Who’s Cookin Who?

Cookout Metaphors And The Setup

Houston's offense running on some Chopped and Cruise stuff in the second half, and Fred Van Vliet in the cast of characters in the Rockets are trying to get it together so they don't relive what they had last year. And then there's an alien who fixed himself a plate, threw up the deuces, and dipped 40 coins in 25 minutes. We'll explain. Cooper Flag ate a sandwich on the bench and then went back out and cooked for 43. And Uncle Jimmy took over the grill in Golden State while Miami said quiet part out loud. And then there's a kid in Sacramento who's serving up main character energy. Luca in Austin are handling the grill while all the rest of the characters in La La are handling the side dishes carrying the cookout. What does all this mean? Well, first of all, one thing we know for sure, this podcast is gonna be cooking and we got a lot to get to, so we need to go ahead and get this started. So let's go. What's good everybody? Welcome to Front Runner Podcast Collective, where we talk as friends, we argue like cousins, and we still walk out smarter than we came in. I am your host, Vince, your occasional coop therapist, your absolute favorite bad influence when it comes to completely reckless NBA overreactions that low-key make perfect sense. We are sitting here setting the table for sure, because there was a bunch of people cooking in this last week. We're going to give you our observations, grown conversations about players, coaches, what the front offices are doing, and who's writing those blank checks, and who's cooking up rumors in the locker room. We're going to bring the jokes, the advanced math, and the exact barbershop ammo that you need to take straight into your group chats and completely nuke the argument. If you're an NBA sicko like me, who are enjoying watching those Orlando Brooklyn games, you will come to the right place. You are here. If you want contacts with your numbers and a point of view, this is the spot for you. This is FRPC. Let's go.

Rockets Late Game Offense Breakdown

So what we need you to do right now is pull up a chair, get your favorite drink, because we are headed to Houston. Here's the thing that we need to get out of the way right now. Uh, one of the things that we found out last year is that Fred Van Vliet meant a lot to the Houston Rockets, so much so that they could not really run half court offense in the second half of the year. Now, mind you, they have one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history. His name is Kevin Durant, and if he can't get you a good shot, there is not a good shot to be had. The Rockets last season severely compromised in the half court offense and in second halves primarily. Now, when opposing teams stepped up the pressure on their guards and Kevin Durant, again, one of the best offensive creators that this world has ever seen, it is truly difficult to stop a damn near seven-footer with guard skills in a devastating mid-range game. But the defenses were forced last-second shots. So we're talking about grenade shots up there, and even someone who is as great as Kevin Durant can't generate a quality shot when it comes to those type of situations. So now happening, it's happening again. Fred Van Bleet is back to stabilize the offense. Now, let's give you some context. Van Bleet is 32 years old. He's coming off a torn ACL. He was out for a whole year last year, and it's a lot to ask for Van Bleet to fix all of what L's the Rockets in their half-court offense and stabilize the offense as we thought he could. He is cleaned up a lot, but he has not cleaned up everything. And even though the Rockets off to a good start this year, we see in certain games when the pressure point is applied, that team kind of reverts back to what we saw last year. It's a little concerning to me. Let's talk a little bit more about it. There was a tremendous article in the Athletic by William Gillary. Um I would suggest that anybody go and uh look at that. Now the Rockets lost to the Phoenix Suns a couple nights ago on uh November 8th, and it basically had them in a situation 102.99, and they didn't they didn't do anything last five minutes of that game. Not one thing. Booker scored nine straight points for the rock for the Phoenix Suns in the last five minutes, and the Houston Rockets went one of six from the field with a with a turnover. Gillary says that the ball movement wasn't concise and some of the shot selection decisions were questionable. Kevin Durant was four of thirteen in those minutes this season and has not recorded an assist while Fred Van Vliet was four of seven. Nobody else has taken it taking more than three shots. Alper and Shangun, who usually is a cog to the offense, is only two in three or three in those type of crunch time situations. Durant told Gillary that late game execution is the most important thing, and that it's good to get these reps early in the season. Van Vliet pointed out to the other end of the floor, we need to get some stops, man. Last season the Houston Rockets tied the Dallas Mavericks for the most clutch games in the league with 45, and they went an astounding 22 and 23 in games that were considered crunch time games. Now, against teams that are 500 or better, they were 12-16. The four West teams that reached the second round went 89 and 44 in those same type of environments. Gillary lists the reasons for last year's, including Van Bleed's absence, which we have just discussed, and Durant's first season. Said those are now excuses that are gone. Now I will tell you this. You can tell me that right now that I am farming for clicks. You can tell me right now that Vince, this is watered under the bridge, people have gotten over this and all of that. but I will tell you the rockets have been significantly different ever since those those DMs from Kevin Durant's burner Showed up right after the All-Star Break. Now, you can say that time heals all wounds, you can tell me that Van Blee is such a veteran that these things don't matter anymore. You can tell me a lot of things. You can tell me that I mean Doca has got his full roster and his full array of players out there doing big things. You can tell me all of that. The one thing that you can't tell me is Cohesion. The other thing that you can't tell me is that these dudes really play for one another. Cause as we see, and if if you look at the shot uh distribution in those crunch time uh areas, Kevin Durant is four of thirteen, Van Vliet is four of seven, and Alcrum Shingoon is two of three, and no one else is taking more than three shots. Now, granted, that's why they paid Kevin Durant the big dollars, that is why they were hoping to get Van Vliet back off this ACL. But I'm trying to tell you that this team has to do some soul searching, and we gotta start trusting the other guys on this team. I do not know for the life of me why they do not run crunch time offense through Alper and Shangun. Because the one thing that Alper and Shangoon can get you is a good shot. Whether he's taking it or somebody else on that team is taking it, when he's at the nail and he's basically running the offense from being a hub, they get good offensive flow, they get good cuts. People cut harder because they think they're getting the ball. Check Tari Eason, check Jabari uh Smith Jr. in the earlier parts of the game. Now you can tell me, hey, in crunch time, these young guys are going to kind of turtle and it's going to be a shit show. You can tell me that. But how are they ever gonna learn if they don't ever get the ball? Evidence with 210 left to go, and about 120 of you, the exact figures that we need to get to is this they're 26 in pace, 26. Now, if you think about who's on that roster, Alcran Shengoon is on that roster, you got Tari Eason, you got Jabari Smith, you got a lot of people on that roster who would like to get out and run, cut, move, you know, without the basketball and things of that nature. But when you have Kevin Durant and you have Fred Van Vliet, you know what they're gonna want to do in the half court offense, they are going to want to kind of stabilize, shrink the game a little bit. They want to be able to take a couple pictures mentally before they start their move, calculate their situation. Durant takes about eight free throws a game, roughly six for every 10 shots that he takes on the floor. He's about 65% in true shooting, so that tells you all you need to know. He's still generating good looks. Now, Van Vliet in eight games, he's averaging 13 points, six assists in 30 minutes. He is he turns it over about 10% of the time of his possessions, and he takes nearly eight threes a game. That's what you want in the modern era. He's shooting at a 36% uh level, but he's hitting 40% overall, so he's doing what he needs to do.

