2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

I really believe that AD, Lebron and Russ are going to ball out this season. I'm not that concerned about a Lebron/Russ fit because to me, this trade was more about Anthony than Lebron. Of course Lebron and Russ are both high end facilitators, so the idea that they would clash is valid. However Russ main strengths are pushing the pace, attacking the paint and getting people the rock. That would alleviate some of our total reliance on Lebron barging into the paint in order to make things happen. The guy is 37 years old and those forays into the paint, saps his energy as the games go along IMO.

Now there is one trade I love when it comes to Russ. I posted this idea a few days ago and I see this guy Laker Tom is of the same mind here.



I love that idea..Turner is a perfect fit next to AD ...exceptional shot blocker that prefers to operate on the perimeter on offense and can knock down the 3 ball. Bogdonavic gives you a legit 3 pt shooter and Jordan is instant offense, that replaces what we hoped to get from Kendrick. Myles is a significant injury risk..I get that too, but he’s 26 years old and that potential AD pairing is worth the gamble IMO. I'd make Schroder an offer and take him back with open arms to play PG with Beverley. That's a title favorite roster.

Laker Tom also had a lil nugget here on Reaves and Bryant. I wouldn't sleep on these two kids either.

https://www.lakerholics.com/austin-reaves-thomas-bryant-have-been-standout-performers-in-workouts/

I'm ready to rock and roll whatever happens.

 

You are one of those who twist someone's words to make your point huh?

Nobody said focal point and no one said AD isn't key (actually I said he is key), but no he has not been the best player on the team- that has and likely will continue to be LeBron James unless Davis is able to really advance his game. For the most part that would mean staying healthy and finding some consistency with his 3-pt shot, which he hasn't yet done. Sure it would be nice to pass the torch, but AD is making that impossible so far. Nobody also said the role players had to be named to some defensive team either (I think the word I used was adequate, which is damn near opposite of what you are claiming I said).

No, you still have to have good shooters to surround AD and LeBron. You seem to not want to face that fact and you are holding out hope that the below average shooters we have on our team now are going to magically rebound and become good ones (I think Reaves could and I have some hope for Walker as well- but we still need shooters- bad)

If this is in fact the roster we have come October, you are the only one who will be getting a rude awakening come mid-November.

We know you will be here, you have exclaimed that ten times now...

 

I don’t see the point, if you trade for Conley, why would you cut him after a season? That just adds 14m to your cap next year for a player you cut. That’s a worse outcome than letting Russ expire, because the only way you cut Conley is if he was bad this year.
So as I said, if we trade for Conley, you assume we keep him, and his full hold counts against the cap.

 

ok, but factually that was incorrect. and it could matter. if he had a career-ending injury or something, that difference may allow you to get under the tax and use the mle or something.

impossible to know anything right now because we don't know what the other returns in the deal would be.

 

I read it as Alcindor assumed that the cap hold was 14m and it’s not, it’s 24m. It only drops if you cut him, and at that point it’s a terrible outcome because you’re paying 14m for a player not on your roster.

I’m not sure what you’re arguing here and what you don’t agree with?

 

If Lebron is the best player on the team at 38 years old, then we have a problem. That's not knocking Lebron, but that is still a problem. The gist of what I infer from your post, is that you really doubt that AD is going to be healthy. I'm going in the other direction. AD was DPOY of the year, and All NBA in New Orleans. I'm looking for that guy, I don't care about his 3 point shot.

If he's not at his best, then nothing is going to work period. There aren't any shooters that we can get, that's going to make us a contender without AD being dominant.

Below average shooters?.The league avg is 35 percent. We have some guys that can hit open 3 pt shots. Lebron is high volume at 36% for the last two seasons, Nunn is a career 36%, JTA is a career 36%, Brown shot 35% last season, Walker had a dip last season but he shot 35% in 20 Beverley is a career 38%, Bryant is coming back from injury but he shot 40% in Washington. Westbrook doesn’t shoot well from 3, but he only averages 3 attempts per game, I'll take 1-3.

I don't think we are as stocked, with all these " below average " shooters , as you claim. I'm not backing off of anything I posted. We'll see what happens soon.

 

this statement isn't true. it does help with the cap. 10 million dollars' worth. whether that 10 million matters depends, but your statement made it sound like partial guarantees always count full against the cap, but they don't. they're basically pre-arranged buyout figures.

i agree that it likely won't matter, but it can.

 

Ummm AD could be healthy but certainly doesn't guarantee he's a "better" player than LeBron even at his age and yeah I guess would be a problem. All around skills, shooting, mental quicks and seeing the floor smartly as does LBJ all factor in, in addition to him being a DPOY candidate when he's right. Most certainly he needs the health and defensive prowess back, but rebuilding his shot this summer (as seen in the slo mo looking shooting drills from hype master Lethal Shooter) could be problematic. Don't the best instructors try not to do that unless something terribly wrong with form such as was case with Lonzo? Ideally they're both healthy by the playoffs and we're already well placed in them by end of the season, and LeBron is trending toward the levels of play he had in the Bubble even if can no longer get all the way there physically, and AD has finally taken a big leap forward skills wise and mentally with his game.

 

Until he starts to show his age (hasnt happened yet) LBJ has ALWAYS been the best player on his team every year he has been in the league. And no, if AD can return to his 2020 form and be a strong second fiddle, it is not a problem AS LONG AS WE HAVE SOME GOOD ROLE PLAYERS AROUND HIM.

Yes, our team is full of below average shooters. First off, you are smarter than this.

