AD put up good numbers, but he's not making the key plays. Magic Johnson used to call it winning time, that certain time in the game where you play your best and put the team away. Kobe understood this. For some reason, Lebron and AD don't understand "winning time". I can attribute age to Lebron's ineffectiveness, but I still don't get what's slowing AD. I guess he's saving it for the post season.
AD put up good numbers, but he's not making the key plays. Magic Johnson used to call it winning time, that certain time in the game where you play your best and put the team away. Kobe understood this. For some reason, Lebron and AD don't understand "winning time". I can attribute age to Lebron's ineffectiveness, but I still don't get what's slowing AD. I guess he's saving it for the post season.
Kobe understood this but not LeBron? LeBron is one of the best players in clutch time ever, and still very effective even now. AD and him don’t belong in the same sentence when talking about winning time.
Compare him to previous Lakers players who got max contracts. He's nowhere near their levels.
I honestly would even take prime Pau over our current 27 year old AD.
Guy won his bubble ring. Signed his max deal. And he was content with that. Some guys aren’t all wired like Jordan, Kobe, Bird or Magic. That’s fine.
Key is to realize it and trade him because he’s not a guy you can build a team around.
This. Spot on. Kobe, Magic, Jordan, LeBron - all rare not only as talents, but their relentless pursuit of being the best. AD just doesn't have it. _________________ "I bought the Lakers so I could beat the Celtics" - Dr. Jerry Buss
I agree with what other people are saying. This is now two off seasons in a row AD mailed in. It’s clear he has not come into camp in proper shape. Putting on muscle doesn’t mean you’re in shape. His biggest problem is his mentality. It’s broken. He’s too afraid of injury. I don’t know how he overcomes that
Compare him to previous Lakers players who got max contracts. He's nowhere near their levels.
I honestly would even take prime Pau over our current 27 year old AD.
Guy won his bubble ring. Signed his max deal. And he was content with that. Some guys aren’t all wired like Jordan, Kobe, Bird or Magic. That’s fine.
Key is to realize it and trade him because he’s not a guy you can build a team around.
This. Spot on. Kobe, Magic, Jordan, LeBron - all rare not only as talents, but their relentless pursuit of being the best. AD just doesn't have it.
KG didn’t have and Tim didn’t have it either. Tim never came in as hungry after he won the title which is why he couldn’t defend it but people never held that and taking games off for rest against him
I saw long time ago that there is no fire in him. He is just not interested to be the best. Its a fact. Like many guys out there would give everything to have skills of AD but he has it and he is just not interested to use it.
He is just not the player who want to be the best. He likes to show himself from time to time but on consistent basis he is just lazy and not interested. It his main problem. And this came to surface even more after winning the chip. He is now like a 39 years old player who won one chip and want to retire. Honestly its really hard for me to see him as future Laker leader. I would rather have someone younger and try to build around that guy. For example Ja Morant or Trae Young.
I saw long time ago that there is no fire in him. He is just not interested to be the best. Its a fact. Like many guys out there would give everything to have skills of AD but he has it and he is just not interested to use it.
He is just not the player who want to be the best. He likes to show himself from time to time but on consistent basis he is just lazy and not interested. It his main problem. And this came to surface even more after winning the chip. He is now like a 39 years old player who won one chip and want to retire. Honestly its really hard for me to see him as future Laker leader. I would rather have someone younger and try to build around that guy. For example Ja Morant or Trae Young.
I've always felt this is who AD was and expecting him to be a franchise carrier was setting ourselves up for times like now. The issue we have is most players are not that level of player but media hype builds them to that in a lot of peoples eyes. We'd eventually get tired of Ja and Trae too, with the records teams around them would bring.
That’s sad. He’s 28, in his physical prime and we need him to play at 50% during the season to avoid injury. Just for him to possibly still get hurt in the postseason despite all the precautions. He came with the same mindset last year and he sustained three injuries
An engaged AD is absolutely the best player for the Lakers. However, it's clear that he's not engaged, and it's starting to show up on the radar around the NBA (as is evident of Barkley's recent comments). Either one of two things is happening to AD. One, he's adopted Lebron's "coasting" mindset, and is saving his body for late season/post season. Or two, he's not happy with something in the Lakers system, could be a teammate, Vogel, or his role. Whichever it is, it's clear that AD, although a competent player, is not the right player for the Lakers.
So. Why not trade him for Ben Simmons? Move the 6ft 10, 240 pound Simmons to the 4 (where he belongs) and let Westbrook keep point. A young and healthy Simmons, playing the Draymond Green role, at the power forward takes the scoring need off the plate for him, and lets him exploit his size, quickness, and defensive prowess. Start Dwight at the 5. Put Nunn or Monk at the 2. We get youth, length, HEALTH, a badly needed wing defender, and someone else that can initiate the offense, if need be. Let Nunn, RW and Lebron, along with a better flowing offensive system handle the scoring. We'd have a big, athletic and capable defensive front court, and sufficient scoring at all positions, and we'd have a good defensive starting and bench team.
