Is This Team Better? How Well Will Players Mesh?
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Halflife
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 1:57 pm    Post subject:

Dr. Laker wrote:
Lakers got better.
Nuggets got worse and have to deal with post-championship syndrome. Does Joker show up at camp weighing 380#?
Suns got worse (IMO, not a Beal believer), KD never healthy. Booker at the 1.
Dubs in major decline everywhere. Klay - DONE. Dray - DONE.
Clippers still toxic and injury prone. Harden wouldn't help that if he came.
Grizzlies could be a major problem . . . or a major disaster. Where is Ja's head?
Will Sasha Vezenkov be a difference maker in Sacto? Maybe. Brown is coaching them up.
Pelicans are out of control.
Blazers are dead in the water.
OKC is on the come up and could make the playoffs.
Houston won't be pathetic.
T-Wolves are dysfunctional.
Spurs will anchor the lottery.
Mavs. I just don't see Kyrie & Luka working.
Utah is smartly rebuilding.

The Lakers are certainly Top-3 in the West. Where Dame lands could tip the balance, but I see him going East.

This is funny. The suns filled out their roster. They are better than us
Denver still has best player in league.
Wolves are better than last year.
Pelicans. Who knows. There were #2 when healthy.

Clippers are like us “if healthy.” They beat us regularly so who knows

Okc dark horse.
Gsw who knows
Kings are good
Grizz are good
We are 4-8 seed.

We needed a big talent upgrade to be top tier and we got marginal players. Will be better than we started, but don’t think we will win at the clip we did after trade. That schedule was cake. Should be exciting year though
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 2:53 pm    Post subject:

This team retained its core that went to the WCF just from talent alone with no chemistry built thru the season. Give them a full season to gel and for Ham to improve as a coach and I see us being top 3 in the west barring injury bug. If we could just get ourselves a serviceable 7 footer we could beat Denver. The Suns we have to just hope they implode. If they gel & stay healthy no one has a chance
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 3:05 pm    Post subject:

Top 8 last year: Davis, LeBron, Reaves, Rui, Russell, Vando, Dennis, and Walker
Top 8 this year: Davis, LeBron, Reaves, Rui, Russell, Vando, Vincent and Prince

I think there's reason to believe the top five will be better with additional time to mesh after the shotgun wedding to end last season. I also have Vincent and Prince as an upgrade over Dennis and Walker, especially in how they give you more size defensively without sacrificing offense. To this end, Pelinka was true to his statements about bringing the core back and improving around the edges.

If you go deeper into the bench, Christie and Hayes are less known quantities than Beasley and Gabriel were, though both have greater upside. But we're talking deep enough in the depth chart that it may not make a huge difference on team performance, especially once we sign the third big. I would have brought back one of Beasley or Walker over Reddish though to give you more experience in reserve at swing. Hopefully Christie steps up.
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 4:21 pm    Post subject:

LAKERMIKE2 wrote:
This still holds true?

NO REBOUNDS, NO RINGS!!!

!!


There has been a huge amount of analysis on this topic and no one seems sure how important rebounding is in the current nba.

There is one belief that the importance of rebounding can vary from team to team. According to this theory, some teams are successful by implementing defensive schemes which de-emphasize rebounding in favor of other things.
Other teams are successful by implementing schemes that emphasize rebounding.

But the notion that there is a strong corollary between rebounding and success doesn't seem to hold true anymore. Much more complex than that
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 5:29 pm    Post subject:

Laker's Fan wrote:
Top 8 last year: Davis, LeBron, Reaves, Rui, Russell, Vando, Dennis, and Walker
Top 8 this year: Davis, LeBron, Reaves, Rui, Russell, Vando, Vincent and Prince

I think there's reason to believe the top five will be better with additional time to mesh after the shotgun wedding to end last season. I also have Vincent and Prince as an upgrade over Dennis and Walker, especially in how they give you more size defensively without sacrificing offense. To this end, Pelinka was true to his statements about bringing the core back and improving around the edges.

