I have to see the whole team. Walker, Schroder, and Brown have will be in the regular rotation, and I want to see them all play together. Not complaining, yet. Lol.
I hear ya, but those guys, career wise aren’t dependable floor spacers when it comes to shooting. For me, this is our biggest issue on the offensive end. It was on paper, when this team was assembled, and it will remain until they prove me wrong and start hitting shots.
I agree it matters to a degree. Mainly the lineups we’re actually trying to win though, and from the box score and highlights I saw they were up and looked decent with actual NBA lineups in there. When AD and LeBron called it a night it was over. Also no Schröder, no Brown Jr, no Walker, that’s most of the actual bench right there. Kind of disappointing to see Huff didn’t get any time at all though, I figured he’d get run next to Bryant after AD was done. It’s a hard balance, LeBron and AD have nothing to prove in preseason, but maybe the last couple games you sort of try to win to gather some momentum. Shooting is going to be an issue though, it just is, on paper this is like the worst point shooting team in the league based on last years percentages.
I want to see some damn Huff. They barely played him end of summer league and next night after spotted healthy in practice clips yesterday he gets a DNP in pre season game 1.
I enjoyed some moments. Russ looked relatively good. Overall though, things felt underwhelming and meh.
Looked like every Laker team has at the start of every season over the past four years: One comprised mostly of dudes who have never played together before.
Russ +1 AD +2 LeBron +2 This game confirmed we suck when we play a mini MLE and vet mins only. Who would have thought?? For reference, our worst players on +/- were: Jones -15 Swider -30 JTA -24 Christie -25 Pippen -20
didn't see the second half, but i read we started nunn/christie in the back court, which isn't advised. love christie as a prospect, but he's a 19 year old rookie in his first preseason game. we actually missed schroder in the first half, too, imo, as the reaves/beverley back court also struggled to get things humming. say what you will about russ (and i have), he didn't gum up the works in his stints last night.
I thought Russ played fine honestly. Best part was he able to finish at the basket. My concerns about shooting remain.
No, he actually looked really solid. Did not make stupid decisions. Kept people involved and penetrated the defense well. Basically, that's all he needs to do, aside from rebounding and pushing the tempo. Defensively he looked more engaged (the whole team did in the first half), but who knows if it's going to stay that way. I was pleasantly surprised, to be honest.