First you list LeBron, knowing we were talking about "role players"....FAIL

Then you talk about a kid who didn't even play last season, still concerns about his health and with the signing of Beverly will likely have his role diminished in a point guard rotation anyway with Westbrook on this team and LBJ playing huge minutes there. Nunn is probably the 6th guard in minutes now (Reaves and Walker are the true SG's and James, Westbrook and now Patrick will be eating all the PG minutes)

Then you talk about JTA's career 36% shooting so you dont have to mention his 32% clip last season only to brag about Brown's 35% season last year instead of his career 31% prior. You know Walker's 2020 was him hardly playing (1.7 attempts per game) and his last two seasons (where he has averaged a reasonable 24 mpg) and has shot 33.4%.

You dont think people see what you are doing here??

No, the truth is (using your 35% mark for their careers) is we lack shooting..............BAD:

Lebron James: 34.9% for his career (makes up for it a little because he has gotten better at it because of more VOLUME later part of his career)

Anthony Davis : 30.3% for his career (and even worse 26% as a Laker)- HORRIBLE

Russell Westbrook: 30.5% for his career (and even worse 29.9% as a Laker- and even worse than that is he is a 28.7% shooter over his last 4 seasons)- HORRIBLE

Lonnie Walker: 34.3% for his career (and even worse 33% last two seasons)- BELOW AVERAGE

Thomas Bryant: 35% for his career (worse 29% last season)- AVERAGE (which is good for a center)

Troy Brown: 33.7% for his career- BELOW AVERAGE

Austin Reaves: 31.7% last season, his rookie year- BELOW AVERAGE

That is 7 guys right there who figure large IN OUR ROTATION (maybe not Brown, we will see) and NONE of them are above average for their career.

The three guys on the team that are above average shooters (again using your 35%) either were below average last season or simply didn't play....

Patrick Beverly: 37.8% for his career (shot career low 34.3% last season)
Juan Tascano-Anderson: 36.1% for his career (worse 32.2% last season)
Kendrick Nunn: 36% for his career (didn't even play last season)

Stop it dude you are embarrassing yourself...

and when again are we supposed to come back? lol

 

re: shooting: it's more about spacing than about conversion rates. nobody will guard any of our guys, which shrinks the court for AD and lebron. we'll have to have role players start hitting at 40% to change that and open things up. remember rondo shot 40% and teams still left him open because he didn't make enough of them for it to matter, and what they gained from ignoring him was worth the one three he made per game.

just one bogdanovic type makes teams pay attention and keep a guy on him. and then AD and lebron get to stop seeing two and three guys when they floor it.

 

I don't know if his shot is that big of a concern. The guy has been hurt for large chunks of the last two seasons. That has more impact on his up and down shooting IMO. I don't expect AD to be just healthy and good. I'm expecting a MVP caliber season.

 

We didn't have that all in the chip season until the bubble, and Rondo went out his mind there. Nobody was knocking down 40% from 3 before Covid hit, and we had the best record in the League. I think this shooting stuff is overrated. If nobody is going to guard these guys, then they are going to make shots..every one I listed shot better than league average from 3.

 

Of course we did! Danny Green!
He didn't shoot it at a good percentage but at least he was a known shooter and defenders had to respect him. They actually had to guard his shot which provided spacing for Lebron and AD in the middle.

In an era where 3 point shooting is so prominent, shooting is overrated... okay. If they are leaving our below average shooters open that means they are clogging the paint, you know, where Lebron, AD and Westbrook like to operate.

 

alam beat me to it: the threat of danny green was more useful than the higher-converting rondo.

 

In our 2020 regular season:

LeBron shot an AVERAGE 35% and made 2.3 per game
KCP shot ABOVE AVERGE 39% and made 1.3 per game
Danny Green shot ABOVE AVERAGE 37% and made 1.8 per game
Avery Bradley shot ABOVE AVERAGE 36% and made 1.3 per game

Troy Daniels and Quin Cook in limited minutes (about 11 per) shot ABOVE AVERAGE 36% and made 1.7 per game as well

Hell, even AD shot 33% and made 1.2 per game

In the 2020 playoffs..

Morris shot ABOVE AVERAGE 42% and made 1.4 per game
Rondo shot ABOVE AVERAGE 40% and made 1.3 per game
Davis shot ABOVE AVERAGE 38% and made 1.1 per game
KCP shot ABOVE AVERAGE 38% and made 2.1 per game
LeBron shot ABOVE AVERAGE 37% and made 2.1 per game

The only two who shot below average in the bubble were Green (34%) and Kuzma (31%) and yet they combined for another 3+ makes per game.

Our roster has nothing resembling this type of forecast in volume or accuracy....

Again, stop already....

We need shooting in the absolute worse way......

 

unfortunately, shooters come to the lakers to die

i've completely given up on this team acquiring shooters because they ALWAYS end up shooting far less %-wise than they did the previous year. going all the way back to glen rice

 

More BS..Lebron and AD are still on the team aren't they? Morris was a buyout pickup, if we need another shooter, who said we can't find another guy that can shoot?

KCP shot 38% Beverley avg 40%
Rondo had his best 3pt shooting in the bubble for his entire stay here. He and Morris avg less than 2 threes a game. That s*** isn't the big deal you are making it out to be.

We have guys that can hit shots..they have all shown that ability. They will all get some of the best looks of their careers playing on the Lakers. They most definitely have the ability to shoot well here.

For one thing you jump to the playoffs in the bubble, and try to compare guys stats to guys that haven't even played with Lebron and AD , like that really means something. If they had all played here for a year than you might have made a point.