Joey Wheeler wrote:Doctor MJ wrote:Joey Wheeler wrote:
What exactly is the Lakers "paradigm"? I don't think "hoping the top 2 players in the world, who happen to have perfect synergy skill-wise, decide to team up in our franchise" is going to be a paradigm in the league going forward...
They're bullying everybody with their front court. The league's been getting smaller in the years since Shaq stopped being a threat. They Lakers may be about to make bigger guys back in demand again. At the very least, every team that wants to be a contender is going to have to ask themselves how they can cope with the Lakers' power game.
So you think the way to counter the Lakers is to put big bodies on the floor like teams did to contain Shaq?
I completely disagree with this, going big will be futile unless teams can clone Anthony Davis. The Lakers can field a really big team because of what Lebron and AD bring, especially the latter. AD is a center and a wing at the same time: on offense, he's the best off ball player we've seen and can get his points without really stepping on the impact of perimeter players, but he can also do a Kevin Durant impersonation and just drill contested midrange shots all day. On defense, well he's the best and most versatile defender I've ever seen: we often talk about players "being able to guard 1 to 5", with AD this is actually true, he can actually guard both Jokic and James Harden; in fact in the Rockets series he was the only guy the Lakers trusted to guard Harden with no help. This versatility is what allows the Lakers to do everything they do on defense; you can either play Davis as your primary rim protector or have him guard on the perimeter and act as a secondary rim protector, this allows you of course to add extra size to your lineup. Someone like current Dwight Howard would be completely unplayable in any other strong playoff team: he can't be the main big for a team and 2-big lineups tend to sacrifice far too much athleticism/shooting/spacing/court coverage/etc... But with Davis on the floor you can actually field an extra big and not sacrifice any of that.
Then there's Lebron: he's a point guard in the body of a center, he can protect the rim... you pair with AD and the Lakers basically don't have a small ball lineup. There's no "small ball" with Lebron and AD: the Lakers have a big physical lineup and a bigger even more physical lineup. Usually teams have to choose between size and skill, but with Lebron and AD on the roster the Lakers can field huge lineups without sacrificing skill; they can field 2-big lineups and have no issues chasing guys like Harden or Murray around the perimeter.
In short, the Lakers can field 2-big lineups because they have Anthony Davis and they can put massive lineups on the floor because of Lebron and AD. Unless teams can clone AD, going big for the sake of it won't help, big stiffs will be abused by Lebron and AD. AD is not Shaq, if you put a big stiff on him, he will take him to the perimeter and abuse him and he'll make his free throws; Lebron will mercilessly hunt him on switches as well.
Now, if you're planning to challenge the Lakers, you're going to need size to do it, we agree on that. But I don't think that means bigs that weren't in demand previously will now suddenly be; the kind of size you need is size accompanied by excellent skill. If you can't find a way to go big without sacrificing skill like the Lakers, you're better off trying to win in a shootout rather than playing stiffs in a futile attempt to match the Lakers frontcourt.
But there's other bigs that can't be ran off the floor too. Embiid on a team with a coach/GM smart enough to realize you need 3 wings next to Simmons and Embiid would be able to have a similar impact. Bam can be great at it if Miami had literally any other big man that could possibly play big or was good (but instead they got Kelly). KAT is a terrible defender overall but he's actually solid on the perimeter. Next to someone similar to Clint Capela or Mitch he could be good. KP if there was someone like Tristan Thompson maybe they'd be able to hang.
Like Doc said teams need to remember to still have the ability to go big. You can sit Capela/TT if you need to have 5 shooters on offense like LA does with Dwight but it seems like every team with a switchable big uses that as an excuse to have no other serviceable big on the roster. Minny only has Dieng on the roster with KAT and he doesn't play much with KAT at all because he's not good enough to cover KAT's terrible interior defense. The Lakers still got Javale and Dwight to go next to AD, making sure he could go full games without playing a minute at C if needed. Can't say the same for any other great switchable bigs.
