00:00This is a question that I ask without a smile,
00:04just like truly wondering what people think.
00:07And it's, if I swapped LeBron and Luka,
00:11would the Lakers be up 3-0 in this series?
00:15And my opinion is no.
00:18I actually think that Luka would have significantly better numbers
00:22because he'd be averaging about 38 a game.
00:25LeBron's averaging 25.
00:28I also don't even know if the Lakers would be leading this series.
00:31I think the way LeBron is activated smart, activated canard.
00:36I don't know if Luka does that.
00:38And look, it's been a...
00:40I am not trying to tear Luka down to lift LeBron up.
00:43You don't have to tear anybody down to lift up LeBron at this point in time.
00:47It's just a style of play thing.
00:49Coach, I'm curious what you make of the LeBron-Luka swap conversation.
00:55You know, listen, we're not asking who's the better basketball player right now.
01:03I mean, let's be honest.
01:04It's honestly, Kevin, a lot closer than people think.
01:07Yeah.
01:08But it's Luka.
01:10But what it is, is the ability, like I said last segment, as a coach, to elevate your team, right?
01:21Put your team on your back and not just do it yourself, but raise the guys around you.
01:29The amount that Luka dominates the ball, do we think Marcus Smart and Luke Canard have 49 points in game
01:37number two?
01:38No.
01:39Does Luke Canard go off for 23 points in game number one?
01:43No.
01:44Does maybe game three happen?
01:47Maybe, but there's no guarantee they win that game either.
01:50Now, I'm not saying that you swap Luka and LeBron, it's now 3-0 Houston, but it definitely isn't 3
01:59-0 Lakers.
02:00And I think that's what we have to take from is, as a coach, like I said, it's about getting
02:07guys to believe, right?
02:09And the great ones have done it, right?
02:14LeBron has done it.
02:16Jordan has done it.
02:17Colby has done it.
02:20Has Luka really done that and elevated all these other guys behind him?
02:24I mean, yeah, you could talk about Brunson in a series.
02:27I think he elevated all those bigs and downs.
02:29I don't want to tear Luka down.
02:33I just think the way that they are playing right now is completely different than if Luka were out there
02:41running the show.
02:41And I think this is the interesting question.
02:46It's just, what do the Lakers do in the next round?
02:50We assume Luka's back.
02:51We assume Reeves is back.
02:52We certainly assume they'll be playing Oklahoma City.
02:57Like, is it just back to Luka ball?
03:01Is it just back to dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble?
03:04I'll figure out.
03:06Is that what the Lakers do against the Thunder?
03:09Because I got to tell you, here's one of the things that was not supposed to happen.
03:14Lakers-Thunder, round two, healthier team, Lakers.
03:19That's what we're gearing up towards.
03:22J-Dub just ended up with a different hamstring injury for OKC.
03:27I am not acting like the Thunder won't be huge favorites in the series.
03:31I'm not acting like that.
03:33What I am saying is that health questions were supposed to be on the L.A. side of that series.
03:41We know Reeves is playing in that series.
03:43He nearly played in game number three.
03:46And Luka would be back at the latest, the absolute latest, game three of that series in Los Angeles,
03:55if not game number one coach.
03:58So, this Lakers run, and we'll talk about the West as a whole,
04:04it has started to really put a couple of things on its head that we really weren't anticipating.
04:11We're anticipating.
Comments