S.I.’s Chris Mannix on His Concern Level for Lakers, Bucks & Warriors | The Rich Eisen Show

S.I.’s Chris Mannix on His Concern Level for Lakers, Bucks & Warriors | The Rich Eisen Show

All right so last year you were the the Lakers Seer yes you were seeing the Lakers go on a run that nobody else saw them potentially going on and you saw deep into the like deep into the you or early in the season I guess is notics right there

Notics I like it we should make that gear no Statics um so you said you hadn’t seen it yet yeah last night four in a row now without LeBron two 19point comebacks double overtime in Milwaukee you you seeing anything yet what are you seeing you seeing something yet six and

Four without LeBron is a remarkable number for the Lakers and last night’s game was awesome right it was fun man that was a great it was a blast to watch you know I I wouldn’t blame a lot of people if they turned the game off the end of the third quarter Lakers were

Down they go on a 2714 run in the fourth to force the overtime ad great Reeves made shots Russell made threes it it was incredible to watch and it was as much an indictment of what Milwaukee’s doing as it was uh praiseworthy for the Lakers

But I still can’t get behind them like I did last year you look at these last four games and their defensive rating over the last four games is top three in the NBA that’s great that’s Conference Finals level that’s the Lakers of last year sir level but if you look at the

Totality say since the All-Star break they’re 26th in defensive efficiency since the All-Star break that’s not going to win you a first round series that might not even get you out of the play in tournament so I still can’t predict which version of the Lakers is going to show up defensively because

Defensively is where it gets done in the playoffs they didn’t Advance the Conference finals last year because they had some electric offense they Advanced because they were Elite defensively if they can get back to that they’ve got a shot at duplicating last year’s success if they can’t if they’re more likely

Team we’ve seen for most of the Season they’re going to have a hard time just getting into the postseason well they kind of did it last night right I mean I think the the the score at the end of regulation was 101 101 which sometimes

Is a third quarter score in it was a fun game right it was a brutal game in some ways too I mean the Lakers got to think 11 points off their bench I mean AD had 30s something Russell Reeves had a bunch Spencer did mov was like one for eight

From the floor like it it wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing game but that’s the kind of game Lakers have to win they’ve got to grind out wins against these other upper tier teams but I think we’re out of the woods in terms of them somehow like say Houston

Catching them right I mean you’re out of the woods now in terms of like they’re they’re we’re going to see him play in at the very least I believe so I think the biggest threat to to Houston’s biggest opportunity is going to be Golden State right because

The Warriors are not playing well and Houston remarkably since ALR sangon you know arguably their best player went down has just taken off Jaylen Green’s numbers since sangon went out have been off the chart so because they play so well at home and because uh Jaylen green

Is playing so well right now you have to give the Rockets a decent chance of catching up to Golden State right and then um and we we’ll talk about Golden State in a second though but I I do want to pull on the string that you kind of

Left out there about this being as much of an indictment on what’s going on with the Doc Rivers coached Milwaukee Bucks what do you mean by that well I mean they’ve just been so uneven um they have had some Great Performances some great stretches where they have played Elite defense and

Then they have had these stumbles where they’re getting beat by teams they should beat which includes the Lakers I mean that that’s that’s a game they should have won uh last night it the consistency from the Bucks just isn’t there and I know Doc Rivers is doing

Everything he can to get them on the same page especially defensively I wrote about them in the magazine this month I mean they have paired down everything they’re doing they’ have simplified everything what they do defensively it’s all one basic system what they do offensively whole bunch of pick and roll

For Damen Lillard and Yan TMO so they are doing the right things but it’s so hard to get everybody on the same page when you introduce a new coach with new philosophies at the mid-season point of the year so what we’re seeing is not great for Milwaukee but it’s not all

That surprising either so by the end of the year I guess you’re saying would 2020 hindsight the buck should have hired doc from jump is that what you’re saying I mean yeah I mean if with the benefit there’s a lot of things that went into the hiring of Adrian Griffin

Number one we have to remember that Griff was a deserving coach to get that job he had been an assistant coach for a number of years he had been an assistant coach under Nick nurse who you know won a championship I mean Adrien Griffin paid his dues to get that job and Giannis

When he met with him was connected there was a connection between Giannis and Griff and that played a big role in that team hiring Griff but when you look back at it the idea of bringing in a coach with no resume at least as a head coach to

Run a team with a championship window that’s really only three years wide right you’ve got Giannis Dame Chris Middleton is like a three-year champ Championship window they should have brought in a more established coach a more accomplished coach and even though Doc Rivers fizzled out in Philadelphia

Didn’t end well for him with the 76ers he makes a lot more sense for Milwaukee given where it is than Adrian Griffin did Chris manx here from Sports Illustrated on the Rich Eisen show what ails the Warriors and is it fixable shot making it’s the biggest problem right

Now um with Steph Cur on the team man well never say that about when Steph and Clay the problem isn’t Steph um the problem is in the non Steph Curry minutes which have been problematic for the Lakers for a number of years but in those non-step Curry minutes they’re not

Getting anybody to step up I mean look at that game they played uh against Minnesota the other night where they had a lead going into the fourth quarter Steph goes out sits for a while because Steve cerr didn’t like playing him too many minutes after you played 35 in the

Previous game they just got run over you know the it it went from I think a one-point lead to an eight-point hole there in before Steph got back in the lineup we know that Klay Thompson is not the player he used to be he has taken a

Step back age has caught up with him a little bit Andrew Wiggins has been wildly inconsistent all season long he’s been a disappointment for that team kaminga has been good but he’s not ready to take on that type of responsibility they just don’t have consistent shot makers bucket Getters that you can rely

On to score in the fourth quarter of games and across the league Rich everybody’s got them everybody’s got two or three different guys that they can count on to make a shot even Minnesota with Carl Anthony towns out has got bucket Getters that they can go to

Whether it is Edwards Mike connley those guys made shots against the Warriors in that game The Warriors just don’t have that extra option to go to when Steph is either off the floor or if defenses are loading up on him so they don’t it’s not fixable

What you’re saying I I don’t see it I I mean they’re they’re not on a good trajectory right now and I don’t see how with this current roster they’re going to reverse that like if you get them in the playin so many experienced guys there anything can happen but that playin like

The playin tournament it right now looks like Adam Silver’s fever dream right like it’s because you’ve got the play in tournament Warriors and Lakers Warriors Lakers with Kevin Durant mix like if you’re silver and I’m just guing that the NBA in the next uh television deal is going

To parse this out it’s going to say the playing tournament is something separate we’re going to sell this to whomever uh the year before they’re doing that if you get those three teams in that playing tournament the rating is going to be through the roof no matter what so

Uh this you know I’m sure Lakers Warriors Sons better but for Adam Silver this is exactly what they’re looking for catch the rich eyes and show every single day on the Roku Channel 12 to3 Eastern for free

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix and Rich Eisen discuss his concerns for the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors.

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