I'm not panicking with any of the lineup combinations yet. We forget that the coaching staff bases their early-season rotation on performance in practices that none of us have any visibility into. If Prince, for example, has been playing really well next to LeBron and AD in practices for over a month now, you don't move him out of the starting lineup after three regular season games. I'm surprised to see Rui's minutes this low as well, but what if he just hasn't looked that great in practice so far. There's just a whole pool of data that we know nothing about, so I'm going to wait a couple of weeks to judge what's working and what isn't.
Take it for what it's worth as with all these ..... but my neighbor's gardener who has the Lakers front office connection says that he heard Ham turned around quickly at one of the last practices before the season started and caught Rui and Christie both flipping him off.
I wish they did more than flipping him off. I wish Rui took his sword and... Fire Bacon Pimple Goblin Moron.
I know this doesn't matter here but on the Lakernation chat my bigger lineup with AD at the four is not getting clobbered like it does here...lol. We have to quit starting so slow and while it is only three games, changes clearly need to happen. We don't need to start 2-10 to see that. Even ride the fence Trevor is harping on this.
I’m with you Toklat. There’s something to the fire that Wood is playing with. I’d go big for a few games and see if it doesn’t lead to faster starts and better chemistry. We don’t owe Prince a starting spot. On paper he’s a great fit but he’s just ok so far. Wood spaces the floor as well and I like what he brings defensively.
Too bad that Ham with all his recruiting “owes” Reddish …. to the tune of 3 straight DNPs CD for Max, even as all the guards at the 1 & 2 spots who are getting minutes can’t hit s*** at present.
What am I missing here about Prince? He’s one of the few Lakers who can actually make a 3. He’s shooting 45% and been one of the only bright spots on the few games we have played. What’s he doing so wrong?
I know …. right? 45% from deep doesn’t doesn’t buy you the good will around here it used to if folks are frustrated in general.
It's not that Prince is doing anything wrong, I think he's playing pretty well and doing exactly what we wanted from him. I think its more that his skillset may not be what the starting unit needs right now. With LeBron frankly being pretty bad/disinterested on defense so far, that starting unit really lacks physicality, rebounding and the other "dirty work" stuff. Wood, somewhat surprisingly, has been doing a good job with that stuff. The idea behind that starting unit was that the offense would be so dominant that it would cover up some other shortcomings. With Reaves and DLo playing poorly to start the year, that just isn't the case. It seems clear that the intention was to start Vando in place of Prince, and its clear to me now that Vando brings something really important to that starting lineup, at least in the regular season. He has his limitations that make playing him with LeBron and AD difficult in the postseason, but we really need his energy and presence during the regular season. Especially with LeBron trying to in-game load manage and possibly being on a soft minutes restriction. I'd like to get a look at Wood starting if the guards are still playing poorly in a week or so.
I'd keep him in there when Vando gets back. I'd roll with Dlo Prince Vando Lebron AD Dlo and Reaves are both poor defensively in the back court and get picked on all day. Let Austin regain his confidence with the 2nd unit. We also don't need three ball handlers in the starting lineup.
What I see is that he shot nearly 100% from three in the first game against Denver and dropped off a cliff since. You tell me Cookie you watch the games intently - what is up with the starting unit that they get destroyed every first quarter? They just don’t gel somehow. I like the energy with Wood and AD. I’m not saying Prince is bad but he’s beginning to give me Troy Brown vibes. Not great. Especially when Rui woke up and was on fire in the fourth and Wood also helped us take the lead.
Prince shot over 38% last year and is a career 37.3 shooter from 3. Last time I checked we don’t have a lot of guys like that. I’m ok with trying Prince off the bench but your comments like “ Prince isn’t giving us much” I totally disagree with. I think we are getting off to bad starts because we aren’t moving the ball, we take too many iso shots, we don’t box out well and teams have been really hot against us at the start of the 3 games. Bron had 8 turnovers last night, some at very critical times. Both Dlo and Reaves have been bad to start off the season, so of course that doesn’t help. I’m not a big fan of some of Ham’s lineups so far, so I’m ok trying new things. Like I said earlier, it’s acting like Prince is the problem when I think there’s a lot of blame to go around and he’s the least of our problems.
Fair enough but I’m still underwhelmed so far by Prince. He can shoot threes but last night he wasn’t great overall (7-17). Most importantly to my point he did nothing in overtime but miss his shots.I mean sure in the scheme of things he was ok whereas Reaves was godawful. But I’m still not feeling much impact defensively and I’m not sure at all about chemistry with the starters. Too bad about Rui being out tonight. I have a feeling that Rui is bummed to be back on the bench.
I don't think it so much he is doing anything wrong, we are just too small. AD needs help. Keep Prince in, I like TP. Make DLO a sixth man and move Reaves to point. Numerous adjustments that could be tried. We need energy and boards to start games. It is not just how we start. Line ups and rotations are just bad.
