then you're right into the season.
I'm close to you I'm not a liberty to reveal who this is told me that that when Rob
Polenka told told your crew hey Grant Hill Grant Hill is going to reach out about team USA
some people within your inner circle perhaps perhaps people who don't believe in you as
much as they should said ways is he going to be on the the select team like what do you mean
Rob this and then the select team is really good there's no problem being on selecting and
Rob was like no no team USA the one that's going to the the FIFA World Cup to play in Manila
etc. Did you think you it was going to be a select team call you know to be honest I didn't
really you know think about it you know I knew that the the the World Cup was this summer
and I didn't really know what to expect but like I said once the season was over I went
home basically and started golfing every day and kind of just got away and then I wasn't
thinking about it and then that's when Aaron and Reggie both called me and was like oh we
got some big news and when they said it I didn't know if they still had you know like one
of the tryouts where they they send a lot of guys there and then you they pick from after
that the Vegas part but I didn't really know what to think about it but when you know
we got on the phone me and Reggie you know they basically was like no it's like it's a real
thing like you have a chance to actually play on the USA team so right then and there I was like
obviously this is this is a no-brainer what surprised you about the team USA experience like I don't
is there something that what's different about it what was surprising about it the actually getting
to do it and where the uniform yeah I think you know what a lot of people back here don't understand
is you know the level of competition and how good you know teams are over there and the continuity
that they play with and you know I was talking with Dennis and Dennis Schroeder for it but you're
you you are I think you might be Dennis Schroeder's biggest fan within the NBA he's a controversial
figure I love Dennis you know I you know there's a lot of you know mixed emotions about a Dennis
about Dennis but he was you know nothing but great to me but I like I said I was talking to him
and him and Tyson been playing together since they were like 14 so it was different in the fact of
you know our team you know you got a couple guys here and there that you know are on our teammates
now and have played together in the past but for the most part you're throughout the whole process
you're trying to learn how to play with one another and that was really the the hardest part for
I would say all of us at some point in July did part of you think you were either going to be a
member of the San Antonio Spurs or get an offer from the San Antonio Spurs that the Lakers would
have whenever a amount of hours it is now to match like did you start thinking about the Spurs
and Wembee and fit in all this oh you know it definitely creeps in your mind obviously when there's
you know a little bit of talks back and forth about you know something possibly coming to light
but I didn't think that there was any way that the Lakers didn't match what you know ever whatever
was offered they pretty much made it pretty clear that that they were going to match whatever so
you think about it a little bit but at the end of the day I wanted to be in LA I love it out here
you know love the organization the fans but you know you you know you hear things and obviously with
Wembee and Yama like you know so much upside with him you you you know your mind kind of wonders
just into that basketball world just you know what that would be like are you going to be bitter
for the rest of your career towards the San Antonio Spurs for not lavishing upon you the maximum
possible offer enforcing the Lakers hands is this going to be in like five years if it's Lakers
Spurs and the playoffs is this going to be vengeance for you I don't know it's it's hard to
to be mad at you know making 54 million dollars so that's way more money than I ever thought I
would make especially playing basically a kid's sport for a living you know obvious I wish that
you know could have got as much money as possible but like I said fit and opportunity you know
here in LA was you know really what we wanted and you know really where we wanted to be that's
the polite answer we need to get a little controversy and a little spice out of you and I thought
of that because I know you've addressed this already on all the smoke with with Matt Barnes and
Stephen Jackson they asked you about the biggest the biggest story of life which is Taylor Swift
they asked you about the Taylor Swift rumors a lot a lot of rumors you said I've never met her
never talked to her I'm gonna choose to believe that okay I'm gonna choose to take you at your
word when you were watching the chiefs game yesterday and Travis Kelsey's coming out and there she
is in the luxury suites and the whole world is losing its mind did part of you think I kind of
maybe missed like maybe that wasn't the rumors could have been an excuse for me to reach out and
like this could have been my life no not me you know I'm a I'm a very simple person that likes to
you know keep my all my business on the download so yeah I mean she's literally amazing like
you know music you know what she's done for her career has been you know her fans are literally
say the best fans in the world so yeah I don't know not not for me no I'm happy with where I'm at
okay if someone who does not live in the celebrity industrial complex when something like that happens
to someone from team Swift which I just imagine is like 400 people reach out to team Austin
which I imagine is like five people and say and say are you guys the source of this where is this
coming from here's how we should handle it or is there no communication at all I don't think
there was any communication not that I know of and I probably would have known of it just because
my circle so so small but no there was I don't know that one was so out of left field because one
I don't go out like I'm a home body so me being in a bar first of all was far fetched and then
you know her being an Arkansas I would assume is pretty far fetched to I didn't know the rumors were
centered on your home state of Arkansas I didn't know that that's what it was yeah that's the
extent of the research I did into this is I didn't know the actual rumor so sure okay let's talk
Lakers I've said on MBA today with movie clay injuries and on this podcast that I'm actually like
a little surprised given that you're the Lakers and everyone's talking about the Lakers all the time
I feel like you're not being discussed as a team as much as like a real inner circle contender
um as much as you would expect it's like Denver this and Phoenix dad and look at all this drama in
the east and I think part of it is people don't know what to make of how you flip not you well you
personally and the team flipped your season like two thirds of the way through last year you remake
your team you get a bigger role you all of a sudden have like the best defense in the NBA for
a prolonged period of time make the conference finals coming out of a low seed get swept
no no shame in that that team won the title lost four playoff games the whole time
um and I think people look at that sample size they're like was that was that real was that
not a fluke was it like somewhat fluky and I think um they're people not being sure what to
make of you is part of that because you got elevated into this role kicked ass at it and I think
there's some question like does Austin Reeves have another level to get to and what do we make of
that lakeers team so why don't we start with the team part of it do you feel like we brought
most of the key pieces back added some key piece do you feel like you guys are a true blue like we
can play with anybody yeah I do uh like you said we brought back basically a core that went to the
western conference finals uh you know I think you could call it fluky whatever you want but after
the it was after the trade deadline I think we had maybe the second or third best uh record in the
league with LeBron hurt and and either out or playing hurt for that whole thing yeah and that
mean like you said him being hurt um you know not even really having a um any time to mesh really
like uh things was like after the trade deadline kind of just thrown out there like we had so much
talent and um we relied on our talent so much that um it took us that far but then when we ran
into a Denver team like you said we got swept because they were so structured and so system um and
I felt like it was hard for us to get to that level of even just a system because we didn't have
the time like though they were all together basically the whole year you know they played you
know 82 games before the pre for the postseason um being able to figure out you know a lot of things
in that span of time but with us uh it was completely different so I think you know especially
now and then training camp coming up us being able to have the opportunity to you know grow that
and grow um you know in just situations to where like in the fourth if we you know have a couple
bad possessions that we know exactly what we're going to get to because that's what Denver would do
they would have a couple bad possessions and then they knew exactly what they were going to get to
in uh in the fourth quarter so just those little things having this whole time to you know learn
that and do that like I think that'll elevate us to another level and like you said we brought in
you know a lot of guys that are super talented um you know I would argue we probably have the most
talented roster in the league um you know from top to bottom uh you know getting you know Christian
wood um on a minimum you know gave coming from the finals of parents uh you know we have a lot of
guys that are super talented and like I said just getting this time to you know really build a
foundation with one another is going to help us a lot I think also people who have watched Lebron
for 20 years were surprised at points in the playoffs and how much of the ball handling he let
other people do like I'll go stand on the wing and he he cut for some baskets and this and that
Austin you run the show even Delo sometimes in early games you run the show there was the Lonnie
Walker game against Golden City where he was just like Lonnie you're cooking but you were the main