Who Should Close For Houston

Shingoon, on the other hand, has the ball a lot too. His usage rate is about 26, his assist rate is 30 is 36. Now his turnover rate is about 15 at this point in time. Between him and Durant, they account for a little over a third of the team's turnovers. My mouth projects that per game numbers will tell you that will get you a lot of L's. Now, they are very talented. Amen Thompson is still struggling with the three ball. Uh he's he's making he's shooting 22%. Tari Eason is still at 25%. Now, Jaguari Smith Jr. is shooting is at 46% at about six attempts a game. Now, do I expect Jaguar Smith Jr. to continue his hot shooting um from three? Probably not. But the thing that you want to know what you what you want to do is you want to continue to feed that confidence. You're gonna need this kid in the playoffs. It's not about whether the Rockets are going to be a playoff team. They're stamped, they're certified. In my book, this is a really good team. It's in the margins that I have my my concerns. And when you look at the margins and you look at what is going on right now, and you have people like Reed Shepard, whose true shooting percentage is only uh 50.9% over seven games. We don't know what we don't know, and until we get a better sample size or we get um more trust in the guys that are in an eight to nine man rotation, we're gonna continue to look at this team and go, This team is very talented, we expect a lot of them, and you have Kevin Durant, so therefore we expect you to win, and then we're gonna be terribly disappointed towards the end of this. We've talked about Van Vliet's injury, but the thing that we are going to talk about is that he's the best creator by assist rate, and that's Shangun. Now, Van Vliet is their whatever you want to call him, their emotional leader, their stabilizer. But as far as best creator, as far as assist rate is concerned, that's Alcra and Shangoon. Which then brings me to the point: why is Alcra and Shangoon only taking three shots in crutch time um situations at this point? Sometimes so you gotta ask the question. And then here's the other thing. Is it fair to think that a 32-year-old coin guard who's basically six foot nothing, who just came off a torn ACL, sat out for a whole entire year, expected to just could just bounce back and run the offense at this such an efficient manner. I don't know. Marcus Smart was brought in for veteran leadership. He left LA to come over and give you toughness and give you kind of a backup point guard type situation. Um right now, he is sitting there playing seven games, his defensive box plus minus is a positive 1.1, so he's doing his thing. His turnover rate, however, is 19.2%. Now I'm gonna tell you right now, Marcus Smart is a lot of things. If you're asking him to be the best decision maker when it comes to being a point guard or a league guard, that's not his forte. His forte is shooting standalone three-point shots, get getting in there and doing like the the gritty work, you know, diving in for rebounds that he has no business getting at six foot three, stealing the ball, and initiating the break from there, hitting a timely three once the ball has been swung well two or three times. That's what Marcus Smart is about. Now leading your second unit, hopefully you're leaving one of the stabilizing influences on your offense in with him. That which should be like a Shingoon time or even a KD time, where you know that if for some reason you get yourself caught up, you can always give it to Kevin Kevin Durant, he can get you into some good offense and get off a pretty good shot. Now, the guys that are in question, I mean Thompson and Reed Shepard right now, the it's kind of like the polar opposite, correct? You want Reed Shepard to shoot threes, but his defense is terrible. Amin Thompson is one of the most gifted defenders that we've ever seen, and one of the most athletic dudes we've ever seen. But he couldn't hit the ocean with a P at this point, and then Shangun, who's 24, is the guy who should have the ball, but for some reason E Man Delka won't give it to him. So I'm at a loss at this point about what the Rockets should be doing. Houston's margins, margin of plus nine points per game is about seven, is about seven and a half wins in ten games. Okay, so they're right now looking at a situation where they're plus nine when it called talks about point differential, they're gonna need all that cushion because their half court offense in the second half, if the game is close, teams can pressure them into bad shots. That is not great. And I think it will come back and bite them at some point in this season. If you believe not, if you believe that I'm just yelling at the sky, yelling at clout, I understand that. If you're a Houston Rockets fan, I definitely understand that you probably don't want to hear these things. But we didn't think they were gonna lose to a Lucas Lucas Lakers team last year in the playoffs, right? I didn't have it on my bingo card, and I'm a Lakers fan. We're gonna get to a segment that I am excited

