Who's the Better Team in Los Angeles?

[tsirigoj]

How was PG better?

Better shooter, better defender, better free throw shooter, better passer, better attitude, and can still play through minor injuries.

Having lived in New Orleans for 5 of the past 7 years, the city had nothing but great things to say about AD, and his reputation was that of humility and servitude towards the city. Everything that happened last year was political and due to the mishandling of the situation by an incompetent person (Dell Demps), and you shouldn't draw character conclusions based on that.

With that being said, it REALLY helps when your right hand man is Russell Westbrook. Anthony Davis's has been Jrue Holiday and he's still a more efficient of a player than PG.

[tsirigoj]

If you want to go the route of what other people think about each of them, then look at these numbers. 356 MVP votes for George vs. 0 for Davis. As of last season, George is the better player.

You're seeing the tree and not the forest.

AD basically sat out last season in protest. He's not going to get MVP votes.

Basically, by your logic, Antetokounmpo is the best player in the league, Harden is the 2nd, and PG is the 3rd.

MVP vote rankings have no correlation with best player in the league. They haven't for a while. If they did, Kobe should have a ton of MVPs, as should Shaq, as should Iverson, and LeBron should have 10.

Sorry.

That is the point I was trying to make. I don't care about MVP votes either. I should have just frankly said that I didn't think your opinion of what other general manager's opinions are should base on how good a player is at the moment. You were seeing the branch of the the tree, while I was seeing the continent that the forest was in. I apologize.

I will say concede this to you: if I NEVER watched basketball and knew NOTHING about it, but I watched PG13 play and AD play last season, yes, I'd probably pick PG over AD.

However, given context and knowing how good both of those players ACTUALLY are? In this point in time (10PM EST on Friday, July 12th), AD is the better player and the opinions of people that decide who their team goes after (i.e. GMs) would agree.

[Black Mage]

The Clippers Depth is overstated. Just because you put Harrell and Williams on the bench and have more sub-par players in Zubac and Bev starting does not mean you have more depth. Your depth includes the strength of your starting lineup.

I agree people are talking like Lakers only have AD, LeBron and Kuzma. They added Green, Avery, Cousins, McGee, Daniels and Dudley. That’s a deep bench and now one that is deeper and better than Clippers.

I don't know if I would jump to "better" QUITE yet, but competitive with the Clippers? Definitely.

I was even watching ESPN today, and they were talking listing all the amazing defenders/three point shooters that the Clippers have and said "Lakers have AD who is a great defender, Avery Bradley is a good defender, Lebron is good if he wants to be, but oustide of that? Not much."

COMPLETELY forgot they had Danny Green. COMPLETELY forgot that had lights out shooters in Quinn Cook and Troy Daniels. COMPLETELY forgot that Rondo can be a great defender when he chooses to be.

This is kinda what you get when you're a Laker fan. With such a storied franchise, everybody hopes and prays for your demise.

With THAT being said, do I love the Laker fanbase? Not really. I'm a Laker fan since I was 3 years old, but also being an Eagles fan, I know what it feels like to be part of a REALLY cool and fun fanbase. Laker fanbase (at least the ones at Staples) seem so laissez-faire, and even the team feels a bit white-collared.

Still, I'm loyal to the death.

Did you seriously just cry that the media wishes for the Lakers demise? The media, ESPN in particular, slurps up EVERYTHING Lakers and EVERYTHING Lebron. Give me a break with your pathetic one person pity party.

[tsirigoj]

Better shooter, better defender, better free throw shooter, better passer, better attitude, and can still play through minor injuries.

Statistically AD destroys PG - definitely don't want to go that route.

I was going to go this route, but I've tried using stats with other people already today to defend multiple claims/players, and it hasn't worked. So I figured it wasn't worth the hassle.

[TJ_Ford_11]

Better shooter, better defender, better free throw shooter, better passer, better attitude, and can still play through minor injuries.

Statistically AD destroys PG - definitely don't want to go that route.