guy that got that level of trust and level of responsibility when did you know that Lebron
trusted you to do that was there a conversation you had in the regular season was there a regular
season game was there a practice where it was communicated to you like hey like if you're
feeling it or my foot's not good or whatever like you're you're gonna you're gonna have it even
on the biggest stages I'm gonna let you cook uh there was no real conversation like off the court
or anything I always knew that we from day one we connected on that IQ level just thinking the game
differently than other people do um but the one that that stood out to me we it was even there was
in the playoffs was game one against uh we against Memphis um when I had to really go four quarter
I struggled the first half I think I was two for seven and a half uh from the field and they got
it going in the fourth and I remember I got I think I got two buckets in a row and someone
I think Bain might have shot a uh a wing three on the right side and uh it come off and I don't
I don't know if Dilo got the rebound or who got a revando got the rebound but I was on the left
side and I just went to run the floor um they outlet it to Braun and this was just right before I
hit the three I think and me going to run the floor uh I hear Braun yelling at me like they are
come back like and he just tosses me the ball and I'm like oh like I have the the greatest uh
you know in my opinion the greatest player ever you know I don't want to say deferring to me in
this moment but like giving me the ball like okay you got something going go go do something because
he knows you know me I don't care about like if I go score if I may have a get a play for someone
else like he knows I just won't win um but when that happened obviously in my brain like
there's it probably should have went somewhere else but the whole time I was just sitting there
thinking like I can't screw this like I gotta make something good happen like I don't care if it's
a miss shot whatever we get a good shot whatever but I something's good it's gotta happen I can't
turn it over it can't shoot a bad shot but uh I think I come down and hit the three and
and after that same thing gave me the ball again and from that point forward like I could tell that
the the trust level was even more than what I knew it was at that point now that's the I'm him game
yeah it will go down in history as the I'm him game um I want to know after math of that game
I was talking to your agents Aaron and Reggie mentioned before said his phone was going so crazy
like you you almost literally just couldn't look at your phone you couldn't digest the amount of
incoming messages tweets whatever it was just like a slap I'm picturing like a slot machine
that's just going crazy like that um what what is that what is that night I'll start with this one
with the team what is that locker room and that night like for you because that's game one so
you're staying in Memphis is there is there a big dinner do you just go back to your hotel room
what's the funniest thing somebody said to you in the locker room or the coolest things
somebody said to you in the locker room yeah no like you said I just remember going in the locker room
my eyes or right before I ice obviously I was the last person in locker room did not accord
me to you or whatever and as soon as I walk in the locker room brown was walking around
tapping everybody up and he just looked at me he gave me a big hug like I was like oh like
obviously this one's coming but uh he gives me a big hug and then I go to ice him whatever and
like you said like they're still probably people that I really like like my close friends that
I didn't respond to that night because I'm literally probably never seen their message uh just
because like I've had the same number since I was in high school um you know everybody has my
number basically so all my high school friends were hitting me up throughout college all those guys
were hitting me up um but I just remembered it was wasn't more so like that that night but the next
morning uh or midday we had film and Phil handy was just like it obviously congratulated me
for the you know game that I had but then was just like looked around and was just like I just
want to you know basically say to bron and ad like I haven't seen y'all do that in a while like
I haven't seen y'all put y'all's trust in another player like that um especially in this big time
moment and um you know I just wanted to tip my hat to y'all and then that was another point where I
was just like like everything and kind of sunk in at that point and you know I you I just after the
game I just went made with my with my mom my family we had a good dinner whatever but uh yeah
no it was just there was one of those moments after the fact where everything kind of set in
then I was just like all like this really happened like you always kind of riding that high like
it was a dream whatever but um those were things really stood out uh sometimes when the thing like
that happens you get a million messages you go through them over the next week or so whatever
not that doesn't happen to me but I've heard stories like this before and you come across a message
that's like I don't even know this person I don't know how this person got my number
but I'm just making up a name like somehow Greg Popovich texted me or somehow Shaq texted me
and I didn't even see it until the week after was there a message or a person like that
I think there were I don't think there was a text like that I think game had tweeted something um
along the lines just stuff me um you know taking over the game basically and that that was more
because I don't know him but I didn't I don't really know anybody in the league to be honest uh other
than my teammates um but that was the one I think that was probably the first one I seen when I
pulled up social media that was it was pretty cool um warrior series you hit a half court shot
in the deciding game at the buzzer of halftime um I've been told that there are people in your life
that discourage you at times from doing the heaves because it hurts your field goal percentage
and that you insist on doing it and I'm gonna just say that I think the basketball gods appreciate
that and rewarded you in that moment but is that true that you've been maybe playfully
like yo I know you that's like you're shooting 38% for three it could be 40 if you stop shooting
the heaves but you keep shooting them yeah no that's it's a real thing and you have guys in the
NBA that won't shoot them just for that you know reasoning but I have this weird ultra confidence
that I'm gonna make it every time um realistically I'm not like and obviously I probably made
I think I make two of those all year not I didn't make it I don't think it was at half but a
little bit across half but um yeah no I think you know anytime you have an opportunity to you know
help your team um forget the numbers forget the percentages like you can tell like you can
go back like if you're having a negotiation about a contract like sure it looks good if you shot
38 but or 40 over 38 but like you could go back and explain those 25 heaves that you had and be
like oh it could be 40 or whatever but I think it just shows that you care about winning more
than numbers and percentages and stuff like that but I definitely the charge of people in my
in my uh circle that are like yeah you could shoot less of those did you did you want a guard
Stephmore in that series did you think you were gonna guard Stephmore I going into the series I
previewed it and I thought I know vandos real versatile but I thought you were gonna get the
primary matchup on stuff and I was wrong were you like where because that is there's no matchup
like that in the NBA nothing like it not even Dame is like that moving around were you were
you trying to like prime yourself for the challenge of it oh yeah I mean anytime you have a guy
like that like you basically the whole team is trying to figure out a way to you know stop him
and uh you know if that was the you know assignment for me that would have went you know tried to
do that obviously as a hard task but I think um after game two I think I started guarding them more
because Dennis got in foul trouble a little bit here and there we ended up moving fando
but one thing we did really good that series was our coaches did a great job with adjustments
and anytime courage us did we adjusted to their adjustments so there was we had probably
15 different coverages that we did in that series alone um just adjusting to all their adjustments
but anytime I can go um you know take on that challenge you know how I'm a competitor and I like that
I'm glad you said that because Darwin Ham I think people didn't know what to make him as a head coach
and they they talk about his demeanor and holding the locker room together and you're sitting
here talking about like the Xs and O's and the back and forth like you as a high IQ guy like you
mentioned you and Braun connected that way sounds like you came out of the playoffs thinking like
oh this guy this coach is ready like we can win four playoffs series with him he can go toe-to-toe
with Spowe or whoever the Steve Kerr whoever the coaches are there knowing is like the adjustment
guys for sure now there was uh there was one thing that I was very like um I was very satisfied
with even in the Denver series I feel like we did literally everything that we could do like
it wasn't a lack of trying stuff for a lack of adjustments or uh I feel like we did the right
stuff for the most part uh I feel like we you know could have started the series a little bigger um
could have started vando over Dennis but you say that and then you turn around and
you had so much success in the Golden State Series starting Dennis that um if you go from that
and they don't work then people are like oh well why didn't you stick with that so
I understood the the reasoning of that um but I mean we ended up trying everything it's just
that it was good they're very good and the big fella is very very good um probably yeah so oh
speaking of defense um there was there was one game one and a half maybe in team USA's run
was Lithuania yeah where I'm forgetting which player was specifically wasn't a wasn't a big
center though wasn't like a seismous match took you into the huh it was a point guard he played
