Post Mortem #19: Los Angeles Lakers

[Astaluego]

They gotta keep Rui.

Nope he'll be dealt In some sort of trade, this series was for him. His great and all, but as I've been saying over n over, Kessler/Collins my go to.

What does Collins give you that Rui doesn't? Collins is a better rebounder. Rui is younger, a better shooter, a better and more versatile defender, and also cheaper.

[dWadeOwnzYou]

Lebron + Reeves for Giannis and Portis. Dream team for the league. Make it happen Mr. Silver !

[SlimShady83]

They gotta keep Rui.

Nope he'll be dealt In some sort of trade, this series was for him. His great and all, but as I've been saying over n over, Kessler/Collins my go to.

What does Collins give you that Rui doesn't? Collins is a better rebounder. Rui is younger, a better shooter, a better and more versatile defender, and also cheaper.

Athleticism, lob catches, more consistency - sorrry for spelling I'm drinking. Rui Is great and all, but his Inconsistancy Is the probs, his great vs Wolves, but I bet next round say vs GSW he'd be bad etc.

he'll be delt in some sort of package also contract

[ballzboyee]

Lakers greatly overachieved in my opinion. Reddick has to get a A- for coaching this team. Wolves moderately underachieved overall but in the second half of the season finally put it all together and played on par with their overall talent. Lakers rs record had me fooled and I thought they had a decent chance against Minny, but they were just outmatched physically at pretty much every position. Reaves looked small and unathletic out there. He didn't flash well at all in this series. He didn't show any bounce and wasn't contesting. He did a lot of watching because he's not athletic enough to get to the point of attack. Luka looked like he was playing with ankle weights and seemed disinterested. He did not look confident, and reading his body language I don't think he believes in this roster. The Lakers are just a flawed team right now, and they are going to have to get a real center at least. Gobert utterly trucked this Laker frontline tonight. 27 pts and 24 rebs and + 18. Yikes.

[Beethoven]

Love my lakers. This season was incompleted. We'll be bringing home the championship soon. We're always going to be there. Unlike other teams where they see darkness their whole history or a flicker of a 15-min flame.

[ArksNetsSince99]

One thing stands out

Not Luka , not LeBron , not Reaves , none of the starters is signed to a longer guaranteed contract than …..

Fooooking BRONNY 3 years

[whatisacenter]

They will obviously need to trade Reeves for a big man.

Any team that doesn't ask for Reeves in a trade will be as dumb as Nico.

Besides Reeves their only other tradeable asset is rui and he will most likely get traded as well.

The same Reeves who just had an atrocious playoffs?

Oh sure teams are salivating on trading for Vincent, hayes, Maxx, and the rest of the lakers garbage that had 0 trust of JJ

Teams don’t have to trade for any of them…

[nzahir]

They will obviously need to trade Reeves for a big man.

Any team that doesn't ask for Reeves in a trade will be as dumb as Nico.

Besides Reeves their only other tradeable asset is rui and he will most likely get traded as well.

The same Reeves who just had an atrocious playoffs?

Oh sure teams are salivating on trading for Vincent, hayes, Maxx, and the rest of the lakers garbage that had 0 trust of JJ

Thats why we include a 1st and or Knecht....

Mind you Gabe and Kleber are expirings, so maybe if a team is looking to clear up books for the future it may also make sense for cap reasons

[NbaAllDay]

1st round exit will get memed because of the Anti Laker/Lebron crowd but not overly surprised by the result.

Overall a win because they got Luka.

Lebron at 40 showed his age, very productive but no longer can anchor as 1st option.

People overestimated Lukas instant fit given less than half a season. It's a very short window to figure it all out.

Reddick was very solid through the regular season however showed some real errors in this PS that were stated by a previous poster. I'd give him another year because there is some real talent there, but the lack of experience on his end really showed against the Wolves.

Reaves was a little disappointing and with Reaves, Luka, Lebron do you have a trio who can compliment eachother enough? I don't believe so. You need 2 strong to competent defenders out of the 3 and you arnt getting that, plus a little too much overlap in general.

Obvious Williams trade fumble. Lakers are a much better chance with him, especially given there only real big (Hayes) was unplayable. Asking Lebron to Play as the defensive anchor for 40 minutes isn't sustainable.

A move for a solid big would do a world of good. Outside of that a big move involving Reeves might be the play as Lebron won't be going anywhere.

[Mavrelous]

He's not getting fired, but I just don't trust Pelinka, his trades and FA signings has been aweful except when he's gifted stars...

