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Luke's lineups/rotations have been frustrating to watch. Our best players seem to be getting 20 mins a game while being asked to claw us out of big holes that the starters give up.

Lets start with Kuz who honestly should be starting. He's playing out of this world and has earned the starting PF position. We desperately need his scoring/shooting abilities in the starting lineup more than Nance's defense and hustle. With that said, Luke is treating Kuz like his new whipping boy. He has him on a short leash -- pulls him after any time he takes a quick shot, but doesn't say anything when KCP takes a three during a fast break with numbers. Which KCP has done 3x in last 5 games.

Kuz is our starting franchise PF of the future and should be treated as such. We struck gold with him. Can you imagine how our 2017 draft class would look like if we didnt have Kuz?? Benching him is just prolonging the inevitable.

I don't understand how Luke can justify sitting Kuz while at the same time he chooses to start Zo over JC. Clarkson is having a career year and is probably our most consistent player this season. Tonight for example he had it going and was the hottest player in the second half. However, Luke pulled him out with 5 mins left and put Zo in. I'm done coddling Zo, I want to win games now. No draft pick this year, might as well make a push for 8th seed. JC earned the starting spot with his play so far... At minimum he should be closing games for us until Zo decides to locate his testicles and man up.


Clarkson's frustrations are starting to boil over. Here's his post games comments from tonight when asked about being pulled in the fourth :

"It tough as hell, to be honest with you," Clarkson said after a long pause and a deep sigh. "Because I'm a competitor like everybody else in this locker room. You want to be on the floor. It is what it is. I can't control nothing [sic] of what's going on. [Walton] put the guys, he thought, on the floor that are going to win the game for us."

Clarkson repeated, "It is what it is."

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/sports/Lakers-Jordan-Clarkson-frustrated-with-Clippers-loss-460451043.html

I would be frustrated too if I was Clarkson. He earned the closing minutes that game. If this was a meritocracy, JC, Kuz and Randle would be starting or at least playing 30+ mins and closing game. Not being forced to play less than 20 mins a game off the bench. Luke needs to change his approach or he could lose the locker room. Pro athletes won't keep their mouths quiet too long if they are having career years and not being rewarded with PT. Something needs to change.

I'm with you ... Kuzma is a starter. Nance is not a starter. This is reminding me of when we had Jordan Hill - Everyone wanted to give Jordan time as a starter but then quickly realized he isn't a starter and couldn't handle starting minutes - Nance is a great player and I like him, but as I've pointed out way too many times I'd like to mention and this is the last on here ...

Nance is not a start - we need him for Hustle, Energy that he brings and he doesn't really bring that as a starter - I like him and want to keep him, but as that key bench roll player - we need scorers in the starting line up.

Tired of seeing our starters getting us into a hole early or even late and having our sick bench come in and try to win or take leads comebacks etc not just this year either.

This is a bad sign. Clarkson should've addressed this privately with the coaching staff. He'll be in the dog house soon.

personally, i thought Clarkson should have stayed on the floor to finish the game (referring to the clips game)

Yeah Clarkson will be traded soon just like Randle, and hopefully Deng too.

EZ GG LOSER wrote:I'm with you ... Kuzma is a starter. Nance is not a starter. This is reminding me of when we had Jordan Hill - Everyone wanted to give Jordan time as a starter but then quickly realized he isn't a starter and couldn't handle starting minutes - Nance is a great player and I like him, but as I've pointed out way too many times I'd like to mention and this is the last on here ...

Nance is not a start - we need him for Hustle, Energy that he brings and he doesn't really bring that as a starter - I like him and want to keep him, but as that key bench roll player - we need scorers in the starting line up.

Time of seeing our starters getting us into a hole early or even late and having our sick bench come in and try to win or take leads comebacks etc not just this year either.

The problem is Kuzuma will get killed by the best PFs in the league. So unless he improves defensively he's toast.

let's not put this on Luke.. this comes straight from the FO.

JC should've closed the game yesterday. That's the problem with having your best players come off the bench. It's tough for JC and Kuz to close out games because they come in at maybe the 3-4 min mark of the 3rd and have to play the rest of the game. Luke's got to figure out how to get those guys a couple min of rest in between and get them back in the game to close it out.

I take it that the frustration is due to the Clipper game, I get it. It hurt, but Luke said something after the game that made a lot of sense. Speaking specifically about this game he said that his rotations were dictated by two factors, one- the foul trouble and two- finding a balance in players that were being effective on offense AND defense. He said that some guys were playing great offense but were not playing defense and others were playing great defense but no offense. He went with the best option for players that had both games at the time.
On that basis I can see why Luke did what he did, but still wasn’t enough.

