2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

“Build back better”

 

Agreed. Boston had solid rotation players in Rondo, Tony Allen, powe, Perk, Davis, house, etc. 3 superstars and trash just doesn’t work.

In fact, the best formula might not even be two superstars. Shaq/Kobe and Jordan/pip are clear examples of this working.

But maybe one superstar, one all star, and one borderline all star might be the best formula to leave room for adequate role players.

 

phi has 3 max players n and upcoming star in maxey....it doesnt matter how many stars you have when your supporting cast isnt even medicore

 

i think two superstars works pretty well, as does the model you suggest.

too many teams got afraid of going at it with one star, but if your one star is good enough, it can totally happen. i actually think gms have an easy time keeping their jobs by not taking chances at marginal moves and telling owners and fans that they're waiting for the big swing, unlike all those suckers out there.

but if milwaukee did that, they'd be ringless. dallas did that after having succeeded with one star and rues the day.

 

Hield is no longer over-rated, he's been rated as sh!t on this forum for some time. Indy could not trade him to anyone. At least Myles hasn't had any serious injuries.

 

Agree with all of this. But we don't have to speculate or hypothesize with these Lakers. We KNOW AD+LeBron is enough to win a ring when they're surrounded by above average defenders/decent role players. Proven formula. Why we didn't stick with it . . . only Rob "extended through 2026" Pelinka knows the answer to that.

 

we started 2 players last nite that would barely sniff 7th/8th spot in Beverly/walker n played 3 others who would normally be buried on the bench,.Gabriel, Ryan and jta

 

the 2020 lakers were a near-perfect formula for a title contender

2 superstars and a supporting cast that defended well. shooting was a weakness on that team, but lebron/AD playing at a high level all season + being the best defensive team in the league made up for that. but the shooting did improve when it mattered most. i recall KCP and rondo hitting big 3s in the bubble

 

Rob didn't want to trade for a 3rd star. He wanted to trade for Hield

 

Lakers got nervous because of the Nets so they tried to build their own big 3.

 

I’m a pass in this one. Those two are definitely not worth two firsts.

 

We didn’t stick with it because Rob didn’t put that Chip Squad together. Everything he’s done since has shown me there’s no way he didn’t have help from someone much, much smarter than himself.

 

i dont even think the chip team was all that great, just everything lined up for them n we had role players who came up huge when we needed them (other than danny green)....but yes since that chip team every squad gets weirder and weirder and worser in terms of fit

 

i've had to bring this up A LOT lately given the constant cries about a) westbrook, b) our lack of shooting, and c) rob's extension.

i can put those dots together, actually (much like vogel starting marc gasol after the phx series was over, some folks learned their lesson).

whole damn forum wanted everyone but caruso gone, though. i was here. though i agree with the general sentiment you present, we can't be nostalgic about kcp and (especially) kuz. kuz was viewed as useless garbage in a dress or something. and yes, he'd clearly be our third best player now.

everybody complained all day about the size of our guards prior to the title, too. i'm going to freaking die on this hill.

6'6" danny green is GENEROUS. he's effectively the same size as lonnie, bro. and everyone freaked because tatum and kawhi just walked his a** to the elbow and shot over him.

bradley, kcp, caruso, green, rondo. those were our big minute guards. basically the same size as nunn, beverley, russ, lonnie, reaves.

but we played centers and committed to defense first. and AD played and lebron was 3 years younger.

 

Pretty clear to me AD and Lebron freaked out because of the injuries post-bubble title and wanted a 3rd star to carry them thru the regular season. Just like in the bubble they figured they'd be able to make lineup changes due to good team chemistry (i.e. benching of both centers in the Bubble)

Considering Lakers being cheap and also let go of AC and the trade made the problem even worse (i.e. not enough just good players so the team is even more dependent on Lebron/AD being healthy) it's turned into spectacular miscalculation

 

yeah, not sure what about their experience led them to believe that they could just coast in the regular season while a third star carried the weight (when the third star has the same damn idea, btw!). this just has never happened ever. it's like a fan fantasy or video game simulation. like john hollinger might dream up.

 

yeah, people weren't sad to see bradley, green, kuzma and KCP go, but the players they've brought in to replace those two since have all been awful fits. jury is still out on guys like walker, toscano, and brown, but i can't envision any of those 3 being better than what the 2020 team had

the problem with KCP, kuzma, and green was more their inability to score more than anything. all of those guys were good on defense and that's what made the difference. of course their replacements last season weren't going to be any good on D because they were a combined 100 years old