Lakers Lounge
Anthony Irwin takes a daily look at the Los Angeles Lakers in his own unique way, with the help of any number of guests from throughout NBA coverage, and beyond.
FULL: Lakers blow out Warriors; Luka responds to a rookie mistake; Kessler's perfect debut; Q&A
Holy hell what a fun way to start the season. Anthony talks about Luka Doncic's dominance, especially after Yaxel Lendeborg talked some crazy stuff, Walker Kessler's official debut, JJ Redick's decision with the starters and more. He wraps with some questions from the live audience and laughs at Yaxel's postgame comments.
PART 1: Take it in... The Lakers are back
Anthony breaks down the game but makes sure to spend some time enjoying the fact that the Lakers are back on the court. He highlights Luka Doncic's performance, Walker Kessler's perfection and Austin Reaves filling in the gaps.
PART 2: Yaxel Lendeborg what are you doing
If it wasn't bad enough Yaxel Lendeborg ignited a Lakers run by poking the bear, he kept going at Luka Doncic after the game. Anthony laughs at that situation, answers some questions, then calls it a night.
FULL: Happy Lakers Day; Final predictions; Q&A
The Lakers play basketball today. Anthony rounds up his final predictions, explains his reasoning for them and then wraps up with questions from the live audience.
PART 1: THE NBA. IS. BACK.
The NBA finally tipped off yesterday and, during that action, Anthony gave his final predictions about this Lakers season. How games will this team win? Will Luka finally break through and win his MVP? Who is his biggest threat for the award?
PART 2: Austin, Mamu awards? Playoff expectations; Q&A
Austin Reaves was on pace to make an all-star game last year, at the very least. Then, he got hurt. Anthony makes the case for that pace again this season and what it could mean for Austin's candidacy for end-of-season awards. He talks about Mamu's potential as a sixth-man award winner and then answers questions from the live audience.
BREAKING: Lakers waive Dalton Knecht
Anthony goes live immediately following the Lakers' decision to waive Dalton Knecht. They'd trade for quite some time to find a trade but never pulled the trigger and now one of the more disappointing runs comes to an end.
PART 1: Lakers, Dalton Knecht finally get the break from each other they've needed
The Lakers have held off the inevitable but finally arrived at the end of the road for them and Dalton Knecht. Anthony offers some context to that relationship and where it went awry.
PART 2: Pelinka's old tricks are coming back to bite him; RIP Cali
A listener asked in the Q&A portion of the show how the misunderstanding of trade markets has put the Lakers were they currently find themselves. Anthony laughs about a game he and Harrison used to play, then discusses how wishcasting has hurt the Lakers. Anthony also explains the recent gap in shows.
FULL: Truuuuuuuu
Anthony and Mike Trudell talk Vikings, then some Lakers, then some Vikings again, but mostly Lakers.
PART 1: What would be a successful Lakers season this year?
Bill Simmons didn't sound exactly thrilled in his pod about the Lakers exceeding their over/under for wins this year so he asked a different question -- which has bounced around in Anthony's brain. So, Anthony asks Mike Trudell... what would he consider a successful Lakers season?
PART 2: Can the Lakers' infinite turbo button wing approach work?
Anthony and Mike discuss the Lakers' approach to a position they knew they had to enlist a committee for. Also, Vikings talk. Yes. Vikings talk.
FULL: Anthony and Raj talk... baseball? Preseason grades; Rotation combinations; Q&A
The Dodgers' season is on the brink. Anthony and Raj talk about the similarities to injury information between the two franchises and how no one actually benefits from this. From there, the guys talk about some of their top takeaways from preseason so far. They offer some grades on some players, then wrap with a Q&A with the live audience.
PART 1: Anthony is forever doomed to shady injury information
Anthony made the mistake of recording during the Dodgers game. This led to a(nother) rant about injury information/management as it may have ended the Dodgers' attempt at a three-peat. The guys segue from there to their impressions of training camp almost exactly one week from opening night.
PART 2: No, Twitter, Anthony doesn't want to hand the offense to Austin even while Luka is out there
Twitter jumped to conclusion about one of Anthony's tweets that has made him question humanity. He and Raj talk about what he actually meant. We know the Lakers are going to use Mamu at the five. Here's why Austin makes sense for those lineups.
PART 3: Poor Wizards fans; Grimes preseason grade, ideal role; Q&A
Raj makes the case for the Wizards as a play-in team. Anthony outlines how deep the east is. A listener asks about Quentin Grimes' IQ, which leads to a fun conversation about his basketball IQ and the ideal role for him.
FULL: Walker Kessler debuts; Austin impresses; Lakers bungle injury info; Q&A
Anthony and Harrison really enjoyed what they saw from Walker Kessler. That's far and away the biggest story of the night. They do talk about Austin's best game of the preseason and what the Lakers need from him, too, the Lakers' weird handling of injury info and a couple other topics before diving into the chat for a few fun questions.
PART 1: So... Walker Kessler!
The Lakers have a lot riding on Walker Kessler looking exactly like he looked last night. The guys talked about his impressive debut.
