The official 2021-22 Roster thread

[Eric Bieniemy]

Davis will be the starting center. Playtime is over.

With Westbrook, Davis and Gasol are at the top of the center position pecking order.

Howard will be out of the rotation most nights. Westbrook will need to play alongside a big who can hit open jumpers.

I agree, which is also why I kind of wanted a guy like Green, or Millsap, both of whom are really good as small ball Cs and have shown a willingness to play the position. Green is obviously off the board though and the team has shown no interest in Millsap as far as I’ve heard.

Morris could've filled that role, IMO.

[zimpy27]

My guess so far

PG: Westbrook | Nunn | Ellington
SG: Monk | THT | Matthews*
SF: LeBron | Bazemore | McKinnie
PF: Davis | Ariza | Melo
C: Gasol | Howard | Markieff*

TW: Reaves | Ayayi


The team is loaded but old so I'm guessing there will be a lot of rotation during the season..

[Pythagoras]

Davis will be the starting center. Playtime is over.

With Westbrook, Davis and Gasol are at the top of the center position pecking order.

Howard will be out of the rotation most nights. Westbrook will need to play alongside a big who can hit open jumpers.

I agree, which is also why I kind of wanted a guy like Green, or Millsap, both of whom are really good as small ball Cs and have shown a willingness to play the position. Green is obviously off the board though and the team has shown no interest in Millsap as far as I’ve heard.

Morris could've filled that role, IMO.

Agreed, and he still may. I personally wanted Morris back.

[MadNESS]

PG: Westbrook / Nunn / McClung?
SG: Monk / Bazemore / Ellington
SF: THT / Ariza / McKinnie
PF: Lebron / Carmelo / Morris?
Cc: AD / Dwight / Gasol

Ayayi & Reeves 2 way?

[Pythagoras]

My guess so far

PG: Westbrook | Nunn | Ellington
SG: Monk | THT | Matthews*
SF: LeBron | Bazemore | McKinnie
PF: Davis | Ariza | Melo
C: Gasol | Howard | Markieff*

TW: Reaves | Ayayi


The team is loaded but old so I'm guessing there will be a lot of rotation during the season..

They’re a older in the frount court than the back court which makes Matthews a bit of a hard sell for me at this point. I think Westbrook, THT, Monk, Nunn, and Ellington can handle all the minutes for the back court. The front court is an AARP meeting, lol. In addition to bringing Markieff back they should look at another F to help share the minutes load.

[snaquille oatmeal]

Ya’ll remember when the T wolfs had Love, Gay, Sessions

If we would have kept KCP we would have had the holy trinity: Pope Nunn, and Monk!

[zimpy27]

My guess so far

PG: Westbrook | Nunn | Ellington
SG: Monk | THT | Matthews*
SF: LeBron | Bazemore | McKinnie
PF: Davis | Ariza | Melo
C: Gasol | Howard | Markieff*

TW: Reaves | Ayayi


The team is loaded but old so I'm guessing there will be a lot of rotation during the season..

They’re a older in the frount court than the back court which makes Matthews a bit of a hard sell for me at this point. I think Westbrook, THT, Monk, Nunn, and Ellington can handle all the minutes for the back court. The front court is an AARP meeting, lol. In addition to bringing Markieff back they should look at another F to help share the minutes load.

Matthews had 110 minutes against the Suns, THT had 48 minutes against them. THT couldn't be played because of spacing issues. If THT doesn't improve his 3 then he won't be played and is likely trade bait. I'd be keep Matthews for depth if he's keen to stay.

Yeah front court is old, I could see Lakers using the full rotation. There are 20,000 minutes of oncourt playing time per team per 82-game season. 8,000 minutes for the front court. I can see all these guys getting 1000 minute played in the RS.

[Pythagoras]

My guess so far

PG: Westbrook | Nunn | Ellington
SG: Monk | THT | Matthews*
SF: LeBron | Bazemore | McKinnie
PF: Davis | Ariza | Melo
C: Gasol | Howard | Markieff*

TW: Reaves | Ayayi


The team is loaded but old so I'm guessing there will be a lot of rotation during the season..

They’re a older in the frount court than the back court which makes Matthews a bit of a hard sell for me at this point. I think Westbrook, THT, Monk, Nunn, and Ellington can handle all the minutes for the back court. The front court is an AARP meeting, lol. In addition to bringing Markieff back they should look at another F to help share the minutes load.

Matthews had 110 minutes against the Suns, THT had 48 minutes against them. THT couldn't be played because of spacing issues. If THT doesn't improve his 3 then he won't be played and is likely trade bait. I'd be keep Matthews for depth if he's keen to stay.