Wembanyama’s 40 In 25 Minutes

about. We call it off the bounce, and what we're gonna do is we're gonna shoot about eight stories at you, quick fire type situations, but it gives us a taste of what's going on around the league, and you know where we need to start. We start at the the most viral dude on the face of the planet right now, Victor Wambayama. Monday night in Phoenix, it's the same old Victor doing the same old things when we scored 40 points, had 11 rebounds in nine blocks, but check the check the stat line, baby. He did it in 25 minutes. That's efficient as shit. Okay? 40 points, 11 rebounds, 9 blocks in 25 minutes. Now I'm gonna go chill. I'm gonna go take a nap. I'm gonna do what I need to do. He shot 15 of 19. He had 22 at the half, and then he sat most of the fourth quarter. Here's a number. ESPN says that he's the second player since they started tracking minutes in 1951 and 1952 to score 40 points in under 26 minutes. The other one is Sleeky Floyd. Anyone remember Sleeky Floyd from Golden State? Go go check the YouTubes. Sleepy Floyd was a bad boy. He scored 40 points in 24 minutes back in 1991. Now, Booker, Devin Booker had this to say. He said it's something like we've never seen before. The Suns coach Jordan Ott said this. He says he does this from all three levels right now. That's the scary part. That's the scary part right there. And Wingby himself said he should keep the physically amazing things for the amazingly difficult situations. It's not the day-to-day. Read that again. He's telling you that this is the easy version. This kid is going. This kid is amazing. It wasn't only him, Dylan Harper, who we absolutely love, and we always advocate that he should have the ball in his hands mostly, have 14 points in the third quarter. After Mitch Johnson called a timeout to get him going. Devin Vassell was out with a tight left abductor. And this is nine straight wins for the San Antonio Spurs. So guess what? They're back again. They're nine and two. And they are just rolling right now. Now, here's the best part about the Wimby thing. Last Wednesday, he scored 52 points and had 24 rebounds against the Dallas Mavericks. He's just doing what he needs to be doing.

Cooper Flagg’s PBJ And 43

When we shot out the fourth quarter of this game against the Suns, but Cooper Flagg, he was eating a sandwich. And you want to know why, right? I got you. So in Sunday's game, the Mavericks was just kicking ass. They scored 130 points and beat the woeful Brooklyn Nets. And our guy Cooper Flag had 25 points by rebounds and a career high 12 assists. Early in the fourth quarter, he's on the bench in warm-ups, and a camera catches him eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich out of a little plastic bag. And it was the second game in a row. He did it on Friday against Utah as well. His answer is he's trying to gain weight and muscle. So those are the requirements. I gotta meet smooth peanut butter grape jelly for my man Cooper Flag. Now Daniel Gafford chimed in with uh sitting next to him and said that he gets the honey version, but not the banana alone. Then Monday, our boy Cooper Flag had himself a game. He beat the Pacers 125 to 122. He had 43 points, he had 10 rebounds, he had six assists, three steals, and he was as efficient as he's needed to be. He was 16 of 25 from the field. That's his fifth 40-point game. He and Kevin Durant are the only teenagers in NBA history to have 40 and 10 uh 40-point games. Cooper Flag is now averaging 25.9 points a game. He's grabbing nearly seven rebounds a game at 6.9, 6.9 assists, and two steals. The only other player averaging that in all four is Luka Doncic. Hmm. Very interesting. The Luca replacement is one that's chasing Luca with those type of numbers. The Mavs are 7-4. Dusty May, who came over from the national championship winning Michigan Wolverine, says this. It's unbelievable that he's 19 years of age and doing this. Nagy Marshall says that he breaks the standard for what we what he thought Flagg would be every day. And Flag had 12 assists on Sunday. The Warriors had 37 as a team on Monday.

Warriors Ball Movement And A Blowout

This Warrior situation is getting out of control. I don't know what's going on up in San Francisco, but they absolutely destroyed the New Orleans Pelicans. 138 to 87. Folks, do the math. That's 51 points that they beat the Pelicans by. It's the biggest margin of any team this season. The Warriors, fourth biggest ever, and the worst loss in Pelicans history. It's 8 straight after a zero a 0-3 start. They're 8-3 right now. And the second longest streak after 0-3 or worse to start the season in NBA history. The Mavericks of 2006 and 2007 won 12 in a row after starting 0-4. 37 assists. Three straight games of 30 assists or more. They're 6-0 when they do this. Brandon Kazinski had 25 himself. Our guy, he's doing it again. He's absolutely doing it again. Yaxa Lundenberg had 23. Curry had 25 in a while 20 minutes. Curry then passed DeMar DeRozan for 16th in the all-time scoring list with 26,803 points. He had 41 in an overtime win over Orlando on Saturday. And Jimmy Butler, who is hurt, who is who's rehabbing a knee, showed up dressed as a coach with a clipboard and said, Pass the Steph. That was his intake as far as being a coach. Laundrieborg said that Butler told told them that he's going to get a tech for them tonight and didn't. Shame on him. If you're going to step up for the fellas, then step up for the fellas, Jimmy. By the way, you owe all of those dudes a cup of that $50 coffee that you're trying to pass off on everybody. I hope those guys are getting the coffee for free. Don't be selling Steph no $50 cup of coffee, my dog. Now, the Warriors are 8-3. It's amazing. It's amazing that remember when they told they told us that the East was going to be stacked and that they this was the best conference. Lord and behold, the West is still the best conference, man. It's still the best conference. Everybody who is in the playoff situation, and that is including the play-in teams, are over 500. We cannot say that about the East. And speaking of the East, we need to get to this heat and Giannis situation right now. Now,

