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Dr Aki wrote:still undefeated when caruso plays

and dunks? hasn't he dunked every game.

Caruso MVP

This is the best Laker defense I've ever seen. I love watching this team shutting down teams night in night out.

However, the 3pt is a huge issue. We simply can't miss so many wide open looks. I hope Vogel focuses on shooting drills on practice, these guys need it.

Spanish_Laker wrote:This is the best Laker defense I've ever seen. I love watching this team shutting down teams night in night out.

However, the 3pt is a huge issue. We simply can't miss so many wide open looks. I hope Vogel focuses on shooting drills on practice, these guys need it.

This! They have to focus now on improving the 3pt % overall and get our shooters going. We'll have games where we'll need to shoot well against teams that will shoot lights out. While I think we're building a strong defensive identity, this is not something you can maintain through the whole season, especially when someone goes down with an injury, which, fingers crossed, won't be an issue this year. We've been plagued far too much in the recent years to be bugged by injuries again this season.

PS. Sometimes I have the feeling that everyone joining our team forgets how to shoot. I mean, Green, Daniels, Cook, very good shooters, but they've been subpar so far. Nobody expects them to shoot lights out every game. They just gotta be a bit more consistent overall.

Our offensive movement looked a lot better last night. Again gotta give it to Vogel. Dude is a great coach. Also bron is definitely in mvp mode. Nothing much more to say other than I love our team.

Slava wrote:Caldwell Pope is utter trash. I can at least give Kuz some time considering he's only getting into the flow of things. Ideally there's a package of KCP, McGee and Kuzma for a PG.

We're 7-1, with the largest point differential in the league and we need to change how we initiate? Not sure I agree with the "we need a PG" thought. Kuz will come around and even KCP will hit his typical "hey, he isn't complete trash" streak. McGee out played Howard last night as well. Rondo is a PG and aside from the advanced stat blather I think he'll bring another dimension to the team and help them offensively through the flat spots when Bron and Davis are not in the game.

This team hasn't hit its full potential on offense yet this year. We've not seen a game where everything is in sync for a full game. In another month I think this group that was thrown together will gel into a more cohesive team.

Landsberger wrote:

TylersLakers wrote:

Sedale Threatt wrote:
My theory is that we have a pretty mediocre collection of shooters. The only guy I have confidence that the ball is going in when he shoots is Green, and even he tends to be somewhat streaky.

I think you're correct. But you look at everyone's numbers: LeBron, AD, KCP, Daniels, Kuzma, Bradley: All not even close to their career numbers recently.

It's still early... I'm not concerned. Averages tend to revert as the set deepens. I'd rather have the team 7-1 while having issues shooting early in the year and shooting well late in the team going into the real season. It will happen.

It’s a real possibility that they might not really improve on their 3 pt shooting.
Cook, Daniels, Green and even Caruso had career 3 pt % above 38% but I think they are more focused on slowing the tempo and getting higher % shots resulting to less 3 pt attempts= Harder to get into a good shooting rhythm.
Ex Lakers Ingram, Hart, Ball have improved on their shooting but are not defending well. Knicks, Pistons and Kings are in the top 10 in 3 pt %, and all of them are struggling to beat opponents.,
Another aspect we’re failing to appreciate besides defense is that they have improved on their FT shooting.

Spanish_Laker wrote:This is the best Laker defense I've ever seen. I love watching this team shutting down teams night in night out.

However, the 3pt is a huge issue. We simply can't miss so many wide open looks. I hope Vogel focuses on shooting drills on practice, these guys need it.

The good thing is that the Lakers can be so dominant in the paint and defensively that they don't live or die by the three. Yes, it would be nicer to have blown out Miami, but they controlled the whole game and won comfortably without overly exerting themselves (even though Lebron looked spent at the end of the game).

Landsberger wrote:.....and even KCP will hit his typical "hey, he isn't complete trash" streak.

Well put. It's sad that that's about a good as it gets.

I worry about the 3-point shooting, but I really doubt 'extra practice' is gonna improve anything, at this point in these guys' lives. Other than that...I agree that it's hard to pump your fists, and demand changes, with the way things are going.

Let the coach do his thing. Give this team another 25-30 games to really sink into their roles / minutes, and give the coach time to really assess things.

As to the 3-point shooting: Yeah the Warriors really revolutionized things. Did having 3 absolutely amazing outside shooters help? It really skews things to have 3 of the top 5 outside shooters on 1 squad. Anyone else have anything close to that?

So while I agree this is the new NBA, and that we def need to work on it, and why wouldn't you want to be better at them....I also don't think this year will be such a 3-dominant season. Those guys are all out.

danfantastk32 wrote:As to the 3-point shooting: Yeah the Warriors really revolutionized things. Did having 3 absolutely amazing outside shooters help? It really skews things to have 3 of the top 5 outside shooters on 1 squad. Anyone else have anything close to that?

So while I agree this is the new NBA, and that we def need to work on it, and why wouldn't you want to be better at them....I also don't think this year will be such a 3-dominant season. Those guys are all out.

The Warriors also had very good defense when they were in their prime. The pitfall of going all out from 3 is evident with Houston. I agree that this year won't be a 3 dominant season. And the way the Lakers are built, as long as the D is consistent, they will be able to win playing to their strength (Dominating inside, transition, points off turnovers, late game execution).

danfantastk32 wrote:As to the 3-point shooting: Yeah the Warriors really revolutionized things. Did having 3 absolutely amazing outside shooters help? It really skews things to have 3 of the top 5 outside shooters on 1 squad. Anyone else have anything close to that?

So while I agree this is the new NBA, and that we def need to work on it, and why wouldn't you want to be better at them....I also don't think this year will be such a 3-dominant season. Those guys are all out.

The Warriors were an anomaly IMHO. Not a blueprint for the "modern NBA". It's not different than the teams trying to copy the Triangle in the Kobe/Shaq or Kobe/Pau days. Without a Kobe it didn't work. Without a Curry/Klay tandem shooting 35 3's a game as a primary offensive differentiator isn't going to yield the same results.

Fans are absolutely fixated on 3 point percentage to the point of ignoring just about everything else. A player is trash or should be traded if he isn't 35% or higher EVERY night shooting the 3.

The irony here is that while we're not hitting the 3 at the rate this team will hit it over the year we're still 7-1 with the largest point differential in the league all while still not at full strength. Maybe we're the "modern NBA"

tamaraw08 wrote:It’s a real possibility that they might not really improve on their 3 pt shooting.

Math would suggest otherwise. If you remember, Kuzma started off his rookie season shooting over 50% on 3's for nearly 3 weeks... he was over 40% for nearly 2/3 of the year and then ran out of gas... KCP's season last year was similar except that he started off horrible and had a big streak in the middle.

This is how 95% of the players are from 3. Curry, Korver, Klay and maybe a few others can keep up a high percentage consistently... everyone else is a streak shooter from that distance.

The white mamba is the true MVP

Sedale Threatt wrote:

Dr Aki wrote:still undefeated when caruso plays

Fly, Bald Eagle, fly

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