It's the wave of the future my friend. Especially since Lonzo is still a shaky shooter at best and Julius can't hit the broad side of a barn from outside. If we get George, but get a more traditional (non-shooting) Center, we have only two guys really capable of shooting in the starting lineup with George and Ingram. Lonzo is still shaky, Randle can't shoot and a Center wouldn't shoot either. We'd have zero spacing and we wouldn't have a stellar post presence that you need if you don't have knock down shooters (90s era). It's not a good way to build a team in today's NBA to have no bigs on the floor who can shoot.
I never said I wanted a guy who couldn't space the floor and whose sole identity is defense and putbacks on offense. In fact one of the reasons I really liked the Thomas Bryant 2nd round pick from last season was because he flashed 3pt range at Indiana. Again, Lopez is a decent enough option and it's not the end of the world if he comes back. Just saying, ideally, I would like a C who brings the type of offensive versatility the Lakers need but comes in the form of someone younger and more athletic. I agree though that these types are not in abundance but the whole discussion was what is "ideal" and Lopez isn't "ideal". He's safe and fine. After seeing how well rookie bigs did this season in John Collins, Jarrett Allen, Bam Adebayo (and Kuzma), I think the Lakers should definitely go big in the 1st round. A guy I really like and has been linked to the Lakers regularly in mocks is Jontay Porter, an athletic big who has certainly flashed solid offensive versatility, including 3pt range and passing, with legitimate defensive potential. IF the Lakers draft Porter and re-sign Lopez, I think that's a nice situation I can certainly live with.
I like Porter as well, but I'm not sure he's a lot more athletic than Brook honestly. Porter to me looks like a younger, bit more athletic version of Channing Frye. I mean that as a compliment. Frye has had a 12 year career in the NBA, if you get that out of a late 1st round pick, that's a win. And I'm pretty high on Thomas Bryant. I think it'd be a mistake to plan for Bryant to be our backup, but I'm thinking a lot more about a Kuzma/Randle/Lopez rotation on most nights.
I thought Brook ability to protect the rim and defend in space this season was underrated by some ( Luke included , he should have played more 4 th Q minutes in some games). As TRD said , we were fortunate to have him and would be to get him back at a reasonable price.
I didn't sleep soundly last night. Nervous and anxious about tonight's game. The longer OKC is around playing this year the more damning it is for our chances at PG. I can't even watch the game, I'll do what I did for Game 5. I know when the game should be over so that's when I'll check the score. I can't take the emotional swings of watching it live. If Utah wins then I'll watch how the game ended in COMPLETE satisfaction, but if they lose I won't watch a second of it and will delete the recording.
Well first things first, we gotta avoid jinxers around here. And if LT says something suspicious, you throw one of these at him... Followed by...."I know you didn't just say somethin...out of all people...you? Really?" Find a rag, chloroform and well, lets just say LT will sleep better than you, so try to enjoy your evening as much as he will. If OKC wins, then at least understand that they have a Melo problem and dude is going to opt in this summer while the guy that OKC is thirsting to play in his place, Grant, will be a free agent this summer. OKC can retain him, but they're already looking at $150M in team salary (if George stays) along with $125M in luxury taxes....Grant would just add to that amount. They're f***ed...its inevitable.
Yep, we got confirmation..LT needs to go Nigh-T... We got t minus 3 hours till game time gentlemen. Operation hiJinx is a go! Move, move, move....
Oladipo is murdering the cavs right now. He dunked on Lebron once and before that almost dunked over him except he couldn’t finish. That one he missed was one of the meanest posters I’ve seen in the last 5-10 years, guy almost ended Lebron’s career on that one! Is dipo a better prospect moving forward than george?