I was going to go this route, but I've tried using stats with other people already today to defend multiple claims/players, and it hasn't worked. So I figured it wasn't worth the hassle.

I'll make it easy for you:

56 56 33.0 9.5-18.3 51.7 0.9-2.6 33.1 6.1-7.7 79.4 3.1 8.9 12.0 3.9 2.4 1.6 2.4 2.0 25.9
77 77 36.9 9.2-21.0 43.8 3.8-9.8 38.6 5.9-7.0 83.9 1.4 6.8 8.2 4.1 0.4 2.2 2.8 2.7 28.0

[TJ_Ford_11]

You're seeing the tree and not the forest.

AD basically sat out last season in protest. He's not going to get MVP votes.

Basically, by your logic, Antetokounmpo is the best player in the league, Harden is the 2nd, and PG is the 3rd.

MVP vote rankings have no correlation with best player in the league. They haven't for a while. If they did, Kobe should have a ton of MVPs, as should Shaq, as should Iverson, and LeBron should have 10.

Sorry.

That is the point I was trying to make. I don't care about MVP votes either. I should have just frankly said that I didn't think your opinion of what other general manager's opinions are should base on how good a player is at the moment. You were seeing the branch of the the tree, while I was seeing the continent that the forest was in. I apologize.

I will say concede this to you: if I NEVER watched basketball and knew NOTHING about it, but I watched PG13 play and AD play last season, yes, I'd probably pick PG over AD.

However, given context and knowing how good both of those players ACTUALLY are? In this point in time (10PM EST on Friday, July 12th), AD is the better player and the opinions of people that decide who their team goes after (i.e. GMs) would agree.

The only reason a GM would pick Davis over George is because of Davis's age. I don't give a poop which player a GM would pick. We are talking about which player is better right now. As of 10JUL2019 at 1602, Hawaiian Standard Time, George is the better player.

[Official]

How are they deeper? Clippers have 2 6th man of the year candidates.

They were both top 5 in minutes played for the Clippers - no other team had two players coming off the bench that were top 5 in total minutes played. Overall their good bench last year was the product of having no top level talent and spreading all the minutes around more evenly. It was done all by design. I can promise you next year that Lou and Harrell won't be getting a combined 25+ shots a game.

[tsirigoj]

I agree people are talking like Lakers only have AD, LeBron and Kuzma. They added Green, Avery, Cousins, McGee, Daniels and Dudley. That’s a deep bench and now one that is deeper and better than Clippers.

I don't know if I would jump to "better" QUITE yet, but competitive with the Clippers? Definitely.

I was even watching ESPN today, and they were talking listing all the amazing defenders/three point shooters that the Clippers have and said "Lakers have AD who is a great defender, Avery Bradley is a good defender, Lebron is good if he wants to be, but oustide of that? Not much."

COMPLETELY forgot they had Danny Green. COMPLETELY forgot that had lights out shooters in Quinn Cook and Troy Daniels. COMPLETELY forgot that Rondo can be a great defender when he chooses to be.

This is kinda what you get when you're a Laker fan. With such a storied franchise, everybody hopes and prays for your demise.

With THAT being said, do I love the Laker fanbase? Not really. I'm a Laker fan since I was 3 years old, but also being an Eagles fan, I know what it feels like to be part of a REALLY cool and fun fanbase. Laker fanbase (at least the ones at Staples) seem so laissez-faire, and even the team feels a bit white-collared.

Still, I'm loyal to the death.

Did you seriously just cry that the media wishes for the Lakers demise? The media, ESPN in particular, slurps up EVERYTHING Lakers and EVERYTHING Lebron. Give me a break with your pathetic one person pity party.

You don't pay much attention.