Yeah front court is old, I could see Lakers using the full rotation. There are 20,000 minutes of oncourt playing time per team per 82-game season. 8,000 minutes for the front court. I can see all these guys getting 1000 minute played in the RS.

My friend, I hear what you’re saying about THT, but it seems clear the Lakers are high on this kid, and plan on letting him sink or swim this year. I don’t think they view him as trade bait, at least not for this year. The team also has Bazemore who can give them a few minutes at the 2.

If the Lakers could find a stronger front court player than Markeiff to help with that load, I’d absolutely be down to bring Matthews back. This is where not grabbing Otto at a vet min hurts.

[tugs]

Don't know anything about Joel Ayayi but I suppose he's the Caruso two-way project now

[Japago]

I didn't know which topic to write this in, but I feel better about losing Caruso than I did before. I remembered how much the Lakers needed to improve on offense.

While Caruso is great on defense, replacing his 5 PPG and lack of play-making skills was always going to be one of the ways of improving on offense.

The Lakers' backcourt will probably take a step back on defense, but it's worth it if the Lakers can drastically improve on offense. The Lakers were the number 1 defense in the league, so the Lakers can still be a really good defensive team while declining on that front a little bit.

I still want the Lakers to get a wing player though. I don't feel great about relying on Bazemore and Ariza on that front.

[Michael Lucky]

We just waived mckinnie which means we're still looking to add a body through FA.

[tugs]

2 roster spots open then. Huh

Maybe another big. A Kenneth Faried or Tarik Black mold would be ideal

[RamonSessions7]

Nice to have two rookies with upside as our 2ways this year instead of Cacok and Giannis’ stiff brother

[snaquille oatmeal]

Markeef Morris signed with the Heat

[Kilroy]

We're loading up on guard/wing talent, so I guess they're fully committed to AD at the 5 and LeBron at the 4...

Westbrook/Nunn
THT/Ellington
Monk/Bazemore
LeBron/Melo/Ariza
AD/Gasol/Dwight

[Pythagoras]

We're loading up on guard/wing talent, so I guess they're fully committed to AD at the 5 and LeBron at the 4...

Westbrook/Nunn
THT/Ellington
Monk/Bazemore
LeBron/Melo/Ariza
AD/Gasol/Dwight

There’s no excuse for this offense not to be top 5 with that much talent and Lebron and AD moving to the 4 and 5. Gave up quite a bit of defensive versatility though. I’d be floored if they were best in the league again, but I wonder if they can maintain in the top 5?

[ROballer]

PG: Westbrook / Nunn / McClung?
SG: Monk / Bazemore / Ellington
SF: THT / Ariza / McKinnie
PF: Lebron / Carmelo / Morris?
Cc: AD / Dwight / Gasol

Ayayi & Reeves 2 way?

Yup. Without McKinnie because he's been waived and no Morris.

Westbrook/Nunn
Monk/Ellington/Ayayi/Reaves
THT/Bazemore
Lebron/Carmelo/Ariza
Davis/Howard/Gasol


THT will start. Anyone having an old veteran fart before him in the lineup is gonna be due for a rude awakening.
Even if let's say he's trade bait(he's not), he's still gonna start and see all the minutes he can handle to increase that trade value.

We got the veterans to play limited minutes and even bench warm, not the other way around. Except for the big 3, THT, Nunn and Monk will probably see the most minutes on this team.

[Doug_12]

Uhh, any rotation I see here has no spacing, no defense and is old as heck. Only the names make me tell, it's gonna be a PO team. But to be honest, I totally see us getting kicked out in the play-in tournament.

It reminds me to the Howard, Gasol, Artest, Kobe, Nash lineup, which reached the 7th spot w/ some heroic late season effort.

[Doug_12]

I'd say it'll be:

Westbrook/Nunn
Bazemore/THT/Monk
Lebron/Ariza
Davis/Melo
Gasol/Dwight

when everyone is healthy. But it will almost never be as w/ this average age, there will always be 2-3 players simultaneously injured.

[gordonyao]

Regular line up:
PG: Westbrook / Nunn
SG: Ellington / Monk
SF: LBJ / THT / Bazemore
PF: Davis / Melo / Ariza
C: Gasol / Howard

Small Ball line up:
PG: Westbrook / Nunn
SG: Ellington / Monk
SF: Bazemore / THT
PF: LBJ / Melo / Ariza
C: Davis / Howard / Gasol