Fish is right: Kuz's D had gotten WAY better his final year with us. I hate this effing team because the D blows soooo bad. The older I've gotten (I became a fan when we still had Elgin Baylor, folks: yea, call me Methuselah), the more I watch the D more than the offense. We have so many guys who have lost a step, step and a half, that teams are getting into the paint and scoring with EASE against us. It shows as the game wears on. Why? Because the team is OLD. Doris Burke said she thought Ariza's D when he comes back will make a difference and it probably will - although he's lost at least a step, too. I don't think it'll make much difference. I remember when Bazemore had plus D. No more. And if Ellington can't shoot the 3 at 40%, why do we even have him? He's down around, what? 36%. Wide open...brick. We suffered for many years, then got all those high draft picks. They started to learn how to play in the NBA. Now they're all gone, we have AD and one ring and that's it: now we have Lebron and AD and a $44 mil/yr stats collector who has never WON. And then a bunch of over-the-hill vet min guys who are far too comfortable with their careers and money. And you know what? They hear all that stuff about the storied Laker tradition, and if the team keeps losing and they get booed? They quietly tell us we can go eff ourselves. They've been PAID. They don't need to take this s*** from us. And they just kinda play half-assed. What WERE Jeanie and Pelinka thinking when they refused to pay our solid chemistry players and instead went for a horde of vet-min contracts? Did they not realize D is a younger man's game? That it takes all-out effort and communication and lots of physical energy to play lockdown D? They thought a bunch of vet-min guys would just come in and play lockdown D? If the team can't play D and doesn't care anyway, or if they care but can't keep up on D, this season is already as bad as I imagined it would be when I read how we weren't going to sign Kuz/Caruso/KCP...hell, even Montrezl. We got rid of our solid hustling, role-players. Caruso. KCP. Kuz. Our chemistry is not there. Not even close. We suck. Yea but you have Lebron and AD. Yea, but if you don't have D kiss all that stuff goodbye. Can things improve? Yes, but you have to stop giving mins to guys who can't play up to snuff anymore. We need some younger guys and we need them to learn how to play D ASAP...or we aren't making the playoffs. (Pssst!: we aren't making the playoffs. Or, okay, okay, I'm over-reacting to yet another we-got-blown-out-in-the-2nd-half game: we can make a play-in game. Then lose. Man, someone tell me why I'm wrong, because I can't stand this losing.) When a team gets consistently killed in the paint and gives up too many 2nd and 3rd chances, they are done. They're either not coached well (I don't think this is the case); or they haven't played together long enough (this is quite true, but I'm not sure it's going to get much better, because...); or they're too old and have lost a step. When ONE guy has lost a step it affects the entire team's D. That player is the weak link. We have a few guys who are too old, can't cut it on D, don't care 'cuz they've been paid over their 10+ seasons, or all of the above. So far, this season, it looks like "all of the above" to me. When they were all 22 year olds and losing, there was still a s***-ton of promise that they'd improve. We don't have that anymore, and it's really effing depressing, man. But hey: we won one ring after mortgaging our entire future. That team played D like mad. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Was it worth it? One ring? Win NOW, at any cost?
A lot of us (not me) are convinced Lebron (and some add AD) have enormous say over roster moves. I'd like more substantiation for these assertions. No, seriously: maybe I missed it: send me some links. It's EASY to imagine Lebron has some say in roster moves. Maybe AD does, too, but I suspect Jeannie and Pelinka are more at fault for this crappy team that can't play D and has zero chemistry. Asterisk: I would believe that Lebron had possibly an outsized influence in getting 'Melo. But that's it. Lebron is a basketball Einstein: he knew how well KCP, Kuz, Caruso worked with his team. I just don't believe he said, get rid of these guys and sign a bunch of over-the-hill guys for vet mins. Edit to add: I never liked 'Melo's game. He can score, of course. A great scorer. But not good on D, even when he was a pup. Also, he lacks in moving without the ball. Also: he commits idiotic fouls and for some reason cracks a huge smile when he does it. He's just never been a player I admired. And that scoring pop? It somehow wanes in the clutch. Bank on it. Gawd I hate losing to the C-Bags. Especially the way it went down today. Gave me a bad flashback to ML Carr waving a towel on the bench.
