Sounds good but they weren't all these options out there imo. Melo has performed, Ariza is the only other older guy expected to play. That was a mistake And Russ wasn't forced on to anyone, we chose to pursue him, and that wasn't a bad idea IMO.
There was no plan anyone can come with, that would alleviate James, Davis, and Nunn being out this much. I disagree with that sentiment. Name these players that you think we could have signed.
We were going to be over the salary cap period, with just resigning our own free agents. We couldn't do any sign and trades. We couldn't outbid people for the high end free agents either. All we were going to be able to do was make a trade. We shopped Kuz and Kcp all season, nobody offered anything of substance for them. We were about to give up two players and a first round pick for Buddy Hield for Christ's sake!!! We didn't have all these great options a lot you guys keep claiming that we had.
i'm not sure he's a rotation player, nor was most of the league. he's a 9-12 player, imo. we're starting him because we pay three guys 130 million dollars. no, but had we made some other choices, we might have won more early in the season when the schedule was easy, so as not to put us in position to kill lebron and AD trying to make the playoffs.
i understood chasing mills and nunn over gay at that price, and i was asking for johnson and green at the time, i think.
Again I love Reaves. He’s been the biggest highlight of the year for me. But have you seen his play lately? He’s had one good game in the past handful. He’s shooting only 30% from three. He’s hesitant to shoot lately and last night he had an Ofer. He’s also a rookie and he’s a great one but these are the reasons he’s not our starter. He’s inconsistent at this stage. But he has fabulous potential and I love it when he does close out games.
i don't know if 0-3 counts as an 0fer, really. same reason i'm not as mad about THT's shooting as others. not many guys are great shooters on 1-2 attempts per game. teams need to account for reaves defensively; they basically ignore bradley and figure he won't hit enough shots for it to matter. everyone but atlanta earlier this year has been right.
There were those options, we chose to go elsewhere. I've listed those guys a lot the past few weeks. Again, there was... Wings for min: Bembry, James Johnson, Otto Porter, Ennis. Wings for MLE: Torrey Craig, Jeff Green, Mo Harkless, David Nwaba Ariza and Ellington were both penciled in as starters. They might as well be wearing suits and sitting behind the bench. Baze was expected to play heavily into the rotation... he's awful and moves like a 40 year old. DJ and Dwight weren't here for window dressing and they are older and play 10x older than that. Bron and AD vetoed the Hield deal to get their 3rd star. So in that regard, Rob's hands were tied. The rest of the roster failures fall on him though.
Bradley is shooting 38% from three this year. Reaves is shooting 30%. Sorry folks no matter how much Bradley is criticized as a starter we simply don’t have anyone better right now. I had hopes that maybe Monk could be but then he shot 2 for 10 last night. No one else is consistent enough on both sides of the ball to supplant Bradley. Maybe Nunn will be if he ever comes back. Here’s hoping.
I just struggle to answer these responses because it goes beyond shooting - the spacing is just a mess. Teams respect Reaves as a rookie as a guy has the capability to do more then shoot - dribble pass, shoot. It's not always the raw numbers it what teams will give you. Teams respect Reaves, Bradley nope. For example: this is insane - look at how open he is before AD shoots on the right corner 3 (6th shot listed) and then left corner (last shot listed). His guy is doubling Dwight or in the paint and not just doubling him, he's literally bumping him. NOrmally its sharing to the corner in this case they are literally double teaming before the pass the interior player https://www.nba.com/stats/events/?C...eamID=1610612747&flag=3&sct=plot§ion=game
You can't force guys to sign here though, we offered a couple of those guys like Porter and Green, they chose to sign elsewhere. I never penciled Duke into anything, I always considered Monk and Nunn superior to him. Trevor was a bad look...agreed. I have no idea why we signed two bigs if AD was playing 5. And once again that Hield deal was a terrible idea and should have been panned. I have no issues with the trade. I have more problems with Lebron and AD not playing than meddling with the roster.
Spacing is great but someone needs to actually knock them down. Spacing with the starters really isn’t an issue. Who do you want shooting? Westbrook? AD hoisting threes? I don’t get the problem. Reaves is great, he doesn’t need to be a starter. Monk is great when he is. But he’s no defender. THT sucks. Baze sucks. Bradley is adequate for his 20 minutes a game. We don’t have any better options. Perhaps Nunn will be.
Also you and everyone here are completely ignoring the fact that AB had 4 steals last night. He’s our most consistent defender besides AD. In other words I don’t get the timing of your put down of Bradley. Why single him out as a problem when he gave us 11 points made 3 of 8 threes, made 4 steals and helped us win the game? On a night when Monk went 2 for 10, Reaves had an Ofer and refused several open looks, and THT turned the ball over three straight times and had to be benched ultimately going 1 for 3 with 5 points. It’s just a strange night to have beef with AB. My point stands, none of these guys are replacing him now or any time soon with good reason. Perhaps Nunn will change that and if he does great. In the meantime I just don’t get what people expect here.
Besides. . trading for Buddy Hield, still meant that we had to sign a point guard. And we couldn't do a sign and trade to aquire any of the top free agents at the point. Derozan either.
All the advanced metrics say Reaves should be a starter: if you don't believe 538, the Lakers own inhouse staff also believes that Bradley is a detriment and Vogel has said that he knows this but plays him because he likes his attitude. Guess what I like his attitude and him as a player as well but he simply is not a starter. Yes he's rotational player who you will have better games and worse games otherwise he shouldn't be in the rotation. But Bradley as a starter is fool's gold because even the spacing issues make it difficult for other guys like AD to score like last night: he had 3 guys in the paint with him. Also Bradley is a good on ball defender but off ball it's a weakness for him, he gets lost and on rotation his size is a big problem shooters can shoot over him because his contest doesn't bother them due to the lack of length And I strongly disagree with saying I'm putting him down: I've consistently been a fan of his. He's just not a starter/finishing rotation guy and it times to get rid of the security blanket and play Reaves 30mpg. Yes he's going to make mistakes but just the fact he's bigger, can dribble, defense, and pass it's big upgrade for the team.
Been saying this awhile. Reaves should be starting. If he was getting those 30 minutes a game, or more, and allowed to make mistakes he would be a much better player by now and likely we would have won a few more games. We were extremely fortunate to land him after letting AC get a way and were not taking advantage of what he offers. He is an actual basketball player instead of one trick pony. Beyond frustrating and my biggest gripe with Vogel right now. I have a few more I'm refraining from bringing up yet...lol It has to be Frank is afraid of making some players mad by playing him more. I can't believe he can't see the obvious.
i'll split the difference: reaves should be starting but playing 25mpg or less, the latter just to make sure we don't overtax a rookie and injure him. let bradley go after second units or pester star guards on second rotations, etc. bradley's a useful nba player in spurts, but we act like he's an every-down back.
As I said I love Reaves but he’s a rookie and he’s been playing like it lately. I can tell you that Vogel is not going to start him any time soon unless Bradley gets injured. Monk is already starting which is fine. I could possibly see him taking AB’s starting role when Lebron gets back just to see what he looks like with our big 3 but more likely I think Nunn will get his shot at it when he returns. Good news that he is ramping up his rehab right now and we may finally see him soon. We can hope, right?
