Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

Seeing "vets" like Real, Karacha, Ras etc. being here in good spirits, gives me more hope. We just got AD (one of my fav players along with Giannis), we kept Kuz. Bron got some rest finally. We added Green, McGee is still here. Maybe someone demends out or gets bought out... hell, we might even make the playoffs

 

I'm not in good spirits. I'm irritated. I hope this team goes mamba mode. I really do.

 

Now my rage has subsided, I’m still optimistic we can fill out the roster:

Cousins - 17 million
McGee - Room

Morris/Korver/Iggy/Bradley/Rondo/Cook/KCP available.

Someone/Bradley/Caruso
Green/Korver/THT
LBJ/Kuz
AD/Morris
Cousins/McGee

If possible.

 

caurso/???
Green/kcp
Lbj/Dudley
Ad/kuzma
McGee/?

 

I'm not convinced Kawhi and PG are durable enough to make deep playoff runs. People forget Fred VanVleet closed out Game 6 for them and Kawhi decayed at an alarming rate throughout the Finals. His degenerative leg ain't goin anywhere. Playoff P ain't goin anywhere. The best duo is still on the Lakers. Our hopes rest on Kuz developing into the 3rd star/6 man a la Ginobili or OKC Harden that we need.

 

Cousins. He's far too skilled to just be there for the taking. We need talent. This is an arms race right now...

 

That’s what they said of the raptors all year until they made the finals.....

 

Not really, they said the load management was working. Most of the doubts came in the Raptors supporting cast, even though they had 8 guys in their rotation who could shoot 3s and play defense.

Depending on if Paul George is back to his regular playoff antics, you can't quite say the Clippers supporting cast is as well rounded. They have a lot of 1 way guys. In SRS terms you'd rather have a guy who's a +0.5 on offense and +0.5 on defense than a guy who's a +1.0/0.0 or +1.5/-0.5 due to today's league being about hammering specific weaknesses.

The Raptors had a lot more of the first kind (Siakam, Gasol, Ibaka, Lowry, FVV, Powell) while the Clippers have way more of the latter (PatBev, LouWill, Harrell, Gallinari). Their defense is insane, until you get to the part where LouWill is on the floor and Harrell has to matchup with AD. Their offense looks deadly until you remember that Patrick Beverly is a 40% 3 point shooter on like 1 attempt a game who takes forever to shoot and constantly passes up shots so no one respects him and would help like 15 feet off him and close out.

Only thing I'm worried about is if they stick PG on LeBron and Kawhi on AD and decide to switch all the pick and rolls. At that point you're gonna have to hope for Kawhi's bum leg to act up so AD feasts on the glass.

KCP, Green, Bron, Kuzma, AD is probably the closest thing to a decent 2-way lineup we'll be able to trot out if we project Kuzma's defensive improvement being consistent with what he accomplished this season. I think he was at maybe a -0.5 last year, might be able to bump that up into neutral-ish territory this season. LeBron low key locks up Kawhi at times when they play but he can't sustain it. Basically gonna have to pray for Kuzma to develop the footwork to handle him, since DG and KCP can probably handle Paul George and LouWill

 

My personal issue is that we lack the backup show runner. Be it PG or whatever.

When Brin sits, which he must be doing a lot of, we will have to run it through the post. Other options are slim.

This, in today's nba, is an easy offense to prepare to, IMO

 

McGee/ Jonathan Williams?
AD/ Kuzma
Lebron/ THT/ Dudley
Green/KCP
Cook/Daniels/ Caruso

Lots of shooters. Need one more playmaking point guard and backup big. We are set at the wings

 

THE REAL #2 IN OUR PURPLE AND GOLD HEARTS

 

Posted this in the wrong place, think it belongs here:

Most of you don’t like Bill Simmons, but here’s one our “enemies” appropriately pricing the PG acquisition -

Spoiler: Mild Language From Bill Simmons

Hey guys, please remember to watch out for language in your media posts. Thanks!- therealdeal

 

If it ever come to a Hou - Lac WCF... im pulling for the Rockets. I hate myself for even typing that but since few hours ago, that is the truth.

 

What’s funny, almost everyone wanted us to build out our roster around AD and Lebron including experts. If we did that from the beginning, no one would say anything.

We’re doing just that with shooters and now it’s a different narrative. Haters gonna hate.

 

Honestly I'm not hating the moves Big Bob's been making.

 

Come on Lakers fans, keep a rational perspective. The Lakers will be just fine and will still compete for a championship. Losing the momentary “battle” of not getting Kawhi doesn’t mean you lost the war. If you are honest about the free agency period, the clippers did what they were supposed to do (i.e. stable ownership, stable front off, solidly built team with a players coach that has championship experience, and of course, Jerry West), and got rewarded for it. The whole outcome is great for the city of Los Angeles and the NBA in general.

Lakers vs. Clippers for a Christmas Day matchup. Mandatory!