An engaged AD is absolutely the best player for the Lakers. However, it's clear that he's not engaged, and it's starting to show up on the radar around the NBA (as is evident of Barkley's recent comments). Either one of two things is happening to AD. One, he's adopted Lebron's "coasting" mindset, and is saving his body for late season/post season. Or two, he's not happy with something in the Lakers system, could be a teammate, Vogel, or his role. Whichever it is, it's clear that AD, although a competent player, is not the right player for the Lakers.
So. Why not trade him for Ben Simmons? Move the 6ft 10, 240 pound Simmons to the 4 (where he belongs) and let Westbrook keep point. A young and healthy Simmons, playing the Draymond Green role, at the power forward takes the scoring need off the plate for him, and lets him exploit his size, quickness, and defensive prowess. Start Dwight at the 5. Put Nunn or Monk at the 2. We get youth, length, HEALTH, a badly needed wing defender, and someone else that can initiate the offense, if need be. Let Nunn, RW and Lebron, along with a better flowing offensive system handle the scoring. We'd have a big, athletic and capable defensive front court, and sufficient scoring at all positions, and we'd have a good defensive starting and bench team.
An engaged AD is absolutely the best player for the Lakers. However, it's clear that he's not engaged, and it's starting to show up on the radar around the NBA (as is evident of Barkley's recent comments). Either one of two things is happening to AD. One, he's adopted Lebron's "coasting" mindset, and is saving his body for late season/post season. Or two, he's not happy with something in the Lakers system, could be a teammate, Vogel, or his role. Whichever it is, it's clear that AD, although a competent player, is not the right player for the Lakers.
So. Why not trade him for Ben Simmons? Move the 6ft 10, 240 pound Simmons to the 4 (where he belongs) and let Westbrook keep point. A young and healthy Simmons, playing the Draymond Green role, at the power forward takes the scoring need off the plate for him, and lets him exploit his size, quickness, and defensive prowess. Start Dwight at the 5. Put Nunn or Monk at the 2. We get youth, length, HEALTH, a badly needed wing defender, and someone else that can initiate the offense, if need be. Let Nunn, RW and Lebron, along with a better flowing offensive system handle the scoring. We'd have a big, athletic and capable defensive front court, and sufficient scoring at all positions, and we'd have a good defensive starting and bench team.
I think how we played the first quarter, that shows how good the team can be with AD/Bron, if we can sustain some players around them. While AD has declined from the peak of 2019-20, I do believe he's one of the best players in the NBA in value. There's just so many things he does for a team. Rim protection, rebounds, sets screens, rolling threat, post up threat defensive versatility.
The thing is what we're not getting from his is two things
1) When we bleed, he doesn't take over. We want that alpha when Bron sits and AD is never that guy (or rarely).
2) When we play him at 5, he often gets exposed for his lack of true strength. Adams was really physical with him in the 2nd Q. You could see it, AD didn't get those boards and those 50-50 battles.
I don't know what the solution is, but trading AD doesn't make sense. To me it makes sense to have a look at the way they played the 1st and 3rd Qs. And find ways to get a rotation of 9 players that can keep playing that way around AD/Bron. The issue is not just that AD isn't being an alpha or a physical 5. It's that + we don't have players around AD/Bron who compliment them on defense/offense. We're a team of 3 good to very good players, and a lot of 1-way guys, below average players. Worst, I think Frank is going to get replaced by a far worse coach like Fizdale due to it.
Melo (Backup from Portland, good sniper, 1-way guy)
Dwight (Backup from Philly)
Bradley (Cut from the Warriors)
Monk (Let go by Charlotte, even though he was their lotto pick)
THT (Paid on potential, a 2nd round development pick)
Ellington (Average level sniper from a lotto Detroit team)
Rondo (Got cut by the Grizz)
You just don't have those 2-way guys this year. Like a guy that can do some 3 point shooting, a little creating, but then also defend his ass off. A KCP, Caruso, Kuzma etc. All those defensive energy guys all gone. We're just not a team that has enough defensive players that can make shots on offense. So Frank's relying on either players on offense like Melo/Monk who hurt the defensive identity or players on defense like Bradley/Dwight who hurt the offense spacing/identity.
Sure if AD stepped up and played like a MVP it would be great. It would also hide some of the issues with the flawed supporting cast. Rob needs to make moves, been saying it for a few weeks now.
It's not going to improve consistently until we add some 2-way guys who can play core minutes around AD/Bron.
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