Guess Our Starting 5 For 2019

Good point. I don't mind Cousins starting just thought it'd be good to have him off the bench to dominate and have the offense run through him, and he'll have space to operate with Kuzma, KCP, Cook annd Dudley all likely coming off the bench with him and the ability to shoot the ball. I feel with AD/LeBron it'll be tougher for Cousins to find his spots but I think trying them out first would be the smart decision anyway...

 

PG: Avery Bradley
SG: Danny Green
SF: LeBron James (Will run the pg on offense)
PF: Anthony Daivs
C: DeMarcus Cousins

Backup PG: Rajon Rondo
Backup SG: KCP
Backup SF: Iggy (if he gets bought out)
Backup PF: Kyle Kuzma
Backup C: JaVale McGee

Depth: Alex Caruso, Quinn Cook

Bench Warmers/Locker Room Presence: Jared Dudley, Troy Daniels, THT

Get rid of Troy Daniels or THT. Fill that spot with a backup C/PF.
Then the lineup looks straight fire.

 

^^ Not holding out hope for Iggy. That's why I still see Backup SF as our weak link right now.
Will most likely see Guys like Kuz, Dudley, Green & THT share minutes at SF..? We'll see. Lots of options with this Roster.

 

It pisses me off how much bias the media has for the Clippers, how they're supposedly the best team right now. Read on article on the ringer( yeah it's Bill Simmons so what do you expect) on how they broke down every aspect of the game, frontcourt, backcourt, defense, shooting, bench etc, and they have the Clippers winning. They have Kawhi and PG, not MJ and Pippen. And they say that there are no holes on the Clippers line-up. Um how about that big assed hole in the Center? I loved big Zu, but he's not and will never be a Top 5 big man. Harrell? Hard worker, sure, but he's just undersized, especially compared to our big men. So yeah, I can't wait for the season to start so we can start putting the tenants back in their place. And to shut up all those bandwagon haters and paid media hacks.

 

PG: LeBron James

SG: Danny Green

SF: Kyle Kuzma

PF: Anthony Davis

C: Demarcus Cousins

 

Lebron was our de-facto pg anyways. He’s a point forward, no need to adjust lineups anyways. Lebron is not going to defend pgs

 

To me it really depends what Avery Bradley we get, he might not be at the level where he can give us the long mins a started will play. We might see one of Rondo, Cook, KCP or Caruso take that spot in the starting 5.

 

PG - Bradley
SG - Green
SF - LBJ
PF - Davis
C - McGee

Rondo, KCP (If not traded), Kuzma, Cousins >> Bench Core

.... Not feeling Point LBJ, but we'll see what happens

 

Just being able to discuss these rotations is amazing.

If we start Bradley instead of Rondo/Cook/Caruso, I'm comfortable starting Cousins instead of McGee. Also hoping that the moving Lebron to starting PG isn't literal and just means that he'll have point guard duties, a point forward if you will.

Bradley
Green
Lebron
AD
Cousins
-
Rondo
KCP
Kuz
McGee

Thinking KCP is gonna have to play SOME small forward at some point though. We're a little guard heavy and our guards aren't super big.

 

Danny Green can guard PG's doe? Think you can start Kuz just fine along with Cousins. Good with whatever though honestly.

 

This is THE major mistake of our roster construction . Replace 2 of these little guards with 2 6'7 to 6'9 players and it would have been perfect .

Guys like DDR and PG13 killed the likes of Hart and KCP last season .

We may see a lot of 3 guards lineups and this isn't good

 

Damn Klutch tax. Replacing KCP with a guy like Terrance Ross or RHJ would have been nice.

 

Thabo Sefolosha is still available if you want a minimum taller guy who defends.

 

If it's a traditional starting 5, I like

PG: Alex Caruso
SG: Danny Green
SF: Lebron James
PF: Anthony Davis
C: JaVale McGee

But in reality, I don't think our team is built that way. I think the philosophy is to go according to a playing style that focuses on our strengths and creating mismatches. It starts with the Duo of Lebron James and Anthony Davis. If the ball starts with these two, it's happening with a pick and roll, or posting up AD. I guess Lebron can do that too. So in my mind you try to complement those two with Defense, and on offense- a lot of motion and strong perimeter shooting. So I'm adding Avery Bradley, Danny Green and JaVale McGee to that lineup. Probably not going to be popular because it ignores the star power of Kyle Kuzma and Demarcus Cousins, but that's where the depth and flexibility of this team is great. I'm merely using this as a baseline and the lineups can be adjusted based on the matchups. The reason why I like this lineup is that the focus of the offense is on LBJ and AD and not spread thin on guys that need touches. And it skews heavily defense & rebounding and I think would be the perfect defensive lineup for the majority of opponents where most of the talent comes from: the guard/wing positions.

Avery Bradley - I initially was just mildly happy with this signing and thought of him as a bench defensive specialist, but with news that Lebron was gonna point guard and I looked at it in the context of the league, I loved it. AB's primary job is going to be guarding the opposing Point Guards and occasionally smaller 2 guards. He's going to make Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, and Mike Conley work. All of his energy is going to be spent harassing these guys and locking them down. I also love his propensity to blind side post players double teaming off his man and getting the easy steal. On the offensive end he only needs to create space and motion and shoot the open shots which are going to be plentiful.



