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  • 2 days ago
Willard and Dibs discuss Yaxel Lendeborg's summer league performance and debate the impact that LeBron James would have on him if he were to join the Warriors.
Transcript
00:00I do have a question.
00:01I'd like to spin this LeBron James discussion in a little bit of a new direction, if you will.
00:08Because until the guy makes a decision, we can do Mike Dunleavy's teeth and, you know, all the whatever.
00:17Dylan Brooks thinks he's coming to the Warriors.
00:18We can do all this stuff all we want.
00:20There's not a whole hell of a lot to say in this moment until he makes his decision.
00:26But we can continue to fantasize about what it will all look like.
00:30And I want to know this right now.
00:33If he comes to the team, what does it mean for Yaxel Lindeborg?
00:37How would you answer that question?
00:40I think it just means that he may not start.
00:44So you would imagine that if LeBron's not here, Yaxel probably is your starting three slash four, I would guess.
00:52But I think it means more for Guy Santos than it does Yaxel Lindeborg.
00:55And if LeBron does come here, he won't play 82 games.
01:00He probably won't play 72.
01:02He might play 62.
01:04So if he plays 62, that's 20 games where Yaxel and Guy are going to be your guys playing that
01:10spot.
01:10And LeBron won't.
01:11So I do think that it limits Yaxel a little bit temporarily.
01:15But I still don't think that it really keeps him completely off the floor.
01:19Oh, I don't think it keeps him off the floor at all.
01:21See, I wondered.
01:23I sat down and thought about this.
01:25And let me first say why.
01:26I don't know how many of you are watching Summer League.
01:29And I don't know.
01:30I mean, maybe Summer League matters as much as, I don't know, the FIFA third place match.
01:35Like, I agree with you.
01:37I'm not going to get overly excited about what happens in Summer League.
01:43However, if you haven't watched the kid play, then I do think you're missing a little something.
01:50The kid, I like that.
01:50Look, he is, on the Warriors especially.
01:53I mean, he's no, like, Pods or Kaminga.
01:57He's not that young.
01:58Yep.
01:59But he's the kid.
02:01He's brand new.
02:02And he looks really good.
02:04He really looks comfortable out there.
02:07And what's the stat?
02:10I know it's plus, minus.
02:11The box plus, minus.
02:12Box plus, minus.
02:14I mean, what does that mean in Summer League?
02:16I guess very little.
02:17However, he currently has not just the best box plus, minus in the entire Summer League this year.
02:26He has the best, wait for it, of all time.
02:31The best box plus, minus of all time.
02:36In Summer League.
02:36In the history of the Summer League.
02:39Does it mean anything?
02:41I don't know.
02:42Look, bottom line is, kid looks really good.
02:45His three-point shot looks comfortable.
02:48Yesterday, he's got a thing with Cam Boozer.
02:51And he muscled him around a little bit.
02:53He didn't just hold up.
02:55He kind of looked like the better player out there, to be honest with you.
02:59And so, there's some excitement, at least for me, about Yaxel Lundeborg.
03:06And so, I started thinking about that, because I've heard people go, gosh, don't get in his way with all
03:11of this LeBron stuff.
03:12Am I crazy for thinking this would maybe actually be the best thing for Yaxel Lundeborg?
03:20Because, partially of what you said, look, these are a bunch of old guys who are not going to get
03:26in the way of his minutes.
03:27He's going to get his opportunities, number one.
03:31But, number two, I think it takes pressure off of him.
03:35And, number three, would it be so bad for this guy to learn basketball as a rookie around, quite frankly,
03:44the best minds that this generation has ever had to offer in the entire NBA?
03:52So, to me, as a rookie coming in, if I get to be about LeBron, Steph, Draymond, pressure off, but
04:00still get minutes,
04:01I kind of like that for him.
04:03No doubt.
04:04No doubt.
04:05Especially when you look at LeBron James, and I'm not saying that Yaxel will have the same trajectory as LeBron
04:11James,
04:12because LeBron's either the GOAT or the second GOAT or wherever you put him on your list.
04:17He's one of the all-time best, and Yaxel probably won't be that good.
04:21And you can go ahead and cut that and put it on social media.
04:24However, Yaxel is about the same height, and he's almost the same weight as LeBron,
04:30and he can bulk up and be as physical, maybe not as gifted, as LeBron James.
04:36And I just was looking at LeBron's basketball reference,
04:39and he's listed as small forward, power forward, center, point guard, and shooting guard on his basketball reference.
04:46Touch them all, kid.
04:48That's true.
04:48So, can Yaxel be that?
04:50Probably not, but he can learn through LeBron on how he goes about doing what he does.
04:55And I love what you pointed out about Summer League,
04:57because he's been grown manning a lot of these guys in Summer League.
05:01And part of it is because he is already 6'8 or 9 and 230 or 240, and, you know,
05:08the boozer kid, he's 19.
05:10He's an unbelievable player.
05:12But when you're almost 24 going against a 19-year-old and you're already kind of a grown man, you
05:18have an advantage.
05:18Now, will that translate in the regular season?
05:21A little bit.
05:22Clearly not as much, because you'll be going up against 34- and 35-year-old actual grown men.
05:27I mean, it seems, I'm told by people who know more about this than me,
05:32it seems that his prefrontal cortex is just about fully cooked.
05:37Yeah.
05:38Isn't that 25?
05:39That's about right.
05:40You know what happens?
05:4024, 25.
05:41These other people he's playing, they don't know what the hell which way is up.
05:44Their brain isn't formed yet.
05:46They go to Vegas for Summer League, and they have to go to the arcade.
05:50They can't sit at the tables.
05:53Peterson, Acuff, DeBonsa, Boozer, like, the game is over, and you go back to the hotel casino,
05:59it's like, you got to go play pinball.
06:01I hadn't even thought of that.
06:03I hadn't even thought of that.
06:04They're all going to Circus Circus.
06:07Exactly.
06:07And Yaxel's going to Bellagio.
06:09Yeah.
06:10Yaxel's out there, you know, having like a scotch and soda and whatever, playing slots.
06:15LJ Cryer in a half hour.
06:17It takes some calls.
06:17I wonder how each of you would answer that question.
06:20If LeBron comes, it means what for Yaxel Lindeborg, the first-round draft pick of the Warriors?
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