Locked on Lakers

On today’s show, we talk about how much LaVar Ball gets covered and whether it’s too much. Anthony thinks it is, but Harrison (our cheif LaVar correspondent) disagrees.

One of the cooler aspects of professional sports is the relationship between current and former players. Great players learn from those who’ve accomplished greatness before them. Lonzo Ball is continuing that tradition. He reportedly worked out with Steve Nash and Kevin Durant, two guys who’ve done some pretty good things in their time playing in the NBA. Harrison and I started by wondering what Lonzo could learn from Durant and Nash, then steered the conversation in the direction of other players in NBA history Ball could learn from. Harrison took that opportunity to absolutely demolish a former NBA champion, but you’ll have to listen to find out who. Lastly, Harrison provided the details behind him saving the entire Lakers organization from sure disaster. Lil’ B was involved. I got to find out who Lil’ B is!

With all the talk of LeBron James potentially taking his talents to Venice Beach, a conversation between both sides of the rumors should probably take place. This podcast was meant to happen a while back, but then the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics decided a wild summer that already featured Paul George, Gordon Hayward and Jimmy Butler finding new homes just wasn’t crazy enough. So, Chris Manning, EIC of Fear The Sword and I got together to talk about everything going into what promises to be a season filled with speculation, with the vast majority of the conversations focused on the Lakers and Cavs. We get into the similarities between where Cleveland was before LeBron went back and where the Lakers currently sit, how much pressure is on Lonzo Ball to be great early, and plenty more.

It's been a while since we answered your questions, so Anthony fixes that. Topics covered: Tampering, which numbers LeBron James and/or Paul George will wear and who on this team has the most to prove this season?

The Los Angeles Lakers were slapped on the wrist for tampering with Paul George Thursday, but they will still be allowed to sign him in free agency next summer should he decide to come home to Southern California. That’s great news for the Lakers, whose plan has always appeared to be signing George and another max free agent like LeBron James in 2018. To do so, the team will have to do a bit of salary cap gymnastics, so host Harrison Faigen ditched co-host Anthony Irwin to bring Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report on the podcast to discuss what types of moves the Lakers would have to make in order to free up enough space to offer two max contracts. Plus, they played everyone’s new favorite game: “Is This Tampering?”

The Los Angeles Lakers being as popular as they are typically means one fairly consistent thing for those who play fantasy basketball: Their players get drafted much higher than they probably should be. In mock drafts across the world thus far, that theme is holding just as true as ever, with Lakers going a good round or two higher than they should be. Even with that said, though, is there anyone on the roster worth the risk? To answer that and plenty of other fantasy-related questions, we recorded a crossover pod with Josh Lloyd of “Locked on Fantasy Basketball,” just as we did before the season a year ago. We went through new additions to the team, looked back on the impact some of those who are gone might have had and also ask some team-wide questions, seeing as the win total projections from Las Vegas are out. But before we got to that, we discussed the latest about Lamar Odom during a brief intro. All that and more on the latest episode of Locked on Lakers.

LeBron James’ next destination remains at the center of just about any discussion about the NBA and you’ll never guess where the latest rumors have him landing. Ric Bucher reported that many executives across the league believe he’s already somehow made up his mind and will eventually play for the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s a prediction that makes almost as much sense as Jim Gray thinking Paul George has done the exact same thing and was ready to announce the big news on live television before quite possibly the biggest fight of the last 50 years. Spoiler Alert: He did not announce his free agency decision a full year in advance on live television before quite possibly the biggest fight of the last 50 years. After the guys talk about those two things, they get into player comps, building off the logic that Kevin Durant used. Basically, people should use a little more thought than which NBA star a prospect looks like as the basis for analysis.

NBA 2K18 is going to feature every NBA team’s all-time best rosters and, well, what better time to brag about the charmed lives most have lived with as Los Angeles Lakers fans? So, to start the conversation, Harrison and I go over the current roster and what changes we might make to it. Then, as is customary, anytime we can poke fun at how bad Harrison is at drafting teams, I take that opportunity, this time by drafting a Lakers all-time starting five and a first guy off the bench. As per usual, I won. (but let us know in the comments) Finally, we wrap the conversation by working together to compile a roster of eight non hall-of-fame Lakers to go against some franchises’ all-time teams. You’d be surprised at how many teams this squad would either beat outright or at have an argument against.

The Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in the middle of controversy after the Indiana Pacers reacted like a bunch of spoiled brats about losing the best player in their lame franchise’s history filed tampering charges against them regarding potential conversations about Paul George. To react to this bit of news, Anthony welcomed... Holy crap Harrison is back! The guys start by offering what context they can at this early stage to the story. Then, they tried to envision what Magic Johnson’s tampering might look like and how that might differ from Rob Pelinka’s tampering. That was fun. From there, Harrison offered information on what the fallout might look like and how likely each punishment might be. We also hear from fake Mitch Kupchak on how he reacted to the news after being criticized for being a boy scout compared to others across the league. Let’s just say he was excited. Very excited.