[Hugi Mancura]

After Luka trade it was obvious Lakers weren't gonna win this year. They were just too small. For next year get a defensive rim runner to play as center (Kessler might be too pricey, but there are others). Move Reaves to be sixth man and start games with LeBron + Luka and 3 good defenders. Luka needs defenders around him, playing him with 2 other bad defenders will not work.

[doogie_hauser]

They were one of the worst number 3 seeds in thr West in years and their playoff implosion proved that

[TheShow2021]

They should go all in on Luka Ball (pray he gets in shape) which doesn't coexist with a declining Lebron and Reaves (who doesn't have the upside with the playoff whistle to be a playoffs difference maker).

Hopefully Lebron opts out and does something like signing with the Cavs or Spurs.

Trade Reaves who is still on a good contract for more defense.

Get a defensive anchor at center (Kessler?) which could be part of a Reaves trade.

[walk with me]

JJ was absolutely horrific this series. Last season when it ended, every Laker fan blamed Ham and said if only we had an average coach then the Lakers would be so much better. Then JJ was hired and quickly praised as a savant.

The reality? One of the worst coached playoff series I've ever seen. Playing a 40 year old 46 minutes, a guy recovering from an illlness 46M, just wild. Then game 5 playing a guy with no practice, no chemistry with the team, no conditioning in Maxi Kleber instead of Jaxon Hayes was insane. If the Wolves hadn't been cold from 3, it would have been a 20-30pt blowout. They missed wide open 3s over and over and the Lakers were lucky to be in it.

And the proof is in the stats -- just as I predicted, LeBron ran out of gas in the 4th. Combined totals in games 4 and 5 LeBron had a total of 5 points. A 40 year old needs to be playing 30-35 minutes in the playoffs, not 40+ minutes. We saw this same pattern the past few years where LeBron got gassed vs. the Nuggets and the team fell off in 2nd halves. But has JJ actually been watching the Lakers the past few years? Looked at the stats? It's embarrassing.

And no shade on LeBron, amazing for his age -- but JJ did him and the Lakers dirty. I think JJ needs to go, and they obviously need to trade Reeves for a real center.

JJ was trash and will continue to be trash. He has Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks as assistants, 2 HEAD COACH level coaches. The decisions he made were something a kid playing nba 2k would do and the fact he actually doubled down on these poor strategies lets me know he doesn’t listen to his assistants and is driven by his own ego and arrogance.

- double teaming antman 100% of game 4 & 5 as soon as he steps over half court
- not playing a center the entire game 5 and doubling down on the decision when it’s obviously not working (made gobert look like prime Dwight Howard)
- not making any subs the 2nd half of game 4

The dudes incredibly pompous and was served a slice of humble pie yesterday except I don’t think he’ll change. He’ll continue being pompous and the results will show. I actually still think the lakers could beat the wolves with proper coaching, a team with Luka and LeBron should not lose in 5 to this Twolves team. The player talent gap isn’t that wide, JJ just coached them out of the series.

[firedavidkahn]

LeBron tried, Luka Cried, Shannon lied, Wolves in 5

Read on Twitter

[itrsteve]

They need to triple down and bet the farm on one more big name to ensure they’re cemented in mediocrity until 2040

[MrPainfulTruth]

I wonder which bigs were available instead of Bronny. After all, Joker was picked in the 2nd round too...?

[JXL]

There's now a new meaning of "Lakers in 5"

Read on Twitter

[Kobewade11]

1st round exit will get memed because of the Anti Laker/Lebron crowd but not overly surprised by the result.

Overall a win because they got Luka.

No it’s not “overall a win”. They’re supposed to be competing for championships, not getting back door swept in the first round of the playoffs

[MrPainfulTruth]

CANCUN ON THREE!!


...already i see a ton of posts and threads more or less pointing fingers and blaming Luka. We'll see if this (very predictable) sentiment carries over to the big media. I think it'll help Luka make a decision this coming season. I've seen Luka before he even came to the NBA; he played on a messed up ankle to win the title for his team in the euros. This guy is ultra competitive. He made the finals last year and diddnt look much different. Some people have a cliche idea of how an NBA player should look like amd those people tried for years to tell us Joker is bad and overrated; now they try the same with Luka. Thats not who he is. He is not Andrew Bynum or even Zion. He is a leader and competitor who will play until he faints And in return he gets blamed for all the noise and nonsense that goes on in LA. All this when he is only one years under contract. That is so dumb...add on that the entire LBJ circus that is basically ensuring they will never compete as long as LeBron insists not to leave and you have a situation where Luka - despite his nature - is almost forced to find a way out of LA. At which point the Lakers are left without AD and Luka but fortunrely have 43y/o LeBron and his several sons ...