Take out Lopez and replace it with a different starting C and I agree. I know he played reasonably well to end the season (at least it felt that way when my opponent had him on his fantasy team) and is a generally capable player but I have a hard time stomaching a starting C who averages more 3pt attempts (4.4) than rebounds (4.0).
^ valid point but what other C is available? One that is a legit 7 footer, spreads the floor and provides rim protection?
There is none, but some fans just don't like Lopez for whatever reason. He could probably average more rebounds, but his unique skill set defensively and with the three make him extremely valuable to what we do offensively. If we keep Randle around, Lopez is an important keep as well.
I don't dislike Lopez. I said he played reasonably well and is a generally capable player. I just want a more physical presence in terms of rebounding and some semblance of an inside game where more than 2/3 of his shots aren't jumpers. On paper it sounds like Randle + Lopez make sense because the former is a low post-threat and the latter is an outside threat but the Lakers have ample outside threats as is and personally I'd rather see Randle improve his mid-range game - not that his bum rushing the basket hasn't proven very effective. I want to add more toughness on defense. Also Lopez is turning 30 in a few days, so someone younger with long-term upside is ideal to me. Why not take a flier on Alex Len? He averaged 8.5ppg 7.5rpg 0.9bpg 56.6fg% in just 20.2mpg for the Suns, who despite being awful remained insistent that Tyson Chandler be a part of their rotation for far too long. In 13 starts, he put up 10.8ppg 8.8rpg 1.7bpg 60fg%. He's not the offensive threat Lopez is but he has solid size, a good mid-range game on the jumpers he did take (his role on the Suns wasn't to space the floor), defensive chops and will be only 25 in June.
Lopez's rebounding numbers are always a point against him, but did you know our TRB% is slightly better with him on the court than off? Not to mention, having guards who can rebound (thinking about Lonzo) means Lopez is free to run as soon as the ball goes up and often gets us an easy basket or two. Also, Brook takes a lot of threes, yes, but he shot 60% of his shots inside the three point line. Of his 794 FGa this season, 341 were within 10 feet of the rim (the slight majority of his shot selection), and he shot a very impressive 60.1% from that distance. In other words, Brook was the epitome of what analytics is asking for today: either high percentage three point looks or shots at/near the basket. For a Center (really for any player), Brook was efficient in those shots. There were only three Centers who shot 34% from three while taking 4 threes a game and blocking at least a shot per game: Brook Lopez, DeMarcus Cousins, and Marc Gasol. Of course the other two averaged over 32 minutes per game to Brook's 23.4 minutes per game. Brook Lopez was 17th in total blocks and 13th in blocks per game while playing only those 23.4 minutes, already very impressive. If he played 36 minutes per night, he'd have been second in both categories behind only Anthony Davis. No thank you to Alex Len. I'd prefer Brook Lopez at 30 to Alex Len pretty much any time in Len's career.
That's a whole lot of effort defending Brook Lopez. Only part I really disagree with is saying 341 is the slight majority of his 794 shots because the math doesn't quite support it [Edit: Clarification received you meant slight majority of type of shot selection, so joking comment can be disregarded]. Other than that, solid work. If your "ideal" offseason involves retaining him, more power to you. I think the Lakers should look elsewhere for a younger, more athletic Center with long-term potential - could also be via the draft/trade routes - and then turn to Lopez as a fallback option.
I dunno. I'm not saying Lopez is a terrible option. I just think if we have issues about PG becoming the 1st option when he comes, having concerns about Brook for simply being our primary Center should not come as a surprise. I firmly believe we can do better than him. Use whatever assets we have to trade/land a better center. 50W is the goal next year. PG as the main option with Brook as the primary C? Should be hard. And all I see is him slowmoing his way to the rim. Not the Lakers bball I envision next season. Sent from my E6533 using Tapatalk
Noted. Thank you for the clarification. I still would prefer the starting C not be taking 341 shots within 10 feet compared to 325 feet from 3pt land. If Lopez was hitting threes on a similar clip to Al Horford or KAT or Love, then sure, but not at 34.5%.
We'd be absolutely fortunate to have Lopez, especially over the options available. There are no Centers in the league right now at his projected price point (he said openly he'd take a big discount to join a superteam) that give us his unique combination of outside shooting and rim protection.
I don't honestly understand your argument here. What does Paul George being the 1st option have to do with Brook Lopez? Brook wasn't the first option this season until Ball, Ingram, and Kuzma were all hurt late in the year and when he was the first option, he performed well. His speed is honestly irrelevant. If you start Ball/George/Ingram/Randle you have more than enough speed on the floor at all times. Lopez is your trailing three point threat. I don't understand what this obsession is with Lopez's athleticism.
The point is, if many of us believe we can do better than just Paul George, it should not come as a surprise from us to expect we certainly can do better than just Lopez as our primary center. Of course we should have someone better. But like one of us mentioned here, we have so few options and no clear better. It isn't about playing the 1st option of the team. It's about being the 1st option for a particular role. You can expect from us to look for something better. You give us Gobert and we'd still say something. Sent from my E6533 using Tapatalk
Oh no problem, I was just genuinely confused by your phrasing. I understand Lopez isn't a "sexy" pick, but I just get rankled at how people nitpick him and don't really see what he brings positively just because he's not the greatest athlete. If you watch the games though, he does a very good job of running the floor and even was half-way-capable of switching later in the year. Can he be improved? I mean yeah sure if we could go get Karl Towns or if Cousins was healthy (and not a headcase), but for 4 million a year? There's nobody better. There's nobody with his size, experience, and specific skill set that's really available. If we want to get away from a player like him, we could just put more emphasis on Bryant honestly. Besides, my main goal is to have a death lineup of something like Ball/George/Ingram/Kuzma/Randle on the floor when we really want to put the gas on.
Lopez is a capable starting C and the Lakers could do much worse than him. This conversation started when someone said that keeping Lopez (along with signing PG13/re-signing Randle) would be the "ideal" offseason for the majority of fans. I must fall in the minority then because keeping Lopez, while a decent enough option and I'm not denigrating the guy as a player, isn't "ideal" to me. Yeah, options are limited at 4M and that would make sense if the Lakers were completely capped out and all they had was the room exception. At that point, sure, Lopez works. BUT if the Lakers give PG the MAX and maintain the cap hold for Randle, they will have more than 4M to spend to fill that C spot so that limitation isn't necessarily the scenario I have in my head when contemplating C options.
I'm so effing pissed right now. How do you blow a 25 point lead in the 3rd quarter?!?! Honestly, this may have given the Thunder the life they needed...they were down and out and somehow made the craziest comeback of ALL TIME. I guess the only GOOD thing from this is Playoff P was in form...and it woulda honestly been a bad look for him to lose 4-1 to an inferior team in the first round...that's not somebody I would want as my 1st or 2nd option on my team. Utah better not choke this one away though...
If we're talking "ideal" then the game doesn't stop with George to me. If we're talking "ideal" we ship Deng/#25/Zubac/Future 1st/2nd Round to Chicago for a TPE that we waive. We sign LeBron, we sign Paul George, we re-sign Randle. Then we use the Room Exception on Lopez. Find a bargain bin backup PG somewhere. Ball/vet PG/Caruso George/Hart Ingram/Kuzma LeBron/Frye Randle/Lopez/Bryant In any case, Lopez still makes the cut because having a floor spacing big who is a great rim protector for cheap is a luxury. If Towns was available or Cousins wasn't hurt, then "ideal" might change a little, but neither of those are possible so Lopez fits the bill well.