If you go deeper into the bench, Christie and Hayes are less known quantities than Beasley and Gabriel were, though both have greater upside. But we're talking deep enough in the depth chart that it may not make a huge difference on team performance, especially once we sign the third big. I would have brought back one of Beasley or Walker over Reddish though to give you more experience in reserve at swing. Hopefully Christie steps up.


I would think it would be a very successful seasons for the Lakers if the 8 ended up like this..

Bron, AD, AR, Rui, Vincent, Hayes, Christie, Russell.

It would mean Hayes and Christie take big developmental steps.. and that would be GREAT news for the team, imo.

I like Vando.. but he's not a guy who can finish a high-level playoff game.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2023 2:02 am    Post subject:

Rui, Vando, DLo, Gabe, Prince, Hayes with a full training camp
Max with another summer training
But most importantly, Reaves with another summer training
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 2:08 pm    Post subject:

Laker's Fan wrote:
Top 8 last year: Davis, LeBron, Reaves, Rui, Russell, Vando, Dennis, and Walker
Top 8 this year: Davis, LeBron, Reaves, Rui, Russell, Vando, Vincent and Prince

I think there's reason to believe the top five will be better with additional time to mesh after the shotgun wedding to end last season. I also have Vincent and Prince as an upgrade over Dennis and Walker, especially in how they give you more size defensively without sacrificing offense. To this end, Pelinka was true to his statements about bringing the core back and improving around the edges.

If you go deeper into the bench, Christie and Hayes are less known quantities than Beasley and Gabriel were, though both have greater upside. But we're talking deep enough in the depth chart that it may not make a huge difference on team performance, especially once we sign the third big. I would have brought back one of Beasley or Walker over Reddish though to give you more experience in reserve at swing. Hopefully Christie steps up.


You make a good point looking at the top 8 this year compared to last year. Consider however, with AD at C that puts Rui at PF meaning LBJ will play SF whether we like it or not that is the most likely scenario. So Vand is the back up SF making Prince an upgrade to the 3rd SF spot. Even if he is an upgrade over LWIV (I disagree because Prince hasn’t contributed to a playoff win like LWIV showed he can amd was with the team last year), the downgrade is to the SG2 spot. It’s not better roster improvement increasing SF3 over SG2.

Bringing back LWIV at the SG2 as you stated would have carried the upgrade to a follow through, as is tho Rob dropped that ball. We’re still looking for that 3rd big but it looks like that has been fumbled too. Let’s hope Rob can recover his fumble and still make yards in getting a useful back up for non-AD minutes.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 2:19 pm    Post subject:

SGSD32 wrote:
Laker's Fan wrote:
Top 8 last year: Davis, LeBron, Reaves, Rui, Russell, Vando, Dennis, and Walker
Top 8 this year: Davis, LeBron, Reaves, Rui, Russell, Vando, Vincent and Prince

I think there's reason to believe the top five will be better with additional time to mesh after the shotgun wedding to end last season. I also have Vincent and Prince as an upgrade over Dennis and Walker, especially in how they give you more size defensively without sacrificing offense. To this end, Pelinka was true to his statements about bringing the core back and improving around the edges.

If you go deeper into the bench, Christie and Hayes are less known quantities than Beasley and Gabriel were, though both have greater upside. But we're talking deep enough in the depth chart that it may not make a huge difference on team performance, especially once we sign the third big. I would have brought back one of Beasley or Walker over Reddish though to give you more experience in reserve at swing. Hopefully Christie steps up.


I would think it would be a very successful seasons for the Lakers if the 8 ended up like this..

Bron, AD, AR, Rui, Vincent, Hayes, Christie, Russell.

It would mean Hayes and Christie take big developmental steps.. and that would be GREAT news for the team, imo.

I like Vando.. but he's not a guy who can finish a high-level playoff game.


Hayes and MaxC would have to improve more than Vand to be able to finish a high-level playoff game. It would be more successful if Vand were able to ascend to the top 8 than MaxC. Backcourt covered with Dlo/AR/Vinc, front court covered with AD/the dream of Hayes but I don’t expect it/Rui. The need then would be wing play and Vand looks to fill that role. Rumor has it that MaxC has grown tho so perhaps he can ascend to a 3&D SF. Still, his improvement would have to be more dramatic to replace Vand, anything is possible.

