Malik is a good 6th or 7th man. Bring him in and if he starts out hot keep him in for awhile. If not sub him out and try him again later in the game. If your role is three point shooting you have to come in banging. If he wants more consistent minutes put the work in and improve in other areas. Malik is a great weapon but to start him over Austin is absurd.
yeah, if we're going to win, we need some unexpected (like beasley or rui) to step up and play well, imo.
Welp - with D-Lo potentially out, this is a really big game for Beasley imo. He's going to need to step in for D-Lo and drill those 3's that D-Lo has been drilling.
Those two threes in the first half were big at the time to help develop that early cushion … but man he just STINKED out there the rest of the night. Not just missing threes, some defensive lapses where he pretty much dared Dort to shoot even though he was clearly feeling it, some boneheaded drives where he had tunnel vision and flipped up an ugly floater or turned it over. Still think we need to pick up his team option just from an asset management perspective, and I do think he’s eventually going to get in better rhythm… but man every game is so important right now. Might be worth taking a look at how Christie or Lonnie play in that position of the depth chart
I’m all for giving Christie some burn. He plays excellent D and was hitting his shots the last few games he played.
Yes don’t spare feelings like they did with Brick. Catering to Brick’s incompetence was the lowest point of Laker history.
Im not sure Drummond wasn't worse. To promise him a starting job and keep playing him while he SUCKED was brutal. Not to mention signing Patrick f***ing Beverley.
We are lucky in the sense that if Beas isn't hitting, we got several other options to go to (reaves, walker, etc). I still think his gravity is important for others to have space to operate, but last night was a good example where Ham correctly played Lonnie more than Beas when the game was on the line.
I'm fine with him having a short leash because if he's off, he not giving much else. I think 6 three attempts should be his marker (and he's been around there mostly this month) regardless of hit or miss. The gravity is his most dependable skill. Night in, night out the shot is respected. If you have at least 2 of the following hitting and really hitting then you can afford to sit Beas: TB, DS, DLO, Rui, LW4, AR. But if no one of hitting anything, you need Beas out there to pull in defense, because on an off night he still gets more respect than those other six. I think his spacing becomes even more significant when Bron returns. Curious to see how Ham chops up the minutes.
Yeah with so many guys playing well...Ham's job is becoming more and more like Lue's job actually. It's going to be tough to decide who plays especially when Bron comes back.
I still think the rotation should not be so tight that when one guy is off offensively a player with Walker’s talent should stay glued to the bench just because DLO was available that game …. such exactly as Beasley having a bad night and last night’s prime example. Our bench is too good for that now. It would allow fresher players and greater energy at times on D as well.
yeah, i think this game will be helpful to ham so he can pull the plug quickly on bad beasley outings. i'd venture to say that if beas has another bad outing, he might lose the spot completely (until lonnie has some bad games again lol). but good problem to have.
Defenses have to account for Beasley even if he has a bad game much like Rice was. If he hits one or two in a row, look out. Not too many shots to go around and establish rhythm.
Still don’t like to even hear Rice’s name because we traded away my favorite player at the time, Eddie Jones, in the deal. I completely understand the thought process behind it, but that one hurt a lot more than losing AC.
For sure. That was one of the most depressing time for me as a Laker fan and comparable to losing the 84 Finals.
I hated that so much. I loved Eddie Jones. And I liked Elden too. I hated Shaq for forcing that issue: "I need a shooter." Jones and Kobe were the secret sauce backcourt. And would have been killer with Phil at the helm who loved tall guards.
Guy is a scrub. He misses all the open 3's and can't do anything else except chucking. He misses his first 3-4 shots, bury his a** at the end of the bench.
