Lakers Starting Line up

[zimpy27]

LeBron, Caruso, Green, AD, Cousins

This lineup is what I hope will start.

Rondo has been a terrible pairing with LeBron and Cousins. He has played well with Bradley and AD. I think he's suitable with 3+D SG/SF and C's that grab board.

Rondo, Bradley/Caruso, KCP/Green, Kuzma/AD, McGee is probably the right backup lineup.

[stan francisco]

Boogie will be starting. Wayyyy better than McGee. Will be even more in shape than last year. Send kuzma to bench as our sixth man.

Lebron
KCP
Green
AD
Boogie

Sixth man kuzma

KCP can only focus for about five minutes.

I’m fine with Boogie starting over JMG (who can only play 20 something minutes anyway).

I’m NOT fine with starting KCP.

PG: LBJ
SG: Green
SF: Kuzma
PF: Anthony effing Davis
C: JMG or DMC

McGee rim runs better, rotates faster on defense. This is needed with LBJ starting at the point. DMC can dominate any second stringer, JMG can’t.

[myersia]

Boogie will be starting. Wayyyy better than McGee. Will be even more in shape than last year. Send kuzma to bench as our sixth man.

Lebron
KCP
Green
AD
Boogie

Sixth man kuzma

KCP can only focus for about five minutes.

I’m fine with Boogie starting over JMG (who can only play 20 something minutes anyway).

I’m NOT fine with starting KCP.

PG: LBJ
SG: Green
SF: Kuzma
PF: Anthony effing Davis
C: JMG or DMC

McGee rim runs better, rotates faster on defense. This is needed with LBJ starting at the point. DMC can dominate any second stringer, JMG can’t.

I like kuz off the bench scoring and finishing games. How about we agree green playing sf and instead put Bradley starting at the 2 then.

[ShowtimeFan]

The coaching staff will (hopefully) figure out the best starting lineup and rotations, but it could take into November.

With the LeBron as the PG, does that change the strategy of starting a traditional PG? I don't know..

I initially thought Rondo should start because of his experience, but with Bradley on board and LeBron as the PG, I think Rondo and his 8apg would be better served with the second unit, passing to Kuz, KCP and Cousins...

Also, McGee had a number of games last year, where he just killed it early in the first quarter, so unless Cousins is 100% back to his pre-injury form, I think it is best to bring him off the bench!

Also, Also: this ain't hockey with entire line changes, the bench gets staggered in based on match-ups, fouls and general how a player is performing. So we are going to see plenty of subbing and tinkering, if the coach is doing his job.

Starters:
PG: Bradley
SG: Green
SF: James
PF: Davis
C: McGee

Bench:
PG: Rondo / Caruso
SG: KCP / Cook
SF: Dudley / Daniels
PF: Kuz
C: Cousins

That's a deep bench, despite what the media is saying...

[LAKESHOW]

Cook, Championship experience
Green, Championship experience
Bron Championship experience
AD
Cousins or Mcgee Championship experience
Not that it means a great deal, just adding differing perspectives

[stan francisco]

Boogie will be starting. Wayyyy better than McGee. Will be even more in shape than last year. Send kuzma to bench as our sixth man.

Lebron
KCP
Green
AD
Boogie

Sixth man kuzma

KCP can only focus for about five minutes.

I’m fine with Boogie starting over JMG (who can only play 20 something minutes anyway).

I’m NOT fine with starting KCP.

PG: LBJ
SG: Green
SF: Kuzma
PF: Anthony effing Davis
C: JMG or DMC

McGee rim runs better, rotates faster on defense. This is needed with LBJ starting at the point. DMC can dominate any second stringer, JMG can’t.

I like kuz off the bench scoring and finishing games. How about we agree green playing sf and instead put Bradley starting at the 2 then.

Sure, I just want to see him earn it first. Not even sure he’ll outplay Caruso.

[Kilroy]

LeBron-AB-Green-AD-Cousins...
Rondo-Cook-Dudley(iggy)-Kuz-McGee

8 man rotation - LeBron-AB-Green-Ad-Cousins-McGee-Kuz-Cook

[Landsberger]

Hmm... I'm not sure I'd start Cousins and AD with Bron. McGee doesn't need the ball and Cousins with Kuzma and Rondo would seem like a very potent bench group.

[stan francisco]

Until we sign Iggy and Pau these are my roundabout rotations:

PG: LBJ [24] Caruso [14] Rondo [6] Norvell [4]
SG: Green [24] Bradley [10] KCP [8] Cook [6]
SF: Kuzma [28] LBJ [8] Green [8] THT [4]
PF: Davis [28] Kuzma [8] Cacok [8] Dudley [4]
C: JMG [24] DMC [18] Davis [4] Cacok [2]

[gordonyao]

if the opponent has a quick starting PG like irving curry lillard, then
Starters:
PG: Bradley
SG: Green
SF: James
PF: Davis
C: McGee

Bench:
PG: Rondo
SG: KCP
F: Kuz + LBJ/AD/Green
C: Cousins


Otherwise
Starters:
PG: James
SG: KCP
SF: Green
PF: Davis
C: Cousins

[Sedale Threatt]

Not sure where to put this, but 538 came up with some new defensive measure. Take it with grain of salt, but since 2013-14, Anthony Davis ranks among the top seven, Danny Green isn't too far behind and DeMarcus Cousins is surprisingly solid (most of this is pre-injuries of course.) Kind of hard to sort through it so I didn't dig too much further. But dead-ass last, as in the NBA's (supposed) worst defensive player over the past six seasons? Rajon Rondo.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-better-way-to-evaluate-nba-defense/

[zimpy27]

Realistic minutes rotations for a regular season usually have 32mpg for 5, 24mpg for 5 and 16mpg for 5.
It adds up for 72 minutes per position (not 48) because many players miss whole games.