Heat Defense Woes And Giannis Trust

Doc Rivers, who is now no longer a coach in the NBA, started with some noise. He was on the Bill Simmons podcast, and this is what he had to say. He said Giannis doesn't necessarily have a super IQ. And that that had he had he has one way, downhill force. Force. And that is not easy to coach. Then he told Anscape he meant feel for the game. He texted Giannis and said he apologized. Rivers called it more of a compliment. Giannis after the Heat beat the Kings. First of all, he's not my coach. And then I'm speak I'm speechless. Fair to say that Rivers has walked it back. Now the real story. Giannis is still scoring a bunch of points. 29. Yeah, 14 in the win on Sunday. He said it plainly. Right now, we don't trust one another. And here's what it looks like in the numbers. Miami is 25th in defense. With a team of Bam Autobayo, Giannis Anti Tecumpo, Davion Mitchell, and Andrew Wiggins. This team is 25th in defense. They're 20th in offense. They've been outscored by 53 points through 10 games. They've allowed a league worse 20.5 open threes a game. And the opponent is shooting 39.4% of those threes, which is third highest in the league. They gave up 138 points and 125 points. 138 points to the Lakers and then 125 and or more in four of their last seven. Giannis ties it to the closeouts and late closeouts when guys don't feel backed up. That's an open step back three. The offense has a trust problem too. And here's the funny part. The Heat run the fewest on-ball screens in the NBA at 22.3 a game. This was a problem when Dame Lillard was in Milwaukee. Everybody was talking about that Dame Giannis pick and roll is going to be lethal. Because you got one of the most vicious guys going to the rim in Giannis Anthony Tacumpo, and you have one of the most shiftiest guards in Damian Lillard before, obviously, the Achilles injury. And it didn't, and you it never materialized in Milwaukee. And it doesn't surprise me that they have the fewest on-ball screens in the league right now. But when they do run them, they're the most efficient offense in the league. Hmm. Go figure. In their 0-4 start, they averaged 23.5 against Atlanta. Spokester called 57 and they won. Pat Riley, Dwayne Wade, Udannis Howsham has come out on the Los Angeles trip, has them talk to the team. Nobody says what he said. Spoker had to say. the league is not waiting. And here's the thing the background to all of this is Giannis came over in the June trade, and ESPN said his free agency is looming and the pressure builds this season and next. They are playing tonight against Utah. I cannot wait to see what goes on in Utah. Utah is struggling. So if there was a time to get right for the Miami Heat, is there was a time to go ahead and run some ball screens? Is there was a time to get Clay Thompson out of the starting lineup and put somebody else in? This is the time to do it. Because the great thing about the East is that nobody's running away with it. The top of the East is absolutely stacked. Like you got Philadelphia and you got Boston doing their things and what have you. But the defending champions is only 5-4. And we'll get to them a little bit later. But before we get to them, we got to get to the Lakers.

Lakers Rolling With Luka And Reaves

Sunday night at Detroit. Without Luca, the Lakers win 121 to 116. Austin Reeves, who was given a very nice contract, and everybody was skeptical of what that contract meant. Like, this is a lot of money to give Austin Reeves to be the number two. Well, we don't think, we don't know if he can be the number two. We can put all that noise to rest. Not just because he had 43 against Detroit. Here's the thing. My man is averaging 24 points a game. Luca and Austin make up the best 1-2 combo in the league. They get buckets no matter who they go up against. But when Luca was out, Austin stepped up and did his best Luca impersonation by scoring 43. Walker Kessler, who was brought over from Utah, had 12 points, 16 rebounds, three blocks. Now our guy Dennis Jenkins, now I'm going to tell you right now. Every time he sees the Lakers, it's just a great day for him. The last time he saw the Lakers, he scored 30. This time he scored 31. Both are career highs. He hit eight threes in that game. Now they held Cade. Okay, Cade only had 14. So they were asking somebody to beat them other than Cade Cunningham. And Dennis Jenkins decided that, yo, that must be, they must be talking about me. So I'm going to go ahead and try to do what I need to do. Now, they fell five, they fell five points short. The Lakers prevailed, 121 to 116. And then here's the thing. On a back-to-back, going to Atlanta, mind you. This wasn't them going to Milwaukee or them going to Chicago. They went from Detroit, Michigan to Atlanta, Georgia. Played Monday night. Now, Austin swaps out for Luca. So Austin sits down. Luca plays in the game. The Lakers said, it don't matter to us. 124 to 114. Luca scores 32, which is actually an off-night for our guy. And then here's the thing. The Lakers are 10-2. They have the best record in the league. And by the way, Luca has scored 50 points twice. He scored 52 earlier in the year, and then he had 53 on Friday. And if you missed it, he hit a 61 footer at the halftime buzzer for three of those 53. This ties back to what I said in supporting Cass segment. The Reeves going for 43, Kessler doing what he needs to do on the glass, and also providing ring protection. You're seeing all the pieces. Now, here's the thing. we're gonna talk about this a little bit later, don't worry, But Reeves is a credible number two. And what you always want from your number two is the capacity. When your number one goes down, that then he can go ahead and step up and be that number one for you. And Austin Reeves is doing all of that. So shouts out to Rob Palinka. Shouts out to Austin Reeves for earning this contract. And then shouts out for Austin Reeves showing everybody that they can shut their mouth on how his game is. Do not be disrespectful to our guy Austin Reeves. And if you want to call him the Snowtime Lakers, you want to call it the White Walkers of LA, whatever it is that you want to call us, call us also a very, very good team. Now, speaking of Los Angeles, let's talk about a guy who got his exit out of Los Angeles, shall we?

