Lakers VS Slippers Discussion

but who? covington's price tag seems awfully high for what he brings, imo. hell, we might be priced out of that one already.

kuz's issue, to me, other than just not really being a "dawg", is that his lateral reactive quickness just isn't great. some guys don't have that. above, i said both kawhi and tucker get away with a lot of fouls, but i should mention that they probably get away with it because those fouls tend to happen after they've stood a guy up with clean footwork. almost like the refs are rewarding the body position by allowing the arm contact. i don't think this is teachable. there might be some muscle development that can help a bit, but it seems like the guys who can do this (e.g., marcus smart) can do this from day one.

anyway, i'm still not positive that a wing defender is more important than a reliable backup pg. i suppose we'll see in time, though, because i doubt we shore up both spots in satisfactory fashion by may.

 

Backup PG is more important except for the Clips. I know Pops hates the Lakers but I wonder if he'd like to spite Kawhii by giving the Lakers Rudy Gay. Other then Iggy that's an ideal body type which can go against Leonard and handle Harell on the PnR. It's a total win now move but Kuzma plus Green for Patty Mills and Gay would be tempting

 

I think that’s a perfect representation of Kuzma’s defensive issues. He doesn’t have the lateral quickness required to stay in front of someone, he gets chewed up on a strong screen and is out of the play, he has poor defensive awareness to be a top help defender and he doesn’t have the dog in him to really get after someone as he is more of a finesse player.

I think Covington is out of our price range. Regardless he is better as a disruptive team help defender. I think his value comes more in blowing up a Kawhi/PG pick and roll or a Lou/Kawhi or PG pick and roll. Also as a ball hawk playing the lanes. I’d prefer a young guy who can be the primary defender of Kawhi. We still don’t have an answer to that.

In regards to backup PG, I’m hoping we can get Collison for free. But if we can’t, I’m open to trusting Rondo for a playoff run. I’m probably in the minority there though.

 

I'd rather we keep Rondo out for good - he's still a problem for this team. Get him out of here

 

Ouch! This is the first I have read of what he did to his finger. Had only read mentioned here or the end of Game Time that he had (dinged) a finger. Which one, which hand ..... anyone that knows? Doesn't break my heart though because we will get him back in time I'm guessing for the playoffs. In the meantime a great time to give Caruso especially and Cook and Daniels more minutes. Good for them and good for us for others to see them as assets. (not Caruso no way nohow)

 

AD likes him so he's not going anywhere

 

Likes him likes him

or

just likes him?

 

Ahh just wait until Collison comes, he'll eat up all the minutes at PG and we'll just need to bring in Bradley for defensive purposes.

 

Like at the start of games so we don't get torched completely by elite guards?

 

Some of you really need to either stop talking nonsense or figure out a better transaction when it comes to Rondo.

Yes, Rondo makes bone head plays, but he does a helluva lot of more good than bad. And you saw when AD and Lebron were out in OKC, he played a perfect game without the stupid passes. Its likely he takes more risks in certain games they know they will win. Better to do that then than in important games and I think Rondo will do that.

Lakers have perfect chemistry for a team that is about to play the 1st half of the season tonight. And they are likely going to end up at 33-8 at worst case. That's pretty damn good.

Let this team flourish this year and just add one more guy. We've been saying this all year. They just need one more guy. If it happens to be a 3rd star, ok, willing to listen, but it's not likely. Get someone like Collison and let's finish the season with a title. Done.

 

I'm more worried about our O down the stretch against the Clippers based on the 1st 2 games than our D on their big 2.

 

It's a lot harder to get a clutch performer on the offensive side than it is to get an athletic young player that can move their feet and has decent defensive awareness. We just need to make Kawhi and PG work for their points a little bit more. We know that Lebron and AD are going to get the job down for the first 42 mins. Let's be 10 ahead going into the last 6 mins than level is all I'm saying.

So unless Kuzma wakes up and becomes a clutch performer which isn't looking great right now, we just got to rely on Lebron turning it up for the playoffs on that end.

Our two main aims are a backup PG and a defensive wing in my opinion. So I hope we trade AB (maybe Green but I'd prefer to keep him for his size against PG), Kuzma, Cook and a 2nd for a defensive player and sign Collison. Either way when the playoffs roll around, I'm thinking:

Collison / Rondo
Green (Maybe AB) / Caruso / Daniels
Lebron / New Defensive SF
AD
Dwight / McGee

Crunch time lineup of Collison / Green / Lebron / AD with one of Rondo, Caruso, Daniels, new SF or Dwight. We'd have two career 40% 3pt shooters in Collison and Green with Lebron who is almost at 35% for the season. If you need another 40% 3pt shooter in the lineup during crunch time throw in Daniels and hide him on Harkless. That's about as good as it's gonna get in my opinion. Three 3pt bombers around a Lebron and AD PnR. With super strong defenders coming off the bench in Caruso, new defensive wing, Dwight and McGee. And then we got another x-factor in playoff Rondo. Our strengths are two athletic 7 footers, 3 great shooters, possibly playoff Rondo, a strong defensive team and two top 10 stars in Lebron and AD.

 

Clippers allowed 80 points to pels at half time
Best deffence in NBA.And Beverley injured Harrell

 

but did he do it...scrappily?

 

Clips defensive secret weapon: other team goes cold on wide open 3s in the 4th. They have some voodoo s***.

 

Am officially over Zubac being given away. If it looks like trash, walks like trash and quacks like trash ..... well you know. Against that awesome front line of NO he got 15 minutes, 3 rebounds, 1-5 and 3 points. That's typically about all he gets minutes wise. Sure not worth the contract they gave him and all that support and opportunity for developing his game. What happened to this guy? Besides the hot 5 years older girlfriend stealing all his powers?

 

... and money.