PG: LeBron (32) | Rondo (16) | Cook (16) | Caruso (8)
SG: Caruso (20) | Bradley (24) | KCP (12) | Daniels (16)
SF: Green (28) | KCP (16) | Talen HT (16) | Kuzma (12)
PF: Davis (20) | Kuzma (20) | Dudley (16) | Wiliams (6)
C : Cousins (28) | McGee (22) | Davis (12) | Williams (10)

*assumes that Talen and Williams make the final 15-man roster.

32 mpg: LeBron, AD, Kuzma
28 mpg: Green, Cousins, Caruso, KCP
24 mpg: Bradley
22 mpg: McGee
16 mpg: Cook, Daniels, Talen, Dudley, Williams



Playoffs (54 minutes per position)
PG: LeBron (34) | Rondo (12) | Cook (8)
SG: Caruso (30) | Bradley (18)| Daniels (6)
SF: Green (30) | KCP (18) | LeBron (6)
PF: Kuzma (32) | Davis (16) | Dudley (6)
C : Davis (24) | Cousins (22) | McGee (8)

40 mpg: LeBron, AD
30-32 mpg: Kuzma, Caruso, Green
18-22 mpg: Cousins, Bradley, KCP
6-8 mpg: McGee, Cook, Daniels, Dudley

8-man rotation and spot minutes.

[dockingsched]

Until we sign Iggy and Pau these are my roundabout rotations:

PG: LBJ [24] Caruso [14] Rondo [6] Norvell [4]
SG: Green [24] Bradley [10] KCP [8] Cook [6]
SF: Kuzma [28] LBJ [8] Green [8] THT [4]
PF: Davis [28] Kuzma [8] Cacok [8] Dudley [4]
C: JMG [24] DMC [18] Davis [4] Cacok [2]

Is this supposed to be like a training camp rotation?

[iamworthy]

I'd probably start the season with boogie coming off the bench but still giving him a good amount of minutes while also making sure he gets plenty of touches.

[stan francisco]

Until we sign Iggy and Pau these are my roundabout rotations:

PG: LBJ [24] Caruso [14] Rondo [6] Norvell [4]
SG: Green [24] Bradley [10] KCP [8] Cook [6]
SF: Kuzma [28] LBJ [8] Green [8] THT [4]
PF: Davis [28] Kuzma [8] Cacok [8] Dudley [4]
C: JMG [24] DMC [18] Davis [4] Cacok [2]

Is this supposed to be like a training camp rotation?

Yeah. For the south bay Lakers. I’m making all players two-way so LBJ can win two leagues at once.

Where’s your own rotation guess? There will be garbage time.

[LAKESHOW]

With Bron at the point, we eliminate any little pointguards checking him, thats for sure. Mike conely, mitchell, beverley, Lillard, all the pesky point guards would sit in the corner and guard the corner. But Bron would roam free down the lanes, dish, score, initiate etc...

[SlimShady83]

I'm not sure about the Let Bron be the point part, but I guess we'll have to wait and see first couple weeks.

other teams gonna get a lot of fast breaks IMO

[zgope1]

sorry to intrude but just want to say i'm liking the look of the team for this coming year.

something that leaps out at me in the squad is there is a lot of chemistry and continuity in the team. Lebron has good chemistry with Kuz, KCP and Mcgee. He's played with Rondo, Caruso and Green.

Rondo has good chemistry with AD and Boogie.

There's stacks of good shooters who can defend like KCP, Green and Bradley.

I think the team just makes a lot of sense. Bron will make a lot of plays but when he's resting Rondo is a good offensive on court architect and he feeds Cousins and Davis really well.

Kuz is a highly qualified third scorer also.

I think if healthy come playoffs, this team has a solid chance to win it all.

[LeCalinou]

I think I like the "official" move of LeBron to PG.
It helps define roles on the team, in the sense of admitting that he needs to handle the ball primarily (helping team mates better understand what they're expected to do).

Offensively, he will lead the break or direct sets in the half court, and allow Davis and Kuzma to use their court awareness for easy baskets. Cousins can trail the break and maybe get some easy looks at 3 when defenses collapse, or if in half court sets, post up and regain some touch and mojo.
Rondo, if he plays with cutters and shooters, can be great off the bench, especially given that he earns the minimum.

Defensively, Green can cover PG, Kuzma can chase SG around screens (which I saw him do very well against Klay Thompson in a win last year), and LeBron can check SF. They have some versatility off the bench now, with shooters (Cook, Daniels, even Dudley), McGee is a great sub as long as he doesn't have to bang against bigger players.
In 18-20 mpg, he's a definite net positive, although he needs others to create offense for him.

Overall, their bench is not dominant, maybe another addition can be made (maybe like Iguodala), but different guys can fill roles and find ways to contribute.
Maybe Cousins can get some PT with other bench guys for him to find his rythme, and thus alleviate some of this problem.

Conclusion: The starting lineup will be ok, and dominate certain teams, and then different combinations should be attainable to maximize potential.
I think they're a 3rd seed in the regular season, with a little bit more potential in the playoffs.

[SweetTouch]

Lol at LBJ playing 32 minutes to start the season

As soon as this cast starts losing the lead Vogel will send him back in