Well hello there, August content! The Los Angeles Lakers are still filling out their training camp roster and while additions to personnel are still interesting, frankly, it’s kind of hard to talk about that for 20 minutes. So, to offer other potential topics of conversation, I welcomed Kirk Henderson of Mavs Moneyball to talk about the relationship on the court between Lonzo Ball and Dennis Smith, Jr. They are basically the opposite of each other on in terms of playing style, which typically leads to a fun rivalry of sorts as they develop. Before that, Kirk and I share some concerns about Ball’s feet, and whether it’s smart to ignore the technology that goes into today’s basketball shoes and try this experiment of playing in shoes that don’t have that same backing. Lastly, we give our thoughts on the discounts Dirk has given the Mavs compared to Kobe not giving such a discount. Should athletes help out their billionaire owners?

NBA Twitter in the middle of August can be a dark, desolate (and at times angry) place. Very rarely will discussions end with the acknowledgement that truth typically lies somewhere in the middle, and with guys as polarizing as Lonzo Ball and Kobe Bryant, this trend gets taken to the furthest extremes. To talk about this and plenty of other stuff, we welcomed BBall Breakdown’s James Holas (@SnottieDrippen). The conversation began with Lonzo and the reception he’s gotten both from Lakers fans and from other fan bases. How much of the distaste has to do with him being a Laker? How large effect does LaVar Ball have on his son’s reputation? Oh, and how about his actual basketball game? Then, the discussion widened a bit to talk about analysis of basketball, itself. Why has the analytical discussion become almost a religious war? At what point do people realize they need each other’s context to fully formulate their opinion? Finally, after we yelled at each other about the Lakers and Celtics a bit and then tackled how Kobe is looked at as the game has evolved without him being a part of it any longer. Really fun show as we continue to make our way through the long NBA offseason.

It’s no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of centers and power forwards who are going to want minutes this season. Between Julius Randle, Larry Nance, Jr., Brook Lopez, Luol Deng, Kyle Kuzma, Thomas Bryant and Ivica Zubac, Lakers head coach Luke Walton is going to have quite the minutes distribution dilemma on his hands. After discussing the reports that the Lakers were looking to add a director of player development, hosts Harrison Faigen and Anthony Irwin dove into the jam-packed frontcourt situation in Los Angeles. The two debated how many minutes each player should get, who should and will be out of the rotation, and if the Lakers should or will trade any of their big men during the season on the latest episode of Locked on Lakers. Also, the ending featured Anthony’s reaction to Nick Van Exel making a prediction about a game of one-on-one between the two of them, so stick around for the final minutes.

It’s nearly impossible to predict how many games a team will win in a given year, but it didn’t stop ESPN from trying. The sports network released its annual projections for how many games each NBA team will win, so hosts Harrison Faigen and Anthony Irwin debated whether or not ESPN’s estimate was too high or too low. After that, Harrison and Anthony were joined by Ben Epstein of the Limited Upside Podcast and Zito Madu of SB Nation to discuss their thoughts on what Lakers stuff they’re most excited to watch this year, who will be the team’s leading scorer, which jersey they would buy and who they would want on their all-time Lakers banana boat. All that and much more on the latest episode of Locked on Lakers.

The Los Angeles Lakers are finally, officially in offseason mode, having essentially pieced together what will probably be their roster come opening night. As such, this offers a great opportunity to look back on what got them to this point and look forward on what might be coming. To do so, we welcomed Mark Medina of the Southern California News Group (and even let Harrison take part in the interview.) The conversation started with the relative success in this offseason compared to years past. The front office didn’t sign Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov to deals this year, so that right there is a great start. Lonzo Ball was almost inarguably this summer’s biggest addition not named “cap space,” so we looked back on the events that got him to Los Angeles. Finally, it’s impossible to talk about Lakers personnel without looking ahead to LeBron James (and maybe another superstar) eventually wearing purple and gold, so we tried to figure out how likely that might be:

With rookies in the NBA, few things matter more than situation. Some are talented enough to overcome just about anything, but for the vast majority of players entering the league, surroundings can be the difference between reaching one’s ceiling and falling short. The Los Angeles Lakers seem ready to provide the right situation for Lonzo Ball, having potentially learned from the mistakes they made with D’Angelo Russell before sending him to Brooklyn. With Harrison out of town, Anthony welcomed Adam Mares of Denver Stiffs and Locked on Nuggets to talk about not just Lonzo’s game, but how situation mattered for players as talented as even Ball and the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic. The guys also cover the direction the Lakers are heading in under Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka’s leadership and why if it works out, Laker fans are never allowed to throw pity parties.