Now we're getting into the season. This becomes a daily thing. We jump on here somewhere around the middle of the day, right around lunchtime, and we talk about the latest going on in the world of the Lakers or get into a specific topic or two.

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So today I want to talk about the two keys for success for the Lakers. And I'm talking about two specific players. And no, it's not LeBron and AD, right? Let's face it, if LeBron and AD are not LeBron and AD, it doesn't matter anyway. Nothing else matters. If LeBron and AD are not available, nothing else on the Lakers roster is going to matter in terms of their overall and eventual success. But if this team is, dare I say, healthy-ish, we know they were incredibly unhealthy last season. They were one of the most injured teams in the NBA, despite the fact that LeBron and AD were mostly healthy last season. The rest of the team was not, but there were actually two players

that I look at as the two keys, the linchpins for the Lakers in order to actually improve,

despite the fact that they brought back essentially the same roster. Those two players,

Rui Hachamura and Max Christie.

Those are the two players that the Lakers need to adjust and adapt to their new roles very quickly and very successfully.

Everything is going to be keyed upon that. Look, JJ Reddick has raved about Austin Reeves and how excited he is to coach him.

I'm expecting a step up from Austin.

He had incredible compliments for DeAngelo Russell at the press conference

that he had with Rob Polenka.

He was incredibly complimentary of DeLo.

That's something that's worth paying attention to.

Anthony Davis may wind up having a career year.

It sounds like JJ is going to force feed the ball to AD.

Said AD can be in the MVP, not depoy, MVP conversation all year long.

I mean, these guys are going to make a huge impact.

But what everything is going to swing upon. And of course, LeBron obviously is going to make a huge impact. But what everything is going to swing upon,

and of course, LeBron obviously is going to make a massive impact, it's Rui Huchamara adjusting to a new

role and Max Christie adjusting to a new role. Now, here's what I'm talking about. Of all the

Lakers players, Rui may be the guy that's being asked to change his game the most. He's going to be asked to play a different role than what we've seen in the past. LeBron's going to do LeBron thinks. Might he be off ball a little bit more? Yeah, but guess what? He's still LeBron. He's not going to change things all that much, right?

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