Kawhi Knee Swelling And The Reality

Kawhi Leonard. Now pinch me if you've not heard this before. But the Raptors say Kawhi Leonard will miss at least one more week with swelling in his left knee. This all started back in October 27th when he was scratched against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Test show, no acute injury, and the team put him in a treatment and rehabilitation program to address the swelling. Before that, he played in two games, scored 19 points, 19.5 points, on 32% shooting. That's a long knee history. It is the second week, which is part that we need to watch this. And now here's the thing that we need to talk about. These are the type of things that he did in Los Angeles with the Clippers. There would be, and I'm not saying he's faking it. I'm not saying anything like that. All I'm saying is that when you hear the word, there's no acute injury. Right? So what they're saying is that we don't know where the swelling's coming from. We have no idea. Could be water, could be whatever it could be. But the one thing that we do know about Kawhi Leonard is that he does not want to play unless he's 100% healthy. Unless he feels very, very good. That's the only time he really wants to play. Now, is it Shay? Yeah, you could call it that. I'm just saying that if you're paying that dude that type of money, and you know for a fact that he longs for extensions and things of that nature, and you know what the Clickers went through to keep him happy, in Los Angeles, I'm not saying Toronto is doing those things. I think they're doing everything above board at this point in time. But Kawhi is a guy that his talent is so tantalizing, and you want to be able to just extract every bit of it out of him. The problem is that he won't let you enjoy it. He will not let you enjoy it at all. So Kawhi Leonard still killing teams out here, unfortunately, still tantalizing the fan bases with incredible performances when he's when he's not hurt. But it's always a problem, it's always a situation. Now, one team who has benefited from Kawhi Leonard is the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Thunder Add Depth With Nick Clifford

Remember all the picks they got for Paul George in the Clipper trade? You know what I'm talking about, but why was Carl George needing to be a Clipper? Because Kawhi Leonard said, I'll sign if you get Paul George. Now, the Thunder has seen a bunch of injuries themselves, and Sean Sharania has reported, and they have picked up Nick Clifford from the Sacramento Kings, and the Sacramento Kings get a 2028 second-round pick via Utah and a 2030 second-round pick via Minnesota. Now, the Thunder, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, they go down from 22 second-round picks to 20 now over the next six years. Now, Neat Clifford was the 24th overall pick in last year's draft. Not this last year, but the year before, the 2025 draft. As a rookie, he played in 75 games. He showed some promise. He was 8.6 points a game. He only shot at 41, 8, 41.8%. Uh for some reason this season he has fallen out of favor out of the Kings rotations. He's played in eight games. He's only scored 1.6 points, but he's only averaging 6.2 minutes. Now, the why Oklahoma City got him, I can tell you exactly why. He is an Oklahoma City type of player. And given long-term injuries of Jalen Williams, Kasen Wallace, and Chet Hungren, here is a cheap alternative to turn to. It's a small deal. But small deals seemed to work out for Sam Presti. Now, Clifford, like I said, fell out of rotation with the Kings, but the Kings have somebody who's taking all the shots right now. Okay? So Neat Clifford wasn't going to get no shots anyway. Not with rookie Darius A. Cuff Jr. over there. The

Kings Rookie Darius Acuff Takes Over

Kings rookie point guard, Darius A. Cuff, is uh on Sunday against the Miami. He had 32 points. He had five rebounds. He had 10 assists in a 114-108 loss. On Wednesday against the Lakers, he had 22 points and 12 assists. Now, in 10 games, he's had about 26 points, 7.4 assists, and 3.8 rebounds a night in 37 minutes. Here's how fast he got here. His fifth game against the Pelicans, he scored 34 points and had 14 assists. That made him the fourth player in NBA history with 30 points and 10 assists in his first five games. The other three guys to do it are Oscar Robinson, Isaiah Thomas, and we're talking about Detroit Piston, Isaiah Thomas, and Trey Young. The Kings are were 0 5 at that point. On Monday, November 2nd, the Kings beat the Dallas Mavericks 115 to 100. And it was their first win. Acuff had 25 points, six assists, five rebounds. He was the first rookie since Luka Doncic to put up with 25, 5, and 5 in three straight games. And when we look at the points that he's getting and the assists that he's getting, he's the usage level is off the charts. But here's the other thing. My man is taking shots. Okay, there was a point where Demonis Abonis, a longtime Sacramento King, was kind of grumbling about, hey, uh, am I going to get shots? And Darius Aka is going to tell you straight up, no, dog. No, you're not. You know why? Because I'm here now. And if I'm here and I got the ball in my hand, you know what's going to happen? You're not going to shoot the ball very much. Because I'm the future and you're the past. You couldn't get it done, but I'm going to do it and I'm going to learn on the job training style. So shout out to Darius A. Cuff Jr. for putting up buckets. He is really the must-see situation in Sacramento at this point in time. He is fun to watch. Listen, he might be a bit of a gunner. But now that he's getting up into those double-digit assists, and you know, the little situation with Demonisabonis has kind of blown itself over, and it's a little bit better, and he's getting uh demonic subonis involved in the pick and roll. You know, it seems like it's all love. But my boy is getting buckets. Okay, Darius A. Cup Jr. is a bucket getter, and he is he is going to prove it to you every single night. So Sacramento is going to be a bleak season as far as the wins are concerned. But just enjoy the development of Darius A. Cup Jr. And then hopefully you can get a good pick next year as well. To start to build on this particular talent in Darius A. Cup Jr. And then hopefully you can start forming a young nucleus that can bring you back to some respectability sometime

