Hello, Lakers Nation. Welcome into the Lakers Nation.com podcast. I am Trevor Lane coming to you from

Blue Wire Studios at the win in Las Vegas. We're out here covering Summer League, having a great time

watching the Lakers Summer League squad do some work. We've got a lot to talk about on today's show.

We've got some fan questions and comments to get into. And we need to talk about that Lakers versus Hornets game from yesterday. On our panel today, we've got Matt the optimist

Peralta, Nick Whalen from Roto Wire and Ron Gutterman. Guys, welcome in. Thank you. Thank you.

Always a pleasure to be here. Matt, let's start with some optimism. Let's talk Lakers Hornets

from yesterday. Lakers Hornets from yesterday.

Lakers got a big win.

It was a lot of fun. What did you see from that game? What were your main takeaways? Yeah. The Lakers have steadily improved. I feel like every single game is baiting back to the California Classic, moving to 2 and O in Las Vegas Summer League. So that's obviously a positive sign. I think the Lakers draft picks are panning out

pretty well so far. Jalen Hood, Chafino, Maxwell Lewis, even the undrafted guys, Colin Castleton, who I'm sure will have a lot of comments to talk about because that guy is very impressive. I think a lot of players, a lot of fans are really excited about his upside. So overall, though, I think the team is jelling. I think as Summerlee continues to go on, I think we're going to see more steady improvement from this team.

Yeah, and that's just it. overall though i think the team is jelling i think as summerlee continues to go on i think we're

going to see more steady improvement from this team yeah and that's just it they're getting better

game by game we're seeing that chemistry we're seeing that cohesiveness really grow um you mentioned

Colin i mean he was fantastic i mean just just absolutely went nuts in yesterday's game was

hitting everything especially in that first quarter and then grabbing and going i talked to him after the game a little bit about that, about his ability to just take off with the basketball down the floor and lead the fast break. He's totally comfortable with it. I'm like, this isn't something you normally see centers do. And he said, yeah, but it's something that's been part of his game for a long, long time. How big of a deal do you think that could be long if he gets into this lakers rotation to have a big who can just grab and go like that how important do you think that could be oh i i think big men dribbling the ball in the NBA is probably like one of my favorite things to watch and so for calling to bust that out in summer league is so fun not to get too ahead of ourselves but you know i'm i'm getting like Pogasaw flashbacks, you know, like all the highlights with him, you know, grabbing the ball, going down the floor, dishing out to people. I think some of that's in his game right now. Obviously, I'm not calling him power or anything, but I just think that you watch him and he's just such a fun player. Like, he's such a fundamentally sound guy and you can tell that he reads the floor well, knows where to be position, and just makes the right basketball play. And that's probably been my favorite thing about watching him so far. Nick, have you got a chance to check out Colin or any of the other summer Lakers so far? Yeah, I've been impressed with what I've seen from the Lakers so far. And everything you said about Colin Castleton is spot on. I mean, watching him at Florida, I think a lot of that has immediately translated, right? I mean, he was almost a three assists per game guy at the college level. He was a good free throw shooter at the college level, five of five at the line yesterday. So you always like to see that from a young big man. Now, he's on a two-way deal. So we'll see what his ultimate role is at the NBA level this season. I'm skeptical that there's going to be much there. I think he has some physical growth that he needs to hit before he's really going to be a contributor at that level. But as far as a two-way guy who went undrafted, who you're basically bringing in for free, I mean, it's been a best-case scenario start for him in Vegas. Ron? You concur? What are you seeing out there? Yeah, I mean, it seems to me like the Lakers, the way they went about their drafting and

their undrafted free agent process is they're valuing versatility and intelligence.

And it seems like you're getting that from all of their guys.

Jalen Hitchabino, obviously, you know, he seems like more of a project, but even still you're seeing the flashes of an intelligent point guard, a guy who can do multiple things with the ball, Colin Castleton, you know, a center who can do that stuff is really impressive, and it's not, it's rare for a center. So it's good to see that the Lakers kind of had a plan going into their draft and undrafted free agent process and they stuck to it

with all of their picks yeah yeah they really have seen to that we we've talked about this before that

the russell westbrook years the the dark ages they it felt like there wasn't really a plan

right there wasn't a cohesive blueprint or plan in place and now it feels like there's like the

picks they made they make sense the pieces they all kind of together. You look at the signs they've added to this team. There's some really exciting stuff. And we're starting to see that blossom already here in Summer League. Before we get into our fan questions and comments, one of the big things that's out there right now for the Lakers. It's they have 13 players on their roster. Yep. They can add two more.

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