with yeah took you into the weight room a little bit beat you up in the post scored some baskets on
you talked a whole lot of junk right to your face now your your brother knows him and I know he
tweeted about him too saying nice win well hopefully there's a rematch um but I I can tell you
there was there were little burblings around the NBA of oh the blueprints out now like the
blueprints out we spotted a weakness uh what say you to that uh I mean if you go back and look at it
and I think if you have you know any type of basketball IQ uh we were trying to guard everything
one-on-one like we didn't want to show we didn't want to give up threes to be honest uh so from day
one of the USA stuff we were basically I don't want to say he was on island but more so than not
you were on island and I think he the two times he scored on me and the post both am ones obviously
uh think he took seven dribbles and six dribbles um and that's just like I yeah me person I could go
but I think I could go post a bra on right now and if I get six dribbles I'm not gonna say I'm
on score but I could get to probably wherever I wanted to go um I feel like you could say blueprints
out but like with the lakers and us having a foundation defensively like I know where my helps
coming from like I play that game like I'm not the most athletic guy in the world like uh
the quickest guy in the world but like when I know our system and how where the helps coming from
you know obviously having a d helps a lot but just knowing those little things like where the
helps gonna be you know rotations and stuff like that uh it helps me and you know he had some
success in the post and uh you tip your head to him speaking of lakers I believe you had your
little bra on does the annual sort of get together mini camp with the team I believe that was
just like a few days ago I don't remember it's somewhere in the west coast uh how did it go
out is everybody looked and everybody was attendance a hundred percent where the coach is there
like how does that thing work yeah it's uh you know obviously bram puts it on um we went down
to San Diego and we we got down thursday had a dinner thursday night and then friday saturday was
you know workouts practice not really practice but uh just getting in the gym doing a lot of
five oh no stuff running over you know basically foundation stuff uh there's a little bit of playing
here and there but uh not much coaches are there but it's basically player and um it was great
you know everybody it was a hundred percent attendance everybody was there um everybody was active
and you know everybody looked good you know we did a lot of uh you know shooting competition stuff
um you know eighty shooting the ball really well um right now and you know it's something that
I've tried to get him to do more is shoot it um because if he if he does that you know at a
very decent level which he can because in a bubble year he shot it really well um you know literally
you can't guard him but just the whole weekend it was good it was we had dinners and stuff and it
was really just a opportunity for everybody to you know learn one another and get closer
yeah the what happened to Anthony davis's jump shot is like one of the biggest mysteries in the mba
it's never like we talked about it on the show last week and how I was defending ad for the bulk
of the playoffs because every every kind of talking head show that there is it just points points
points yeah like he had a 38 point game and then a 15 point game and I kept saying like this guy's
the best defensive player in the playoffs and like I don't think it's even close um we we should
at least like mention that side of the ball sure but the consistency and scoring like that was a
real thing and I think part of it is just like the four points he's not getting on pick and pop
jumpers anymore like you so you you see a path to just recovering those like four to six points
whatever it is yeah for sure um I think that you know he'll shoot the ball a lot better this year
and I think he'll take you have more tips um but also to speak on the you know like you said he
had 38 many have 15 but like like you said defensively he I mean obviously he's the best you
know defensive player I've ever played with but like just knowing that he's back there like in the
playoffs especially like you can be so much more aggressive and like even though even if he don't
block shots he's gonna alter the shot and I remember my first training camp I never had a problem
getting by whoever was guarding me but like I never was on the starting team so ad was always
down there and I'd get to the lane I'd be like oh I got a layup and I go for a layup and I'd just
be lost like I'd just turn it over because I didn't know what to do with it um but also like the
the offensive side of all that like we have so much talent that obviously we're on uh Delo
Ruby was playing really well I was playing really well like 80's not a selfish guy at all like
he wants to win so those nights where he you know scored mid you know teens you know 15 16 17 18
whatever it was you know somebody else probably had it going and it's not like he's going to the
bench you know bicker and about um touches and stuff like that uh just because you know someone
else that's having a success he don't like he don't care about that like he just wants to win
level up your game day with vivid seats and get great tickets to the biggest games of the year
plus with vivid seats for words you can score free tickets surprise seat upgrades and that's kind
of fun and then annual birthday discounted even more they're the only ticket company in the game
that rewards fans for every single purchase as the official ticketing partner VSPN that's us
vivid seats is offering you $20 off your first $200 ticket purchase with code low that's code
low L O W E my last name the name of this podcast visit vividseats.com or download the app today vivid
seats experience it live I'm going to ask you a very important question and I want you to answer
it honestly it's going to be open ended who is the best golfer among NBA players me you know who
would be the the consensus answers to this among among fans who watch highlights and stuff for sure
I know Steph yeah we got to make this happen like Steph's always doing made for TV golf events can
you get could you this is as far as I'm concerned you just issued an open challenge hey I'm down to
play golf win never wherever against anybody I mean I'm I love golf so much that I go play Tiger
obviously I don't have any expectation of winning that one but
you just made it you just pitched the television show right there you just like that's an ESPN show
but you have ESPN no Tiger I was going to see ESPN 2 ESPN 1 would would carry that no for sure
uh no but I would I would love to play against Steph I I actually seen him out on the golf course
between between four and five game four and five in the playoffs when we when we landed me a
dealer went out uh in San Fran and uh we were checking in about to go out and they're like oh
they all probably y'all probably see somebody out there y'all know and we were walking I think it
was the whole four or five he was coming I think he was coming down the um probably like 12 or
something out there he'd come and say what's up and yeah no I'm seeing him like golf many of times
he's a he's a good golfer I wanted to I wanted to let him know that you know in him and uh when
him and Clay got beat by um you know Pat and uh Trav that you know if he needed a little help
he could he could let me know but I didn't want to I didn't want to say anything about Clay Clay
just say the way one carried wow I like this um someone introduced me to uh hillbilly bogey which I
did not know about hillbilly Kobe was one of your original nicknames you have a lot of nicknames
your nickname you that you're like the you have many more nicknames in years in the NBA um but
hillbilly bogey I'm not on tiktok I don't know what's going on on tiktok I don't know what the kids
are doing but this is now a thing you're making this a thing it's you and your buddy Trent
from Arkansas what is what is this oh so it's basically like I mean like I said I love golf he
loves golf um and as much as golf we play like we was like why not try to do something with golf like
there's a um there's a group called good good golf uh they basically travel around play all
different types of courses and just you know basically document it all they get a lot of guys um
you know athletes probably um actors actors actresses yeah um on the channel and uh just have fun
so that's kind of the the path that we're going um just being in LA having you know basically
unlimited and you know opportunity to you know play you know the best courses out here and then
obviously being a laker having the connections um and being able to you know get you know
golfers in general uh like pga tour guys you know out to come play and uh just mess around
to have fun to be honest uh that's really the main thing but um you could do a lot of stuff
with it right now we're basically just playing one on one you know me versus him but you could do
you know they do a lot of like four on four like scrambles and stuff like that so um we've kind
of just started taking it a lot more seriously at first this summer it was kind of just a joke
uh we didn't really think we were gonna do anything with it but uh bleacher report actually posted it
up the day and um someone was like I've I've discovered you know also reuses uh golf tiktok and it kind
of blew up a little bit and um you know there are people who don't think it's you who do at
least initially didn't think it was you yeah it's me um I don't I basically show up and play golf
my my best friend Trent he does all the editing and stuff and you know to be honest he never
he never did anything like editing in the first place as he's just literally learning on the fly
we actually bought a drone a couple days ago and we were flowers flying around the golf courses
this morning so uh we're having a lot of fun with fun with it what is as you mentioned the
Lakers and what life is like is a Laker and a breakout Laker personality you felt that in Manila
for sure um what is the strangest goofiest marketing opportunity that you have been presented with
that you were either like I that's like that's too weird I can't do that or just like something
we're like I don't even understand what this is because there's always some weird stuff yeah
