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

if we have a center who can space the floor some on offense with russ, it can look better, even without major offensive system changes.

but i agree that if you look at what ham's suggesting (4-out, lots of ball and player movement), it requires russ to be something we've never seen (and something he bristled at just last year).

 

Balling out on this team for Russ to me is 17-20 pts ,10 assists ,and around 8 rebs. He's the 3rd option here, that's an exceptional 3rd option. I really don't think Russ assumes that he should be a 1st or 2nd here.
The Defense, like I said earlier was good in OKC. He's been on three different teams in different roles in 3 seasons. He definitely didn't buy in with Frank's scheme, nobody really did last season.

I'm trying to grasp what adapting his game under Frank means. Frank's offense was give it to Lebron or AD, and everyone else circles around the 3pt line. What was he supposed to do, hit more 3's? That's not his game. He decreased his shot attempts from the field and 3pt line, decreased his TO, increased his FG%, but he was just trying to play his normal way? Playing off the ball by cutting to the basket, ok or posting up more, I can see, but turning into a shooter that he's never been? I don't think that's what Darvin is talking about.

 

Gotta actually see it in action. I'm perplexed as to what he means too. Bryant has that potential to be a stretch 5.

 

We'll find out exactly how much you know in about a month.

 

Meh..You listed a bunch of guys that haven't played much, aren't very good PG at all, and a few 2 guards. Jordan Poole is not a PG, or Cade Cunningham, Ivey is a rookie that avg 3 assists a game in college, we don't even know what position he's going to play. SMH however since you have expanded it to PG or sharing PG duties ..cool

Let's see there are 6 guys on that list that avg more assists than Westbrook. And Russ played with Lebron who avg 6 assists a game. More than almost everyone you listed by himself. Share PG duties? Lebron James is the tallest PG in the League by your take. You can now throw in Reaves, he's 6'6, or Walker 6'4, maybe Brown 6'6. We don't seem to be so undersized at all to me.

Which one of those 6 guys, who avg more assists than Westbrook, while having another teamate avg 6 assists? None

You make a lot of noise, but a brief scrutiny of all that yap reveals that this junk you keep throwing up isn't as compelling as you think it is. Lol..man I'm going to enjoy busting your chops this season..don't go run and hide by November now.
You are going to have to chill on that "ball licking s***" tho kid. You are showing your age with petty s*** like that. If you said something like that to my face, your ears would still be ringing two weeks later. Keep it inbounds.

 

I'm definitely hoping for the best health wise. I feel like we are due to catch a break with that. Healthy AD/LeBron can will us to the playoffs.

I am taking a wait and see approach with Nunn. I think we will know more once camp gets going.

 

That's a big part of my pessimism with him. We watched him struggle last season and I don't know how well he will adapt to what Ham seems to have in mind.

Fan patience is at zero and he's going to be greeted to boos and Westbrick chance right off the bat this season IMO.

I've got to think he understands on some level that he needs to play well if he wants a decent contract moving forward but yeah. Tough to see how the staff is going to make it work.

 

Russ isn't gonna be having the ball enough to rack up 10 assists if Lebron is healthy. It sounds like Ham is gonna play him off ball and get him to cut more on offense. I think he can put up 15 pts and around 6-7 assists but of course he's efficiency will be poor. Maybe he should focus on being more of a Dennis Schroder type player from the previous year. If Nunn and Bev stay healthy, we'll have more options so if he's off he can take a seat.

 

TBH..I'm not sure what the offense is going to look like. I look at the Bucks stats and I see Giannis, Middleton, Holiday, and Portis taking most of their shots. Giannis, Middleton and Holiday avg 5-6 assists a piece leading the team.

AD isn't Giannis like IMO, the handles aren't the same, but Darvin wants things ran through AD. I imagine that this 4 out 1 in, has all kinds of variations, but I'll have to see it in action with our guys first.

 

it's incredibly stupid and so unnecessary

why would the players even give two s***s about this? imagine a star player suffering a serious injury during this tournament

 

This is turning into English premier cup Series A

 

If the tournament is part of the 82 game season then its not to bad. When this idea was brought up I thought they were going to add games but I’m fine with this.

Maybe the prizes will be good enough to stop teams from tanking/injury management in November.

 

The mod stuff is referring to you making a personal attack, while functioning as a "moderator" I found that ironic.
Moving on..I said what I said..backing down, puffing out chest, I told you, you told me...etc.Meh..perhaps you take this more seriously than I do.
Westbrook is on expiring contract, it's going to work out or it won't. The guy gets an obsessive amount of vitriol spewed in his direction for a terrible season that wasn't all his fault. I push back on that take, I'm a fan of the team too. Everyone doesn't have to see things the same way.

It will still be about the LAKERS 10 years from now when everyone is gone. I was a fan of the team before any of these players were born. A lot of the posters around here too it seems.
Anyway..we can go back to disengaging I'm cool, perhaps we can both enjoy a successful season without ever interacting again. It's all good.

Ciao

 

That is playing team ball IMO, it's extremely hard to put out that kind of production nightly, it's a tough league. Somehow this has evolved into an all about stats type of thing. Who wouldn't want a guy on their team that can score, rebound and drop dimes, all at a high level? It's why Lebron is an All Time great.
Russ just has to win a ring, Lebron already has 4. For the team,, if James and Russ are getting assists, that means other guys are getting buckets. Players love playing with guys that will get them the ball. On defense as Ham said, look at his career he's done that too, it's portrayed as he is some historicaly bad defender, that's not correct either.
We'll see though, the media seems to project Westbrook as being all about himself and stats, but his teammates and the FO he played for all say differently for his entire career. It's a curious thing, perhaps he shouldn't be a jerk to the media all the time. Gotta win that chip though, nobody can knock that.

 

The tournament is the result of star players not playing half the season year in and year out.

I'll be saying some not so good stuff on the next broadcast on Lakers Fast Break about how the stars of the NBA are turning the NBA regular season into a non-entity.

 

Who said anything about assists?. Nice spin, but you said "we had one of the biggest PG's in the game" and it was a stupid comment. Poole wasn't bolded (even though he is in fact listed as a PG on the Warriors official roster) and both Ivey and Cunningham are listed (along with Hayes) and they ARE ALL TALLER THAN WESTBROOK and yes, one or two will in fact be handling the starting PG minutes for the Pistons.

The reason you decided to make it about assists was the alternative would be admitting how dumb of a comment it was in the first place.

Everything you utter is absolute nonsense and then you think you are sharing some enlightenment when it comes to "proving everyone wrong" in November, knowing damn well a month in a season doesn't make a season. But guess what like everything else you say, Westbrook still won't be one of the biggest PG's in the league in two months.

OF COURSE the Lakers will be better with a healthy and returned to form AD and if LeBron can keep beating the clock with another elite season. But that in itself is a big "if" and now you have the chemistry issues with the addition of Beverley playing with Westrbick to worry about as well.

But the biggest fubar with you -where just about every analysist and insider shares is we lack shooting and size defending wings- which ANYONE (aside from you apparently) realize and the absolute horrendous fit Russell is with this team.

No magical Darvin Ham fairy dust is going to offset those realities...