AD Clearly Needs To Stay At The 5 And Lebron Clearly Needs To Stay At The 4

Lebron is a 4 at this stage of his career, so he needs to stay at the 4. AD is obviously a 5. In this day and age, a player has no business playing anything other than the 5 if he can't shoot. I know the Lakers did well with the twin-towers approach in the bubble, but that is 5 years ago now! Bron was what, 34? AD was 27ish? At that point, they had the speed to play the 3 and 4 respectively, but now with their advanced age, and the rapid evolvement of the game, LEBRON CLEARLY BELONGS AT THE 4 and AD CLEARLY BELONGS AT THE 5. Honestly, I think this causes a little bit of a passive aggressive rift between AD and Lebron because AD wants to play the 4 so bad. Forget about getting a stretch 5 to appease AD. If he doesn't like it, then trade him. Instead, Lakers should concentrate on the following:

1. A shooting guard who could sufficiently defend opposing point guards, allowing Reaves to play point guard on offense, and shooting guard on defense. This player needs to be at minimum a 35% three-point shooter and 2 three-pointers made per 36 minutes, and this also must be primarily a catch-and-shoot/off ball type player. This player would be utilized as a second ball handler only, so they must show the ability to do that decently, but not dribble too much/have high usage, etc. It would also be helpful if this player is quick and athletic (because Reaves is not).

2. A CLEAR CUT small forward that could shoot the three ball at a minimum of 35% and 2 three-pointers made per 36 minutes. This player must also be primarily a catch-and-shoot player. This player must also clearly be able to defend the opponent's best wing player because Reaves or Lebron shouldn't be. So, there should be no question about whether this player is better utilized defending 3s or 4s, like how we have with Rui, Taurean, and Lebron. This guy needs to clearly be a small forward defender (think Vando or Reddish with shooting ability). We need to be careful with this acquisition. A possible error on Rob's part could be being stuck in the past, and getting DFS thinking he is still good at defending 3s, even though he is a 4 at this point in his career, etc.

3. A backup center who could sub in for AD for 12-15 minutes per game, and also have the ability to start 15-20 games (with AD possibly out due to injury and/or load mgmt.). I will leave some flexibility for this spot, because I know the market for quality backup centers is somewhat limited. The Lakers could try to go with a guy that has somewhat similar attributes as AD (in terms of rim running, defense), or they could go for as big and bulky as possible, to try and contain the Jokic types.

4. Max Christie must be re-signed. He could be the long-term fit at either number one or number two on the above list.

 

feel like we've been talking about this for almost 4 years? both of our top players really play the same position.

no, you don't trade AD if he doesn't want to play the 5. honestly, you know who should play the 5? lebron (he's basically horford's size). but he doesn't want to, either.

you must deal with it.

player 1 is kcp and/or caruso, and it sucks that we dumped both. don't know how to acquire similar at this point. you'd have to dig one up that people missed on.

can you name an archetype for player 2? previous robert covington? btw, i actually hate the idea of just catch and shoot guys around lebron and AD. i know reaves is a connecter, but you need one more guy who can really put pressure on the defense via penetration, imo. reaves ain't it against top teams.

player 3 is the guy we were all screaming for last summer and are still screaming for now. except that i think you can start them and play AD at the 5 to close halves, like we did to win a title and like dallas used to do with dirk and san antonio did for years with duncan.


i don't know what to think about christie. i think he can be player 1, but we're on a short timeline. people forget how young he still is. some of these young guys killing it in the playoffs were still two years older/more experienced than him.

but yes, we need to just re-sign him and see if he can develop into that even if it's not in time to contend.

feel like this belongs in the offseason thread, though, as it's really about what we need.

i think we need an athletic two-way backcourt partner for reaves (murray's probably not happening, but like this) and a legitimate big body that we can rely on for 20mpg. those two things whilst retaining most of the core (lebron/AD/reaves/rui/vando) is about the best we can hope for, imo.

 

Player 1: The Carter kid in the draft. He is a tenacious defender, good three-point shooter, does not need the ball in his hands, and is super athletic.

Player 2: Mikal Bridges would be ideal, but realistically this spot could go to Christie. He fits the criteria.

Player 3: Missi would be ideal, but not sure if we could get both him and Carter. Missi rim runs and protects the rim, sort of AD like in that regard. Of course, he does not have the diversified offensive game AD has, but we really don't need him to do all of that. Maybe we end up with Wiseman here.

 

so you think two rookies in the starting lineup are the path to immediate contention?

 

This is by no means a 100% win-now-at -all -costs approach. It is more of a building for the future while simultaneously trying to compete now with players that fit approach. We likely make other trades and/or signings to also bolster our bench, but we also have to shave some salary to get under the second apron. Carter is already 22 years old, and seems to be NBA ready. Max is going into his third season. Both of these players could play defense and make NBA threes. Carter has shown deep range. I know it's not the sexiest team build, but this roster could have a ton of depth, with potentially having starters from this past season(Russell, Rui) coming off the bench.

 

What team in the NBA contended with rookies in their lineup? Or even playing big minutes?
There was Lively this year, who still came from the bench. Mavs really hit gold there as he fit the ideal center to play with Luka, but they still went on to get Gafford, where they really started to click as a team.
There was Braun before, but he was the 7th guy in Denver.
It almost never happens. And you just can't get Carter AND Missy. We already need to trade up for Carter.