Lakers Supporting Cast Under The Microscope

in the near future. Now, the Lakers 10-2. And Luca and Reeves are the engine. The others have been holding it down on their end as well. So Monday night, we talked to you a little bit about what happened. Austin Reeves was out sick, and they were also without Quentin Grimes with a spraying finger. Luca said, No problem. I got you. Here's 32 for the Atlanta Hawks, and we're going to get out of here with a 124-114 win. Now, here's the thing that I want to kind of talk about when it comes to the Lakers. They're 10-2. Luca is on another level now as far as his production is concerned. Austin seems to be the perfect complement to Luca Doncic as his robbing to Lucas Batman. I have one critique. It's the turnovers for the both of them. They are both turnover prone this season. Some of that I can explain that they have nine new players through trades, through the draft, and free agency. So continuity comes with time, and we're only 12 games into it, and that's not enough time for a team to uh jail. Sorry about that. The rebounding and the defensive issues are also still there and they're still real. Even with Walker Kessler being there. We are going to talk about that soon. But the thing that I do want to discuss is this. As much shit as I've given Rob Palenka over the years, I must give him his flowers this year. Because we're going to talk about the others. Now we're going to talk about, you know, maybe something that concerns me, but we are going to talk about the others and what they're doing and how the Lakers are now 10 and 2. So when I ask what the team needs, and I'm asking about them and what do they do well, and where are they thin? Let's get into it a little bit. We'll start with the Sunday game against Detroit. Luca was out. He had back tightness. So it's when you're scoring as many points as Luca scoring, you're going to have back tightness too. You know what I'm saying? But again, Austin held it down like a real G. He spent time on the other guys, Kessler in the fourth quarter, a block dunk on one end, and then a and one plug back on the other end. Listen, Walker Kessler is a double-double machine, and also we gave a stat in our last podcast that he is 43.1% uh at the rim when shots are coming at him, and that's a crazy stat. Now, Zaire Williamson and Zaire Williams and Matisse Steible are the defensive wings that the Lakers needed. Both are on minimum contracts, and they produced beyond their paychecks. One of those examples is harassing Kay Cunningham. Kate Cunningham has zero points in the first half of that game. I will say that again. Kate Cunningham, who's been averaging like 28 a game, has zero points in the first half against the Lakers. Now, after the game, Austin didn't sound like a guy who had dropped 43. He said a lot of the a lot of the wins this year having been having been clean. He said if they clean up the offensive rebounding and the turnovers, they will get more shots. Those are his words. I will say this about Austin. He is really growing into that leadership role. And he says what needs to be said. So even in a win, he's talking about not, oh, we we accomplished this, and this is great, and we're doing great and what have you. He's talking about where we can get better. Where are the deficiencies at and what we need to tighten up? That's somebody that seems to have like JJ Redick on speed dial, or they have Zoom calls, or they're FaceTiming each other, and saying, hey, shit, we gotta get some more rebounding, we gotta get some more on ball pressure and what have you. So we get easy early looks so we're not getting these turnovers as we've been getting them. Now, Monday happens, right? We got into this. No Austin, no Grimes, and then Luca comes out and scores 32. Our guy Cameron Carr, who hasn't had a lot of run as a rookie, had a dunk, which was awesome. Colin Sexton was running the offense as Luca was coming down pin downs and then getting the ball up at the top of the key and doing what Luca does, which is Luca Magic. Now they had they went up by 20. There was a point where that team was up real big against um Detroit, but they got up on uh they got up on Atlanta by 20. And Atlanta continued to come back because the turnover situation kept on rearing its ugly head. Now Sexton gave them some juice attacking the paint. He had 18 points and six assists. Our guy, Sandro Mamu Kilashvili, scored 23 points, just doing it real big, eight rebounds. He was plus 20, which is great. You know, anytime you can be productive like that, it's always a good thing. The bench score 49, which is a season high. It wasn't easy though. Atlanta continued to cut into that lead and got it to five in the fourth quarter, and then Thai will hit a three late to put it away. That makes three wins in three games where Luca or Austin sat. Both of the Lakers, both of the Lakers losses came with both of them in the lineup. Now, if you go back to last Wednesday in Sacramento, the Lakers were down 16-8, and then Luca scored 11 straight in the second quarter. Reddick said the teams feeds off of him. They believe in him. When Luca is making three in a row, everybody looks good. What I want to know is what the other guys are doing on those nights that those do not come. Let's face it, Luca's been on an incredible run. Incredible run. Up until last night, he was averaging 40 points a game. He dropped he because he scored only 32 last night, he dropped to 39.3 points a game. Okay. Luca is still damn near averaging 40. So, what does it look like when Luca doesn't score 40 or 50? Because that's where that's kind of the era that he's been in. Now Luca's usage rate is 40%. Austin's usage rate is 27. The next highest guy on the team is Colin Sexton at 25, and sometimes we wonder about some of his decision making. Now for the good news about the other guys. Five of them are shooting six 60% or better in their true shooting while using less than 18% of the possessions. Kessler is at 6 69.2. Zaire Williams is at a astonishing 70.8. Thibal and Mamu, Kikishvili, and La Ravier are all between uh 60.4 and 64.2 when it comes to their true shooting percentage. Those guys are getting them up. When they are pass the ball, they are making quick decisions, and they're being very decisive with their reads, whether they're just hoisting it up from three or pump faking and then moving towards the basket. Kessler is the cleanest example. He's scoring 14.9 points a game on nine shot. All twos, by the way, which is dunks, putbacks, layups, reverse jams, all of that. He's rebounding the ball at a respectable level. He's at 10.8 uh rebounds a game, and he's averaging 2.3 blocks a game as well. His box plus minus is a 3.3. He's third on the team behind Luca and Zaire Williams. A caution of on Zaire Williams. He is uh 70.8 in 9 games in 221 minutes. Thaible is shooting 39.2% from three on four attempts a game. Now it's a small sample size, but these would be these are high watermark levels for these type of dudes. They're playing above their pay grade right now, for sure. The two guys on the other side of it, Sexton, is averaging 10.3 points a game with a usage rate of 25.5. His true shooting percentage is 53.3%. He's only hitting 29.7% from three in his box plus minus right now, is at a negative 3.5, which is the lowest in the rotation. But he moves it, he protects it, he assists rate is at 20%. His turnover rate, even though you would think it'd be higher, is only at 11.7. Now Grimes is shooting the ball at 24.2% from three on three attempts. We needed more from him. His box plus minus is a negative 2.3, but he gets it to the line, and his free throw rate is at 52.3%. They both have made big plays uh in the Detroit game. Sexton, like I said, he had 18 points uh that game as well. So what is it that the Lakers are lacking?

