.... and Bruce Brown gone last year. Replaced with Westbrook and a tad of internal growth from their young guys.
^Let's not forget their MAIN advantage... Ham is gone. Now they have to deal with our obsessive coach who wants to squeeze every drop of advantage over opponents.
Murray and Porter Jr. haven't defended as well either. Neither have ever been great, but in their title year they did enough to not be easy targets. I think Braun is a pretty good defender, but he's different than KCP. He's a little bigger and heavier, and less screen navigation POA guy and more get physical with you and knock you off of your spots. Back to JJ, yeah I'm really glad he's our coach and that the Hurley thing never happened. I think Hurley is a very good X's and O's guy and great for the college game, but I don't know if he's a great personality fit for the NBA. He seems pretty thin-skinned, which you cannot be if you want to coach the Lakers. I could see him having success in a smaller market. There are things that I think JJ could do better, similar to Ham I don't think we run enough organized offense, but he clearly has a much better connection with the roster and has the buy in from anyone. I think JJ will get better and better at the job and be recognized as one of the best in the league before too long.
JJ is the Victor Frankenstein of coaching, lock him in his lab for a couple days and he comes out with Monster game plans. Big advantage in the playoffs when he can lock in on one team for a series. JJ has us in a good place for a few reasons: players are realizing that he is going to out coach the opposition and that if they the game plan they will win, players are involved on both ends of the court and having fun, starting with LeBron the players believe they can/will win it all. The Swarm on defense is great because it is so hard to read. When your team is bought in to this level, the coach can do almost anything. We are built for the playoffs and will crush teams, not going to be close. The league is going to see a buzz saw like they haven't seen for quite some time. We have the premiere coach in the league for the next thirty years.
"Let me be the first to apologize to the Los Angeles Lakers" - Stephen A. Smith on whether he agrees with Luka that the Lakers can win it all this season Stephen A. Smith does not think that the Lakers will win the NBA title this season but after beating the Nuggets last weekend, he is no longer as sure about his prediction. Look who's talking Is Barkley next ?
Never. Barkley is a Laker and now Redick hater (for JJ calling out how those guys trash the modern game) .... and a grudge carrier.
Please no more DFS, Godwin, Vando, Gabe lineups. No way that lineup scores unless Lebron hits some bonkers shots
Yeah. I posted in other threads about how you can always have 2 of LeBron/Luka/AR on the court, but even if you run just 1 of LeBron or Luka, you should always have Rui in there for offense. And probably no Vando when only 1 of LeBron & Luka, but yes Vando when 2 of LBJ/Luka/AR.
if you're going to play just one of lebron/AR/luka, it needs to be luka. he's the only one who can just...be the offense for a few minutes.
I like the idea of that lineup but we're 1-2 players short of it being a real threat. Goodwin needs to be the fully realized Josh Hart and/or the Vando slot has to have more offensive punch. I like the Rui, Vando, DFS lineup a lot better. That one is fun..if Rui is on.
At Denver we played the Goodwin, Gabe, DFS, Vando lineup with Luka and not LeBron. It was effective with Luka going off.
I’m just enjoying the contrast of having an actual coach who will, you know, coach. Last year Darvin would have just stood there with hands in pockets.
