Is it one of those hallucinating AI mode that everyone is complaining ? Hayes took a seat in Tuesday's loss to the Suns, though he'll return for the second leg of the team's back-to-back set. Hayes (rest) will play in Wednesday's preseason game against the Mavericks, Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet reports.
Lakers lose to Mavs 121-94 4th Q outscored 37-8 29% from the 3 line Gabe 22 pts Rui 19 pts Hayes 12 pts 10 boards Koloko 4 pts 7 boards
Lol stop using AI for news, it doesn't work What a beat down in the 4th. Not bad that we kept it competitive with our main guys. I'm noticing Knecht filling out more the stat sheet with rebs and assists. Appreciate the effort, but his shot isn't coming as we expect to
ok, i got to watch the game and have a few thoughts. -i watched knecht pretty closely, and i think the box score was rougher on him than the game was. he had a couple threes that were 2/3 of the way down and would have changed how things looked. all of his misses until the last couple looked good coming out of his hands and were close, and he didn't force much until late. he made a bunch of good passes, not even counting the assists. not sure i saw him make more than a couple good passes all year last year, so that's a development, imo. his defense is still not good, but i'm not sure he gave up anything too easily save for one bad back cut (vando got back cut that badly once, too). there's still some life there, imo. -hayes was another guy i watched pretty closely. you can see the weight gain, but it seems like it's mostly upper body, which i'm not sure is great. he fought on the boards consistently, which was good. i wish he'd attack until the defense commits when we use him in the middle of the zone on offense. he let them off a bit there on a couple occasions. all in all, i'm still pretty happy with him in the role we have for him (~15mpg backup). i don't think he can start nor play more than 20 minutes or so. but at the vet min+, huge bargain. -contrast the above comment on hayes attacking with vando, who's also clearly been told to use the dribble to attack, and he took those orders to heart--albeit with mixed results. that's ok, as the guy who really made him look bad there was lively, and not many teams employ a lively. i like that he's being encouraged to make defenses attend to him by getting the paint with a live dribble, though. -rui continues to look better when he's got the big guns with him. -gabe's out of body start was fun to watch. we should pay an opposing bench player to trash talk him for all games. anyway, those were the most important guys to watch. i'm not sure the deep bench has much to offer us. nick smith looks like a smaller, less athletic monk. not sure we have a need for that, and he's probably the best of that bunch by a good sight. shout out to nate williams, though, he plays hard and pretty smart. not super talented but i could see him finding a role somewhere maybe, but probably in europe. koloko doesn't look as bad as people say, imo, but he's still baby deer-ish at times, and he's not that young anymore. may just be how he is. as for the mavs, i like a lot of their parts, but the whole just doesn't fit. flagg looks like an allstar on day one, imo. there's nothing he can't do, and he can do it against the best. that's a franchise player. lively may be one of the more underrated players in the league. like, imagine if jarrett allen had a MUCH greater offensive repertoire. that guy is everywhere, always in the right place, sets great screens, is stronger than he looks, has great hands. not sure how many centers i'd take over him in the league. jokic and...is wemby a center? he's that good, imo. he just can't stay on the floor so far. anyway, if i were dallas, i'd move AD, klay, and kyrie for whatever i could get and build around those two. they'll have to fire harrison to do it, but that's solving two problems at once. i was a bit envious watching dallas's deep bench/prospects. nembhard is small, but i think he's an nba player. i wouldn't be surprised if he actually takes some of dlo's minutes, as i don't know if kidd has the stomach for the dlo experience (which was on display in this one). this is interesting because i also like brandon williams, whom nembhard has supplanted in dallas. williams is superior to any of our current developmental guards (bronny, smith, davis), and i'd probably play him over jaden hardy in dallas, too. and he didn't get much burn in this one, but that robinson-earl guy looks a lot like a pj washington starter kit. i think he's an nba player right now; dallas just has so many forwards that he won't be able to get a crack there.