I don’t think even the most optimisticLaker fan thought this Westbrook experiment would be easy. I thought that it would be a dumpster fire but still watchable, boy was I wrong
Maybe... but what good is Vogel for if we suck at D? He might not make it thru the season. Lakers drama here we come...
Another "scrubtastic" performance. Getting blown out by Celts. This team absolutely blows...sadly they do this on both ends of the court. Defensive rating 108,9 = 19th in the NBA Offensive rating 105.0 = 25th in the NBA There isn't much to say about this. 29th in turnovers 23rd in FT shooting 19th in 3 point FGs 19th in offensive rebounding 15th in rebounding Some of the worst point differences and also probably the worst 3rd quarter of all....12 times the Lakers have been outscored by double digits, which ranks an easy first in the NBA. Once have they kept a team below 100...which would be the 1-14 rockets.
Vogel can’t bench melo and Russ. So he can’t craft a top defense. Zoyd: it’s common knowledge that lebron and AD literally conducted meetings and crafted trade proposals and such this summer. It’s been corroborated by the players themselves, including derozan, who handed us an L for his trouble. I doubt Vogel told them not to pay Caruso nor find a big wing defender. anyway, I’m pretty close to declaring the season done. Simply no way you put a game like that out after our recent stretch if you’re a functioning team. With or without lebron, you don’t give the jaylen brown-less C Bags 130 points in regulation . my god the horror.
I don't enjoy watching our games. Our defense is a disaster, we are one of the worst teams defending the paint. It's just painful to watch
I was trying hard to give this team until Christmas before hitting the panic button but last night took out a lot of my patience and good will.
Buddy please accept my apologies for beating on you to watch the games first, when you were going through your (turns out well placed) doom and gloom period before the season began. For the ones you have seen.
This is the issue with Lebron. He is a crap GM. He basically selects a team with a good player and/or trade assets, then goes there, clears out the rosters and they have a good couple years and they win. Once they win, he starts tinkering and it always blows up. I think the narrative that Lebron is some basketball genius is being severely tested right now. How did he think this was going to work? Think about this. We went through 6 years of hell and gaining draft picks. Lebron comes in, trades all our picks we win one ring with AD, and now we're crap again because Lebron wanted to trade everything not nailed down to the floor to get an ill-fitting, perennial, stat-stuffing loser. That acquisition will waste two years of Lebron and AD. At that point we will have Lebron pushing 39 and a 30 year old AD. Does anyone think AD's body is going to last into his 30's? Lebron will play out his final season and may or may not be washed up by then. AD will try to carry the load and probably break, and we'll be on our way back to being a lottery team. Is the new Laker business model like the Florida Marlins of the late 90's early 2000s? Be crap for years, win a one ring, then be crap again for years, win one ring? Where's the sustained excellence?
^^^ to add to that pretty picture how bout when we get to the end of AD’s contract he too hates what the team has become and signs somewhere else …. and once again premiere FAs won’t look twice at us. How am I doing? I think I’m getting the hang of this thread. PS …. eff the injury bug. Go the hell away already.
because they sacrificed defense to bring in westbrook and a bunch of old shooters, none of whom play any defense. this team can barely beat teams like the rockets and couldn't even beat OKC twice. lol @ thinking they'll be able to hang with contenders and westbrook is the worst possible fit alongside lebron. simple as that
Out of those four, only Nunn can play a lick of defense. Also, Melo has been just as bad away from the Crypt as he has been good in it.
I forgot to mention the obvious: Nunn has yet to play, so yeah, our defense has been bad for numerous reasons.
