Ok, we have basically our roster set, waiting for that 14th player. In any case, our core rotation can be designed already. Here's what I expect at this point: Dlo (21) | Gabe (27) Reaves (32) | Dlo (6) | Max (10) LeBron (24) | Prince (12) | Reddish (10) Vando (16) | Rui (24) | AD (4) | Prince (4) AD (26) | Hayes (16) | LeBron (6) I don't know how to get AD at the 4 but maybe it will eat Vando's minutes. We have insane depth when we play Prince, Hayes and Vando 16min, Max and Reddish 10 while no player over 32...Then we still have the 2 rookies, 3 two ways and 1 or 2 extra players we will add. Maybe there's a DNP here and there for Max/Reddish, even Vando. We are that deep. And then they have spikes of usage when anyone goes down.
Here’s how I’d break down the minutes: Vincent (28) / DLO (20) Reaves (32) / Christie (16) Rui (28) / Prince (20) Lebron (30) / Vanderbilt (18) AD (32) / Hayes (16) I’d love to see a Reaves, Christie, Prince, Rui, Lebron lineup. Everyone can switch and shoot.
Yeah Rui may start. I just like the scoring punch he brings from the bench when AD/LeBron sit. He should play all non-AD/LeBron minutes, not at the same position but he should be there. That's why I would have him coming off the bench. He will still close games. I think Vando makes less sense off the bench. And I like to start with a pesky defender who won't let the other superstar get going early Vincent and Dlo is kinda similar. Vincent brings defense and toughness (like Vando) and Dlo the offense skill (like Rui). I'm fine with either starting, but again, the important thing is who closes and I think it will be Vincent more often
Our depth looks pretty solid all around. Probably need that vet minimum third center or take a flyer on Castleton if the guys like Biyombo and Wood are off the table for higher contracts. Otherwise I really like what we've done this offseason and can't really imagine a much better roster than the one we assembled. Retaining our FA's was key and we locked down all of them for less than what was potentially projected (Reaves for essentially half of what he might have gotten for four years, Rui projected at 15-20 and we got him on the lower side of that for 3 years, even Russell at sub $20 million for 2 years which is solid. Also picked up Vando's relatively cheap contract. Let go of the expensive contracts (Beas at $16 million and Bamba at 10). Got Prince here for $4.5 million reasonable contract and Gabe Vincent 3 years 33 million for MLE money to beat out Miami's similar offer, plus picked up Reddish for cheap. Also we nailed the draft and UDFA with solid guys who look like they can grow into contributors. Locked in JHS and Lewis to good rookie 4 year contracts. Hopefully Castleton develops as early as this year. As a five year college guy I think he can. D' Moi Hodge also intrigues me and looks like he could be our potential third SG. Overall, I think Rob and company have done an outstanding job of keeping the good players who helped get us to the WCF, and adding a little bit more to help further (Prince, Vincent and Hayes particularly). I feel very good about it.
Pretty much how I have my depth chart. I like the line up we had post trade deadline last year but I think we'll start Rui instead of Vando. And with more forward depth, Vando might end up being the high energy big off the bench. Unless he improves drastically with the outside shot... then thats a a tough problem for Ham to figure out. Lots of size, depth and positional versatility with this roster. I'm excited.
What has @Toklat been banging the drum on non stop all season this year, to mostly be told, "nah it's all good he was brought along fine"? "It took far too long for Reaves to become the starting shooting guard last season, and even that was a season too late, frankly. That won’t be the case this time around, with Reaves fresh off a breakout season as a starter, a new contractand a forthcoming stint with Team USA. He’s a lock." “Lakers head coach Darvin Ham told The Sporting Tribune that James and Davis are the only starting locks, with the other three spots open for competition. That may be true in a technical sense, but consider me skeptical. Reaves is going to start. He’s the Lakers’ third-best player by a solid margin.”
Yes, Austin is clearly the Lakers third best player. The thing is many take that as a knock on the other guys and it isn't. Austin is just that good. When you have a guy that can play both ends really well with no glaring weaknesses it elevates them over situational type players. By that same token Max will soon be the fourth best player and Colin will be on the rise as well. Look at how Hodge is doing. Our scouts are impressive and looking for two way players. Coaches love players like Austin and Max because it makes their game planning so easy. They don't have to switch players during each clock stoppage to change a guy from offense to defense or not play a guy in the fourth cause he can't throw a pea in the ocean. I applaud our scouting apartment for their clear mission and success rate. When you have been scouting long enough you can tell certain things about a player right away. You can tell his skill level, can he play both ends and how he reads the court. Then you have to dig deeper to find out about heart, work ethic and character. Scouting is a tough job but incredibly fun and our scouting department is beyond amazing.
I'm happy to sign a cheap vet min like TT and just roll into the season. I think Vincent, Hayes, Prince and Reddish are all going to be really good additions. If Gabe carries over his shooting from the playoffs he will win the starting PG spot with his 3&D potential. Prince is a nice backup 3&D wing that can play in some nice shooting lineups with Lebron, example: Vincent, Reaves, Prince, Lebron, Rui. Hayes needs some solid direction from the coaching staff: set good screens, finish strong in the PnR and move your feet defending the PnR - if he can put it together he can be this year's McGee. Finally Reddish who is the lowest risk but highest upside addition. If he finally clicks, we basically added a lottery talent for free. I do think he may challenge Max Christie for minutes. If AD gets injured, it'll be time to just bring White Castle into the rotation. I think he can handle 15 mins against bench bigs. Can't see JHS or Lewis getting any minutes this year.
Wow you have come around a bit on Colin against bench bigs (with good matchups chosen) which is what Toklat and I have been advocating is going to happen this season for actual contributions from him. What changed so quickly?
