Anthony Davis Discussion: Only Player On Both All NBA + All Def

Rob needs to pick up the phone and make a realistic offer. We really going to miss out on Anthony Davis over trying to keep Lonzo Ball? f*** that.

 

Harvest Moon I totally agree with you! I watched a lot of Duke games and while Barrett is athletic and a good finisher around the rim, his defense is meh and he cannot shoot unless he is WIDE open... like has enough time to eat a sandwich before he shoots type open. He isn’t a natural shooter meaning that his release and motion are just blah. He could improve with coaching but I don’t get the hype.


The dude has no midrange game. I just don’t see it. Lots of flaws in his game.

 

Right there with you. Bringing in LBJ posed multiple issues- win now culture, huge ego, risk of major injury due to age/ mileage, banana boat magnet, questionable ability to attract top FAs. But ... you get a chanced to sign a top flight player albeit past his prime, I think you still take it, and resist the temptation to sell youth to win now. LBJ makes us relevant for the next few years, until we can develop talent, trade (some youth) for it or sign it.

 

This is not a very strong draft. Guys that will go in the top 10 would not have been in the top 20 in some years past. It's a good year to sell to a team guided more by wishful thinking than good analysis.

 

It will probably end up adding Ingram to that package and maybe Mo to make money work. That will probably be the middle of both offers that were made.

 

The reason why AD makes so much sense is because he is young enough to be a building block for the next 6 to 8 years, will attract star talent in LA, while also making us much more competitive now. As long as we dont sell the farm to get him....

All the other talked about stars and superstars dont achieve the same thing (except for KL, and he's not coming). Let NOL "shop" AD for a bit more, use it as leverage in negotiations with us, and then take the best deal we have to offer. Ideally, I'd love to be able to hang onto Ball and Kuzma. A package of centered on Hart, Ingram, and the #4 pick seems reasonable, but I suspect we will give up either Ball or Kuzma as well.

 

if we keep ball or kuzma and don't owe future picks past next year, i'm ok. i'd prefer to keep ball.

 

Lonzo isn't even going to be playable in the playoffs. Did you watch the Denver series? Murray got sent to the line like 2 dozen times down the stretch when the game was close. We can't have a 42% free throw shooter on the floor. It's not just his shooting form, but mental too. Imagine that pressure amplified in the playoffs.

 

Hollins had Grit & Grind in Memphis, where he eventually coached Marc into becoming a DPoY. Just imagine what he could potentially do with AD.

Now it's not my preferred route (Kawhi-AD), but if we get AD via Zo, Kuz & 4th and somehow keep BI, then Hollins can at least advise Vogel in treating BI in a Dray role to work off AD. If that doesn't work out, Dray does become available next summer. Bron-AD-Dray Klutch trinity... Just sayin.

Btw, as a contingency, I would also go after Horford (If he opts out) to pair with AD in the frontcourt.

 

He would be perfect if he could up his 3pt% a bit, shoot 75% from the line, improve his ability to run a half court offense, and stay healthy.

 

Not trying to turn this into a Zo thread, but other than the stay healthy part, does Ben Simmons do those things?

 

I agree the AD/LeBron window may be brief (i think it's longer than 2 years but reasonable minds can disagree on that) but the AD window is much longer. Even when LeBron is at the point where he's not taking over and winning games (or not even on the team any more), having AD puts you in a strong position to attract talent and compete for a title.

 

The league wants stars to stay on their current teams. They've designed the system to encourage stars to stay on their teams.

So it's a legitimate concern on the Lakers part when they think the NBA group will want the Lakers to stop swinging for the fences. It will of course be expressed to them as real advice for the Lakers... but part of it will be because the NBA wants parity. They want a competitive Lakers team for the revenue... but not at the expense of other teams. The NBA is looking out for the league as a whole while the Lakers execs really should just be looking out for the Lakers.

 

No, and that's one of the reasons they got bounced in the playoffs. His situation is a little different though, and he finds other ways to score, but like Lonzo, has some big holes in his game. The nonexistent 3 point shot being the most glaring.

 

While I agree he needs to improve his aggression on offense, his jumper is not as broken as you make it to be. He shot 32%, while not newsworthy, there are many players who shot worse than he did this season from deep. Including Simmons, Westbrook, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, Giannis, to name a few.

It sounds like you're just trying to find ways to downplay his game for no reason at all.

 

again, dont want to get too off course here, but lonzo will thrive with scorers around him... he is more of a maintenance scorer, with a fairly balanced stat sheet... he was never designed to put up more than 20 points a night, although he has the potential to do so from time to time. He is more of a classic/true PG pushing double digits in assists and rebounds, and ppg around 15, lets say.

he will never reach his full potential unless we put those pieces around him (that we are targeting right now).

 

Please make this happen, Rob.