um I will say my my uh my agency does a good job of not bringing that stuff to me and I don't
check really I don't look at my DMs I don't I don't scroll and look at you know what everybody's
saying to me um my first year we did we actually did an underwear deal um which ended you know I think
like a year and a half ago or whatever but uh the one now it's a drake law firm and uh it's
lemon law and they literally have billboards on me all over LA like I was driving this morning and
I looked up and it's a big billboard and they across the big front of it is but picture of me is
as lemon daddy and so that's probably the one that I get the most um you know feedback from
because everybody sees it and obviously it's uh it's a it's a funny name um but there's a good
partnership and you know like we like what they're doing lemon daddy yeah I was not aware of that
until I started googling around uh for answers for answers um answers to this question you are
from a tiny town in Arkansas and I was reading some of the older profiles of you first of all I
did I did was not aware before I started really diving in like you were putting up 50 73 in one
game like the high school scoring was ridiculous but I was reading my my buddy Dan Wakey wrote a
profile of you for the L.A. Times and it stood at your buddy Dan yeah I love that make you want to
cancel the podcast I I was gonna say yes but I I'll give Danish prompts I love Dan that's a great
dude he his he uh Dan is a great dude he's always a fun he's always got it like he just makes
your mood better and he cares about the right stuff in the job like he cares about covering the
team the right way he knows what the good stories are he knows how to do it um and the story opens
with you remembering what I would describe as a cow stampede on your family farm cows it's
described in the stories cows all the cows some of the cows running in a circle around you you
other family members and and dogs or something like is that a real thing though I I think what was
I think what happened was is I think we were talking about a story one time that the cows
chased me and my friends all the way home so like the there were some are not I don't want to say
neighbors because neighbors are actually neighbors here our neighbors are like maybe like a mile down
road um but they had some dogs that would um that our cows did like and we had a dog that they
didn't mind but they started hating cow or they started hating dogs for some reason so we were
out on the farm you know I think we went fishing actually and um we had one of our dogs with this
and like literally like a whole group of cows literally just started chasing us so we had to run
all the way back to the house um I think it was me to me and a couple of my friends um that was a
long time ago though I mean ballpark a number of cows for me because I grew up in Connecticut in
New York man I don't know how many cows are hanging out in where you are uh that were chasing as
it was probably somewhere around like 30 35 to a lot of cows yeah I mean we had at the time we
probably had like 150 uh cows at that time but only like 30 or 35 were chasing us and the strategy is
get indoors out run them and get indoors like what's the side at that time yeah I've never had that
happen though and I've I've grew up around cow after growing around all animals and I didn't know
what was going on um but yeah that's the first thing that popped into my mind I was like I'm young
I play a lot of sports so I'ma just run until they stop chasing me um I was told to ask you
and you're gonna be able to figure this out who this is um ask Austin about the quote body-sized
dense or holes I don't know if it's holes or dense the body-sized dense in our basement wall
what this this is your brother obviously oh I could have come from my mom could have
said something like that too but um body-sized was alarming to me yeah I don't remember exactly
what happened but I think a couple so he was growing up it was always me one of my really good friends
my brother and his really good friends uh me and my friend with the same age my brother and his
brother were the same age so uh it was two sets of brothers and we were always together and I think
that we might have had like a superbow party and a couple older kids a couple older kids started
messing with us and you know we always had each other's back and I think I can't remember exactly
how the kid got I don't know I think he want to say he got kicked into the wall but uh little
I don't really call it a fight but you know something broke out and uh I want to say someone
basically dropped kicked him into the wall and obviously we got in trouble for that one mom
come down the next day we tried to hide it it didn't work I also was told to ask about
dense in your mom's car yeah that's uh that wasn't me that was my friend with a golf ball yeah we used to
like throwing and throwing hitting the hitting a golf ball a wayward shots yeah we were so
so how the house was set up I don't know whose land it was but we would hit the balls across the road
and um one of my friends like topped one out there and he was he ran out to get it and was just
gonna like chip it back and ended up blading it and it went straight right and I can see it the
whole time mom I think just bought her escalade and I've just seen it the whole time it was just
bounce about up the drive plan I was just like obviously I'm gonna get in trouble for this one
and she can't get mad at him so uh I bit the bullet for a while and I finally looked at her
and was just like I didn't do that like please leave me alone um you play cards on the on team
on the team flights right yeah what do you play Bure I know Bure who do you play with like who's
who's the table who and who's I mean who who's good good enough that they scare you and who
who do you feel like doesn't know that they're maybe the sucker at the table but they're the sucker at
the table oh wow you're gonna have a throwing name so oh so last year we played me Delo um
windian and whoever the fourth would be it didn't matter uh who it was it was uh
shack at the end of the year when he signed who at max would play with us a little bit here and
there um but Delo is the one that he's I don't know how but he stayed when it um I don't
that's my boy but he may I depend with a couple dollars here and there but um I think
uh man I'm not if we go say anybody anybody was bad at the game maybe it's you no no no no I
I got I have my fair share of good days um a couple more random ones and I'll let you go I was
reading a story by a Aaron Fader at the ringer wrote a profile of you and the Russ Frank
Vogel era feels like so long ago given what you accomplished last year but you had and obviously
look traded there's no there's no way to get past it trading rust open the door for you to have
a bigger role and the I can say it you don't have to the fit was just better the fit with LeBron
and AD was better but there's a story in there about a game against Sacramento I think where you
shoot one of eight from three and you're in the locker room to beat yourself up and Russ comes up
to you and say hey man keep shooting or I like that you I like that you took the shots and I think
in the story it's like you you were you kind of thought maybe he was being sarcastic and and so
because the Russes become such a the discourse around Russ is just is so all over the place and
so big and noisy that I think these teammate moments even even when it's not working on a broader
scale kind of get lost so tell that story if you could it was preseason actually we were in Sacramento
and I can't remember if we ended up winning the game or not um I want to say we got beat they
ended up not playing like Russ Brown AD they ended up not playing the last probably like three or
four minutes we lost like six or seven and like I said I went one for eight from three and I'm
sitting in the locker room afterwards you obviously pissed off of myself because you know I hold
myself to a standard and you know those were opportunities that I felt like I needed to play
well because you know I didn't know what my opportunity was going to be going forward so I remember
sitting there and Russ coming to me was like great game or so he said something like that and I
kind of just looked up at him like what like I didn't play bad I didn't shoot it well he was like
no he said something like wait a shoot it and I'll just look at him like he was crazy like I was like
is this is he being an asshole and he just kept talking to me he was like no I'm I'm serious
and I was like I shot I was one for I literally finally looked at it was I was one for eight he
was I don't care you shot it like I don't care if you go one for eight six for eight oh for eight he
was like as long as you shoot it he was like you ain't going to hear anything for me and I was just
oh okay like like you said the the misconception of Russ as a teammate um it's crazy uh I feel like
everybody that he's played with has come out and publicly said something afterwards it's all
been good and as a person you can't get much better in Russ what was it you come into the league
undrafted by choice I mean your agents and you discourage people from drafting you two way contract
get called up to the Lakers and you're called up on this team of just massive superstars
that you've grown up watching and you know eight LeBron and Russ are in their own ways massive
personalities alpha personalities in different ways was it difficult weird watching that all from
your perspective and in particular just kind of watching it not work yeah it was um I've said it
many a times and it's just it it was just not a good fit like you said it was
I don't know me and bronze talked about it and
bronze was just like before you know that year like we were lasting league and transition points
and you know it all made made it make sense and under I could understand where it was coming from
but it just didn't ever work like we had to have sacrificed from not even just those two but like
we had guys we had the white we had Trevor Risa we had you know DJ I remember my first game mellow
I remember I looked at a picture someone sent me after my first game that I played which was
the second game of the year and it was me Russ mellow AD and bronze and I was just sitting there
like why the hell am I in the game but it was just watching it all kind of just go downhill was
it was interesting to me just because I was sitting back like I was just sitting there thinking like