Danny Green - Same job description as AB, but for the wing position. LBJ is not going to expend much energy defending so Danny Green gets the assignment for whatever primary wing they are facing. He will also benefit with wide open shots from the pressure that James and Davis put on offenses. Bonus is he's above average at creating so he can iso as a third option in this lineup in a pinch.



JaVale McGee - I know a lot of you want Boogie to start but I'm leaning toward JaVale over Cousins for a couple reasons. 1) Boogie's Heath & 2) Boogie's game. Health is obvious. After watching videos of him last year, he's clearly playing overweight. Still skilled as ever, but a little more plodding and he's plays more below the rim. Prime Cousins was a monster. I think he needs to lose as much as 25 lbs and we could see that again. The other reason is his game would overlap and take some touches out of AD and LBJ's hands. I do like the idea of him as a stretch big as he is clearly a great shooter from the mid range but his wide open 3's percentage isn't that great (~25%), and then I think I like what McGee offers on his upside on the defensive end as a rim protector/rebounder more and he becomes our rim runner who will feast on lobs when teams are keying too much on AD.



JAVALE MCGEE DEFENSIVE COMPILATION 2018/19| PART 1 HD *
https://youtu.be/DmbBn2DB-z4?t=51

Lebron James - He's going to be running the point so I soo can't wait to see him read the defenses set up and audible immediately to what we need. Pick and Rolls with AD with no downside at all. How are teams going to stop this? Pick your poison...they will both make you pay. Either one of them are going to be in a high leverage situation depending on what the defense gives. Double team from the outside? Wide open shooters. Double team from the post? JaVale diving to the basket for wide open alley oop. Want to slow the tempo or AD's guy is undersized? Post him on the block. Teams playing tight man? Motion offense and LBJ is going to hit wide open cutters. It's going to be a beauty to behold.

LeBron James Named Lakers Starting PG (Best Passes from Last 5 Years) *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMriZZV26Rc&t=

Anthony Davis - Already covered what he can do on offense with Lebron orchestrating, but on the other side of the ball we have an all NBA defensive player/DPOY candidate. I mean think of all the guys that try to penetrate past already plus wing defenders getting funneled to JaVale and AD? Try posting up against them? lol that's a joke and I would love to see anyone try.

Anthony Davis' BEST Defensive Highlights 2018-19 *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQz_mvjuUAA&t=

Ultimately I love the idea of running the offense through Lebron and Davis and being super stacked on Defense. Plus it minimizes Lebron's only "weakness" at this point in his career... his defense. It allows everyone to focus on what they are great at, not ask them to do much of something that's out of their comfort zone.

I love the depth of the team though, as we can create mismatches everywhere. If there isn't a strong wing player, you could slip in Kyle Kuzma for maybe Danny Green. Like Houston will have Eric Gordon start at Small Forward at times. Or Denver who's strengths are at PG with Jamal Murray and Jokic at center, Kuzma could be a mismatch there. Now don't let me understate Kuz' importance to the team. He could very well turn into the third star if he gets a little bit of that mamba mentality. Just at this point in time, with his development still trending upward, he could be super valuable as a sixth man scorer with occasional load management starting opportunities.

Not sure how well it would work, but we could hypothetically punish the lack of quality bigs on the Clippers. Zubac provides good size and and will try on defense (bless his heart) but is generally unathletic, and although he's an athletic energy guy, Montrez is straight up undersized. Post up Demarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis all day and see if they can stop it. Here's the other thing about Demarcus Cousins, if he can lose like 25 pounds and regain pre-achilles all star form? All bets are off. It's the same as if a third all star came, you put all your all stars on the floor and figure out the rest after.

A reminder of what prime Boogie looked like...


Need more size and playmaking at point guard? This is where I love love the idea of Alex Caruso getting a shot. Constantly overachieving, I could see him thriving as a role player surrounding Lebron and Anthony Davis. His aggression, instincts to pass, finish at the rim, and albeit small sample size - 53.1% wide open three point percentage and without a superstar ego demanding touches make him a personal fan favorite! I also love how athletic he is. He's not deceptively athletic. He's straight up an athlete. That's not deceptive athleticism when he's yakking on shot blockers or flushing put back dunks & Kevin Durant don't know what hit him and LBJ done lost his mind. You are only deceived because the thinning hair makes him look like a 40 year old rec league player. The league gon' learn.



Anyway the options to go big, small-ball, traditional are all there, but I like my starting 5 as a baseline, and then they can make the adjustments to personnel based on the opponent. Load Management is now a thing and it's going to allow more experimentation anyway. It's been tough letting go of all the players I vested so much emotion in. Brandon Ingram was my favorite Laker post Kobe. I also liked Lonzo a lot because I loved every aspect of his game and thought his shooting would come. Still keep tabs on the otherThe youthful energy, underdog mentality and genuine camaraderie made me love the team even during the tough times. With so many new faces I don't have that emotional attachment yet. But man after playing with these lineups in my head the past few days, I know it's going to come. Super excited for the season to start.

Footnote:
* Links provided since limited to only 5 media

 

Guess we’re done adding players?