The craziest thing is, all Westbrook needs is a shot. If he had a shot, Lakers would skyrocket up. Or if he had great IQ the Lakers would skyrocket upwards, but his strengths are not necessarily what the Lakers need. His strengths actually hurt the team; like he forces assists, rather than surveying the floor and setting up the best shot and sacrificing defense to get rebounds.
A weird thing about Westbrook is that, somehow, he's a good 3-point shooter from the corners - 45.5% on the season.
Moving more without the ball, and going to the corners when LeBron or someone else has the ball, would help Westbrook. We've seen it every now and then, how about more often?
Russell recently sneered at a reporter when the reporter referred to him as "point guard". The thought is that he's not the Lakers point guard. Our point guard,in effect, is LeBron because he has the ball so often.
If Russell is going to the corners, or more often as you suggest, he's acknowledging that he's not the point guard. I don't think he likes that arrangement because it takes the ball out of his hands.
He would be THE point guard IF he could shoot that effectly elsewhere.
You can't fastbreak off of a made basket. The Lakers are built for fastbreaks but they couldn't stop anyone from scoring hence no fastbreaks. That's our problem!!
Not exactly. We're about league average in opponent FG%. We have a higher shooting percentage (overall and from three) than our opponents. The core problem is that we are one of the worst rebounding teams in the league. We are 24th in both DRB% and ORB%. A secondary problem is turnovers, but believe it or not we are actually a net +1 on turnovers this year. _________________ Internet Argument Resolved
Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 35925 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 6:50 pm Post subject:
Outspoken wrote:
The craziest thing is, all Westbrook needs is a shot. If he had a shot, Lakers would skyrocket up. Or if he had great IQ the Lakers would skyrocket upwards, but his strengths are not necessarily what the Lakers need. His strengths actually hurt the team; like he forces assists, rather than surveying the floor and setting up the best shot and sacrificing defense to get rebounds.
Ironically, the guard we need right now is Lonzo Ball. Elite three point shooting, playmaking, and defense. _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
Is he awful? Yes. Is he the reason we suck? 1 of them. Westbrick trade or not we would still suck. If you think we are a contender with Kuzma/KCP/Trez you are delusional. Would we be better? Probably by a few games but that’s about it.
Said it earlier in the thread and, again, I hate WB……but the trade really was “net zero” in terms of it neither got them closer nor further away from a championship.
The flaw is roster balance, unavailability of key players for long stretches, WBs overall utilization/minutes and trying this foolish LBJ at center thing, and lastly failure by management to do what’s necessary to make a winning roster - particularly Caruso. Another example - signing DAJ right after witnessing what happened with Trez last year is just a complete disconnect. Would have been literally in a better position with any scrub tall stretch 4/5or any scrub athletic rebounder/defender over a small old former dunker who can’t dunk anymore.
My only hope/guess is that WB, AD and LBJ (and possibly management) wrote this season off a while ago as a “practice” season, go with WB opting in and then they all will try for real next year with 1 last shot at it under LBJ. Clearly no shot this year, they will be lucky to squeak in to the playoffs…..
Last edited by Laker_Jocker on Sat Jan 15, 2022 9:29 pm; edited 2 times in total
Is he awful? Yes. Is he the reason we suck? 1 of them. Westbrook trade or not we would still suck. If you think we are a contender with Kuzma/KCP/Trez you are delusional. Would we be better? Probably by a few games but that’s about it.
we are only a contending with AD playing like 2020 and healthy, otherwise we have no shot regardless. that hasn't happen for the past 2 years.
That lineup is killing in right now. We wouldn't even have needed Trez. Could have traded him with the 1st for a bigger wing and then used the mMLE on Porter Jr.
That lineup is killing in right now. We wouldn't even have needed Trez. Could have traded him with the 1st for a bigger wing and then used the mMLE on Porter Jr.
LOL what a disaster
That’s better than the Hield trade. With how The DS thing unfolded, he wasn’t coming back regardless. It was a shame that AD went down and Lebron wasn’t close to 100% last year so we didn’t know how far that team could go.
That lineup is killing in right now. We wouldn't even have needed Trez. Could have traded him with the 1st for a bigger wing and then used the mMLE on Porter Jr.
LOL what a disaster
So you’re saying Kuz/KCP/Alex turn this team from a bottom playoff seed to a contender? Didn’t know those 3 were that good.
Btw we had those 3 last year and got whooped by Phoenix.
That lineup is killing in right now. We wouldn't even have needed Trez. Could have traded him with the 1st for a bigger wing and then used the mMLE on Porter Jr.
LOL what a disaster
So you’re saying Kuz/KCP/Alex turn this team from a bottom playoff seed to a contender? Didn’t know those 3 were that good.
