Vogel: Cousins on track to return this season, healthy for playoffs

[dockingsched]

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“He’s on track to get healthy by the playoffs, and we’ll have to see where he’s at with rhythm, and conditioning, and timing and all that stuff. But there is a possibility he returns this season, yes.”

[Beethoven]

Awesome. Pray for a solid recovery and hope to see a key contribution to playoffs.

[Kilroy]

McGee and Howard just threw their phones across the room.

[Kilroy]

I'm refreshing the GB every couple of seconds right now waiting for that to hit...

The suspense is killing me... Doc, post it soon or I'm not going to be able to help myself.

[Landsberger]

Is this good news? Cousins is a pretty significant drop even at his peak defensively from McGee and Howard. Those 2 have been the key to our defense. Offensively he may help but he's just never been much defensively and our active bigs have been the difference for us in over half of our wins if not more.

[what would jack bauer do?]

Cousins at 70% of his prime is still better than the current Rondo. Now the real fear should be if we put both Rondo and Cousins into the rotation together...

[Landsberger]

70%? Last year he was nearly nailed to the floor defensively. After another major injury he's going to be even less mobile. I'm sure he can still shoot but the reason we're here has little to do with scoring off the bench.... it's been the defense.

[Up-And-Coming]

Good for him. Not sure how he's going to move any better than he did the last time, which isn't saying much, but here's to hoping he can contribute something this season.

[TylersLakers]

I hope he's healthy with like 5-10 games left and then we can give Dwight and McGee a rest night every other night and play Cousins a ton.

I would imagine he's on the roster next year.

[lazybatman]

15-20 games minimum, I think, for Vogel to properly explore possibilities with Boogie & Boogie to learn the defensive rotations, so he can be a decent system defender at least.

We just suck in the Lebron-off the court and clutch minutes on offense, cos of predictably limited play making threats for other teams to deal with. I think he functionally subs Lebron as an additional play making threat next to Rondo, rather than Dwight/McGee as defensive boulders. While even coasting on defense after the first 25-30 games, we've been a top 5 defensive team, so I wouldn't worry about that side of the floor too much, as I expect that switch to be flipped come playoffs.The last 9 champions in this decade had the better offense, except the Lebron-choke job 2011 Miami team. As great as good old fashioned defense has looked thus far this season, the game has been professionally rigged for offense.


Here's what I'd like to see as a Plan B against the Clippers, Rockets and Celtics (teams with competent small ball lineups that can't effectively be contained defensively nor exploited offensively while having a slow non shooter on the floor) -

25 minutes - of younger Lebron - drive and kick small ball lineups - like 2018 Cavs. Everyone's shooting percentage goes up like 5-7% in those line ups. Lebron's percentages go off the rails with all the open space in the lane. This team's role players are at least 30% better than the Cavs(sans Kyrie) shooters and a 100% better defenders, with the exception of Quinn Cook. Those lineups will create a +15 to 25 on 2 of 5 nights. Nobody comes back from that kinda onslaught.

Lakers - Danny Green, KCP, Troy Daniels, Cook, Dudley, AD, Boogie, Caruso
Cavs 2017-18 - Love, Frye, Korver, JR Smith, Jeff Green, Mike Dunleavy, RJ (this group+Kyrie scored 86 on no. 2 ranked Golden State+KD defense in the finals, while being down 3-1. Set 2 3pt shooting records in the same playoffs)

15-18 minutes - of Rondo + twin towers + role players

5-10 minutes (including clutch) - of Bron-AD-Boogie-Danny Green-KCP/Caruso (I think Boogie's defensive frailties will be made up by his offense and the others' defensive prowess, as long as he gets the defensive rotations)


I really think the relentlessly aggressive Lebron is the key to the kingdom, even in his 17th year. This reduces his minutes to 30-38 from a possible 40-45(gassed 90 year old Lebron shooting hopeless 3s in the clutch)

[kblo247]

It says a whole lot about Cousins that he keeps fighting and coming back. Even last year with the quad tear he should have been done but forced his way back into the finals and got them a game off sheer skill and will. Having him put in that work, always at team practice, travel with the team, and even be engaged says a lot about him as a teammate.

Plus I don’t care what any of y’all say, if I got the choice of Cousins or Daniels/Dudley active on the roster for a playoff game I’m always taking cousins. He also gives them in the event that he got healthy, 10 mins behind AD if they chose to slide everyone else down like Kuz to the 3 and Kcp to the 2. I’m not saying start him but if he gets cleared by all means give him run his final 19 games ans activate him For the playoffs

[stan francisco]

Again, go huge!