Simple... Kuzz should START & Clarkson EARNED the closing minutes last night... If Kuzz was the 7th pick in the draft instead of the 27th, would we be questioning starting the kid... We need shooters around Ball too... Simple game plan... I know Griff is Big but Kuzz needs the minutes... Bad move by Luke... Kid dropped 18 & 6 a game as a starter...

Lakeshow...

I would think the closers on any given night should either be the hottest dudes or the guys that are proven to be amazing closers.
Right now I would say we have no proven closers so the matchups and night's performance should be what dictates who closes.

Not only would we win more, but it would motivate guys and the guys who aren't on the floor would have nothing to complain about but their own performance.

Danny Darko wrote:I would think the closers on any given night should either be the hottest dudes or the guys that are proven to be amazing closers.
Right now I would say we have no proven closers so the matchups and night's performance should be what dictates who closes.

Not only would we win more, but it would motivate guys and the guys who aren't on the floor would have nothing to complain about but their own performance.

This was supposed to be the game plan which Luke has explicitly said that he will reward good performances by letting hot players close games. Then he pulls JC yesterday which goes against what he said would happen. Which is why I think JC got so frustrated.

larry14r wrote:

EZ GG LOSER wrote:I'm with you ... Kuzma is a starter. Nance is not a starter. This is reminding me of when we had Jordan Hill - Everyone wanted to give Jordan time as a starter but then quickly realized he isn't a starter and couldn't handle starting minutes - Nance is a great player and I like him, but as I've pointed out way too many times I'd like to mention and this is the last on here ...

Nance is not a start - we need him for Hustle, Energy that he brings and he doesn't really bring that as a starter - I like him and want to keep him, but as that key bench roll player - we need scorers in the starting line up.

Time of seeing our starters getting us into a hole early or even late and having our sick bench come in and try to win or take leads comebacks etc not just this year either.

The problem is Kuzuma will get killed by the best PFs in the league. So unless he improves defensively he's toast.

His a rookie of course he going to get killed but at least he has good offense and reb we can work on the Defense

Lou was torching everyone... JC was doing as good a job on him as anyone while playing super efficient offense... Can't agree with Luke on that one... No reason for him to sit to close that game.
And Luke also said Kuz wasn't playing Defense, so how does putting him in in the final minute fit with the 'mix' theorem.

Clarkson and Randle should have ended that game... It was our best shot at winning.

I like this from Clarkson and I'm sure Walton does too. Lonzo needs to know we have people hungry for minutes at backup facilitator so he better stop playing so safe all the time and attack and break the game flow.

The real problem is the defensive difference between Lopez and Randle. Honestly, it's a quarter into the season now and I'm bringing my one-year guys off the bench now...

SL - Ball - Ingram - Kuzma - Nance - Randle
Bench - Clarkson - KCP - Brewer - Deng - Lopez
Situational Subs - Hart, Bogut, Ennis

Why not just start

Ball
KCP
Ingram
Kuzma
Nance

What exactly does Brook Lopez do again? Stretch the floor? No. Rim protect? No. Rebound? LOL, Nah.

Ball / KCP / Ingram / Kuzma / Nance

Stagger minutes with Clarkson / Hart / Brewer / Randle / Bryant

Lopez and Bogut shouldn't sniff the floor. Build for the future, we're not making the playoffs. Ideally, let's ship Clarkson, Randle, Deng, and Lopez.

Kuzma should start. Sure. And when he hits the rookie wall in a few weeks, then what? All rookies do except from some physical freaks like LBJ or alike. He has to come off the bench even if he's starter quality right now. It's 82 games. I see him as a starter at the end of the season. That's the time to do it.

Ingram played from the bench. Dlo had some benching time even though he was not doing as bad as Ball is. Why are we not just benching him so he can learn the game from the bench. This NBA teams and first round favoritism. Do you think Clarkson would have been treated this way if he was a 2nd over all pick?

XXBKXX wrote:

Danny Darko wrote:I would think the closers on any given night should either be the hottest dudes or the guys that are proven to be amazing closers.
Right now I would say we have no proven closers so the matchups and night's performance should be what dictates who closes.

Not only would we win more, but it would motivate guys and the guys who aren't on the floor would have nothing to complain about but their own performance.

This was supposed to be the game plan which Luke has explicitly said that he will reward good performances by letting hot players close games. Then he pulls JC yesterday which goes against what he said would happen. Which is why I think JC got so frustrated.

how was JCs defense?