Anthony Davis Discussion: Only Player On Both All NBA + All Def

Bron was out almost 3months with his groin issue, AD is done for this series

 

any of you ever played on a strained groin (like AD obviously has been)? i have. you suck, and it hurts. i was a shell of myself, worse than when i played on a really bad sprained ankle.

injuries have been the story this year, which isn't surprising given the long run and short layoff.

 

before NO shut him down healthy, he had never played fewer than 60 games in a season and only played in less than 65 twice. his last two years before the shutdown, he played in 75.

so yes, he gets injured a lot, but no, he's not like embiid (never played 65 games in a season, generally far less, missed two full years) or porzingis (hasn't played 60 games in several years, missed a full year) or somesuch. their teams are lucky if those guys are ever available.

so, the "can't build around him" talk is ok...as long as you agree you can't build around embiid, whose team finished in 1st place and is going to be in the conference finals at a minimum.

i'm sorry the season went this way, but a) it's not AD's fault his body betrayed him, and b) i'm not sure this means anything until we see what happens next year. if he gets strong again in the offseason and has a 70-game season without major injury next year, maybe there's some overreaction here.

 

a ton of illogical Lakers fans here. AD is only 28 but you can't trust him to be healthy for a season. That type of lingering effect won't go away as he gets older. There's a reason why AD signed a max deal when most expected a 2+1 deal so he can qualify for the 10 year vet max contract. he clearly knew that his injury would effect him long-term and that he wasn't confident in himself to stay healthy consistently.

AD is a great talent when he is healthy. But he almost never is and even when he is, it's only a matter of time before he gets injured again. the only way the Lakers can recover from this is if their shooters play lights out but none on this team can shoot. This season is a dud.

 

Yeah, and the Lakers didn't pay him that kind of money to be a three-point shooter so saying he only got injured because he didn't become a mid-range player has nothing to do with AD being injury prone. Plenty of players attack the rim and haven't been injured the way AD consistently is. Trying to devoid from that doesn't make any sense. Maybe if the Lakers were shooting the ball better (Kuz, AC, KCP, Dennis, Matthews, THT), the Lakers wouldn't be in this position. It's atrocious how the Lakers built this team knowing the shooting was bad and this season, the shooting is even worse. Rob has a lot of work to do because this roster full of non-shooters is not going to work.

 

Oh boy. Tuesday’s game is do or die. We go down 3-2, I don't see us winning this series.

 

let's see if the others can pull it together for a couple games. will require outscoring them, though, as AD is our defensive anchor.

 

Yeah. Winning without him will be tough. I think we’re good enough to win two straight but only if his health was good.

 

Agreed. We need a couple of our guys to get hot. At the very least hit our layups.

 

tbh, with him moving at 3/4 speed we weren't going to be able to do it, either. i was hoping we'd get the suns down in 5 and get some rest for him and lebron between series, but...nope.

 

start trez with Marc, we need some physicality with trez n this way wlhe won't necessarily get matched up on Ayton, yes he will go against crowder but if we use bron/trez on pick play to get switch, Bron can get very good matchups

 

Trez can't guard anyone, on the perimeter or in the paint. He is strictly a scoring option. A zone would seem like a good idea, but Phoenix has guards that are good at attacking the paint off the dribble. This is also a big problem with playing Gasol at the 5. Vogel is supposed to be a defensive coach, he will need to show it moving forward. Offensively, we need Schroeder to be on his A game. We could have still won that game if he hadn't disappeared on offense.

 

We finished 1st in D without AD for most of the season .

Lebron ( and playing Marc 30 minutes and as a starter) is the key .

It's better for AD to get right instead of hurting our chances by playing on one leg.

He was bad before his injury yesterday

 

yeah, the stats say we were no different without him, but last year's playoffs say it mattered a lot. your point is basically the same as mine, though--if he's not full strength, i'm not sure he's helping us.

i disagree with starting trez. i'd start kuzma just like vogel did--especially if he's going to keep starting drummond (which i bet he is).

 

I'd start the lineup which finished the game yesterday ( KCP instead of Wes if he can go)

Spacing is non existent with the combination of Kuz and Drummond ( and Schrôder)

 

If Gasol plays 30 minutes or more we are definitely going to lose. We should keep the center rotation at 20 min a piece and one of the guards or forwards are going to have to step it up on offense. We have to play a center to matchup with Ayton.

Phoenix has a simple strategy, if Drummond is in the game, they try to force a switch to get him off of Ayton, and they immediately go to Ayton when he does. When Gasol is in the game, they attack whatever side he is on off the dribble. They are getting all the way to the rim too easily on Gasol, if he does manage to slide, they cut behind him. They are killing Gasol in every game. IMO..we should stop switching with Drummond, and a wing is going to have to rotate over, to cut off the guard to in order help Gasol.The guards and forwards are going to have play better man defense, including Lebron. This strategy is the bulk of their offense in every game.

 

Absolutely astute and spot on!

 

Suns scored 99pts and 100pts in their 2 wins . Defense isn't the problem

 

true, but our closing lineups with AD at the five are stifling. we no longer have that option.