PG James | SG Kuz | SF Davis | PF Cousins | C Howard



Those five would be my starters against the Clippers in the playoffs.

I’d let LeBron guard Beverly to keep him fresh. I’d put Kuz on PG. At SF, we should play AD straight up against Kawhi (with a lockdown mission). Howard and Cousins (healthy) can handle the other two.

On the other end, all five Clips will have their hands full and then some. They’ll start feeling small and worn down by game three or four or so.

Caruso, Pope, Green, Kostas, McGee is another lineup I want to see them try.

[syntax]

Watch a few Warriors games featuring Cousins. He will barely leave the bench.

[Spanish_Laker]

Nah, no way he can return before June.

[Slava]

Highly doubt he'll play. He might run some scrimmages but that's about it.

[lazybatman]

Again, go huge!

PG James | SG Kuz | SF Davis | PF Cousins | C Howard



Those five would be my starters against the Clippers in the playoffs.

I’d let LeBron guard Beverly to keep him fresh. I’d put Kuz on PG. At SF, we should play AD straight up against Kawhi (with a lockdown mission). Howard and Cousins (healthy) can handle the other two.

On the other end, all five Clips will have their hands full and then some. They’ll start feeling small and worn down by game three or four or so.

Caruso, Pope, Green, Kostas, McGee is another lineup I want to see them try.

How does that lineup defend Pat Bev, Lou Williams, Kawhi, PG13 & Marcus Morris. How do DH/Boogie defend Lou, Kawhi or PG? It's hard enough to hide one immobile big on the floor, we wanna play 3..

Our beloved DH & McGee are not dexterous like Draymond Green on defense, or crafty like Boogie/Embiid to make defenses pay on the other end. They're role players who are working their ass off to still try and fit in - Period! Howard & McGee are liabilities on offense, in terms of creating their own offense, and clogging up the lanes. Despite Lebron's play making, they're averaging about 15 pts & 4.5 Off Rb combined in about 37 minutes, which is probably like 3-5 points above their average contributions on any other team. They probably cost the team about 10-15 points a game cos of all the help defense they allow to be played on our drivers & cutters, cos they can't stretch the floor.

All that, is way worse than the rook we traded across the hall for a bag of chips. They are hyped cos they're Lakers. This league has no place for big men who can't stretch the floor anymore (Andre Drummond anyone??).

If Boogie is fit(really 15+ games fit), he starts and ends games on one leg, compared to those two.

[whitelight]

Again, go huge!

PG James | SG Kuz | SF Davis | PF Cousins | C Howard



Those five would be my starters against the Clippers in the playoffs.

I’d let LeBron guard Beverly to keep him fresh. I’d put Kuz on PG. At SF, we should play AD straight up against Kawhi (with a lockdown mission). Howard and Cousins (healthy) can handle the other two.

On the other end, all five Clips will have their hands full and then some. They’ll start feeling small and worn down by game three or four or so.

Caruso, Pope, Green, Kostas, McGee is another lineup I want to see them try.

Frank is not changing the starting lineup.

[BEazy]

If anything happens to Howard or Mcgee, Cousins is a pretty good 3 string C to replace either. That's probably why we're keeping him. Plus he knows the coach's plays and defense schemes. I mean I applaud Cousins for being on that bench every game. Not many injured stars do that.

[whitelight]

It says a whole lot about Cousins that he keeps fighting and coming back. Even last year with the quad tear he should have been done but forced his way back into the finals and got them a game off sheer skill and will. Having him put in that work, always at team practice, travel with the team, and even be engaged says a lot about him as a teammate.

Plus I don’t care what any of y’all say, if I got the choice of Cousins or Daniels/Dudley active on the roster for a playoff game I’m always taking cousins. He also gives them in the event that he got healthy, 10 mins behind AD if they chose to slide everyone else down like Kuz to the 3 and Kcp to the 2. I’m not saying start him but if he gets cleared by all means give him run his final 19 games ans activate him For the playoffs

I don't think anyone cares what you have to say anyways, but you do have a point.

[whitelight]

If anything happens to Howard or Mcgee, Cousins is a pretty good 3 string C to replace either. That's probably why we're keeping him. Plus he knows the coach's plays and defense schemes. I mean I applaud Cousins for being on that bench every game. Not many injured stars do that.

Ture I mean he was a douchebag, but now he's more humble.