Just how thin are the lakers.this year

[dhsilv2]

It doesn't matter who they have on the court as long as either AD or LBJ are out there during the regular season doing top 5 player stuff. When they need to shorten the rotation for the playoffs they'll still be able to get minutes out of this lot:
Rondo/Daniels
A.Bradley/Caruso/Cook
D.Green/KCP
Kuzma
Dwight/McGee

Plus i guarantee they get a 3rd star before the playoffs. They'll do better than my Celtics sadly. [What reaaly grinds my gears is i'm pissed the Celtic core are getting thrashed for this FIBA rubbish tournament, they're gonna hear about their failure all season, this wasn't the year to wear these guys out offseason, they were set up to breakout for the Celtics this season, NOT carry the USA, smh.]

Generally, most young guys come back from FIBA and have career years. Worked for nearly the entire 2008 team.

[dhsilv2]

Have you seen what Alex Caruso turned into this summer?

So he got a pump, flexed, and shaved his chest? What do you think a pro athlete looks like shirtless?

[zimpy27]

Not as thin without Ingram

[TheNewEra]

Green is a good starter
Kuzma is a 6th man type that is knocking on the door of being a good starter.
Caruso has shown flashes of being good but it’s a small sample size
Javale is a rotation type player
Dwight is a rotation type player (does he realize it though?)
KCP is a rotation level player
Bradley is not currently but at 28 he has a chance to get back to a rotation type level.
Cook is a situational player off the bench
Dudley is a vet presence
Rondo is a Chinese league level player

So outside of AD and LeBron, I have the Lakers with 5 rotation level players and two others (Caruso/Bradley) that could be at that level. So right now there rotation sits at 7 to 9 guys....ideally you’d like it closer to 9 so you need a couple of these guys to make the needed jump.

As far as Danny Green, he’s coming off a career year so “on the decline” seems a bit silly. However I will agree that I don’t think he will have as good of year as last. I think a regression to his normal level, which is still a good starter, is probably to be expected.

We have to be honest here though too, neither the Rockets nor the Warriors have any depth either. Every team has flaws and holes to overcome. Lakers are no different but I expect they also will be very active on the buyout market.

I think this is about right. The difficulty might actually be with how Rondo is going to take a back seat to barely playing. The players they have aren't the best by any stretch of the imagination, however a lot of people are going to be shocked when these guys turn into fantastic role players because that is how much Bron and AD are going to shoulder and then Kuz is going to be a bit better this season too (role adjusted).
As I mentioned the main thing they need to do is keep everyone in check and Bron has been good at that over the years, not counting last year due to Magic, so I don't see it changing.

Or the year before the Cavs imploded

[SK21209]

Green is a good starter
Kuzma is a 6th man type that is knocking on the door of being a good starter.
Caruso has shown flashes of being good but it’s a small sample size
Javale is a rotation type player
Dwight is a rotation type player (does he realize it though?)
KCP is a rotation level player
Bradley is not currently but at 28 he has a chance to get back to a rotation type level.
Cook is a situational player off the bench
Dudley is a vet presence
Rondo is a Chinese league level player

So outside of AD and LeBron, I have the Lakers with 5 rotation level players and two others (Caruso/Bradley) that could be at that level. So right now there rotation sits at 7 to 9 guys....ideally you’d like it closer to 9 so you need a couple of these guys to make the needed jump.

As far as Danny Green, he’s coming off a career year so “on the decline” seems a bit silly. However I will agree that I don’t think he will have as good of year as last. I think a regression to his normal level, which is still a good starter, is probably to be expected.

We have to be honest here though too, neither the Rockets nor the Warriors have any depth either. Every team has flaws and holes to overcome. Lakers are no different but I expect they also will be very active on the buyout market.

This is very reasonable though. Green could be iffy though; last season was a contract year for him and his three previous years for the Spurs weren't great. Furthermore, his decline with the Spurs coincided with their transition away from the Beautiful Game, ball-movement and drive-and-kick system toward the iso heavy offense built around Kawhi and Aldridge. I don't think we've talked enough about what the Laker offense will look like and how it may or may not elevate these role players.

[Pointgod]

Outside of lebron, davis all you have is kuz who has serious flaws in his game. Is there even another player that can give you 30 mpg as a key rotation player for a contender? 32 year old danny green who is on the decline?

