How far does prime 2016 Lakers team go?

Narigo · Post #1 » by **Narigo** » Tue May 30, 2023 2:03 pm

How far does Lakers team go if everyone is in their prime in 2023

D'Angelo Russell
Kobe Bryant
Metra World Peace
Julius Randle
Roy Hibbert

Jordan Clarkson
Lou Williams
Larry Nance

RCM88x · Post #2 » by **RCM88x** » Tue May 30, 2023 2:25 pm

Having Kobe would probably make them likely a strong play-in team or better, combined with some very solid defensive players you have the makings of an elite defense. Problem is the complete lack of spacing or any semblance of spacing makes it very hard to predict past that. Maybe at best a 2nd round team but I don't know if I'd pick them to win any playoff series without HCA or some really great luck.

ardee · Post #3 » by **ardee** » Wed May 31, 2023 6:06 am

RCM88x wrote:Having Kobe would probably make them likely a strong play-in team or better, combined with some very solid defensive players you have the makings of an elite defense. Problem is the complete lack of spacing or any semblance of spacing makes it very hard to predict past that. Maybe at best a 2nd round team but I don't know if I'd pick them to win any playoff series without HCA or some really great luck.

I mean, if we're talking peaks, Russell and Randle were both over 40% from 3, Artest is around there too depending on the year you pick. That sounds pretty decent to me.

Assuming we're talking today's league I think a team with peak Kobe + two elite defenders in Artest/Hibbert and some nice depth is a conference finals team at least. They'd be at least as good as what a healthy Bucks team was projected to be IMO. This is a very weak league when it comes to top level teams.

RCM88x · Post #4 » by **RCM88x** » Wed May 31, 2023 12:06 pm

ardee wrote:
RCM88x wrote:Having Kobe would probably make them likely a strong play-in team or better, combined with some very solid defensive players you have the makings of an elite defense. Problem is the complete lack of spacing or any semblance of spacing makes it very hard to predict past that. Maybe at best a 2nd round team but I don't know if I'd pick them to win any playoff series without HCA or some really great luck.

I mean, if we're talking peaks, Russell and Randle were both over 40% from 3, Artest is around there too depending on the year you pick. That sounds pretty decent to me.

Assuming we're talking today's league I think a team with peak Kobe + two elite defenders in Artest/Hibbert and some nice depth is a conference finals team at least. They'd be at least as good as what a healthy Bucks team was projected to be IMO. This is a very weak league when it comes to top level teams.

The thread title only mentioned prime (both those seasons are massive outliers), and plus, both those guys drop off massively in the playoffs. If you're expecting them to shoot 40% in the playoffs I think you're in for a rough awakening. Do you honestly think those guys are dependable enough to support and offense into the 3rd round of the playoffs?

Amare_1_Knicks · Post #5 » by **Amare_1_Knicks** » Wed May 31, 2023 6:11 pm

There’s such great variance in todays game. The Heat are in the finals; and I don’t think on paper they’re better than this team, nor Jimmy better than Kobe. Prime Kobe is a top 2-3 player at worst in todays game. Artest, Russell, Randle and Hibbert were all all-stars. Lou’s a top tier 6th man, and Clarksons not far off that.

May depend on who’s coaching this team, but Kobe and Artest are a pretty gnarly perimeter duo in any era. I’ll say, they’re north of 52 wins, a top 3 team in either conference and are conference finals bound.