PART 2: Anthony completely bungles his Austin point but kinda/sorta arrives there anyway
The Lakers need A LOT out of Austin. They got a glimpse of it tonight. Anthony wants to know if we can see this Austin consistently enough to make the contract feel worthwhile.
PART 3: A listener actually wrote a haiku about that game
After Anthony and Harrison had a little chuckle about the haiku a Shogun would write about that game, a viewer actually dropped one. The guys then talked about Ghost of Tsushima.
FULL: MAILBAG - Kessler, Sexton injury concerns; Roster trimming; Guard depth; Knicks (?) extensions
Anthony asked for questions and, as promised answer basically every question he got. He only got super frustrated once!
PART 1: Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton injury updates
Walker Kessler is the Lakers' second-most important player this year, which makes it more than a little concerning/frustrated that we haven't seen him yet. When will that change? Anthony also shares what he's heard about Collin Sexton and explains why he is so important.
PART 2: Anthony's prefered rule change - Town down the reputation stuff
A listener asked what rule changes Anthony would start with and he gave an example, but then also discussed a zoomed-out approach concern he has with NBA refereeing.
PART 3: How else can the Lakers add another big?
Anthony explains why it makes sense for the Lakers to try to land a big via one of their two-way contracts but also gives context on what that is trickier now than it was even a couple seasons ago.
HOOK: Likes, dislikes, surprises and lessons
Anthony does this thing with content that he likes, where he asks himself to find things he likes, dislikes, is surprised by and learns over the course of that content. He brings that exercise to this episode with Pete to discuss Lakers preseason to this point.
PART 1: There's plenty to like so far
Anthony and Pete start this exercise by talking about what they've liked about preseason to this point.
PART 2: How is ball-handling STILL an issue?
Collin Sexton has yet to play and Anthony has noticed his absence a little too much. The guys discuss the ball control from players not named Austin or Luka and how critical Sexton has already become.
PART 3: Are fans falling for the fallacy of novelty?
The Lakers have started off preseason in fairly impressive fashion, all things considered. A listener still was curious whether some of the new additions are getting a little extra praise because of how new they are to the team.
FULL: Is Lakers' win total o/u too low? Early preseason lessons; What we want to know ASAP
Anthony and Harrison laugh at how annoyed Philly media already is with some of the extra stuff that comes with LeBron. They segue back to the Lakers by discussing how Vegas seems to feel about the team this season. Why is there such a disconnect with that and the preseason vibes/hype? The guys then discuss what they'd like to know about this team ASAP and wrap with a quick Q&A. Oh and Lanterns thoughts.
PART 1: "LeBron is the ex who farts too much"
According to Harrison, Anthony gives one of his craziest analogies to date.
PART 2: Why doesn't Vegas believe in the Lakers?
There is reason to believe the Lakers should be pretty good -- Anthony's skepticism notwithstanding. So why is the win total over/under so low (45.5)?
PART 3: What do you want to know ASAP about this team?
Anthony wants to KNOW how good the offense is going to be and gives his reasoning why. The guys wrap with a quick Q&A and some Lanterns thoughts.
FULL: Anthony and Raj ignore that Warriors game to talk Lakers preseason goals
The Lakers didn't play basically anyone in their second preseason game. It went about as you'd expect against a Warriors team that did play people. So, rather than spend time thinking about that game, the guys talk about what they've learned about the Lakers' intentions for this season by way of training camp and their first preseason game.
PART 1: Congrats to Raj!
Anthony and Raj eventually are going to get to the game, but first, Anthony tells Raj how proud he is for taking ownership of his content, as un-condescendingly as he could. Then, well, yeah, that game happened.
PART 2: Adou Thiero and Cam Carr HAVE to be developed
The Lakers have a fun collection of prospects and, if the organization is going to come close to its ceiling, they're going to have to get the most out of their youth.
PART 3: Are we going to get a Lakers dress rehearsal?
The Lakers have played one preseason game without Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler, but with Luka Doncic. They played the second without... well, almost everyone. Anthony and Raj take a look at the preseason schedule and try to find if and when we'll see something closer to a full rotation -- and why it matters that we do.
FULL: Lakers kick off preseason with a butt-kicking
After months and months of theorizing about this Lakers roster, we finally got to see it in actuality. Anthony loved what he saw and explains why. He uses this game (disclaimers about the Kangz notwithstanding) to forecast the style of basketball JJ Redick envisions for the Lakers, how he plans to use the wings and the role youth is going to play. He wraps with a quick Q&A.
PART 1: What a perfect start to the preseason
The Lakers beat the crap out of the Kings. Yeah, the Kings are going to suck, but the Lakers approached this game a lot more seriously than in years past. There's value in noting that.
PART 2: Ah, the joy of productive youth
Adou Thiero. Cam Carr. Bronny James. Anthony went into last night with high hopes from that group and was pleased to see those expectations met. He discusses that, wing by committee and wraps with some questions from the live audience.
PRESEASON PREVIEW: Offense, defense expectations; Wing battle; Youth development
Lakers basketball is finally here (kind of). Anthony previews the preseason slate with expectations on either side of the ball, the spots in the rotation guys will be competing for, players at the end of the bench he's actually excited to watch and more.