If lebron leads this squad at age 35 to win it all is there anyone here that wouldn't be impressed?

Green, Lebron, Kuzma, Davis and KCP can give you 30 minutes a night. That leaves 18 minutes at each of the 5 positions. You mean to tell me that a combination of Rondo, Bradley, Caruso, Cook, Daniels, McGee and Howard can’t manage to cover the rest of the minutes at each position? I’m not a believer in quantity over quality but this thread is borderline idiotic. All the Lakers need to do is get into the playoffs where they’ll have at worst the second best player in every series.

[Asif16]

Their depth is actually pretty good. Solid Role and Bench players.

But I agree that people who think Kuzma can be that "3rd star" is gonna be in for a huge disspointment. Kuzma should also be in put in the "Solid Role Player" group.

Lakers practically have 2 superstars and a bunch of solid Role Players. All In all, a Championship worthy roster.

[niQ]

Have you seen what Alex Caruso turned into this summer?

Alex said someone photoshopped that. But that didn't stop the NBA from giving him a "random drug test."

[hoosierdaddy34]

Green is a good starter
Kuzma is a 6th man type that is knocking on the door of being a good starter.
Caruso has shown flashes of being good but it’s a small sample size
Javale is a rotation type player
Dwight is a rotation type player (does he realize it though?)
KCP is a rotation level player
Bradley is not currently but at 28 he has a chance to get back to a rotation type level.
Cook is a situational player off the bench
Dudley is a vet presence
Rondo is a Chinese league level player

So outside of AD and LeBron, I have the Lakers with 5 rotation level players and two others (Caruso/Bradley) that could be at that level. So right now there rotation sits at 7 to 9 guys....ideally you’d like it closer to 9 so you need a couple of these guys to make the needed jump.

As far as Danny Green, he’s coming off a career year so “on the decline” seems a bit silly. However I will agree that I don’t think he will have as good of year as last. I think a regression to his normal level, which is still a good starter, is probably to be expected.

We have to be honest here though too, neither the Rockets nor the Warriors have any depth either. Every team has flaws and holes to overcome. Lakers are no different but I expect they also will be very active on the buyout market.

This is very reasonable though. Green could be iffy though; last season was a contract year for him and his three previous years for the Spurs weren't great. Furthermore, his decline with the Spurs coincided with their transition away from the Beautiful Game, ball-movement and drive-and-kick system toward the iso heavy offense built around Kawhi and Aldridge. I don't think we've talked enough about what the Laker offense will look like and how it may or may not elevate these role players.

This is a good point.

I absolutely agree Danny Green needs good ball movement to be at his most effective. I think a guy like Kuzma thrives off it as well. And honestly the Lakers in general need good ball movement to fully optimize their offense. If Vogel can get the offense to pass the ball then they will be very good, if it breaks down into a bunch of ISO ball then it’s effectiveness will be limited. Probably still good because of the greatness of LeBron and AD but it won’t be a great offense.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Have you seen what Alex Caruso turned into this summer?

So those are photoshopped. Hilariously these fake pics led to Caruso getting a random PED drug test from the league last week though and he posted about it on IG

[Pattycakes]

I think they’ll be poo poo competition against anyone not intentionally tanking. I don’t care how high nba 2k rates them this year, this is the most poorly put together roster I’ve ever seen, and that’s without Michael Beasley lol

[benhillboy]

I think they’ll be poo poo competition against anyone not intentionally tanking. I don’t care how high nba 2k rates them this year, this is the most poorly put together roster I’ve ever seen, and that’s without Michael Beasley lol

I’m counting down the days until a petty social media beef between LeBron and Dwight stemming from their awesome PNR defense.

[Duke4life831]

Stud players:
LeBron
AD

Star Players:
no one

Good Players:
Green
Kuzma

After those 4 players you have a bunch of guys with known names but either way past their primes or just way too inconsistent to count on.

Rondo
Dwight
Dudley
KCP
Bradley
Javale

I wouldn't feel comfortable counting on any of those guys right now. Their depth and bench is just one giant wild card. I can see a situation where Dwight, Bradley, Rondo all have solid years and the depth doesn't look bad. Or I can see a scenario where all those guys continue their career trajectories of declining and beyond Green and Kuzma, the depth looks really rough.