I think Gabe is the player 1. Prince player 2. Wood player 3. That was the idea this past off-season. Unfortunately it didn't work out.

We are shorter on flexibility this year, compared to last year. Unless DLo walks, which creates a new problem (have a scorer and bonafide shooter that gets hot and/or buckets at will) to add to those.

I think our best available shot is to kinda run it back with a new HC. Add 1 or 2 guys with the available exceptions and vet mins we can convince. Have the continuity we didn't have last year.

We get lost in narratives, but this team with either Vando or Rui in the lineup is like a 60 to 70% wins. Like, factually. Ham was just a moron to get away from that almost all season.

We also need Reaves to get closer to 20ppg next season. LeBron manages his production during the regular season and we need him and Rui to step up big next year

 

I don’t feel like we ever truly knew what we had since we had Ham as a coach.

I just literally feel like he did not know how to use his lineups, and our success was in spite of him.

 

Lebron and AD only playing the 4 and 5 is the main reason we're 1-12 against Denver since May 2023 but sure ..

 

Well, i guess Lakers might as well just put Lebron back at the 3, since hes come this far anyway, mostly playing the 3? I will say, if they take the ball out of his hands on offense, it will preserve his energy (which could be utilized on defense). Reddick did mention that. Maybe that is the plan.

 

problem is lebron's a 4 (at best) on defense. i'm not going to rehash it, but we caught lightning in a bottle in 2020 when we could still get away with lebron playing a lot of minutes at 3, which allowed AD to play the 4 for about half his minutes. that was ideal. i'm not sure we can do it anymore. so while i sort of disagree with the premise of the thread, i know i have to kind of accept it. still think finding a way to steal the first few minutes of each half with a defensive center next to AD would be a good thing.

 

Yeah I have stated the same thing. Yeah, maybe that's what the Lakers are going for. There are better centers this year in the draft then there are in free agency though. Maybe DaRon Homes or Eddie is our starting 5? Or maybe we trade for somebody like Kessler? The spacing has been ugly in recent years though, so it is hard for me to go that direction. Homes is a stretch 5, but he is smaller than AD, so idk. It gets kind of uncomfortable. But then you have Lebron and AD splitting time a two different positions. I know they are both versatile, but I am not sure how that kind of fluctuation affects players. If it is not a problem, then sure go ahead and take advantage of their versatility.

 

No #17 pick will be a starter in our team

 

Small forward/Power forward are basically interchangeable in today's NBA. The exceptions are the 4's, that can play 5 like AD. Even at his age, I don't think Rui or Austin (occasionally), are any better than James at guarding 3"s. Prince is a little better at it.

 

We need the roster versatility to have the possibility to play Bron and AD at the 3 and 4 depending on some matchups . Denver is one of them

Anyways Rui can't guard SF better than Bron as Slick2021 wrote ( and can't rebound well enough )

 

Yeah PFs mostly are SFs who slided to the 4 spot in today's NBA until you meet Aaron Gordon , a real PF you can't keep off the offensive glass and out of the paint .

 

re: sf/pf--in the modern nba, you don't spend a lot of time guarding your opposite player, but this doesn't mean there aren't defensive positions, imo. you need, at minimum, three fast guys defensively (the best defensive teams often run 4) to help and recover to three point shooters. lebron and AD don't qualify here. AD actually qualifies more than lebron at this point, but neither guy can really go sideline to sideline on defensive possessions. nor can rui.

to me, the only way to counteract this is to get bigger on the back line and more athletic at the guard spots. this is what the title team had (caruso, kcp, bradley at guard spots, dwight/mcgee/AD/lebron at the f/c). minnesota does it with gobert/towns but runs hyperathletes at 2/3 (not an option for us) and a very heady guy at the 1 (also not currently something we can do).

i do think we had something working with vando starting at the 3--something everyone has forgotten due to his injury. yes, we lost something offensively, but those lineups killed basically everyone but denver.

my main fear is that we replace vando with a shooter and don't get an athlete at the 1. that's going to be a bad defensive team. why do that when you employ AD?

 

If Redick is genuinely talking with AD he has to be hearing from him how important defense is to winning and better be listening or he will lose him quick and this WILL be a cluster ****.

 

Yeah, narratives are crazy in the NBA. That lineup with Vando was so good. It's the only way to allow a DLo/Reaves backcourt.

What are your thoughts on Vando's role with JJ? Not sure you heard it, but JJ hates the dunker spot (he talks about in an earlier episode of Mind the Game). He constantly talks about having at least 4 shooters on the floor. He's offensive identity is spacing and shooting. We don't have the personnel but I think he will still want to apply some principles.
I think Vando is able to develop a shot as good as Derrick Jones. This guy was playing for the minimum, wasn't a shooter and developed enough to be a key complimentary piece to Luka, providing enough spacing on offense not to be a net negative, allowing for him to stay on court and give them their star defender. I don't see why Vando can't evolve to be the same, they have a similar shooting form. We can only hope...

 

So with Reddick's offensive identity, at this point Vando could only be AD's back up center (until he develops a shot). I really hope and think he could develop the shot, as he is such a superb isolation defender. I wonder if Lakers might be looking to actually swap him for a starting center? There are some that are in the vicinity of his salary range that have been mentioned, such as Stewart and Robinson.

 

Vando is the X factor. If he could even make a midrange shot we’d be so very good.