You opinion is yours, not trying to change it, but I think we’ll be most successful if the top 8 are:
AD/LBJ/AR/Dlo/Rui/Vinc/Hayes/Vand
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 2:30 pm    Post subject:

Biggest ??? is Gabe Vincent... I like how he played in the playoffs. But he was pretty average during the regular season. I'm hoping that he's does not turn into that guy who got paid based on a flukey playoffs performance. Gabe is a better 3 point shooter that Dennis, which should open the floor more. Dennis was better at driving and drawing fouls. Gabe less turnover prone also.

Prince is the best pick up imo... The guy can guard 3-4 positions. You won't be able to play him off the floor like TBJ. He's also a vet and more steady. Defense should be better overall.

Hayes is all energy and hustle. He is a bigger version of Gabriel and much better suited to play the back up C... He was simply brought in for that. He is the complete opposite of Mo when it comes to bringing energy off the bench.

Cam Reddish will be the X-factor this season... I think we are all hoping working with handy will bring out his skills. A lot of us are hoping that he comes close to similar impact as Monk and Walker. He is a 6'8 SG/SF combo with a potential of being a decent defender with working under Ham.

Overall this team got much taller, longer and better shooting. They have players who can guard multiple positions and better suited for the role this team needs. Good mixture of young and vets. Have a few guys that needs to be developed. But much better looking when Lebron retires.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 10:27 pm    Post subject:

Brown started 17 of 27 games for us after the trade deadline last year (45 total).
Beasly started 14 games.

I'd say we can put better starting lineups out there this year.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 1:25 am    Post subject:

Halflife wrote:
Dr. Laker wrote:
Lakers got better.
Nuggets got worse and have to deal with post-championship syndrome. Does Joker show up at camp weighing 380#?
Suns got worse (IMO, not a Beal believer), KD never healthy. Booker at the 1.
Dubs in major decline everywhere. Klay - DONE. Dray - DONE.
Clippers still toxic and injury prone. Harden wouldn't help that if he came.
Grizzlies could be a major problem . . . or a major disaster. Where is Ja's head?
Will Sasha Vezenkov be a difference maker in Sacto? Maybe. Brown is coaching them up.
Pelicans are out of control.
Blazers are dead in the water.
OKC is on the come up and could make the playoffs.
Houston won't be pathetic.
T-Wolves are dysfunctional.
Spurs will anchor the lottery.
Mavs. I just don't see Kyrie & Luka working.
Utah is smartly rebuilding.

The Lakers are certainly Top-3 in the West. Where Dame lands could tip the balance, but I see him going East.

This is funny. The suns filled out their roster. They are better than us
Denver still has best player in league.
Wolves are better than last year.
Pelicans. Who knows. There were #2 when healthy.

Clippers are like us “if healthy.” They beat us regularly so who knows

Okc dark horse.
Gsw who knows
Kings are good
Grizz are good
We are 4-8 seed.

We needed a big talent upgrade to be top tier and we got marginal players. Will be better than we started, but don’t think we will win at the clip we did after trade. That schedule was cake. Should be exciting year though


If I was a gambler I would bet that we are at least a 5 seed, if not better even with old man James and always hurt Davis. Your outlook is extremely pessimistic.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:51 am    Post subject:

miggz23 wrote:
Biggest ??? is Gabe Vincent... I like how he played in the playoffs. But he was pretty average during the regular season. I'm hoping that he's does not turn into that guy who got paid based on a flukey playoffs performance. Gabe is a better 3 point shooter that Dennis, which should open the floor more. Dennis was better at driving and drawing fouls. Gabe less turnover prone also.


The same thing is true for Hachimura. We will be hoping that their playoff performances are indicative of how they will play going forward. But really, if we could go back in time to January 1, and I told you that we would spend the MLE on Gabe Vincent and give Rui Hachimura a $17M AAV contract, you would have looked at me like I was crazy. In fact, some of the folks here would have had only a hazy idea of who those players were. This could turn out well in the end, but there is definitely an element of gambling.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:57 am    Post subject:

defense wrote:
Halflife wrote:
This is funny. The suns filled out their roster. They are better than us
Denver still has best player in league.
Wolves are better than last year.
Pelicans. Who knows. There were #2 when healthy.