[tsirigoj]

What a funny thread.

Seriously, how thin do the Clippers (is that you're fav team) look in the frontcourt?

How badly are AD, Dwight, and LeBron gonna eat JaMychal Green and Zubac?

Will the Clippers even play interior defense? If you get past the three-point line with the ball, will it be an automatic 2?

[nikster]

What a funny thread.

Seriously, how thin do the Clippers (is that you're fav team) look in the frontcourt?

How badly are AD, Dwight, and LeBron gonna eat JaMychal Green and Zubac?

Will the Clippers even play interior defense? If you get past the three-point line with the ball, will it be an automatic 2?

While Clippers have some positional issues at Center they are definitely more talented outside the top 2 players.

[hoosierdaddy34]

What a funny thread.

Seriously, how thin do the Clippers (is that you're fav team) look in the frontcourt?

How badly are AD, Dwight, and LeBron gonna eat JaMychal Green and Zubac?

Will the Clippers even play interior defense? If you get past the three-point line with the ball, will it be an automatic 2?

Absolutely, like the Lakers the Clippers have deficiencies too. You mention inside and I agree. Another issue is, do they even have a plus passer on the roster? Setting up others is not something Kawhi or PG do much of. Beverley isn’t a good playmaker. Lou Will sets himself up. I just don’t see the Clippers being a decent passing team, much less a good one.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Since the year 2,000, out of all players that have played 100 minutes in a playoff season LeBron has the 1st best, 11th best, 15th, 17th and 20th best playoff seasons at win shares per 48 minutes.

Which one of LeBron's 2019-2020 teammates do you think has the 6th best win shares per 48 minutes playoff season out of all players that have played 100 or more minutes in a playoff season since 2,000?

Spoiler:

JaVale McGee. As a Warriors fan I thought Kerr was wrong for not playin JaVale more. JaVale looked good to me. Still JaVale being 6th in win shares per 48 minutes makes the win shares stat look bad. But I don't think Win Shares is complete nonsense. JaVale really was good. Chris Anderson was 5th. There are similarities between Anderson on the Heat and JaVale on the Warriors.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&type=totals&per_minute_base=36&per_poss_base=100&season_start=1&season_end=-1&lg_id=NBA&age_min=0&age_max=99&is_playoffs=Y&height_min=0&height_max=99&year_min=2000&birth_country_is=Y&as_comp=gt&as_val=0&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&c1stat=mp&c1comp=gt&c1val=100&order_by=ws_per_48

[azcatz11]

What a funny thread.

Seriously, how thin do the Clippers (is that you're fav team) look in the frontcourt?

How badly are AD, Dwight, and LeBron gonna eat JaMychal Green and Zubac?

Will the Clippers even play interior defense? If you get past the three-point line with the ball, will it be an automatic 2?

Whose Dwight?

[tsirigoj]

What a funny thread.

Seriously, how thin do the Clippers (is that you're fav team) look in the frontcourt?

How badly are AD, Dwight, and LeBron gonna eat JaMychal Green and Zubac?

Will the Clippers even play interior defense? If you get past the three-point line with the ball, will it be an automatic 2?

While Clippers have some positional issues at Center they are definitely more talented outside the top 2 players.

Not by much.

And if LeBron/Rondo are playing facilitator, they are going to make some of the more average players look much more elite.

[nikster]

What a funny thread.

Seriously, how thin do the Clippers (is that you're fav team) look in the frontcourt?

How badly are AD, Dwight, and LeBron gonna eat JaMychal Green and Zubac?

Will the Clippers even play interior defense? If you get past the three-point line with the ball, will it be an automatic 2?

While Clippers have some positional issues at Center they are definitely more talented outside the top 2 players.

Not by much.

And if LeBron/Rondo are playing facilitator, they are going to make some of the more average players look much more elite.

Lol who are Lebrun and Rondo gonna make look elite? Maybe avery? Greens not gonna get much easier looks than have got in Toronto or SAS, and they’ve already played with pretty much every other offensive threat on the roster.

And i think the talent gap is huge. Outside top 2 players:
Louis William is easily the best scorer out of the group, Beverly the best perimeter defender, the big man of Harrell/Zubac is better than Kuzma/Mcgee