Participation with USA Select Team is after Summer League or would rule it out for Russell? So be it if that's the case ....much greater learning opportunity. Apparently not on the tip of anyone's tongue so I got on the phone with my old friend Dr. Google. He said to the best of his knowledge from what writers had told him was that the Summer League games ran from July 2-18 in the 3 cities of Orlando, Utah and Las Vegas where it concludes. The training schedule and final selection of the Olympic squad looks to start conveniently by design, right after, also in Las Vegas July 18-22 and going forward as outlined in this link below. Russell will be kept very busy with his competitive NBA schedule in July. Randle too, but don't know if he's going to play in Summer League as well. I'd be surprised after having already put in 2 years. http://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2016/04/2016-mnt-training-daily-schedule.aspx The Games themselves run Aug 6-21st.
if the Lakers end up with Simmons, Randle will have to be shipped for a wing. I still prefer to get Ingram, he is just a better fit. Simmons not being able to shoot is a deal breaker for me. He also has more of an attitude and doesn't seem to be nitty gritty competitive.
From what I have seen from Randle and the kind of heart and motor he has to improve his game to go along with the alpha mentality I trade Simmons before I do Randle.
I am not sure that in the modern NBA those two are mutually exclusive. With more and more small ball you could run Simmons as a point center and keep Randle at 4. You would have to get a knock down 2 and 3 to run with Russell/Clarkson on the wings, but you are potentially running a line up where all 5 players can lead the break and distribute. Again those 2 other players need to be able to constantly bury the three, but you would create massive match up problems with a line up like that.
To make it perfect Julius or Ben would just have to be able to hit threes at a semi-respectable clip for the half-court offense. Still a lineup of guys that can switch everything and everyone can handle the ball... That's what Golden State's best lineups do. That's what the new NBA is about.
I completely agree that both Randle and Simmons NEED to develop that mid range and out jumper, and I think that both are certainly capable. I was just going off what is true right now. Randle seems to be headed in that direction. In the end I am still hoping for Ingram, but a Point Center Simmons is certainly appealing.
Honestly we can do the same thing with Ingram if we need to except make him the 3 and put Nance Jr. at the small ball five. Larry might not be able to advance the ball, but he can fit in that small ball five territory with his athleticism and smart decision making. Russell/Clarkson/Ingram/Randle/Nance Jr. is the Lakers' future lineup of death. Switch everything and rotate to help. That lineup could be huge trouble for teams.
^ Except the pace would be much slower with that small ball lineup. In a fast break Randle and Simmons would kinda be like 2 Lebron's coming at you.
Simmons can't be center for too long. I don't know what it is, but when players play "up" for significant minutes, it tends to break them down. Simmons is Odom. A guy with sf athleticism and skills in a pf body. I can't imagine what would have happened to poor Odom had we played him significant minutes at center.
^^^ Yeah no kidding. I've been picturing that. Julius has a nitrous button on his chest too when he needs it. Look the hell out whoever's trying to stop the layup / monster jam. Plus there are always going to be random foul troubles and injuries. What a freaking PF / small ball center rotation to have. Nance and Black in the mix too. Not to mention Whiteside, Biyumbo or any of the other oft mentioned we should be going after legit center targets.
I agree we could make it work, but if someone says one of them has to go I'd rather trade Simmons at this point because I haven't seen him play in the NBA yet and have a better idea of what Randle will be despite only 1 year of play. Simmons IMO has the bigger ceiling than Randle but also the bigger floor.
I don't know that it'd be much slower than Golden State. Klay and Steph aren't exactly blazing fast, they're just extremely dangerous in the open court with their ability to pull up from three. It'd be slower than OKC, but then again everyone is slower than OKC. An ideal break has only three players anyway. Your two guards take off, either Randle or Simmons handles the ball coming up. The other of Randle or Simmons trails to the three point line and the final piece cuts down the middle to set up the offense.
An ideal fastbreak wouldn't apply in this case. It would be Randle/Simmons grabbing the rebound and taking off. The opposing team's frontcourt would be left in the dust and their guards would have no chance of stopping our 2 freight trains going straight to the basket. Again, think Lebron. There's no need for our guards trailing to the corner. They just need to get the hell out of the way because it's an automatic dunk or and1.
That is a horrible fast break! LeBron has at least one person with him because that makes an easier shot. Fast break fundamentals: three is perfect, two is okay. Anything more or less than that and you're putting your offense or defense in a less than ideal position. LeBron doesn't just attack by himself very often. He has a guard with him to pass the ball to, who can then lob the ball up to the rim for him. Ideally, Simmons or Randle grabs the rebound and pushes the ball up. D'Angelo and/or Clarkson is already heading up that way and the other guard fades to the corner. Randle passes to D'Angelo who can then either lob the ball back to Randle, find Clarkson in the corner, or take the shot himself. Golden State does this literally every night with Klay going to the corner, Curry usually taking the ball back out to the three point line, and Draymond or Iggy going to the rim. If the defense gets back with two or three people who clog up that attempt, the fourth player (now either Simmons or Randle) comes down towards the ball. He either sets a screen or fades to the corner where he'll be open for a three. The last piece runs down the middle of the court (Nance Jr in our small ball lineups) and that starts the offense with somewhere between 20-14 seconds left on the clock still. Golden State does this all the time every single game. It works for them because they've got probably the two best shooters in the game. For us we probably take more layups instead of settling for threes, but the set still basically works the same.
Well I'm half joking but guards will naturally get a head start so they'd be in those positions anyway. The point is that between Simmons at the 5 and Randle at the 4, we'd grab close to 20 defensive boards per game. There's never been a team with two dominant rebounders that have the speed and handles of Simmons/Julius. It would be a new style of smallball.
Oh 100%. The spacing in half-court would be tough at first, but they have awesome defensive potential and those breaks would be frightening.
All discussions of fast break theory aside. The reality is that both Simmons and Randle would create huge match up problems for most teams. If you guard either of them small they both have more than enough skill to go back to the basket/post up. If you go big, they can both face up with ease. Both also have more than enough athleticism to prosper in that kind of role, and both can handle the ball well and are capable distributors. Running them at the same time side by side would force teams to make a choice on how to guard them and that would in general create problems. If you have shooters you could also run a high low set with them as well. Lots of problems would be created. Puke would in all truth have 5 guards on the floor, it would just be that two of them are built more like a pf/c.