Clippers are like us “if healthy.” They beat us regularly so who knows

Okc dark horse.
Gsw who knows
Kings are good
Grizz are good
We are 4-8 seed.

We needed a big talent upgrade to be top tier and we got marginal players. Will be better than we started, but don’t think we will win at the clip we did after trade. That schedule was cake. Should be exciting year though


If I was a gambler I would bet that we are at least a 5 seed, if not better even with old man James and always hurt Davis. Your outlook is extremely pessimistic.


#5 seed sounds reasonable, but there is a great deal of room for variance up or down due to health, chemistry, and the health and chemistry of everyone else in the conference. I won't be shocked if the Jazz and Rockets are right in the mix this year. Other than the Spurs and probably the Blazers, I'm not sure that there will be any bona fide rebuilding teams this year.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 5:30 am    Post subject:

Aeneas Hunter wrote:
miggz23 wrote:
Biggest ??? is Gabe Vincent... I like how he played in the playoffs. But he was pretty average during the regular season. I'm hoping that he's does not turn into that guy who got paid based on a flukey playoffs performance. Gabe is a better 3 point shooter that Dennis, which should open the floor more. Dennis was better at driving and drawing fouls. Gabe less turnover prone also.


The same thing is true for Hachimura. We will be hoping that their playoff performances are indicative of how they will play going forward. But really, if we could go back in time to January 1, and I told you that we would spend the MLE on Gabe Vincent and give Rui Hachimura a $17M AAV contract, you would have looked at me like I was crazy. In fact, some of the folks here would have had only a hazy idea of who those players were. This could turn out well in the end, but there is definitely an element of gambling.

There's also how Reaves played in the last 2 months. Can we get that Reaves for a whole season? We need that Reaves for the season, the same Rui we saw in the playoffs (in the RS) and Gabe to be fitting in like he did with Miami. If that happens, we will have a strong RS.

However with Bron/AD, you always feel even if they're just a play in 7th/8th seed, you have a chance. We should have beaten the Suns a few years ago had AD not been hurt (were up 2-1 on them). We beat the 2nd seed this year and the West Semis. Just having AD and Bron healthy in the playoffs, you can make a run as they alone put you in significant match up advantages.

The whole RS, it just needs to be a "buy time" and keep AD/Bron healthy and to be peak by April. A lot of people trash AD/Bron, but if you look at their numbers, and what their impact is, it is them who really made this WCF run possible. It wasn't the sidekicks. As soon as we played a healthy 50+ win team, with healthy stars, the sidekicks looked rather ineffective while AD/Bron still were effective. It's all about how you want to look at that. Some will look at that and say AD/Bron can't play at that MVP level to get us to the end. Others (like me) will say, you still have 2 all-star level players, and if your sidekicks are high quality, you can get through. The fact that we're saving taxes and being a non-tax payer when we clearly know AD/Bron are NOT in their primes, is worrisome. We've built a roster that is good, but not so good that we can rely on 2 older all-stars. A strong argument can be made we should have done what we already have, but also been a little more aggressive to get better.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 5:39 am    Post subject:

Aeneas Hunter wrote:
miggz23 wrote:
Biggest ??? is Gabe Vincent... I like how he played in the playoffs. But he was pretty average during the regular season. I'm hoping that he's does not turn into that guy who got paid based on a flukey playoffs performance. Gabe is a better 3 point shooter that Dennis, which should open the floor more. Dennis was better at driving and drawing fouls. Gabe less turnover prone also.


The same thing is true for Hachimura. We will be hoping that their playoff performances are indicative of how they will play going forward. But really, if we could go back in time to January 1, and I told you that we would spend the MLE on Gabe Vincent and give Rui Hachimura a $17M AAV contract, you would have looked at me like I was crazy. In fact, some of the folks here would have had only a hazy idea of who those players were. This could turn out well in the end, but there is definitely an element of gambling.