Fixing Rebounding Defense And Turnovers

The Lakers are averaging 40.3 rebounds a game. That's 29th in the league. Opponents are averaging 41, and on the offensive glass, the Lakers are getting 10.7, and opponents are getting 13.5, and the opponents are they'll recover, they're recovered 31% of their own misses. The Lakers recover 28% of their own misses. Kessler and Luca together are about 43% of the team's rebounds on about a quarter of the minutes. Now, the defensive rebounding has been atrocious, even with Kessler and Luca. Mamu Kilishvili is doing what he can do as far as that's concerned, but he's not the shot blocker, and he's not a really big body. He's 6'9, he's 230, which you know he's a decently well-built dude, but the Lakers are lacking another big wing. I love the contributions from Zaire Williams. I think he's been phenomenal. Quinn Grimes has obviously been a little disappointing, but when it comes to rebounding, the Lakers are gonna have to get better at it. The other issue with the Lakers is the turnovers. They commit 16.8 game and they force 18.6. Luca and Austin commit 44% of the turnovers. That's my critique from the top. And that counts. That counts. You gotta have if you got the two guys with the biggest usage have the most turnovers, there's a problem. Now, again, I will sit here and defend that a little bit and go, the the roster turnover for the Lakers has been astounding. And you gotta get time to commit to one another, know exactly where everybody's gonna be, pretty much on a nightly basis. Now you can scheme that up, and JJ Redick is one of the best at doing that. But until you really trust, completely have that trust in one another, and say, okay, my assignment is to be in this corner. Now, no matter what Luca does, until I'm given the go-ahead to sprint towards the rim or make a cut towards the rim, I need to be disciplined and stand in this corner. Because Luca is a great passing guard. He can find you when he's not looking at you, he can find you when he's looking up at the stars, he can find you when he's arguing with uh with fans in the stand. It doesn't matter. He is and he'll put it right on you. But the problem is that you gotta be in the area that you're supposed to be in. That's the rule. Them's the breaks. So again, the Lakers need to stop turning the ball over as much as they are, and it will be a better product for sure. Defense. The Lakers are second in the league in steals at 10.8, they're third in blocks at 6.4, and their defensive rating is still at an atrocious 114.7, which is 18th in the NBA. Opponents are taking 40.8 threes a game, and they make 37.6% of them. Thibal is the only wing that shows up defense in those numbers. He has a steal rate of 4.1, he has a block rate of 3.6, Kessler's block rate is 8 because he's on another level right now. Uh again, Kessler's defense has been sterling. Love what he's doing, but he's one guy. You need to get more buy-in, and you get need to get more like on ball pressure. These are things that have always plagued the Lakers, and when you have Luca Doncic and you have Austin Reeves, the other guys matter when it comes to this. So we talked about the rebounding, we talked about the turnovers. Well, where do you get better? How do you get better? What happens? Well, you can say that with growth of Sexton and Grimes and getting more comfortable with like right now, Grimes might be actually trying too hard. JJ Redick even told Colin Sexton that he needed to slow down a little bit. And he can become the connector and that like emotional leader off the bench and provide the juice that the Lakers need. Now, I'm gonna give you a couple examples of what the Lakers might be looking for, but this these are not these are not guys that I am provocating for them to get. Okay, these are just examples of types of dudes that will help them. If the Lakers could get like an Anthony Black type or Dyson Daniels type, provided if Dyson Daniels could shoot the basketball because he can't, but that type of on ball hound dog that just absolutely wrecks offensive timing and getting into your set, then Lakers would be a better defense. Um having guys like that around Luca and Austin would only help. Would only help. Now, I'm not saying that you need to replace Grimes or anything like that. You gotta give this time. But if I had my brothers, that would be the type of composite type of guy that I'll be looking for. Now, could they get Anthony Black from Orlando? I don't think that the Lakers have the assets to get that. Um now Dyson Daniels continues to struggle with what the Lakers have, they might be able to get him, but the problem is is that does he become a uh does he become a Vanderbilt issue where Vanderbilt cannot hit an open shot to save his life? And if the last uh Atlanta game I saw, which was last night, there's points in the game where Dyson Daniels not even looking at the at the realm, and he's wide ass open. So, again, it's not the exact dudes that I'm saying that they need to go get, but that's the prototype that I'm asking them to go get. Being second in steals and third and block in third and blocks is great, but being 18th in defensive rating is terrible. That's the gap that tells the story. So, how do you help that situation? You need to get Help on the defensive rebounding thing. Now you can sit there and do this two ways. You can go and try to get yourself a backup big. Okay? Well, good luck with that. They're they're hard to come by. Or you can go get you a big wing. You know, a guy who can do maybe play the 3-4 position, but it has a good rebounding rate. You know, that's a that's a um PJ Washington type of guy. That would be a what's my guy from Chicago's name? Plays backup center for them. I'm trying to think of guys that would fit this role. PJ Washington really is that type of guy. Tari Eason would be that type of guy. Tari Eason