how could we not have this happen like how could we have figured it out and I've thought I still
think about it and I just don't think that there was really I don't think that there was a way
with that roster like I really don't I feel like because for the most part of the first of the year
I feel like everybody sort of sacrificed and got less for the better but it just never worked out
last question um you are going into your third year um have achieved a lot proved yourself in the
playoffs I don't know what your playoff points were game was but it was higher than anyone other than
you probably could have reasonably expected just played for team USA I get the sense from talking
to people around the lakers and around you that they and you think there's another level to get to
and it's not like a smidgen above where you are now that there's a big leap still to take
do you have what what does that I don't know the you've set goals in your mind like being an all-star
whatever it is like what what does that look like for this season like what kind of stuff do you
think about first of all I just want to win a championship um that just having that playoff
success last year one of the Western conference finals like I looked at Brown I've told this
many times but I looked at Brown after I think it was game four of the Memphis series and I was just
like this this might be the most fun I've ever had planned basketball and he looked at me it was
just like just wait like it just gets better and like as that was I mean that was the first series
and like series by series like it just got better and better obviously got to ask what but um I
could see like I could get the taste of what the feel of you know getting to the championship is
like winning a cheer like I could like you could kind of feel like what it would be like so for me
that's number one and that'll always be number one but personally like I don't know like I don't
I don't ever like really setting goals just because
you can not achieve your goals but also do what's necessary for the team and you're sitting there
looking like oh well I didn't I averaged 14 instead of 17 or 18 or whatever your goal might be
but um for me it's really just about playing the game the right way and I feel like you know
it's really worked from day one for me like I keep getting a little more
opportunity to do more and I feel like going into this season it's going to be you know even more
that me and Darwin's talked about that multiple times about just having more responsibility and
you know being on the ball a little more and creating for others so yeah I think you know I can
do what I did last year and more I'm excited to watch I think the Lakers are I think you guys are
probably a little better than what is national consensus right now I think you guys are a legit
contender I look forward to watching you because I said it many times last season on the air
various places like we can sit here and parse the trade and this guy doing this and that guy
doing that the biggest the biggest thing the Lakers figured out last season and I'm just
quoting myself I'm not doing this because you're here is that Austin Reeves is good and Austin
Reeves became a legit third guy with LeBron and AD and I'm excited to watch where it goes you've
given us a lot of time really appreciate it when I'm out in LA I'll say hello but congratulations
on everything congratulations on the new contract and uh and we'll see what you do next season Austin
Reeves everybody sounds go appreciate y'all for having me
all right after Austin Reeves and the Lakers it feels fitting to talk about the team that beat the
Lakers the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets and I've been thinking a lot about the Nuggets
recently because Austin Reeves was straight up envious of their continuity their collective skill
their chemistry and as we wait for the Damien Lillard trade to come down which may happen this week
may not happen this week may happen today who knows um that in the hardened drama the contracts
with the Nuggets who are dancing in Serbia relaxing yeah their biggest worry is how to replace
Brucey B who left for a boatload of money in Indiana and less so how to replace Jeff Green who I
think is is replaceable not only that as we bring on Adam Morris from DNVR the just the best crew
covering the Nuggets visited their bar in Denver which was happened the entire time the playoffs
are going on you know part of the reason Austin Reeves is so envious is not just the continuity it's
the Nuggets are like this platonic ideal of a championship team all their core players are
more or less the same age or same age range and I've been thinking a lot about what does Toronto
look like if they acquire Damien and how assuming Andinobi goes out in the deal how they'd have
Damien at 33 Ciacum at 29 Barnes at 21 or 22 and how that feels unusual and if you look back
in NBA history there are teams with that kind of age spread between their first second and third
best players teams that get big contributions sort of a guy in a rookie deal but Denver Denver has
just got none of that no age questions no drama questions Adam Morris have you just last summer
you went to Sombor and all around Serbia on a Yokech Pilgrimage they won the championship
Yokech's finals MVP I think like borderline undisputed best player in the NBA right now
is it just is it just been like Debranco's stink they just gave up 70 points is it just been
like a three month celebration in Denver if people forgotten about the Nuggets is Nuggets fever
still going on well and we laugh all the time over at DNBR our Nuggets crew about how everything
went right you know you we checked every box you get you get every it wasn't just the championship
it was all the little narrative wins you got along the way that that were so much fun you know
defense in the playoffs and could they go against this guy or that guy or they better not face
the Lakers because they face the Lakers it's over so every little narrative win that are narrative
opportunity that presented itself the Nuggets kind of answered so it was it's a lot of fun
I think the Broncos have helped keep the Nuggets vibe alive and I think people are all ready
earlier than usual here in Denver to turn their attention back to the Nuggets to review the
Nuggets were the number one seed in the West despite kind of frittering away the last month or so
of the season in Yokech frittered away the MVP potentially maybe that was wrong still maybe that
was the wrong decision but it's done yeah they in the regular season ranked fifth in offense
117 points for 100 possessions 15th in defense 113.5 in the playoffs they went 16 and four
just blitzkrieged everybody 118 points per 100 possessions which would have led to league
by a little bit and 110 points allowed per 100 possessions which would have tied Cleveland for
number one in the entire NBA in the regular season they lost the two key contributors we
mentioned and I would posit that Bruce Brown is not just a six man he was like an extra starter
sometimes a closer a guy who could more or less play in any iteration of the Nuggets core groups
Jeff Green I'm not worried too much about although it does bring the backup power forward spot
into some question the Nuggets have been a little reticent for a good reason I think at least
defensively to play MPJ as the standalone straight up for the second biggest defender whatever
whatever terminology you want to use but in their place comes Christian Braun Christian Brown
I'm still doing it Adam Christian Brown ready for more minutes Peyton Watson ready for more minutes
Reggie Jackson I've heard has had a great summer team like some we'll see
I think Zeke Najee's got to play this year and then you have this collection of rookies
that they picked Julian Strother Hunter Tyson and this picket kid who sounds like Andre Miller
2.0 I'm very excited for this guy even though he might not play and the Nuggets picked these guys
obviously in the hopes that they would be ready at some point during the Yokech era
if you look at the depth and you say Christian Brown Peyton Watson's kind of an unknown
is barely played Reggie Jackson couldn't crack the rotation now they have a full season Zeke Najee
couldn't really crack the rotation this is the best starting five and basketball we know that
are you worried about the depth worried I mean every team has questions coming in so I would say yes
that's the story of the Nuggets that's the the question they're going to have to answer going in
you know what the top six give you the starting five they start from a point of the best chemistry
they've ever had and they're a group that's had great chemistry for years with their core
but that starting five I think starts in October from a higher spot than where they started last
year by a significant margin so I feel great about the starters you just look at it and say I think
Denver needs to add one and a half players to their rotation this year that are improving Christian
Brown's proven you've got to add Peyton Watson Zeke Najee Reggie Jackson one and a half of those
guys has to hit for you to have an eight man playoff rotation Zeke Najee you know he's played
minutes he you mentioned earlier Jeff Green Jeff Green had a horrible on off last year when he was
playing Denver's bench unit was not good without yokich last year so as a regular season question
I just look at it and say well Denver got probably an F for their bench last year and made it through
the regular season so I'm not worried about that as a regular season question but to your point
about Bruce he wasn't just a bench player he was a guy that gave you different configurations of
your starters and you know they'll miss that but but I think that they'll find a replacement throughout
the course of the season yeah I mean he could handle it when Jamal was out he could become he did
become the point guard that was one of the big changes they kind of made in the playoffs she's
all in on Bruce Brown back up point guard and then he can masquerade is like a rim runner cutter
whatever you know almost playing like a big man as he did in Brooklyn we should mention like
Justin Holiday is floating around here is kind of a break in case of emergency flyer he's fine
Deandre Jordan who came in in the last game of the season in game in game five of the finals the
clincher is still here so you know you got some veterans that are that are ready um