Let me be more specific for you, because I'm beginning to realize that you have to spell things out for certain people at RealGM --

The show that I was watching on ESPN was VERY clearly biased towards the Clippers (I don't care for sports bias regardless the team UNLESS they are a show specifically for a certain team) and when you fail to mention Danny Green as a "good" (not even great) defender, or fail to recognize a 41% three-point shooter in Quinn Cook and 41% three-point shooter in Troy Daniels BUT mention that 40% shooter Pat Beverley is an "outstanding" 3-point shooter THEN make the sweeping statement that the Lakers lack shooters and defense, there is something fundamentally wrong with your reporting.

[tsirigoj]

That is the point I was trying to make. I don't care about MVP votes either. I should have just frankly said that I didn't think your opinion of what other general manager's opinions are should base on how good a player is at the moment. You were seeing the branch of the the tree, while I was seeing the continent that the forest was in. I apologize.

I will say concede this to you: if I NEVER watched basketball and knew NOTHING about it, but I watched PG13 play and AD play last season, yes, I'd probably pick PG over AD.

However, given context and knowing how good both of those players ACTUALLY are? In this point in time (10PM EST on Friday, July 12th), AD is the better player and the opinions of people that decide who their team goes after (i.e. GMs) would agree.

The only reason a GM would pick Davis over George is because of Davis's age. I don't give a poop which player a GM would pick. We are talking about which player is better right now. As of 10JUL2019 at 1602, Hawaiian Standard Time, George is the better player.

So you would be in the minority AND wrong.

[tsirigoj]

Statistically AD destroys PG - definitely don't want to go that route.

I was going to go this route, but I've tried using stats with other people already today to defend multiple claims/players, and it hasn't worked. So I figured it wasn't worth the hassle.

I'll make it easy for you:

56 56 33.0 9.5-18.3 51.7 0.9-2.6 33.1 6.1-7.7 79.4 3.1 8.9 12.0 3.9 2.4 1.6 2.4 2.0 25.9
77 77 36.9 9.2-21.0 43.8 3.8-9.8 38.6 5.9-7.0 83.9 1.4 6.8 8.2 4.1 0.4 2.2 2.8 2.7 28.0

Must have been nice having Russell Westbrook next to you, huh?

I wonder if we will be able to count on 1 hand the number of categories that Paul George is better at AD in when AD is playing next to LeBron?

PG is a great player. I love Paul George (and LOVE Kawhi, he's actually, ironically, my second favorite player AFTER Anthony Davis in the league right now), but he is not as good as Anthony Davis. Never has been.

[Official]

I'll make it easy for you:

56 56 33.0 9.5-18.3 51.7 0.9-2.6 33.1 6.1-7.7 79.4 3.1 8.9 12.0 3.9 2.4 1.6 2.4 2.0 25.9
77 77 36.9 9.2-21.0 43.8 3.8-9.8 38.6 5.9-7.0 83.9 1.4 6.8 8.2 4.1 0.4 2.2 2.8 2.7 28.0

AD has a PER of 30 and Paul George 23. While this stat has its flaws - it doesn't usually have a 7 point flaw difference.

[tsirigoj]

I'll make it easy for you:

56 56 33.0 9.5-18.3 51.7 0.9-2.6 33.1 6.1-7.7 79.4 3.1 8.9 12.0 3.9 2.4 1.6 2.4 2.0 25.9
77 77 36.9 9.2-21.0 43.8 3.8-9.8 38.6 5.9-7.0 83.9 1.4 6.8 8.2 4.1 0.4 2.2 2.8 2.7 28.0

AD has a PER of 30 and Paul George 23. While this stat has its flaws - it doesn't usually have a 7 point flaw difference.

I just can't believe that someone is claiming Paul George is a better player than AD. Paul George is a superstar, but AD is borderline megastar (made up words -- but I think the sentiment is understood).

If the argument was that Kawhi is better than AD, you'd have no arguments from me, but Paul George? C'mon.

From best to worse:
LeBron Kawhi
Anthony Davis
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Paul George

[Black Mage]

I don't know if I would jump to "better" QUITE yet, but competitive with the Clippers? Definitely.