To be fair, Rui was showing signs before he got to the Lakers. We may have traded for him at just the right time in his career. He seems to have found some confidence. I don't think anyone will argue that he has the talent.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 6:36 am    Post subject:

defense wrote:
Aeneas Hunter wrote:
miggz23 wrote:
Biggest ??? is Gabe Vincent... I like how he played in the playoffs. But he was pretty average during the regular season. I'm hoping that he's does not turn into that guy who got paid based on a flukey playoffs performance. Gabe is a better 3 point shooter that Dennis, which should open the floor more. Dennis was better at driving and drawing fouls. Gabe less turnover prone also.


The same thing is true for Hachimura. We will be hoping that their playoff performances are indicative of how they will play going forward. But really, if we could go back in time to January 1, and I told you that we would spend the MLE on Gabe Vincent and give Rui Hachimura a $17M AAV contract, you would have looked at me like I was crazy. In fact, some of the folks here would have had only a hazy idea of who those players were. This could turn out well in the end, but there is definitely an element of gambling.


To be fair, Rui was showing signs before he got to the Lakers. We may have traded for him at just the right time in his career. He seems to have found some confidence. I don't think anyone will argue that he has the talent.


I hope that you're right, but if he was really showing signs with the Wizards, I don't think that we would have gotten him for Kendrick Nunn. He was consistently inconsistent for the Wizards. His point totals for the Wizards in January were 26, 12, 5, 9, 10, 9, 16, 0, 30. If you look at his playoff performances for us, you can see the same lack of consistency.

It worries me that we may have bought high based on a good playoff run and a contract year. He did seem to play with a lot more confidence as time went on. On the other hand, he'll be facing a whole different level of expectations now. Last January, Lakers Nation was eager to embrace anyone whose name wasn't Westbrook. Now Hachimura is taking up a big chunk of the non-Lebron/Davis payroll. We all know how quick Lakers Nation can turn on someone who is perceived to be underperforming.

So let's hope that Playoff Rui is the new normal. If so, you'll be right that we caught him at exactly the right moment in his career.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 6:41 am    Post subject:

LakersRGolden wrote:
Brown started 17 of 27 games for us after the trade deadline last year (45 total).
Beasly started 14 games.

I'd say we can put better starting lineups out there this year.


As bad as Beasley was for the Lakers last year Cam was just as bad for another team. Shooters struggle when coming to the bright lights of LA so I wouldn’t automatically say a better starting line up can be put out there if there are injuries because the Lakers downgraded at the back up SG spot with Cam over LWIV. As for Prince over TBjr, they look to contribute almost exactly the same, there is not an upgrade there. TBjr shot 38% from 3 with the Lakers, Prince did it with another team. We would be fortunate if Prince can shoot it at 38% on the volume he is likely to have with the Lakers like TBjr has already shown, plus TBjr is younger with a greater possibility to improve whereas Prince is likely at his peak right now as a much worse rebounder than TBjr. Prince for TBjr is not the upgrade so many are claiming imo, we’ll be fortunate if it is an even swap.

So no…the Lakers can’t have a much better starting line up, at best they can have the same with the same gaping hole at back up C such that there is a struggle during the non-AD minutes.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 6:46 am    Post subject:

wolfpaclaker wrote:
There's also how Reaves played in the last 2 months. Can we get that Reaves for a whole season? We need that Reaves for the season, the same Rui we saw in the playoffs (in the RS) and Gabe to be fitting in like he did with Miami. If that happens, we will have a strong RS.


I'm pretty confident that Reaves will be solid. I don't know that his ceiling is as high as some people seem to think, but he has exceeded my expectations so many times that I don't have a good sense of where his ceiling lies.

On your other point, the idea of managing Lebron/Davis for the playoffs makes me nervous. I don't think that any team has ever managed to do something like that on a consistent basis. In fact, it's not clear that load management even works. It's one thing to say that we shouldn't overuse a player and that the threshold for overuse is lower for someone like Lebron. It's another thing to say that extra rest makes a meaningful difference if the player is not otherwise being overused.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 9:42 am    Post subject:

miggz23 wrote:
Biggest ??? is Gabe Vincent... I like how he played in the playoffs. But he was pretty average during the regular season. I'm hoping that he's does not turn into that guy who got paid based on a flukey playoffs performance. Gabe is a better 3 point shooter that Dennis, which should open the floor more. Dennis was better at driving and drawing fouls. Gabe less turnover prone also.