you know the interesting thing about Denver who I think enters the season is the clear favorites
just everything we've despite the depth now I wouldn't say clear favorites but favorites
and yet you look at you know famously no one we've had five different champions in the last five
years and if you just if you just sort of throw out the Durant Warriors teams which were unfair we have
not had a team repeat since the Miami Heat in 2012 2013 so it's not that long honestly but it's
like it's it's something and if you wanted to just just just nudge you should Denver a little bit
it's they didn't they faced Minnesota who played them kind of tough but was whatever
without Jayden McDaniel no no I'm not giving the opposite the opposition was what it was and they
destroyed them people people want to see Yokech again against a team that can really really
stretch Denver's defense out and Phoenix was the closest thing to that but they did not play as a
high volume three point shooting team in fact it was quite the opposite they played as a huge
mid-range shooting team but I don't I mean it's Phoenix is kind of similar as is now the Warriors
would be like the ultimate test but you know they've actually got to get there like is there a
team that you look at as Denver figured some stuff out about itself defensively we can talk about
that is there a team how do you feel about their defense basically and is there a matchup that
actually stresses you out I mean I think teams like Dallas is the other one that can play five out
and has multiple ball handlers that you know you get Yokech on an island and then you switch and
make it really hard to send the double teams and that was one of the things that Denver did so
well in the playoffs there are double teams and rotations on the backside were just so on point
and they have a lot of length in that starting units of the scrambles you know they're scrambling
with length and athleticism and it really helps there can a team like Dallas make you pay for that
by playing five out and having multiple shooters and ball handlers you know at every position can
golden state obviously we know they've done this in the past are they able to do that again this
upcoming year but to me the questions that is always teams have to always make the choice are they
going to go in on all offense against the nuggets and try to outscore them are they going to try to
put a defender on the on the court just to okay we got to be a little honest here so let's just
have one non shooter and to me that's a really tough question because Denver scored against the best
defenses of the playoffs last year especially the best interior defenders they scored at a historic
rate so if you say we're going to go all offense you're almost certainly going to give up equal
amounts of offense the other end that's just how good Denver is at exploiting whatever weakness
you have defensively so for me I do worry about those teams but this idea of fighting fire with fire
and just trying to outgun Denver I just think Denver's always going to win in a gun fight well and
that's that's where Yokech has reached is looking around the league and asking yourself yeah Lakers
had a great offseason do they did they find any remedy at all to Yokech no Dallas had a fun off
season anything there what are you going to put Grant Williams on him Grant Williams is a little
fire hydrant but I'm sure about that golden states got dream on but like my point is there is just
there isn't a remedy like eight and for a hot second was the closest thing there was to like Yokech
respected him he gave him some trouble and then that fell apart in this last year that Yokech
has reached the point now where both the whole league recognizes this thing goes through him
and somewhat more rarely almost shack like the whole league also at the same time realizes there's
not really an answer to this because we can't foul them like we could with shack we can't double
them we can't let them shoot threes like there's just nothing you can do and so you just have to
construct the best team you can and and and that's what the NBA is at the highest level that's
the territory this dude has reached and I think and this is why I push back on this idea of team
should just try to outgun them I do think that there is front court combos that can cause Yokech
problems not stop him but that can cause him a little bit of difficulty I mean dream on and
Kavon Looney if you're buying into the Warriors is that they can score and they have a front court
that can defend that doesn't disrupt their offense they know how to play with offense with those
guys on the court and that's the two-bodied approach that you kind of have to do everybody laughed
about the really adjustment including an especially Michael Malone but the truth is that combination of
the center is not guarding Yokech and you just put a strong body player on him that is the best way
to try to attack Denver if you have the personnel so Golden State they probably have the personnel
although it's a little thin Boston is the team to me that I look at and I go okay Robert Williams
Al Hoerford and now Christapps Porzingus that's a three-headed monster that you always have a
weak side rim protector and a good on-ball defender on Yokech at all times that's a type of team
that built a lineup that I think okay that makes sense for how you beat Denver but those are the
only teams and I think like what you're saying a lot of teams said we can't stop him let's outgun him
and I just don't I'm skeptical of that approach yeah I think if you're going to be Denver to put
it in statistical terms you know I mentioned Denver's like what 18 points per 100 possession 110
defensive rating I think you got to build a team that's capable of over seven games with Denver
putting up like a 116 offense and holding Denver to a 115 defense like that's that's the only
formula really to beat this team there are a couple things I want to ask you about their defense
in the playoffs because I mentioned it skyrocketed up to like what would have been number one in the NBA
for the regular season if you look at the numbers the biggest change really was they cut the number
of shots that opponents got at the rim drastically and all of those shots migrated to the mid-range
and I have two questions for you and the basic general question is like was that a real thing and
A because it could have been a little bit opponent specific with Phoenix and Miami being two the
heaviest mid-range teams in the league and B if you look at the numbers on cleaning the glass
that was like a league wide trend from regular season to playoffs like a pretty strong drop off
in shots in the restricted area replaced entirely by shots in the mid-range
which just makes me curious about what's going on there but what what if you're if you
posit that Denver had something to do with that and I think that's fair because they even they
did depress him in his soda's numbers and the Lakers numbers a little bit not a lot but a little
what is it that they did well I think this is the easy answer for me is that the nuggets have
always been a good defense in the clutch in the last five minutes they've all their defenses
look like a championship caliber team they get into the playoffs even you know the playoffs they
always look this way I think what it is is and I love that you said all of the teams is not just
the nuggets this is a league wide trend I think it is near impossible to play great defense
for 82 games in the regular season it takes so much athleticism and energy and effort
and the more athletic you are maybe the less the margin between good effort and bad effort matters
because you just get you have speed you have length you can do those things but they're like
yoke itch for him to be rotating at a playoff level intensity for 82 games is it impossible
and probably would wear him down by January or February so I think he plays his spots his numbers
always his rim protection numbers are always horrible because look am I going to sprint in February
over here to try to contest and rotate into all these things no last five minutes I will
and then the playoffs okay now it's time to do those things and I've always seen throughout the
regular season they can do this in small stretches they'll bring it the playoffs and that's exactly
what happened they also and we talked about this you and I throughout the season off it on I thought
the smartest thing Michael Malone did during the season was to begin to experiment a little bit more
with how with the nugget scheme and yes historically yoke itch has preferred to be up at the level
of the screen on pick and roll he's probably best at that he's got smart feet he kicks the ball all
the time as you and I have debated he gets incredible hands and he does not want to sit back there
as a sitting target for like an Anthony Edwards level freight train but throughout the season and
in the playoffs the nuggets kind of committed to hey again certain guys in certain teams we are
going to drop you back because we want to stay out of rotation we don't want to have these guys
crashing enough three-point shooters I'm thinking like Mike Conley against the wolves Chris Paul against
the sons we're willing to live with that and then you sprinkle in your like very rare zone but like
put yokech on a wing that can't shoot I thought that was really smart before I move on like what do
you think of that kind of a variety do you think they're going to lean further into that
because it's a smart thing to do right if you have a pick and roll ball handler who can't really
pull up and shoot it does make sense maybe to to give a little bit more space there to play you
don't play the cat and mouse game so yes I think they'll always mix it up and and be smart and they
have a smart team you mentioned that it's a veteran team that's part of the benefit of they're
not old but they're not they're not young they've been around the block they bought a lot of guys
that can read the court defensively and make adjustments on the fly and by the way you mentioned
the rookies they brought in they bring three of them three of the oldest rookies in the draft
and I know I think that was by design I think Denver said hey we're not looking for stars we're
looking for guys that are maybe a year or two ahead of the curve on team scheme and those types
of things so Denver had a veteran team last year they have a veteran team this year and I think
