Game 32: Los Angeles Lakers (11-20) @ Miami Heat (9-20) - 5:00 PM PST

[BEazy]

We need a beast defender and rebounder... just that simple. Mozgov is a C- defender who doesn't time his blocks attempts well at all and doesn't gobble up rebounds. Randle is young and can get there, but not over night. Ingram is doing a sporadically good job and waay ahead of being 19, but is friggin 19. Clarkson is fake hustle embodied, Russell plays good D when he's engaged, which is almost never, and Deng would probably play well on D if he was a 4. Nance is a B defensive player, which is great for his early career.

So to me, if you can ditch Mozgov/Clarkson and turn that into a guy who is dedicated to defense and rebounds you get a major level up. Noel would fit that for me.

You kind of described DeMarcus Cousins

[Kilroy]

We need a beast defender and rebounder... just that simple. Mozgov is a C- defender who doesn't time his blocks attempts well at all and doesn't gobble up rebounds. Randle is young and can get there, but not over night. Ingram is doing a sporadically good job and waay ahead of being 19, but is friggin 19. Clarkson is fake hustle embodied, Russell plays good D when he's engaged, which is almost never, and Deng would probably play well on D if he was a 4. Nance is a B defensive player, which is great for his early career.

So to me, if you can ditch Mozgov/Clarkson and turn that into a guy who is dedicated to defense and rebounds you get a major level up. Noel would fit that for me.

You kind of described DeMarcus Cousins

Yeah, but to get Cousins successful, you pretty much have to let him do whatever he wants. He doesn't really play a position. So you got to give him the team and let him dictate who you surround him with... The problem with that is he's such a dick, it's hard to surround him with people... I feel like he and Russell would clash...

I agree that Mozgov is underwhelming on Defense inside, but I think our biggest problem is perimeter D. I think we need a lock down 1 or 2...
At this point I think we probably need a hard nosed defensive 1 to play next to Russell and cover for him along with Ingram. I have no idea who that would be but it should be 'cheaper' to try than going essentially all-in for cousins.

[Danny Darko]

We need a beast defender and rebounder... just that simple. Mozgov is a C- defender who doesn't time his blocks attempts well at all and doesn't gobble up rebounds. Randle is young and can get there, but not over night. Ingram is doing a sporadically good job and waay ahead of being 19, but is friggin 19. Clarkson is fake hustle embodied, Russell plays good D when he's engaged, which is almost never, and Deng would probably play well on D if he was a 4. Nance is a B defensive player, which is great for his early career.

So to me, if you can ditch Mozgov/Clarkson and turn that into a guy who is dedicated to defense and rebounds you get a major level up. Noel would fit that for me.

You kind of described DeMarcus Cousins

Yeah, but to get Cousins successful, you pretty much have to let him do whatever he wants. He doesn't really play a position. So you got to give him the team and let him dictate who you surround him with... The problem with that is he's such a dick, it's hard to surround him with people... I feel like he and Russell would clash...

I agree that Mozgov is underwhelming on Defense inside, but I think our biggest problem is perimeter D. I think we need a lock down 1 or 2...
At this point I think we probably need a hard nosed defensive 1 to play next to Russell and cover for him along with Ingram. I have no idea who that would be but it should be 'cheaper' to try than going essentially all-in for cousins.

I wonder what the cost of Butler is... he'd bring the edge, the D, and the clutch.
If Randle, Clarkson, Deng, and a 1st got it done, I'd be game.

[Kilroy]

You kind of described DeMarcus Cousins

Yeah, but to get Cousins successful, you pretty much have to let him do whatever he wants. He doesn't really play a position. So you got to give him the team and let him dictate who you surround him with... The problem with that is he's such a dick, it's hard to surround him with people... I feel like he and Russell would clash...

I agree that Mozgov is underwhelming on Defense inside, but I think our biggest problem is perimeter D. I think we need a lock down 1 or 2...
At this point I think we probably need a hard nosed defensive 1 to play next to Russell and cover for him along with Ingram. I have no idea who that would be but it should be 'cheaper' to try than going essentially all-in for cousins.

I wonder what the cost of Butler is... he'd bring the edge, the D, and the clutch.
If Randle, Clarkson, Deng, and a 1st got it done, I'd be game.

I can't believe they'd let him go for that, but you'd have to consider it if they would... The problem with that is he needs to win now and unless Ingram or Russell got magically better, that's not going to happen for a couple years at least... So he may not be crazy about that either.
But I'm a huge Jimmy Butler fan, so I'd like to see him here...

[Landsberger]

I'd be disappointed with the early 90's comparison. We have two number two picks and and a number 7 pick on this team. We should do a little better.

Yeah but we have nothing else. Those teams were picking 3 and 4 a year vs our 1 or 2. That team was never close to being this deprived of overall talent when looking at it from top to bottom. I guess my bigger point is that we are in for a long rebuild. The cupboard was completely empty and we had few picks. This is the best that could have happened in that situation. The odds that this group yields that transcending player are small IMHO. Hell, there are only 3 or 4 of those at any given time in the NBA so to get one you will need pieces, smarts and luck. We had all of that in the 90's and a lot deeper team of parts to use as currency. I think the ceiling for this group is a run like the 90's teams personally.

To that I say :

Read on Twitter

Give it time...Not to mention Randle and Ingram might become something special.

Pretty small sample size. 20 year old guards in positions to score that much are only on very bad teams and didn't start showing up in NBA "history" until the 2000's. Scoring isn't winning or leading or true value either.

I agree that our crew isn't a finished product but to just combat any criticism with "wait" and "potential" isn't seeing it all either IMHO. Irving and Durant at 19 were much more efficient and scoring much more in real terms (per 36 is a projection that really isn't real) and maybe Durant is a true superstar. He seems to think he needed to do the super team thing to win rather than lift the team that drafted him. I don't see Russell in either of these league at 19,20 or any other age. Ingram doesn't look to be on their trajectory either. Does that mean I think they are scrubs?... no way! I just think they are pieces that we desperately need to truly rebuild. The 90's team had 7 or 8 players that had 10 to 12 year careers and we had them at the beginning of those careers. Most of them were gone in the championship era that followed. That's my larger point. I see this crew as a group of nice pieces..... none of which are beyond trade if a package that gets us closer shows up.