Why Should The NBA Be Scared of the Lakers

[Jiminy Glick]

Wow...not sure if that’s worse than the Lebron-Jrue comparison

Surprisingly it's actually true. Kuzma averages 17.3 ppg on 54.8% TS. Pippen with the Bulls averaged 17.7 ppg on 53.9% TS.

During the title contending years it was 20 ppg on 54.6 TS% and you have to consider that efficiency relative to league average. Consider Pippen is a more dynamic threat and vastly superior playmaker I think that difference is understated.

I said scoring though and I said similar.

[Jagic Mohnson]

this lakers team is actually pretty deep compared to the shaq kobe lakers or pau kobe lakers.

shaq,kobe,fox, horry and off the bench was brian shaw and that bum mark madsen.

kobe, pau, artest, and off the bench was odom and those two bums vujacic AND LUKE WALTON.

lebron, davis, danny green. off the bench avery bradley, dwight howard, rojon rondo

[Scalabrine]

It's mostly tv talking heads and analysts that are overrating the Lakers. I think most people here do not view them as a serious contender, Lebron is too old to carry a team and AD has never shown the ability to carry a team to any significant milestone. Add the fact that they have very little depth, I just don't see it.

McGee/Howard
Davis/Kuzma/Dudley
James/KCP
Green/Bradley/Daniels
Rondo/Caruso/Cook

I don't look at that team as lacking depth. Lacking playmakers, sure. They are going to pretty much need Rondo or LeBron on the floor during all meaningful minutes but that team has plenty of shooting around two of the top players in the league. They can give you plenty of different looks and aside from their Centers (who are both good rim protectors), every player can defend multiple positions.

I think they are just as good as any team in the league and even at LeBrons age I'm not at all ready to count him out. In a league that now has no clear-cut favorite, I think the Lakers have just as good a shot as anyone if they get hot at the right time. Their is such parity this year that ultimately everything is goign to shake down to healthy.

[CS707]

I wouldn't bet against LeBron if they make the playoffs.

[nikster]

Surprisingly it's actually true. Kuzma averages 17.3 ppg on 54.8% TS. Pippen with the Bulls averaged 17.7 ppg on 53.9% TS.

During the title contending years it was 20 ppg on 54.6 TS% and you have to consider that efficiency relative to league average. Consider Pippen is a more dynamic threat and vastly superior playmaker I think that difference is understated.

I said scoring though and I said similar.

Yeah I edited my post soon as I realized I misunderstood your post

[nikster]

It's mostly tv talking heads and analysts that are overrating the Lakers. I think most people here do not view them as a serious contender, Lebron is too old to carry a team and AD has never shown the ability to carry a team to any significant milestone. Add the fact that they have very little depth, I just don't see it.

McGee/Howard
Davis/Kuzma/Dudley
James/KCP
Green/Bradley/Daniels
Rondo/Caruso/Cook

I don't look at that team as lacking depth. Lacking playmakers, sure. They are going to pretty much need Rondo or LeBron on the floor during all meaningful minutes but that team has plenty of shooting around two of the top players in the league. They can give you plenty of different looks and aside from their Centers (who are both good rim protectors), every player can defend multiple positions.

I think they are just as good as any team in the league and even at LeBrons age I'm not at all ready to count him out. In a league that now has no clear-cut favorite, I think the Lakers have just as good a shot as anyone if they get hot at the right time. Their is such parity this year that ultimately everything is goign to shake down to healthy.

I don’t see a ton of shooting there. I mean look at that starting lineup, 2 complete non shooters, Lebron and AD are below average from distance, Green is the only real 3 point threat.

They don’t have that much shooting off the bench either. KCP and Bradley are solid but inconsistent. Kuz isn’t good and Dwight’s another zero range player. Rest of the shooters have to prove they can even carve out a rotation spot on a good team

Edit: Also defensively, don’t think they’re that versatile. In addition to the centres, Caruso, Rondo, Bradley and Kuzma can’t really guard multiple positions. Outside of Lebron They don’t have large wings to guard perimeter players like Kawhii, Giannis etc...

