Larry Nance Jr. Discussion: Don't Fake The Funk On A Nance Dunk

good news; i was worried that could impact some of progress he's made shooting. his play has been encouraging throughout his time with the lakers. i'm a nance fan.

 

At first I was like


And then I was like



And then I was


But then I was

and looked at all the people freaking out like

But that Larry guy, he was all like

and sorta like



Yeah, you got us Larry. You got us.



Dang, we might need a story thread soon.

 

That seems a lot of minutes for Larry to average coming off the bench, or does it assume some minutes at other positions beside PF? Or as happened this past season....that he will start a number of games at PF?

 

From a Zach Lowe podcast before the draft last year:

"Enough talent evaluators who I respect have told me “just keep an eye on Larry Nance Jr.” And specifically, “he has a little Draymond Green like switch-ability, versatility, just a little whiff of that.” So let’s see if it pans out."

 

i'm sure lowe has buried that little nugget since. i mean, once the lakers drafted him, he had to have lost all shine. if only houston or boston had drafted him. it would have meant that what he heard was true, as opposed to a vicious, wicked lie.

 

When asked what superpower he would want.

 

How about the power to heal? Might be a little more handy...

 

or his wrist.

 

I'd love to see Nance,Randle&Black together on the floor for some bully ball. With Russell&Deng at the 2.

 

That lineup would have no spacing at all. And not sure Nance and Deng are quick enough to keep up.

 

Black would bang down low in the paint.. This line up would be under the circumstances that Nance&Randle can hit the open shot and would drive in a jiffy if the other team tries to body them up(Nance would have too much length, Randle all around too quick/agile for a PF).

Russell and Deng can hit the 3 and space. If Nance/Randle can shoot 40% from 3, theyd be scary as a 3/4/5(5 if they get thicker for Draymond type role).

 

Shooting guards and small forwards will run circles around Deng and Nance. Randle isn't that great on help defense and Black can contest but sometimes just isn't big enough.

 

You don't think Nance can hang with SF's? His athleticism and length IMO would be trouble for a lot of SFs. I'm not saying it's a perfect lineup but once again, new system, Russell and Randle will be in their second years so that grind and experience alone will help them improve defensively. We'd still have 3 legit scorers in the lineup that can create on their own.

This would be just be a lineup for a small stretch, constantly giving the other team different looks and if it fails, it fails.. But defensively, the thought behind it is it would make the other team have difficulties because I'd make switching a lot easier for us.

 

nance doesn't have great lateral quickness, so no, i don't think he can guard sfs or chase shooters on the perimeter in general. he's a 4/smallball 5, but mostly a 4.

i actually think it's somewhat counterproductive to try to play guys out of position--especially going against smaller/more skilled players. marc gasol is actually fairly nimble and can shoot pretty well out to 20ft, but that doesn't mean i'd dream of playing him at the 4.

 

He is athletic and somewhat long but he doesn't have the quickness to move laterally to keep up with the Kawhi, KD, Paul George, etc. Same with Deng, no way will he be able to keep up with SGs. At this point he's a small ball 4 that can play spot mins at the 3, he's just not as quick as he used to be. Imagine him having to chase Reddick around.

The beauty of the team we have put together is that each player has the ability to play multiple positions. We have guards that can play both guard positions. We have wings that can play small ball 4. We have legit 5's and 4s that can play the 5. I agree on having different options but let's play everyone at the position that will maximize their outputs.