He will likely be one of the whipping boys for Laker fans once the season starts. He's the one guy I don't see working out but because it's the vet minimum, it won't hurt too bad.
Yeah it's a low risk. But we really need another backup C we can trust if this guy busts. Then again, I think LeBron will be our first backup C in the rotation
starting to think we just are happy being small and like lebron in the backup c role. maybe we can bring back wenyen in that case.
Yeah, I think it makes sense to prolong his career. Backup Cs on other teams also aren't real bigs, like Tillman, Powell, Lyles and alike. Also justifies the big wings we got. You play LeBron with 2 of Rui, Vando, Prince and Reddish together with 2 of Reaves, Dlo and Max and you get a big non-AD lineup Plus, you want to have one of LeBron/AD in the court, so it makes sense to have one as backup of the other On Gabriel, ok if it wasn't for Jokic. We likely need to beat them later in the year, and TT makes more sense than Gabriel. Plus the leadership on a group that got younger and busting Hayes' balls during practice (AD ain't that guy)
yeah, i get wanting the beef for jokic. but i also could see just throwing your hands up and hoping denver's role players don't go totally ballistic from deep for 4 straight games again. i like my odds of that and denver not having another magically healthy year, tbh.
Thomas has Finals experience. None of the other bigs besides AD can say that. That alone wins the spot for me. It's the 14th spot on the roster, geez. If it's a question, carry 15. Not like it costs a lot to waive a min contract if you needed to do a 2 for 1 deal later in the year.
you mean thompson? i'd be ok with it, given the circumstances. i prefer gabriel, but i get it. to answer your question, i think that 15 might put us over the tax? or maybe make it so that if there's a buyout we wanted it would put us over the tax? need to look at that.
I really dislike LeBron playing minutes at the five. Usually, when this happens, we get out rebounded and thus out scored.
I think it's a natural transition to increase his durability (again, backup 5s are not usually 7 footers or strong, eg Tillman, Powell etc). I imagine this is something we are thinking about considering the roster construction. We also got outrebounded because we had short wings (Melo, Troy, 3 guard lineups). A Lebron-Vando/Rui-Prince-Reddish/Reaves-Dlo should struggle less in that department
I agree. Our small lineup is actually quite big/long. Bron’s durability is helped by playing backup 5 next season. There’s just less for him to do, and he’s likely going to be the strongest dude on the court anyway.
That is an oddball trajectory as I've ever seen. Come in as a top notch screener and then just became trash after one season? Swear I should become an agent. Wtf is is Hayes team doing with stuff like this. If your a big who cant shoot, smash those screens and you'll make tons of money
it also makes me wonder about the metric itself if it's that volatile to what are almost certainly variables that aren't the player. one doesn't just forget how to set screens.
Boy that chart sure jumps out though. What in the flying F is his or the NO staff’s problem? Dude seems good and satisfied throwing down occasional dunks and beating his chest. Sucks reportedly like Westbrook paying attention to off ball team defense. I have a hunch Ham and Handy will let him know early on in a very positive way what he has to practice a lot on and get better at if he wants to see the floor. Hopefully he can at least rim protect decently with his height, reach and hops. That was our first round pick we traded that year for AD? If so I have to think it’s certain we would have taken someone else.
our pick was #4, which was garland, who is definitely who we would have taken (klutch). NO, bizarrely, traded him for hayes and (i think) nickeil alexander walker? can't find the details of that trade. i just remember some guy on here crowing about how they got jaxson hayes and goodies for that #4 pick and all we got was stupid AD. the real question is whether NO wishes they'd have just kept the #4 (they should have). i don't think we should have, because i think lebron would have walked/demanded a trade, and BI/hart/lonzo/garland was going to top out as a fun 7 seed.
Garland and a healthy Zion/BI: ouch that would have made the actual AD deal interesting instead of a slam dunk for the Lakers
this is my issue with trade grades, though. AD was a slam dunk for the lakers regardless of what happened for the pels. it could have been a slam dunk for both if their management team was better. but if the pels had drafted garland and grown into contenders with zion/garland/BI, that doesn't mean the lakers side of the trade got worse. we still got AD and a ring.