[Ainosterhaspie]

They don't need elite outside shooting. 35% is probably enough to force teams to respect the shooters which will open lanes for Davis and James drives.

[cupcakesnake]

i think this roster has a bit of versatility.

I like Green, KCP and Avery Bradley around Lebron and AD.
This could honestly be their best lineup if things go well. Green will be solid. Avery Bradley has been injured for a while so we may be sleeping on his 3 and D with a little bit of creative ability. KCP has been bad for a while and has yet to materialize as a shooter or decision maker. But if he were to improve even a little bit, there's a potent role player in there. Dudley has generally been helpful to teams and might have a season left of doing that.

They have pieces to construct different kinds of lineups.
the 3 and D guys above fill in the blanks. But they have some pure point guards to throw out there, and they have some more traditional centers to make lineups out of. Each player is a little bit different. Javale is a rim runner, Dwight is a rebounder, Rondo is a probing passer, Caruso is an all-around guard, Quinn Cook and Troy Daniels can jack.

However I never love a roster that has ingredients but can't put a full meal on the floor. They'll be choosing between defense and shooting. I can only think of a couple lineup combinations that I actually like, and it gets pretty awful whenever you take either Lebron or AD off the floor.

What's the best AD only lineup? (Rondo...Bradley...Dudley...???)
What's the best Lebron only lineup? (Green, Cook, KCP, Javale...???)

The Lakers have too many questions for me to love them with Kuzma and Counsins injured. I can picture it working out but only if I squint.

[SF_Warriors]

If you put two top five ish talents on the same team, they will be a force to reckon with regardless of their supporting cast.

But let's look at the supporting cast:

Dwight/Mcgee - Solid center combo. Last time dwight played a full season, he averaged around 17ppg and 12rpg and 1.6 blocks in 30mpg. Mcgee we all know is a quality rotation big off the bench. The lakers will be one of the best shot blocking and rebounding teams in the league.

Kuzma - Good backup PF

KCP - Decent back up wing.

Green/Bradley - 3 & D guys..guys who theoretically would do well as supporting cast to bron.

Rondo - solid back up PG

Really, all they are truly missing is a legit third option and maybe one more rotation shooter. Bradley, Green, Bron, AD should not have spacing issues, and Rondo, KCP, Kuzma, Mcgee are all solid as back ups.
Top tier shot blocking and rebounding team, two superstar caliber players, reasonable depth and shooting, not bad perimeter defense (green, bradley, bron, KCP all are probably above average)

I would say they can get 50 wins with that roster but Bron/AD would have to play 70+ games each.

[IgorK]

I'd honestly take Jrue Holiday over LeBron right now.

Stopped reading after that. Not sure why I even read up the preceding junk, either.

[Pennebaker]

The guy that has been to 8 of the last 9 finals just added Anthony Davis and veteran shooters to his team. The last time LeBron missed the Finals with a teammate as talented as AD was never.

[Joe Kleazy]

Real GM, where people need to critique your team to feel comfortable about their own. It's no fault of the LAKERS that the media constantly has them on the brain, so no need to have issue with us unless it's from our fandom of our team's battles on the court. We have gone through our trash years, which everyone complained we never had to deal with so let us see how things shake out now that we have renovated the daycare and gone back to happy hour age wise.

[SF_Warriors]

They have a lot of players that have made defensive teams like the 2019 Raptors. Kuzma gives similar scoring production to Pippen. LeBron and Davis can give similar offensive production to Jordan. If this team is healthy then I have them as favorites over the Clippers to win the championship.

Wow...not sure if that’s worse than the Lebron-Jrue comparison

It's statistics, just look at the stats. Though who knows what his scoring numbers will be this season with LeBron and Davis on the team. He doesn't fit on the team though in my opinion.