Btw we had those 3 last year and got whooped by Phoenix.
People forget that and how clutch Rondo, Kieff, and KCP were in the bubble. They all got hot at the right time, much more than the regular season.
That lineup is killing in right now. We wouldn't even have needed Trez. Could have traded him with the 1st for a bigger wing and then used the mMLE on Porter Jr.
LOL what a disaster
So you’re saying Kuz/KCP/Alex turn this team from a bottom playoff seed to a contender? Didn’t know those 3 were that good.
The Lakers have one of the worst defenses in the league. Fair to say they would be considerably better on that end if they kept those three.
Btw we had those 3 last year and got whooped by Phoenix.
That lineup is killing in right now. We wouldn't even have needed Trez. Could have traded him with the 1st for a bigger wing and then used the mMLE on Porter Jr.
LOL what a disaster
So you’re saying Kuz/KCP/Alex turn this team from a bottom playoff seed to a contender? Didn’t know those 3 were that good.
Btw we had those 3 last year and got whooped by Phoenix.
We were up 2-1 and winning the game for being up 3-1 until AD got injured. Our problem last year was that both LeBron and AD were injured half of the season including the playoffs, but the team was a contender when healthy. It was stupid to dismantle that team for Westbrook and the All Star team of 2010.
That lineup is killing in right now. We wouldn't even have needed Trez. Could have traded him with the 1st for a bigger wing and then used the mMLE on Porter Jr.
LOL what a disaster
So you’re saying Kuz/KCP/Alex turn this team from a bottom playoff seed to a contender? Didn’t know those 3 were that good.
Btw we had those 3 last year and got whooped by Phoenix.
We were up 2-1 and winning the game for being up 3-1 until AD got injured. Our problem last year was that both LeBron and AD were injured half of the season including the playoffs, but the team was a contender when healthy. It was stupid to dismantle that team for Westbrook and the All Star team of 2010.
This is what I dont get, like yes? we were a contender. We won the chip in 2020 and were on our way to beating the Suns handily until AD got injured in game 4.
Even in the case that we have the same exact record with Kuz/KCP/Alex we have a bunch of tradeable assets on reasonable contracts to make trades to improve the team. In this case we have an albatross contract nobody in the league wants and we suck.
That lineup is killing in right now. We wouldn't even have needed Trez. Could have traded him with the 1st for a bigger wing and then used the mMLE on Porter Jr.
LOL what a disaster
So you’re saying Kuz/KCP/Alex turn this team from a bottom playoff seed to a contender? Didn’t know those 3 were that good.
Btw we had those 3 last year and got whooped by Phoenix.
True, Phoenix is/was the better team. _________________ RIP mom. 11-21-1933 to 6-14-2023.
That lineup is killing in right now. We wouldn't even have needed Trez. Could have traded him with the 1st for a bigger wing and then used the mMLE on Porter Jr.
LOL what a disaster
So you’re saying Kuz/KCP/Alex turn this team from a bottom playoff seed to a contender? Didn’t know those 3 were that good.
Btw we had those 3 last year and got whooped by Phoenix.
Anyone that leaves the Lakers is a Hall of Fame type player. You should know that by now. Laker fans are the most bizarre people.
That lineup is killing in right now. We wouldn't even have needed Trez. Could have traded him with the 1st for a bigger wing and then used the mMLE on Porter Jr.
LOL what a disaster
So you’re saying Kuz/KCP/Alex turn this team from a bottom playoff seed to a contender? Didn’t know those 3 were that good.
Btw we had those 3 last year and got whooped by Phoenix.
Anyone that leaves the Lakers is a Hall of Fame type player. You should know that by now. Laker fans are the most bizarre people.
Easy tiger.
If you don't think having that roster around AD and LeBron is better than what we have now, your basketball input means very little. Fact is we won a title with that as the bulk of our core. We were a healthy AD and LeBron away from potentially winning another last year.. again. So the proof is in the pudding but I understand it's fun to come on here and play the sassy fan role you do.
And to @Snipes... yes I'm saying having KCP, AC, and Kuz (+ Trez and a 1st) instead of Russ makes us a drastically better team. Again, I don't know how or why anybody would argue that point. Which to reiterate was if you kept those guys, moved Trez/1st for a wing, and then used the mMLE on another wing while still bringing in Monk, Dwight, Melo, Ariza, Reaves, and Bradley, we'd be favorites and top 3 in the west.
And we got whooped last year by Phoenix because there was no AD and LeBron wasn't healthy. Not because KCP, Kuz, or AC weren't good enough. That's foolish to put the blame on 3 damn near elite level role players.
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