I was even watching ESPN today, and they were talking listing all the amazing defenders/three point shooters that the Clippers have and said "Lakers have AD who is a great defender, Avery Bradley is a good defender, Lebron is good if he wants to be, but oustide of that? Not much."

COMPLETELY forgot they had Danny Green. COMPLETELY forgot that had lights out shooters in Quinn Cook and Troy Daniels. COMPLETELY forgot that Rondo can be a great defender when he chooses to be.

This is kinda what you get when you're a Laker fan. With such a storied franchise, everybody hopes and prays for your demise.

With THAT being said, do I love the Laker fanbase? Not really. I'm a Laker fan since I was 3 years old, but also being an Eagles fan, I know what it feels like to be part of a REALLY cool and fun fanbase. Laker fanbase (at least the ones at Staples) seem so laissez-faire, and even the team feels a bit white-collared.

Still, I'm loyal to the death.

Did you seriously just cry that the media wishes for the Lakers demise? The media, ESPN in particular, slurps up EVERYTHING Lakers and EVERYTHING Lebron. Give me a break with your pathetic one person pity party.

You don't pay much attention.

Let me be more specific for you, because I'm beginning to realize that you have to spell things out for certain people at RealGM --

The show that I was watching on ESPN was VERY clearly biased towards the Clippers (I don't care for sports bias regardless the team UNLESS they are a show specifically for a certain team) and when you fail to mention Danny Green as a "good" (not even great) defender, or fail to recognize a 41% three-point shooter in Quinn Cook and 41% three-point shooter in Troy Daniels BUT mention that 40% shooter Pat Beverley is an "outstanding" 3-point shooter THEN make the sweeping statement that the Lakers lack shooters and defense, there is something fundamentally wrong with your reporting.

Ooooooooooooo, ONE SHOW.

The rest of the time they drool all over the Lakers and build them up no matter what they do. Your post implied that this is how all media covers the Lakers and treats the Lakers to quote "This is kinda what you get when you're a Laker fan. With such a storied franchise everybody hopes and prays for your demise.

[tsirigoj]

Did you seriously just cry that the media wishes for the Lakers demise? The media, ESPN in particular, slurps up EVERYTHING Lakers and EVERYTHING Lebron. Give me a break with your pathetic one person pity party.

You don't pay much attention.

Let me be more specific for you, because I'm beginning to realize that you have to spell things out for certain people at RealGM --

The show that I was watching on ESPN was VERY clearly biased towards the Clippers (I don't care for sports bias regardless the team UNLESS they are a show specifically for a certain team) and when you fail to mention Danny Green as a "good" (not even great) defender, or fail to recognize a 41% three-point shooter in Quinn Cook and 41% three-point shooter in Troy Daniels BUT mention that 40% shooter Pat Beverley is an "outstanding" 3-point shooter THEN make the sweeping statement that the Lakers lack shooters and defense, there is something fundamentally wrong with your reporting.

Ooooooooooooo, ONE SHOW.

The rest of the time they drool all over the Lakers and build them up no matter what they do. Your post implied that this is how all media covers the Lakers and treats the Lakers to quote "This is kinda what you get when you're a Laker fan. With such a storied franchise everybody hopes and prays for your demise.

Well, it shouldn't have implied that.

If I want bias (and hell, sometimes I do when I want to get the nitty-gritty details about how Magic is screwing things up for this team), I'd go to a Lakers show. When I see it on ESPN or any other major sports show, I cringe.

Still, it's like assuming Mayweather is going to lose a boxing match because he's short. What about EVERYTHING else, like his pedigree, speed, and general ability to win?

I'm sure they don't care, but if I were, say, Danny Green, I'd be insulted that my name wasn't brought up in the "good defenders on the Lakers" conversation.

Just irresponsible reporting all around.

[watpho71]

When these two teams match up at the Staples Center, it might be a Laker town, but that will just add to the fun. Both teams did well assembling rosters. I think the Lakers are deeper 1-13, but the Clippers 1-10 are better. Perimeter shooting and defense Clippers are better. Leonard, George and Lou on the court down the stretch! Damn, I think they are going to knock some shots down.