Wow...not sure if that’s worse than the Lebron-Jrue comparison

Surprisingly it's actually true. Kuzma averages 17.3 ppg on 54.8% TS. Pippen with the Bulls averaged 17.7 ppg on 53.9% TS.

Yeah I am not really sure what his argument is there.

What you are not taking into account is that TS% from pippen's era relative to rest of the league is much different than it is now. Back then, 54-55% TS was above average. 54-55% TS today for a perimeter player is below average. Same goes for eFG%..Kuzma shot at league average last season, Pippen above average during his tenure with the bulls.

Also, pip's scoring was not why he was such an impactful player. He was so well rounded and made huge impacts in other areas of the game while also able to give 20ppg on above average league TS% for the time (minus the three point shooting). Kuzma is basically one dimensional offensively and a liability on the defensive end.

So basically, in Kuzma we have, at least from last year, an average efficiency player with no all around game.With that said, the lakers definitely need kuzma and he will be an asset to them overall. I also expect his efficiency to increase, and possibly substantially just given normal trajectory of improvement forplayers and also that he will be playing off of two superstar level talents. I mean, I don't really get your premise..are you saying kuzma will impact the game offensively at a similar level as pippen (untrue)?

Adjusted for league average and pace of today's game, Kuzma would have to be scoring (estimated) 21-22 ppg per 36 on 57-58%TS and at least 54% efg% to just match the scoring output of prime Pip relative to league average, none of which he did. And that was not even taking into account pip's playmaking ability and the affect that had on the offense.

[-Sammy-]

I agree that the Lakers' depth and makeup need some attention, but I expect the front office to be active in addressing this over the course of the year. However, with statements like this:

I'd honestly take Jrue Holiday over LeBron right now.

you can't be surprised if people don't take your post seriously. I'm not hating or clowning; that's just... a really bad take, no offense intended.

As others have pointed out, having two of the league's top half-dozen-or-so players automatically puts them in the mix-- especially this season, with the west being so wide open.

[BoogieTime]

They shouldnt. LeBron aging. AD has led peripheral playoff teams. Both overrated. Half a chance they make playoffs

[Metallikid]

Avery Bradley/Rajon Rondo/Alex Caruso
Danny Green/Kentavious Caldwell-Pope/Quinn Cook
LeBron James/Jared Dudley
Anthony Davis/Kyle Kuzma
Dwight Howard/JaVale McGee

Reports of the Lakers' demise have been greatly exaggerated.

They have a very well-rounded roster that will be surprisingly good defensively, unlike LeBron's teams in Cleveland. I don't expect them to have as high a win total in the RS as other teams but you really don't want to play a 6th seed LeBron in the playoffs.

[lamscott]

Man......

I'm a die hard Laker fans. Most of us just wanna make the playoffs. Only Bandwagon idiots talk about everything else. We haven't made the playoffs in 6 years and have had some depressing ass team.

Real Laker fans - "I'm just happy to be in contention talk"

[NZB2323]

A Lebron-AD pick and roll isn't as scary if you can send Rondo's man or Dwight's man to play help defense. Instead of Rondo and Dwight they should have tried to get players like Brook Lopez and Seth Curry. Green is a nice addition but they need more.

[thebigbird]

A Lebron-AD pick and roll isn't as scary if you can send Rondo's man or Dwight's man to play help defense. Instead of Rondo and Dwight they should have tried to get players like Brook Lopez and Seth Curry. Green is a nice addition but they need more.

If you send Dwight's man then that's an easy dunk. He still shot 77% at the rim last year.

[nikster]

They don't need elite outside shooting. 35% is probably enough to force teams to respect the shooters which will open lanes for Davis and James drives.

35% would be a bottom 10 team in shooting percentage.

Davis, Kuzma and James figure to be there highest volume scorers and combine for about 33% from 3. McGee, Howard and Rondo are complete non shooters.

For shooting threats, they’ve got Green who’s elite, Bradley and KCP are good but inconsistent, and the rest may not even break the rotation.

Only way I see a significant amount of spacing on the floor is if they got small with Lebron and Davis as PF/C