would really be somebody that would benefit that type of role for the Lakers. Now I'm not saying that you can get them. I am saying that it's a prototype that you can look for. And see, sometimes things aren't just going to be available the way you want to, either because you are out of um picks or or things that and you know ammunition to get these guys from other people, or they're just not available because they're so tied to the team that they're with. Like I don't think Houston's ready to give up on Tari Easton unless they get something that bowls them over. And what would bowl Houston Houston over would be Austin Reeves? So, Laker fans, would you be willing to give up Austin Reeves right now? Austin Reeves is playing like an all-star. Contract whatever you might have said in the beginning. Whatever you might have said when the con when he got the contract, oh, he's not worth all this money. There's a lot of conjecture in Los Angeles about what Austin was worth when he got his contract. I bet you that quiets down a little bit. Like I listen to Yoban Buha and I listen to his podcast, and I hear some of these trades that Laker fans are are putting out there and and talking about Austin and what have you, and I just I'm dumbfounded by any of that. I'm like, are you watching the game? Yeah, I understand the turnovers are not not cool. I get it. But again, this is this is not in VA2K where you put the team together and you go, okay, I got the perfect team, and they automatically have chemistry, they automatically have continuity. These are real people who are moving in Los Angeles, understanding the layout of Los Angeles, understanding the fan base of Los Angeles, understanding like where they need to be on the court. These are regular human beings, and it's not gonna always go smoothly. So, yes, right now there's turnover issues. Will that dissipate with time? I would think most likely, yeah. I can't guarantee it, but I can sit here and tell you that I would think because Luke is very smart, Austin's very smart, they're not trying to turn the ball over. I think that will get better with time. Just saying. But yeah, the Lakers could use a little help here and there. 100%. I love what LaRavia is doing, even though he's not providing a bunch of points, but he's just one of those junkyard dogs that you absolutely need. And he's been a tremendous offensive rebounder for the Lakers. And he's giving them exactly what they need right now, even though, again, the production is not where exactly where we want it. It's you know, he he's very, very particular about the shots he takes. Um, but as far as the hustle, the defense, the grunt work, he does, he definitely does that. So as far as what the Lakers are going to be able to do, I would tell Lakers fans, do not be disappointed if the Lakers don't go out and make a big move during the trade deadline because they just don't have a bunch of ammunition to go out and get it. I think what we need to do is give Rob Polinka a very good grade for what he did in the offseason. Walker Castler is a home run. Zaire Williams is a home run. Mammoose Killis Vili is a is a is a double or triple. You know what I'm saying? The the rebirth of Zach of Jake La Ravia is awesome. This dude is shooting the three-ball at a high level. Uh, we've been really blessed by what he's been able to give us. Matisse Thibel is shooting is shooting the hell out the basketball. Love what he's doing. And then what he's doing on the defensive end is great. Colin Sexton has been up and down, but I would say that he has been more of a contributor than a detriment. And Quentin Grimes, yeah. They all don't go right. You know what I'm saying? They all, and again, I think that Grimes is putting a lot of pressure on himself. I think he has got to the LA market. He wants to produce for the Lakers fans out there, and I think with time, if he's given the time, he will come around. But Polinka did a really good job in the offseason, and this is coming from a guy who's been one of his harshest critics since he got the role. My verdict is this Luca is absolutely freaking elite, and he deserves to be the front runner for the MVP. Austin Reeves is a bona fide all-star. And if the efficiency stays exactly where it is, and he's gonna average what he's gonna average, this dude is going to flirt with third team all NBA for sure. Do they need more rebounding? Do they need maybe one more ball handler? Yeah, they do. Would it be nice to have a more credible on ball defender that just is an absolute pest and wrecks offensive sets? Yes. Would it be great to have a really solid solid backup big that can take pressure off of Walker Kessler? 100%. But Rome was not built in a day, and all the pieces that Rob did get us, we need to go ahead and be like, hey man, that dude did a really good job in the offseason with what he had to work with and what was out there. Just saying. And I'm not sure that Jonathan Kaminga would have been the the type of guy to fall in place here. I think the type of guy that works here is not just gonna be predicated on talent and your athletic ability, it's gonna be predicated on a lot of factors. I think the Lakers now finally are looking for a specific type of dude. They're looking for real grinders, guys with chips on their shoulder, but chips on their shoulder to say, hey, you know, I belong. I belong, I deserve minutes, and this is why I deserve minutes because I am going to be an absolute productive member of this squad once I get the opportunity to do so. So I will tell you this: the Lakers did great, they have a lot of bench pieces that we absolutely love, and as a Lakers fan, I can't be more uh uh pleased with what is going on. So, with that being said, we we said a lot, we did a lot today, and I want to tell you this.

Share The Pod And Final Words

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