[markjay]

Kahwi>LeBron
George>Davis
Clippers>Lakers

George had a terrific season last year. But I think it is a bit premature to call him better than Davis.

Due to the trade drama, Davis was on a bit of a minutes' restriction last year (only playing 33 minutes per game, compared to 36.9 per game for PG). (This only occurred last season. Over his career, Davis plays slightly more minutes per game than PG.)

Here are some per 36 comparisons last season:
Davis: 28.3 pt, 13.1 reb, 4.2 assists, 2.6 blocks, 1.7 steals, TS% .597, ORtg/DRtg 122/105, BPM 8.5, WS/48 .247
PG: 27.4 pt, 8.0 reb, 4.0 assists, 0.4 blocks, 2.2 steals, TS% .583, ORtg/DRtg 116/105, BPM 5.5, WS/48 .201

This is only last season--one of PG's best in his career. For the career numbers the gap between the two is larger.

Skipping past last season, with the minutes restriction and benching by the Pelicans, the season before that, AD was a top 3 candidate in both the MVP and DPOY awards--one of the relatively few times that has happened in NBA history.

Plus, AD is only 26 years old and entering the season in good health. PG is three years older and entering the season following two shoulder surgeries, one a rotator cuff surgery on his shooting arm that will reportedly keep him on the bench for the first month of the season.

If you want to think that PG is better than AD, that's certainly your right, but I bet there is not a GM in the league who would take George over Davis.

[Richfield]

In regards to Lakers depth chart.. I'm going to get burned at the stake for this. But I'll preface it by saying I'm a bigger DeMarcus Cousins fan that possibly anybody, or at least most.

The things that scares me about that starting lineup is the pace. Maybe the other 4 are enough to make up for it, because that's quite another 4 with Rondo pushing the ball up the floor. But getting back on D to start the game is important for setting the tone and staying in front of the opponents' best first punch.

DMC coming off injury, I'd like to see him start the season by coming off the bench. For a few reasons. 1 is Javale can fly up and down the court, and if the team is clicking, he can be a nice role piece of that momentum that Rondo, AD, and LeBron can establish early. I think this would help the Lakers start every game without teams taking advantage of their athleticism right off that bat.

Maybe DMC comes into the season more fit than ever, and proves this point wrong. But until he's definitely 100% I don't think the Lakers need to put their most talented 5 out there to start the game. I think they should put the team out there that doesn't really have any weaknesses (getting back on D).

Demarcus off the bench causes a new set of problems for opponents. As their starters are probably just about to come out and then you put the talented and dominant DMC down low for the other team to figure out how to deal with. Most backup C's are going to get eaten up if their coach has the courage to put them in the game at that point. Whether it's LeBron or AD that sits for the Lakers, scoring options don't need to drop off when they exit the game. You can just add a new dimension to worry about by putting in Cousins.

As the season progresses and his body keeps mending, if it becomes 100% clear that he needs to be starting for the Lakers to put their best foot forward, everybody will be able to see it, and the adjustment can be made at that time. As for now, where he's not necessarily 100%, for the reason's listed above, plus to an extent maybe load management, I wouldn't mind seeing him coming off the bench while he continues to become the dominant Demarcus of old or even better.

I think he's mature enough at this point to understand the strengths of this format, even if he doesn't want to admit that he doesn't get up and down the court as well as McGee. He can continue to get his body right and then be a big part of what happens in the middle and the end of the game. As for the start, I'd like to see the Lakers not have a slow pace achilles heal at the beginning of every game.

Rooting for DMC either way. If he starts I'll still be excited to watch him with the first unit.

[TreyKincade]

I'd give the edge to the Rams over the Chargers

Oh nevermind.

Raider Nation owns Los Angeles

[SK21209]

I'd give the edge to the Rams over the Chargers

Oh nevermind.

Raider Nation owns Los Angeles

True. They also own last place in the division.

[Syd-TK3]

Clippers easily