Jovan Buha
speaker
326 appearances
10 recordings
3 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 26 Jun
Jovan Buha’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.
Appearances
If LeBron had his way over the last few years, they would have traded for Kyrie. They would have traded for DeJounte Murray. They would have traded for Zach Levine. LeBron has wanted a third star next to him in AD and primarily a third ball handling slash perimeter guy type star. He's wanted to redo the Westbrook trade, but do it with a better fitting third star. Lakers have not done that.
Then even looking at AD, where AD has often been more the quiet guy. He's not really making the passive aggressive remarks. AD wanted James Borrego going back to the summer. Borrego was his guy. He was the guy that he was backing. They end up signing or agreeing to terms with JJ Redick.
And that's to say nothing of previously when LeBron had wanted Ty Lue and Monty Williams and then they get Frank Vogel. And then you go the last few years, AD has wanted to play power forward. It's been the worst kept secret that AD prefers to play power forward compared to center. He's just had to play center because the Lakers have not prioritized adding a center.
And it's been, if you look at from 2021 on, it's been a revolving door of vet minimum centers who are all like fringe rotation players. So naturally looking at the roster, you have to shift 80 up to play center because the options are guys who probably shouldn't be playing in like a team with championship aspirations.
So I think if you look at just like, like take all the words and whatever, put that to the side, just look at the actions, um, The Lakers have not really done what LeBron and AD have wanted for several years now. Or if they have, it's been very small opportunity cost type situation. So I think really since the Westbrook trade, we can trace back the relationship fraying a little bit.
And it felt like at some point here, it was going to come to a natural conclusion. And I do think... I'm not going to say a clutch star will never be a Laker again, because I think it's certainly possible. But once LeBron is done being a Laker, I think that relationship has kind of run its course.
Yeah, that's why when you were talking about the price stuff, I'm like, are we going to do this all over again? Well, maybe someone else, right? I mean, could be, but yeah.
yeah i mean anthony davis is a center like let's make no mistake about it i'm i'm just like sharing that that that is what he's wanted and if we're arguing that like they've catered like because i i just think there's a narrative out there that they've completely catered to lebron and ad's wishes and whatever they want and i i'm just pushing back a little bit against that because i think there's been some very clear things that they've wanted that they've not gotten that that maybe in other situations they would get but 80 is by the way
Yeah, and to your point, they have given them whatever contracts they wanted in terms of contract structure, so that's certainly an argument against that as well. But in terms of AD, I think the one thing that has been true, and I think the one thing that he feels is like,
I think he likes when playing next to another big and having that guy be the primary center defender, and then he can roam defensively. And I think going back to the 2020 title year, when you had JaVale or Dwight on,
Nikola Jokic or whatever other big man they were running into, AD liked being the roamer who could be the low man, be helping rotating out the shooters and just kind of manning, quarterbacking the defense in that sense. So I think for him, like one, you know, Constant thing that the teams try to do against the Lakers when he's at the five is you just try to get him out of the paint.
And Steve Kerr has talked about like Golden State's entire offense when they play the Lakers is trying to find and come up with ways to get Anthony Davis away from the rim. And they feel like if they can get 80 out of the away from the rim, it's going to be a layup line or an offensive rebound line. uh, or party, whatever. Uh, so I think that's like, that's two eighties, I guess, argument.
I, I, I see the value in that. And the Lakers, like even the last couple of years have tended to play better when they played bigger lineups, uh, not even necessarily another center out there, but like when they play their big wings and they're going like LeBron, a big guy, six, eight or six, nine and above NAD, those lineups have played really well.
It's just been because the roster has been so kind of structured towards guards and perimeter guys that they typically play these like three guard lineups that haven't been as good defensively. So I get where 80 is coming from, but ultimately he's a five. And I think Dallas is going to figure out with their roster, like him closing at the five is the best option.
I think it depends on what they do in the next three days here. Because if they stand pat with the current roster, as you just alluded to earlier, Jackson Hayes is a starting center. I think he's more of a fringe rotation player rather than a starting rotation player.
And again, I think it's going to be more like the Knicks game where they go with Dorian Finney-Smith at the 5 or Jared Vanderbilt at the 5. and they play these wing heavy lineups. And I know JJ Redick likes that. He likes the more modern kind of small ball type lineups. But I think this group just has too many holes defensively.
Like I think Max Christie has been an afterthought in this trade, but he had kind of become the Lakers fourth best player over the last like month and a half. He was, they were 16 and eight with him in the starting lineup. He was shooting 40% on threes, averaging between like 11 and 12 points a game. So like Max Christie had kind of become a, a reliable two-way wing for them. And I didn't lose it.
Like they lost two starters and they really added one. And of course, Luca is better than AD. And again, you make the trade 10 out of 10 times, but like from a short-term perspective, this group took a step back defensively and took a major step back in the interior. Like they already needed a second center. Now they don't really, they might need two centers, honestly. So-
I think depending on what they do in the next three days, I've heard that they're trying to be like the one big thing here is they've shifted from there is this notion of like the LeBron 80 timeline of you have maybe 18 months to try and maximize this window. They've shifted away from that and now they're on the loop. Luka timeline.
So I think any move they make, if they invest that 2031 first round pick or a pick swap, or even any of the younger talent, it's going to be about getting a guy who can fit now and longer term with Luka.
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