I think Larry is more of a willing passer as he's quite often the target for the pick and rolls, and when the man switches, he makes the right pass almost every time. As for Randle, I just feel sometimes he lowers his game to the opponent's level, or he's not playing at 100% effort, which is a little frustrating with the amount of talent he has. I think he's needs to learn how to play off the ball more and get shots in the offense rather than trying to create his own.
pretty much all the relevant rebounding numbers. off%, def%, team% on vs. off between 15/16 and 16/17. not a major downturn, but down across the board. using whichever alogrithm they've chosen to give a total rebound rating (i'm always suspicious of these), it looks worse. anyway, not a huge deal; i was just taking issue with the idea that deng grabbing a couple more boards would necessarily translate to randle grabbing fewer.
I don't really see where Randle has improved from last season. He has all the skill in the world but plays extremely lazy. Only shows up when he wants to, reminds me of another young big we had not too long ago.
I mean... It's pretty clear Julius has improved. I'm not saying he's improved as much as he should, but he's sort of undoubtedly improved. His FG% went from 42.9% to 48.8% albeit it amounts to one extra made shot per game. We've documented he's improved his shooting around the rim and from 10-16 feet significantly, but not significantly in other (arguably more important) areas. He's doubled his assists per game and his assist to turnover ratio has improved from 1:1 to 1.44:1. His TS% has improved from 48.2% to 53.7%. He's even improved his W/S despite the team being bad. His VORP has improved from -0.9 to 0.5. He's improved his ORtg from 97 to 105 and even though his DRtg has dropped from 108 to 111, the differential between his ORtg and DRtg has improved from -11 to -6. I'm not saying he's improved the way we want him to, but it's sort of undeniable that he's improved. I wish it was more. I wish he was shooting 3s and playing better defense. I am certainly disappointed he hasn't grown more.
A double double with maybe the worst attitude I've seen since in a Laker jersey since Kobe was "proving a point" by standing in the corner. I'm sick of his nonsense. If he's not going to bring positivity, then he doesn't deserve to be on this team. Get rid of him. edit- Obviously blocked "Dwight Howard pulling his jersey off before getting off the court" from my memory.
Randle is a true conundrum. With the right tutelage you feel like he could be Barkley-lite. But he seems distracted. Being a new young father might be part of it.
ESPN's TOP 50 UNDER 25 #48: Larry Nance Jr. #32: Jordan Clarkson #25: Brandon Ingram #23: Julius Randle #18: D'Angelo Russell
I really don't think there's any question that we've drafted well. And let's not forget Zubac who didn't make the list but looks like a great find.
The Lakers have drafted well - esp. with Clarkson/Nance making the list and also we can all agree that Zubac is a great find. That said, playing devil's advocate, you can also say that despite having the #2, #2 and #7 pick the last 3 years, none of them are in the Top 17.
While I think none of them is in the top 17 (deservedly), I don't think the Lakers could have drafted much better players. These drafts were mostly crap. Look at the last draft. There isn't a single player that is playing well...nobody is playing more than 27 minutes. Only like 10 players are shooting 40+ or higher...nobody is averaging in double digits. Its just a crap class on every level. This is a month old but take a look...all garbage.
