I agree, and unlike some here I don’t think Brown does “bad” as a starter when they need him to and he to has room to grow. But Max …. damn he’s smooth and he’s got “it” . I mean picture his game just in another year or two let alone 5 … 6 years from now when he begins his prime. He’ll likely never be a superstar but he’s going to be a star and a really fine player. I was hoping since everyone else we put on Brunson was mostly getting cooked except surprisingly not too bad for Rui which was pretty impressive considering his size ….. that Max was going to get a crack at him. Darvin’s stuck him on every perimeter star in every game so far pretty much and it would have been great to see if Max could have done any better with Jalen. Love this kid. He’s getting up in that rarefied air for me fan wise as AC and Reaves did and have. I predict after one more summer and working on everything Ham teaches him that on offense he’ll be more than capped at just a “3 & D”. Plays mature beyond his years incredibly well.
man, the refs hate this guy. i guess it's "rookie treatment" or whatever, but he gets whistled for stuff nobody else does, imo. he's constantly in good position and getting ticky tack fouls called on him. meanwhile, brunson and randle were running right into retreating defenders' chests, dwade style.
Max is going to be a really good player. I would at least try to get him more minutes. His game is smooth, can defend, can shoot the 3, good size for a SG. What's not to like?
I see no reason he won't be as good OG for example - IMO throw him out as a starter and see what happens he's already a better defender than Brown and Walker IMO and gives you more size than the other guards
I'm not sure Max should start quite yet, but he should be a fixture in that second unit: Schroeder / Russ / Bev Walker IV / Reaves LeBron / Christie Hachimura / Brown Jr. AD / Bryant Ideally we'd give Gabriel some run as the backup 4, or maybe play some AD-Bryant together minutes to stay bigger when one of Rui and LeBron is resting, but that's generally how I'd like to see things. I would like to see Max get more minutes so we can see if his 3P% holds up with greater volume.
Agreed. He should absolutely be excluded from any trade ideas unless it’s for a flat out superstar which I hugely doubt is going to happen. Too much upside.
Him and Reaves both. And I'd love to try to keep Walker and Brown and Gabriel at the least and Bryant if he doesn't want too much. Start really building continuity and team familiarization with all the role players, plus all these players are young, shouldn't be too expensive and have upside.
I think the main problem for Gabriel is that he plays in the 2nd unit, which means Russ, so having him at the 4, with AD/Bryant at the 5 and Russ at 1, means three non-shooters who mainly score in the paint. As for Max, I'm becoming a fan. His 3 is great. Very good arc and gets in really smooth. Defense is quite good and gets on rebounding. Great progress in such a short period, one of the most young players in the league, he can become a great role player. It's unbelievable our scouting department, they should get a 47M budget for next year
That's a great point about Gabriel/Bryant not working with Russ and probably the reason why we're not seeing that pairing. It's interesting, I thought Ham would prioritize size and rim protection coming from the Bucks. Maybe that just isn't the case, or maybe Russ's on-court fit changes everything. Can't say either way yet. If Max keeps improving and we get a prototype 3&D SG from pick 37...man that's the type of win on the margins that really helps mitigate the disaster that is the Russ trade. Getting him and Reaves is for nothing is awesome work by our scouting department and player development team. Max has enough size to defend some 3s and Reaves is good enough at the point of attack to defend some 1s, the defensive versatility of those two can/will be a big help in rounding out our backcourt post-Russ.
If there’s a beneficial Russ trade that doesn’t screw us over with unprotected first to get it done I’m all for it. But I didn’t understand the Gabriel and Bryant don’t work with him? He finds those guys near the hoop frequently, especially Gabriel with assists.
Lol..Exactly..just some more dumb a** "Russ sucks"nonsense. I wonder if people are actually watching games sometimes. Max has an issue with fouling though, 4 fouls in 8 minutes? He's not starter ready yet, and depending on the game, he's not late game finishing caliber yet either. That's OK, he's a rookie with some decent players ahead of him. He is upping the competition level on the perimeter though. Austin is going to have to be on his A game when he gets back too. This kid is going to be hard to keep off the floor next season, he might be a spark in some of our games, for the rest of this one.
Well those are some of the many “good Russ” plays. No one is saying he doesn’t have a lot of them. Problem is he has for an NBA player and future HOFer being paid as a superstar an unfathomable amount of bad and/or bone headed plays all season long, that not all the time but more times than not cancel out most or even all of the good he does in games. If you are claiming that’s not true or you haven’t seen this over the past season and a half you’re lying or have zero observational credibility. If Russ was as much a force for winning basketball as you maintain he is why has no other team snapped up him and his huge expiring salary, without first wanting the ransom of a FRP to do it as reported like everywhere since this time last year?
Because no team has ever forked over 47 million dollars, and talent for a guy on an expiring contract. The player would need to be the one, forcing a trade to a particular team, for it to even be in the realm of possibility. Who ever did that? Name that team...the very idea doesn't make any sense, except to some delusional Lakers fans. These "experts " pumping that nonsense don't know WTF they are talking about. Have any of them ever gave an example of such a thing? This "Canceling out" narrative is nonsense too man. Does this apply to everybody or just Westbrook? Does this apply to Lebron, AD, Dennis, Thomas, Bev, whoever too? No..you only see this crap when it's used to descredit Westbrook for some reason. We wouldn't even have been in a lot of these games without Westbrook's contributions, in the first place on a lot of nights. This dude gets relentlessly hated on by a chunk of this fan base. Yet when you watch a lot of these games or shows, the former players and coaches that are analysts , don't pump out that same nonsense. It's mostly some internet clown or a writer that has never played the game.
Yet I’d bet 3/4 of the board here holds our breath “hoping” Russ doesn’t do something in crunch time in close games to mess up the good he did earlier. Why Ham started for awhile not playing Russ the last 5 minutes or so in the 4th. But seems now he’s back to just rolling the dice again. I don’t hate Russ or his game and actually enjoy when he’s playing well and the advantage it can give us. But honestly, while I might not agree with or want some other player in there late in the 4th that Ham is going with …. I don’t have the same fear of just the wrong thing being done or ill advised shot being taken. And that’s the truth with me personally. Many other state similar fears. It’s really unique in my decades of Lakers fandom.
All fans don't agree about anything, it's the beauty of Basketball. A lot of guys around here might think about some things in a similar fashion, but that doesn't encompass everyone in this Lakers family. We all want to win, we aren't obligated to agree about how to do it though.
Rotations too short for no reason when the talent being left on bench (Max and Wenyan) is as good and better in some ways than what is being played by some guys in the too short rotation. (Height, defense, shooting) (Bev & Schroder, Russ, Russ)