Over Wemby, Jokic, and Luka? Doubt it I'm not saying he won't be really good but that some generational players in front of him
Flagg is a nice player. But Wemby can be the goat if he is healthy for 10 seasons, Jokic, Giannis and Luka are generationally great top 20 players. Let’s pump the breaks for a bit.
yeah, wemby is a strange beast who, if healthy, could become the greatest basketball player ever, so becoming the best player in the nba will be a tough task in this era. i feel like jokic only has 3-4 years left of being like he is, if that. luka probably has 6-8. around that time, i could see a world where flagg is considered among the best in the league (like the current jokic/giannis/sga/luka group).
Flagg doesn't seem great at isolation 1v1 (for a good player like him I'm not saying he's bad at it but compared the Lebron Luka types where these guys just beat you to the ground if you guard 1v1 doesn't doesn't seem like a strength for him) Feels Kevin Garnett like with him. Does everything well, plug and play type
i don't know. i think if you don't put your best guy on him, he'll roast you right now. and even if you do, i think it won't be long before you'll have to send two like you do with the other top dogs. i think he could end up being what d*** vitale thought shane battier was, lol.
For me the term generational player and GOAT get way over used and it waters them down. Being a great player, even a superstar, doesn't make a player generational or a GOAT candidate. LeBron and Curry are generational players. None of the players we have been discussing will ever be prime LeBron good or have the impact of Curry. None of them bring the fear factor of Bird or Cap's total domination on both ends. Flagg at least has an opportunity as he is just getting started. Obviously, time will tell and we all have our criteria and opinions to keep things interesting in the meantime.
This is where I don’t agree at all. Jokic has had the greatest offensive peak in NBA history. The only comparable are Jordan and Curry for 2 seasons - when it’s said and done, Jokic should have had 5 straight MVP’s and will have a 8 year peak as top 3 in MVP voting. If he had a single all star alongside him, he probably has 3-4 rings. If we give Hakeem the benefit of the doubt and have him top 12, I can’t see how Jokic isn’t on that level. Before others start saying he only plays one side of the ball so does Bill Russell, Curry and Magic. Luka’s first 5 seasons were ludicrous, All Team NBA and on the trajectory of Jordan. If Luka rails off 3 championships, he is generationally top 15. I’m not going to talk to much about Giannis because he lacks the hardware, but he is Dirk/KG/Malone/Barkley tier who are all considered top 20. Which brings us to Wemby. That guy is the best defender in the NBA from year 1 and he may very well win DPOY and MVP in his third season this year. I think he is going to average 30/14/5/4/2 in his prime in 34 mins and just dominate the league. If he can stay healthy and San Antonio builds around him well enough, he’ll win 3+ rings - easy. Flag, while a nice player, hasn’t show anything to be considered the Luka/Jokic tier, let alone the SGA/Giannis tier and he has no where near the potential of Wemby who is a 7’5 athletic freak that can win DPOY every year and shoot 37%+ from 3.
A lot of ifs and some should haves. Those guys could still make it happen but they aren't there yet. I hope none of them make it except Luka unless they somehow end up on the Lakers...lol. They have to be mega-stars, win a bunch of championships, have longevity, somehow change the way the game is played and sometimes how it is officiated, along with intangibles, fan appeal and all kinds of odds and ends. Stats and being tall is great but it isn't generational. I think we just differ on how to define generational but you made a lot of good points. I'm just not sure how many generational guys we can have all at the same time. None of these guys are even close to Russel, Curry orThe Magic Man in terms of being generational. Championships are a huge part of this, if Curry hadn't won championships he would be seen as some freakish long range gunner that shot his teams out of games. The world of sports is unforgiving.
Finally.The Lakers will have everyone available tonight against Sacramento, minus the guys who have already been on the injury list - LeBron James (sciatica), Adou Thiero (knee), Bronny James (ankle), Chris Mañon (ankle), Augustus Marčiulionis (foot)
