Pre-season GM#5 Lakers vs Warriors- 7:30 ESPN

[iamworthy]

Watching SVP murder the Rockets is quite hilarious. Putting circles around Westbrook and Harden. As Westbrook dribbles the air out of the basketball, Harden doesn't even space the floor and just backs up completely out of the screen.

"It's like someone broke the X-Box controller."

Who or what is SVP?

Scott Van Pelt

[iamworthy]

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[thebigbird]

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[TheGOATWill]

14 made shots by AD, JaVale and Dwight. All dunks or layups. Which led to 15/30 from 3. They go in pretty often when they’re open looks.

[Kilroy]

Still can't get over Bradly and Cook last night. Their jumpers were beautiful... Nothing but net most of the time. Green looked good too, but I didn't realize how good a shooter Cook was and it looks like Bradly may be a little under-rated in that department.

If they can just hit the open shots, we're going to be just fine.

Be Like Big Al and just hit dingers

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[iamworthy]

So, where are we with caruso?

[TheGOATWill]

So, where are we with caruso?

Guard 5. Maybe 4 depending on the opponent. Behind Bradley, Green and Cook for sure. About even with KCP and ahead of Rondo and Daniels for now. I’d dress him every night even when Kuzma gets back. I like him better off the ball. A little too aggressive at times but usually makes the right play. He can catch and shoot. Alert on defense. They’ll need him in spots.

[iamworthy]

So, where are we with caruso?

Guard 5. Maybe 4 depending on the opponent. Behind Bradley, Green and Cook for sure. About even with KCP and ahead of Rondo and Daniels for now. I’d dress him every night even when Kuzma gets back. I like him better off the ball. A little too aggressive at times but usually makes the right play. He can catch and shoot. Alert on defense. They’ll need him in spots.

So probably 5-10 minutes a night. The guard minute distribution will be interesting.

[kobe808lak]

Cohesiveness between starting guards a thing? One would hope so.

I'm not worried about that at all, one guy stand on one side and the other guy stand on the opposite.. lol

[Kilroy]

So, where are we with caruso?

Full circle, one would hope...

He's not on the Bradly/Cook tier on either end of the floor... He's probably not on the KCP tier either... You could argue he's a better defender than Rondo, but I don't see evidence he's a better shooter with this lineup yet...

He's had some nice plays though. So Insurance Guard sounds about right to me at this point.

[kobe808lak]

Really thought Caruso would be balling out but he's been disappointing.

[Kilroy]

To me, he's over-achieved. I'm happy with him. I just think Starter was always a ridiculous expectation for him, especially on a team that's starting LeBron, Davis and Green next to him...
I mean, if you had told everyone last season, we were going to get Davis and Green and keep LeBron, but we were going to roll with Caruso as our starting PG, I think most fans would have freaked out.

[tamaraw08]

Everything just feels so much smoother without Rondo in there, ball moves around, shooters ready to make the defense pay, lots of off the ball cuts. Doesn’t die down with Rondo trying to force something. Helps Cook is making a case for all the backup pg minutes.

I don't know if Rondo is trying to force something but yes, he's got some sticky hands, over dribbling bec he tries hard to read the defense then tries to create and set up teammates instead of letting Lebron facilitate the offense.
Cook, Bradley and even KCP hit their shots and I am not sure if 3 or more Lakers can shoot consistently.
Cook was barely used by Kerr before, creating the notion that he's not a good enough defender, hopefully Vogel and staff can properly nurture him about how to be a better defender esp with JMG and Davis in the backline of the defense.

[mcscotty]

So, where are we with caruso?

Starting....with South Bay.

[tamaraw08]

[url][/url]
Give it a rest! Caruso is likely 3rd on the depth chart where he belongs. He's neither the best PG defender nor the best 3 point shooting PG on the team. It boggles my mind why people continue to use stats from 1/3 of a season to make the assertions you've made.

And the best defensive pg on the roster in your opinion is who? I never said he was the best 3pt shooting pg on the roster???

The best PG defender by a good margin is KCP. Last year he has some of the best numbers vs PGs on defense. HE can press them full court no problem and has active hands.

Do you mind sharing the link on where you based this, bec per ESPN DRTG, basketballref's DRTG AND DBPM, he ranked very low. I don't necessarily believe all advanced stats and I don't think KCP is that bad...
if you're basis is from Ballsohard's research, here it is from https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1889028
KCP's Weighted Player PTS DIFF by position is as follows:

2018

PG - 293 possessions. PG under performed their their season average by -51 points.

2017

SG - 1097 possessions. SG scored a combined net +18 points more than their season average.
PG - 272 possessions. PG under performed their their season average by -4 points.
While for Caruso
Caruso's Weighted Player PTS DIFF by position is as follows:

2018

SG - 193 possessions. SG scored a combined net +39 points more than their season average.
PG - 272 possessions. PG combined under performed their their season average by -141 points.

2017

SG - 129 possessions. SG scored a combined net +53 points more than their season average.
PG - 292 possessions. PG combined under performed their their season average by -81 point.

A few patterns are evident:
- He struggled in both years guarding SGs.
- [u][b]He was very good in both years guarding PGs.
- More than double the time he spent guarding SF in 2018 and he became a negative. He did well guarding SFs on a limited basis.

For context, he spent a good amount of time defending some quality players at the PG spot. Some of which includes Bledsoe, Lillard, Kyrie, D'angelo, Dinwiddie, etc.[/b][/u]
advanced defensive stats have flaws, whether formulated from the professionals from ESPN and geeks from basketballref and cleaningtheglass etc but for me shooting % are more straightforward.
KCP hit his average from 3pt line at 34.7 last year, that's 10th lowest among SGs in the league.
Caruso has a career 39.8% actually shot 48% last year, with a catch and shoot% of 46% compared to KCP'S 36.7%.
Am I saying Caruso is the most gifted/talented best PG that the Lakers has? absolutely NOT! Yes he hasn't proven to be a great passer, facilitator etc etc but IMO, Lebron is the best facilitator in the team but Lebron needs to be surrounded by shooters who will punish double teams as evidenced by Lebron's past teams, always top 5 in ORTG in Cleveland even when after Kyrie got traded.
Is Caruso the best shooter? nope, I would rather have Cook or Daniels take those shots, but those 2 have not exactly defended well before, I hope I'm wrong and I'm really hoping Cook can defend but he was always been in the doghouse of Kerr the past 3 years, but then again Kerr benched JMG, and look at how he is playing for this team now.
There's been quite a bit of rash reaction from game 5. Cook and Bradley were great....shooting the ball!!!!As a Laker fan I hope they sustain it...

[LAKESHOW]

We gonna need iggy

[Landsberger]

So, where are we with caruso?

He's about where I thought he'd be. He's a fan favorite for sure but let's not forget the circumstances of his flashes of good play. On bad teams in garbage time for the most part.

I think he's a guy who can step in when we get an injury and/or a situational guard when matchups dictate. He's done nothing in the preseason to warrant cracking the bench rotation IMHO.