Prince is the best pick up imo... The guy can guard 3-4 positions. You won't be able to play him off the floor like TBJ. He's also a vet and more steady. Defense should be better overall.

Hayes is all energy and hustle. He is a bigger version of Gabriel and much better suited to play the back up C... He was simply brought in for that. He is the complete opposite of Mo when it comes to bringing energy off the bench.

Cam Reddish will be the X-factor this season... I think we are all hoping working with handy will bring out his skills. A lot of us are hoping that he comes close to similar impact as Monk and Walker. He is a 6'8 SG/SF combo with a potential of being a decent defender with working under Ham.

Overall this team got much taller, longer and better shooting. They have players who can guard multiple positions and better suited for the role this team needs. Good mixture of young and vets. Have a few guys that needs to be developed. But much better looking when Lebron retires.


I do like that the Lakers got longer and taller but I keep going back to one of the best quotes I’ve seen coming from another post on this board; “the ability to play good basketball is an underrated skill.” Hayes and Cam haven’t shown that.

Also, we did not get better overall shooting. Vinc for Shro is a wash since the regular season is a much larger sample size tho I will admit the post season is more important. Shro was a little better in the regular season, but Vinc was a lot better in the post season, which not only is more important but more recent. It’s close but I can see someone saying we got better shooting at PG but I call it a wash.

What isn’t a wash however is that we got much worse shooting at back up SG going with Cam over LWIV. Even if you give the edge advantage to Vinc over Shro it has to be taken back and more with Cam vs LWIV so that overall at this point we are worse shooting.

Then there is Prince vs TBjr who both shot 38% from 3. The difference is that TBjr did it with the Lakers and Prince did it with another team…so you cannot say we improved. It’s difficult to even say it’s a wash since proving it with the Lakers is more valuable than doing it with another team but hey…it’s hard enough to get everyone to realize it’s not an upgrade so one step at a time..let’s call it a wash.

Finally, Hayes vs Gabe. At this point there really isn’t more that should need to be said. The Lakers do not have better shooting. 10% from 3 from Hayes.

We weren’t able to really see MoBa but when you subtract his potential and throw Beasley in too…who were both overall non/factors but even their potential shooting hasn’t been replaced…then it should be clear that the Lakers do not look as if they got better shooting overall. It looks like they got worse.
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 31, 2023 12:23 am    Post subject:

Funny to revisit. I was off on suns and tbd on grizz.
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wolfpaclaker
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Joined: 29 May 2002
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 31, 2023 5:26 am    Post subject:

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Others (like me) will say, you still have 2 all-star level players, and if your sidekicks are high quality, you can get through. The fact that we're saving taxes and being a non-tax payer when we clearly know AD/Bron are NOT in their primes, is worrisome. We've built a roster that is good, but not so good that we can rely on 2 older all-stars. A strong argument can be made we should have done what we already have, but also been a little more aggressive to get better.

That's what I said in July, and seems ok even in hindsight. We sort of patted ourselves on the back with the WCF run. Didn't make a push to get 18. We sort of invested in a team that was good, but heavily reliant on AD/Bron playing at a MVP level. We had Bamba's/Beasley's contracts, and the 2023 pick to move on draft day if we chose to be a big tax payer. Instead we went for cap savings. We also let Dennis go, which seems like a significant loss at the moment.

What worries me is that AD/Bron have been the most healthy they have been since 2019-20. 33 games in we're hovering .500. I can not remember the last time we had AD/Bron healthy for 30+ games in a row in the RS and we hover around .500. Meanwhile Boston went out and got Porzingis, the exact sort of talented big we need around AD, and then later Holiday, the type of 2-way lead guard we need around Austin. Imagine if we had a core of Porzingis, AD, Bron, Austin, Holiday. With a high quality championship winning coach. 18 is possible. As I've said a few times, having read Jeanie's interviews, the title or bust mentality we once had is long gone. It's more along the lines, lets compete, lets be a playoff team, lets just get into the playoffs.
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