their their intelligence is a big part of their scheme the other big thing that helps their defense
in the playoffs or that helped their defense in the playoffs and it's the other
stark contrast from regular season to playoffs and something I think has a lot to do with Murray and
Yokech just being incredible offensive players individually in in tandem and a lot to do with Denver
just like okay time to dial in their turnover rate in the playoffs on offense dropped from 23rd
in the regular season so eighth worst to what would have been number one in the regular season for
lowest turnover right they just stopped turning the ball over which I think is a tribute to Yokech
it particularly like the passes and organization the ability he has to orchestrate every single
possession without screwing up is probably unmatched in the NBA right now and we tend to look at
that as an offensive step but it's also a defensive step because Denver is not a Yokech is never
going to be a great transition defender on his own and they're not a great transition defensive team
at times that that doesn't feel like an accident to me and I don't think that's that number I
honestly had forgotten about it until I was prepping for this podcast that's like that is a pretty
now they they they and they did it against teams at ranked 29th that's the Lakers 11th fifth
and third enforcing turnovers on defense so it's not like they played a bunch of teams that don't
even try to force turnovers that is a really really impressive stat I just there's these little
stats that come along when you watch Yokech it's almost just make you laugh and Yokech in the pre
season will throw the craziest passes you've ever seen and an all-star game he's not fit for there
to you know he's he's not making impacts regular season it goes up a level but not all the way
and then post season it just seems to be that he focuses in which is 3.3% of his throughout his
career regular season the playoffs it always jumps five or six percent I know it's sad I'm going
to sound like I'm like I'm going to coltar something here the way I talk about Yokech but you watch
him for long enough and you go his regular season really is 40% less focused 40% Sloppy or whatever
and then you get to the post season and all of those things just dial up it's happened year over
year over year for him and I really I think you're right I attribute it to Yokech a lot he focuses
in on the playoffs he gets significantly more intense and he makes significantly fewer mistakes
you live and breathe this team every day what's the what are a couple of the most interesting
either rotation or schematic questions to you that you're going to be watching for well one of the
things Michael Malone always does that people probably don't realize is he plays the starting lineup
more than anybody else in the NBA game most teams blend their lineups a lot more and play their
their five together fewer minutes then there doesn't do that and as a result the on-off numbers people
talk about is Denver stat padding Yokech is on off because the bench is always so bad in part yes
I don't think they're doing it to stat pad him it's just the way they like to build the rotation
but this year with so many unknowns namely Peyton Watson and Zeke Najee and then if you just look
at their top nine guys the the number six through nine you're going to go Christian Brown Reggie Jackson
Peyton Watson Zeke Najee I don't know if that lineup works and it probably doesn't so does Denver
have to in Michael Malone have to completely change one of his core principles of this team
and start staggering multiple players which we know will work as we see it in the playoffs
do you need to do that to make more coherent lineups players like Peyton Watson and Christian Brown
both fit really well with Yokech but if you do the rotations you used to do those guys probably
won't play a lot of minutes with Yokech so that's one of the things is is there a characteristic
trait of Michael Malone that he's going to have to change this year I think the backup big spots
linked to that are very interesting because you know Aaron Gordon when he went out of the game
Jeff Green was the backup for to spare Michael Porter Jr that kind of responsibility Jeff Green's gone
there is no sort of clean in-house proven answer I think Watson can slide to the four I know the team
thinks Tyson the kid they drafted can slide to the four we'll see how much the rookies play I think
we could see like a little Christian Brown super small ball at the four I don't know how that would
actually work um can we see Zeke Naji at the four playing alongside Yokech and even alongside DJ
or is he going to be a strict backup five I've always had a saucepot for Zeke Naji it's kind of like
now or never for the Zeke Naji Denver Nuggets experience I think Michael Malone just loves his
best punch to play as many minutes as possible to Aaron Gordon next to Yokech at the four is
your best punch by a lot so I just wonder how how much Malone would go to that even though I think
look I think everybody plays with Yokech well so Zeke Naji would be no different on that he shoots
the three he defends really well the one thing I'll say about Zeke Naji though is that
his best trait in my opinion is that he can switch and he allows your defense to play switch so if
you played him with Yokech well you don't want to switch Yokech so that takes away his best defensive
quality and that's one reason that I think he's probably more an opposite Yokech player he's
going to be a backup five he walks in as a backup five you think I guess kind of what I'm really
asking you for in all of these questions is there's a sense that the nuggets at least at the top
of the rotation are more or less a finished product and the guy that's maybe most interesting on
their team to me is Michael Porter Jr he just turned 25 years old he's obviously missed a ton of
time in the NBA so in NBA years he's even younger than that or less experienced than that
you and I have talked about his his defense I think was improving under the radar for a long time
reaching a point of at least off the ball decent on the ball it can get a little dicey at times
and his rim protection his size his rebound and that's a real that's a real thing in the playoffs
and toward the end of last season we saw a little more off the dribble stuff he's never been a
back down guy because he can't bend over enough to do it but but using his size in more creative
ways making the next play pump go drive pass and even just we saw in the finals like kind of grinding
through a shooting slump and still finding ways to impact the game what he is there another like
if there is another level for him on this team alongside the two guys we know we're going to run
the show offensively what is that what does that look like yeah it's such a great question because
I think Michael Porter is more talented offensively than the role he accepts for the nuggets
and and has been but at the same time Denver doesn't need it and I just every year I go through and
work with my buddy half half court hoops and put together the nuggets playbook we try to break
down every play that they run and you go through it and you see he really is almost in the identical
role as kcp on offense which is to say he's just a spacer Denver doesn't use him in a lot of dynamic
ways they don't run a lot of plays that even get him on the elbow they don't get him a lot of touches
even just to kind of face up it's really he's the option to space the floor of the defense
collapses and I always wonder should Denver try to incorporate him more into the offense when you
watch the playoffs it's so clearly wasn't needed that they needed another body that they needed
another option offensively they had enough through the Marie Yokech and to us lesser extent Aaron
Gordon two man and three man games that I they didn't need to work him in and this year I would
love to see it I imagine if you're Michael Porter you would love to see it um last year he was
coming back from injury and as you mentioned he got more athletic as the year went on so I think
it was easier for him to accept a role because it was a recovery year for him but this year
presumably coming in fully healthy I imagine he would want that and I imagine Denver can work
him into more on ball touches then their their offensive playbook to him a little bit more the thing is
it's just not needed so that would almost be a token thing to do not necessarily a thing that
makes your team better I don't think it makes him worse it's it's that but that's the interesting
dynamic for Denver well and just how does it it's not needed until one of Murray and Yokech is on
the bench and he historically has not played a gigantic role in those in those minutes where you
know as you mentioned in the regular season Michael Malone just rarely staggers the two guys in the
playoffs he will that's when that's when the question of like can he play the four becomes relevant
because it it's harder for like I can picture him screening for Yokech and it's like the way Aaron
Gordon doesn't inadvertent pick and roll and flaring out for threes and causing all sorts of
problems that's hard to do when Aaron Gordon's in the dunker spot and you can't roll to the basket it's
hard to do so I defensively that I don't I don't know how viable that is but those I think he's the
most interesting part of their team this year so one of the things that I'm curious about with Michael
Porter is he missed an entire season he's played three seasons now he didn't have a college basketball
experience and Denver plays not a super complex offense but the ability to read the court is really
important in their offense their ability to read the floor and if you watch them again as I assemble
their playbook and look at different things throughout the course of the year they just keep adding
wrinkles they start with the base and then they start doing counters then guys be able to read a
little bit better here's what you do Murray and Yokech's chemistry is off the charts are Yokech and
Aaron it's not even off the charts there's just no chart the chart has been burned and thrown in a
fire there's no chart I think Aaron Gordon and Yokech are not far behind on a lesser role but they
still read each other so well and Michael Porter the more you dig into it when they do put him in the
air and Gordon spots he just has less experience and reads it a little bit less it's less dynamic than
