Podcast: Lakers go defeated in preseason; how much does it matter?

The Los Angeles Lakers going, um, defeated this preseason probably kind of matters, especially considering they were either blown by good teams and merely competed against bad ones, but it’s impossible to say just how much any of it actually should be seriously analyzed.

After the Lakers fell to Sacramento late Thursday night, it’s easy to jump to conclusions and compared this team to the Dwightmare season. I’m just here to say it’s apples and oranges.

With game stuff behind us, I threw to a conversation I had with Jason Maples of “The Temple of Hoop” podcast.

An interesting trend has risen within the fan base regarding Russell Westbrook and his fit on the court alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Anyone who was excited about the acquisition has preached patience as he’s struggled to find a rhythm, while doubters have considered this confirmation of their concerns.

To be honest, both ends of that spectrum are probably the wrong places to be. It was always going to take a little while for Westbrook and the Lakers to figure this out, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore what exacerbates the potentially awkward fit so he and the Lakers will know to avoid that when games count.

Jason and I discussed that, why he was iffy about trading for Westbrook, and what he and the Lakers will have to do to make this work. We also discussed the role head Frank Vogel will play in all of it, plus how much of the success of this fit will hinge on Davis playing center.

We wrap on a conversation about a narrative that particularly annoys Jason: The way people talk about the mid-range game.

You can listen to all that and more in the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.