Kid was huge, he was a sniper and did better than expected defensively. Much needed depth help this team needed off the bench
He hit some huge shots when it was a little too close for comfort in the 4th, pushed it back up to 16-18 points and gave us breathing room. Way to go Lonnie, shutting me up.
Lonnie is moving laterally on D extremely well. There was one defensive sequence he started on Curry near the left side of the arc(for the offense) and stayed in front of him laterally all the way over to the right side line … Curry couldn’t get past him, and if I recall he affected the shot greatly from being so tight on him, or he didn’t even get the shot off. He’s like picking up another new and better player in the middle of the playoffs than the guys we were using already in the Memphis series win. SEEMS to ALSO have Big Balls with shots that need to be taken and difficult layups that need to be attempted.
We need Klutch to talk KCP sense into him what a great opportunity this is and with full Bird rights later he’ll be taken care of later like KCP …. for sacrificing (maybe?) some higher offer now. I doubt he gets a full MLE thrown at him. And he is loving being given this opportunity to live his dream of playing in and experiencing the playoffs. He said that. So a ton of good will toward the Lakers at this point.
We can just bring him back with a raise and he gets pretty much the mMLE. Then we'll have early birds rights the season after.
this. we can pay him slightly over the tpmle with our non-bird rights while preserving the actual tpmle for dennis, if that will retain him. somebody *might* offer lonnie the mle, but i'm doubtful. i think the only issue is that we have russell and reaves starting and likely dennis as the backup pg, so he may want to go somewhere that could guarantee more minutes. but again, not sure who's offering him 30mpg AND a comparable salary.
Disappointed in Schroder getting tossed but wasn't too worried knowing we had Lonnie in our back pocket. Had two timely buckets that sparked our 3rd quarter run. He might continue seeing big rotation mins next round I think. Schroder might not have the size to match up well with Murray and KCP.
I'l be honest, I was a bit worried after Schroder got tossed & GS hit a few quick baskets... I was like "oh no, here it comes" Lonnie really helped swing momentum back our way & it was a route from there.
Idk if we will have enough for both. It would likely put us over the 179.5 super tax threshold. Maybe if we trade our pick, we might be able to do it. Also, some factors are how much Russell, and Hatch end up getting.
Key difference between Walker against Brown/Beasley is his ability to create off the dribble and does not get lost on defense. Did start 30 odd games during the season with three 20+ points games. Then injuries then the trades happened which push him down the rotation a bit. Credit to him for keeping positive and just grinding.
Love how aggressive he is. He can shoot the 3 and isn’t scared to drive to the hole. He’s showing his true potential right now
He's not easy to guard cause he's a 3 levels scorer at a decent %. Definetely a guy to keep on the roster