it is with Aaron Gordon because of the reads and I don't know how much of that is well now he has
another season under his belt is he ready to read the court a little bit more and maybe that's
part of what's held Denver back from really opening up the playbook to him I kind of suspect that
the answer is yes that and that this year he should be starting from a higher baseline so they
can give him more but that's that's one of the questions that I would have in terms of opening
Michael Porter's role but I will disagree though with your premise in one way the more I actually
think the most interesting thing about Denver this year is not Michael Porter which in theory he has
a higher ceiling to kind of grab for me it's Mike it's Jamal Murray and I think the story of the
nuggets this year is going to be the story of Jamal Murray I think this is a as much as he has
been and I think proven himself in the playoffs I think there's this question of how good is he
actually and how good can he be over 82 games and I think he is approach will approach this season
trying to answer that question well I said during the finals in one of our post game podcasts with
windy I'm guaranteeing it now he's making the all-star team like I don't he usually gets off to
this like why is Jamal Murray shooting 35% a month into the season oh he's not even in the all-star
conversation he's averaging 16.2 points a game I almost don't even care if he's averaging 16 points
a game I think the coaches are gonna be like I just saw that guy in the playoffs make every god damn
big shot every momentum stopping shot every single the crowd in Miami is on its feet and maybe
they're gonna steal no Jamal Murray hit a dagger every time we see what he does with Yochich I think
he's making an all-star team but you're right that's like that's a really great point because he's
never even been in like the all-nba conversation like we never get to the end of the season it's like
oh one of my last cuts is Jamal Murray and you know he's that good the question like and I assume
he wants to be in that conversation well there's a lot of money to be made if he does that conversation
so yes but even the way you're phrasing this Zach and it's completely understandable but it's
even if he averages 16 a game you know this or that but my point is I think this is the year where
he will try to prove to people that he is more than that that he is a 25 point per game score
or what have you I'm not saying he's shooting for a specific number but I do think this is the
year where he tries to fully answer just how good he is and where he belongs in the conversation
here and I've always not always said for the last really year and a half I've said that Yochich and
Murray to me can be this era's version of Kobe and Shaq and that's a lot of respect and a lot of
potential to see in Jamal that I actually think first of all stylistically not in terms of
caliber Lakers fans don't get mad at me when I say this but stylistically he reminds me more
of Kobe than a Steph he he's in a phenomenal footwork player he has a back to the basket game
he has he uses his size well he's not particularly explosive and he's not like a pull up off the
dribble three point shooter like a a tray or a game or a guy that does that at volume he's just
very crafty has phenomenal footwork and he's to a spots and the kind of muscles guys and I think
that this year him kind of proving himself as a guy that can be that type of offensive engine
alongside Yochich and being an all star and being a guy that you look at and say is he one of the
three or four best guards in the NBA I think this is the year where he reaches for that and I think
he probably achieves it well in the playoffs he's been that guy I mean that's the weird thing he's
like no one doubts that he's that good you know by the way who who would be happiest of everyone
in the world if everything you're saying came to fruition is Yochich Yochich is like dude you
want to average 25 in a regular season you want to reach another level I am so happy to throw
like eight more fancy passes to you every game and let you cook for 82 I think this is actually
for a defending champion that feels proven and set in stone I think given the young guys who
are going to be elevated and what you said about Murray what I said about Porter I think this is
going to be a kind of a fun regular season team not necessarily like going all out to win 60 games
or anything just like yeah there's some mysteries to solve but I will ask you like how much do you
think they care about home court advantage I think it matters I think it matters a lot if you
look at him last year they wanted to win the West once that it number one overall seed was within
reach in early March and they punted on it I think they look at seeding in the Western conference
and say yeah we want home games we want as many as we can get in a playoffs series and you look at
how good they were in the playoffs at home last year I think they only lost game two against Miami
that was the only one they're very good at home and very good in the playoffs and I think getting
a top two seed is probably going to be their their goal you know going into the play into the regular
season because of your platform here I always want to bring up things that I find really interesting
about yoke that dispel some of the common myths and I want to share a story I shared this on
Twitter the other day but there's a head coach for a team in Europe called partisan gelco abroad of
it she's the Phil Jackson of Europe winning his coach in your league history and he shared a story
about how yoke itch last year surprised him by telling him that he watched his basketball seminar
on YouTube that this basketball coaching clinic that's hours long yoke it's apparently watched it
and had some notes and then he come to find out later in the season he reached out with some
notes on their team and some things that they should be doing differently and the coach understood
the message and implemented these changes immediately and also he says that yoke itch learned
some things from partisan that he brought to Denver and implemented to the nuggets the narrative on
yoke itch is that he's a guy that doesn't like basketball or maybe you know it's it's just a job
to him he does this or that but yoke itch is a really unique personality and a guy that watches
basketball seminars hour long basketball seminars on YouTube and then scouts yearly basketball
basketball with strategic advice in mind that's a guy that I think it gives a little bit of insight
into who he is and how he thinks and cares about the game that he plays down and I think I think
it's a little bit overlooked the guy's obsessed about basketball obsessed is not a word that I've
heard you know you're right you wouldn't hear that about him because and he plays into it too right
like he plays the parade oh god the parade I want to go back to Serbia and but you you don't
read the game at that level a like historic level without really thinking about it and envisioning
it and having it run through your brain is there anything we've missed whether it's cap situation
rotation questions players you want to hit is there anything is there anything big story mini
story we missed and one of these same lines the only thing I would say is yoke itch we saw him
coaching a lot on the sidelines last year in the playoffs not necessarily in the regular season but
in the playoffs a lot of grabbing the whiteboard drawing up plays Michael Malone talked about it a lot
his voice really picked up in the playoffs Aaron Gordon goes out to Serbia this summer and spends a
week with yoke itch in sambor which I just love by the way I think this is one of the sneaky
evolutions of yoke itch over the last few years that has gone a little bit under the radar is that
he's always been the quiet coaches the coach I'm just a player whatever says goes I think he's stepped
into that part of it's my responsibility to sort of bring the team along and give strategic advice
and kind of walk guys through and when you talk about Porter one interesting thing that could happen
this year is Porter has if he wants to make the next step it's really a mental step about okay how
do I start to read these things and yoke itch I'm very curious to see how he approaches him because I
think Aaron Gordon Jamal Murray he's really helped those guys develop chemistry if he focuses in on
the young guys you're mentioning the Christian Brown this or that but also the Michael Porter's
I just see little signs of him becoming more and more not just comfortable but eager to do those
things and that's something that to me would probably take the team to a whole other level
well Adam doesn't feel like championship or bust because you can't it's there's just no
bust for the Denver Nuggets everything everything is so feel good and so happy but the Nuggets have
reached a point where I mean not winning the championship depending on context and people get
injured and all that but I mean that's that's the goal every year now like losing in the finals
would be a disappointment if if everyone's healthy right I mean that's kind of remarkable
I think the Nuggets view yoke itch is the caliber player that you should say championship or bust I
think that the organization feels hey we have a guy that if we do our parts right we should have an
open window you know for the next several years this is one of them and you don't want to let those
opportunities pass you up so you're right there's no like I think the the getting over the hump was
you know you you almost have house money in a certain way but I think Denver looks at their
window and says the next four years we should win every year or we should have a chance to win
every year and we don't want to let any of these passes by Adam Morris you know this team better
than anyone it has been a joy to watch mostly from afar but briefly up close in Denver maybe again
this year what you have helped build in DNVR it's just and now it's spreading to more and more
cities it's just a phenomenal story and I know it's just all hard work that's all it is it's
work work work but you have a bar you have I mean I've got shirts from DNVR you've got a
payroll it's it's incredible and it's all based on the commitment to the work and understanding
the team and what makes it tick thank you for giving us a little bit of time and perspective
on the pod and I'll see you soon thanks so much Zach