What do you think about the Laker team now?

You follow the box scores of the games every day?

Just the Lakers.

You're kidding.

That is really a compliment.

I was pleased to see you smile at the top part show because once the game starts, you have a game face.

You don't smile much out there.

I don't think you have to do things for money anymore.

Correct.

What's up, Laker fans? Welcome to the Laker Film Room podcast. I'm Pete, joined by Darius. D., I often say on this show that there is no substitute for watching a player on a day-to-day basis.

And today's guest has been watching Luca Donchich since his days as the teenage

wonder boy for Real Madrid and the author of a wonderful post recently that I highly recommend

titled Building a Defense Around Luca Donchich, What's Possible and What's Required. And it is a

chronological, which I love breakdown of every defensive

style and build and type of personnel possible around Luca. We're going to talk about that a bit

today, but also talk about the journey of Luca and from somebody who has followed him since the

beginning. Join today from Liubriana Slovenia, Ishto Franco. Istok, thank you so much for joining us. Hi, guys, and thanks for the invite. Absolutely. It's great to have you. And so, Istok, I would love to linger a bit on Luca's days with Real Madrid. And if you could help us tell the story, when did you start covering Luca? When did you start following his career and talk to us about those early days?

Yeah, I think following or first hearing about Luca, it was when he wasn't a teenager.

There was already a buzz here locally because the biggest club we have is Olympia Ljubljana and his dad played here.

He dead played one season in EuroLeague. He won a title with this team, local title. And he had a son who was like a prodigy. So he was a ball boy on the games when he was playing in the Euroleague. His dad, Sasha. And we heard about this guy who's very talented, who won, who was basically training with

guys three-year senior.

And then when he left for El-Aradrid at that time, it was already a story.

...