I’m anticipating AD to miss 20-25 games. Hayes is a 20-24 min impact player and I don’t want to raise his mind when AD goes out. So we need to cover for another 24-28 mins. I think the third big - as an example Tristan Thompson - can absorb 12 of those mins which leaves another 15 odd. I just don’t see someone like Christian Wood coming unless we can guarantee him a big role. So Colin seems to be a good candidate to get some development and playing time in spot mins like that against deep bench guys. If we can’t win with AD out and the current team that is really deep, then we aren’t a contender.
i have a very hard time believing ham will go with two bigs for any appreciable length of time. buha's one of the few to acknowledge that in addition to AD, teams started daring lebron to shoot last year, too. if we can't play vando with them, we definitely can't play a non-shooting center on offense. as usual, my guess is injuries will sort out rotations for us, but if not, the reddish/christie and prince/rui/vando situations are interesting/difficult.
No Team USA Today. Temporary gap in the new Wood thread. Very temporary gap in posts on LB period started itching and shaking. Went to LG briefly looking for a fix and found this good post IMO from computernerd in their Wood thread. "It’s funny to see the speculation on this thread about what the starting lineup and rotation will look like. The only thing that looks accurate to me is the implicit assumption that somebody who came to the Lakers thinking they were going to play will not. I don’t think it will be Hayes. One of the biggest problems with Wood is his frame. He’s listed at 214 lbs. He’s barely an NBA 4. You can only play him at the 5 in spots against small ball teams. A twin tower lineup with him and AD means AD is at the 5. Coach Ham has already said that he wants to go back to getting AD some minutes at the 4. That means Hayes is playing. I see him playing at least 12 minutes per game, maybe more. I also think Max Christie is gonna play. I’m probably higher on him than most, but I see superstar potential. I especially like that Kobe-esque, fadeaway mid-range jumper that he showed in summer league. His defense and efficient 3 point shooting also fits well with the Lakers system. I see him and Reaves as our starting backcourt of the future and I think that future could be as soon as next year. He is going to play. The guys that I could find themselves unexpectedly riding the pine are Prince and Reddish. If Reddish just balled out and started actually living up to his potential they could maybe find some back court minutes for him. That might be better for him anyway. One of his problems is that he’s miscast. I think he’s more of a big 2 than a 3. Ultimately though the players will decide this. The guys on the “bubble” like Prince, Reddish, Christie, Hayes, and yes, Wood, are gonna have to ball out — on both ends — to get minutes. If the team is better when you are on the court you will play. If it’s not, you won’t. The Lakers have so much positional versatility that they can move players around to make room for anyone. It should make for an interesting camp and pre-season."
OK, how you guys breaking down these 240 minutes now that the roster is finalized? Here's mine when everyone is healthy: AD (3O)/Wood (20) Bron (30)/Vando (14) Rui (30)/Prince (18) AR (35)/Christie (15) DLO (24)/Vincent (24) That leaves Hayes, Reddish, Lewis and JHS all on the outside looking in when everyone the injury report is clean. Hayes and Reddish will still get their chances because AD and Bron will at least miss a combined 34 games (required to play 65 to be award eligible). I don't think we see the rooks unless we're decimated by injuries, there's a huge blowout, or we secure a playoff seed early. I'm basing this off the report saying Wood will get 20ish MPG. That with our depth, there's no excuses for Bron and AD logging heavy minutes. AR and Rui have the legs and the contracts, time to do some heavy lifting during the 82. The rest kind of slotted with by asking myself what I am comfortable with x player playing. Don't think it's fair to play the other 5 any less than what i gave them.
I'd like to see the top 12 guys all get a chance in different combinations when the season begins, because we won't know for sure which combos work together or not until real regular season games. After we see what works, then some guys minutes can increase and others can decrease or get DNPs or be limited to spot/injury/garbage time minutes, but they should all get a chance first to show what they've got. With that in mind, here's what I would like to see for a minutes breakdown to start the season. 30 AD 30 LeBron 30 Reaves 26 DLo 26 Rui 20 Vincent 16 Vando 16 Prince 16 Wood 12 Christie 10 Hayes 8 Reddish DLo (26), Vincent (14), Reaves (8) Reaves (22), Christie (12), Reddish (8), Vincent (6) Rui (26), Prince (16), Vando (6) LeBron (30), Vando (10), AD (6), Wood (2) AD (24), Wood (14), Hayes (10)
Nice breakdown and I also expect Hayes and Reddish to get at least a little burn out there. It's a deep squad. Lots of versatility and good size all around and ability for a lot of players to play 2 positions (except maybe Christie and Hayes who are pretty much SG and C only).
I think any breakdown is completely premature until we see these guys getting some run together. Nobody will be close to accurate, so I'd rather wait until we get to see what we actually have to work with.
cuz there's nothing to do... AD (32)/wood (16) lebron (32)/rui (8)/vando (6)/wood (2) vando (12)/rui (18)/prince (18) reaves (32)/christie (16) russell (26)/vincent (22) that would leave hayes and reddish out, and they could gain minutes at the expense of wood and christie, respectively. also, AD will miss time, so hayes will get chances there. lebron missing time will also let the bigs play more, i think. only trick is how to get rui in the upper 20s if he doesn't start. i just like vando starting out halves, and i think playing him with four of our best offensive players helps mitigate his issues on that end. i suppose rui can come in mid-first and play until about the 9 minute mark of the 2nd, then come back for the last 4-5 minutes. i don't see jhs or lewis playing unless it's a huge blowout or something terrible has happened, and i don't think we play more than a 10-man rotation because players don't get into a rhythm playing like 8mpg. prince/vando/rui is good lebron insurance but if all 4 are healthy, someone who deserves burn will be sitting too much. good talent and balance, though. should be much more fun to watch this year.
