10/19/21 NBA GameThread (2 games)

[xdrta+]

Why didnt Poole play the last 6 mins or so?

Defense.

[AlexanderRight]

Not trynna be that guy for Lakers gotta win a contest at some point...

[Kurtz]

Given his massive leg injuries and absence from the league for 2 years, I don't think Klay will be able to play defense this year. I think he will still hit his 3s, but defensively it'll take him a year to get back.

I don't think Bjelica is a good defender, and Wiseman and Kuminga are poor as well when they get back.

They'll be average defensively just like last year, I expect.

But we'll see.

Average last year?

Youre aware they were a top 5 defense last year right.......

Lol, its always hilarious when people assume Warriors are a bad defensive team when in reality they’ve always been one of the top defensive squads.

Last season was actually opposite, they were a great defensive team but the team overall lacked offense and depth.

Steph being the face of GSW has casuals thinking GSW doesn’t play defense.

That's an ignorant take. GSW had the 5th worst defensive rating in the league 2 seasons ago. 5th best last year. Clearly there's a high variance there driven by significant injuries and turnover over that time, and their roster this year has significant turnover again.

[Richard4444]

AD with 39 mins. Lebron with 37 mins. No one else in double figures. These guys are going to need to carry a heavy load.

They have more depth this year. Lebron playing 37 mins is unacceptable

But they dont have good depth. Too many washed players and a lot of them are not good shooters or good defenders.

[GregOden]

I forgot Wiseman is on the Warriors lol

He's basically Darko on this team at this point

[Richard4444]

Bruh Lakers lose with AD and Brom playing as well as they can, while Steph was trash shooting. Not a good sign.
Warriors bench and Poole really did well.

Imo LeBron and Westbrook are not a good fit. Both too ball dominant

so my question is WHY does lebron have to be ball dominant???

are you(people in general) saying if lebron is not ball dominant he's useless? lebron is supposed to be the goat complete skillset player. if either of the two has to be ball dominant it has to be westbrook simply because that's the ONLY way he knows how to play. lebron otoh perplexes me. he should be able to do many things and shift his skills to accommodate russ.

if russ isn't 9rpg/10apg this season the lakers and lebron have wasted their time and lebron especially i would hold responsible as he should be ENABLING russ not shutting him down.

Not a Westbrook fan, but I 100% agree with this. Lebron should adjust if it will help the team perform better. If not, then they will be horrible all year.

LeBron is a phenomenal passer and driver. But he is a mediocre shooter (although he is good in the clutch). He needs the ball to be great.

[Richard4444]

Lakers are going to miss role players like KCP, Kuzma, Harrel, and especially Caruso. They use to do a lot of the workload through the season.

[deadfeather]

Sixers couldn't get Dame or Beal for Simmons and you think they could get Russ!?

Hell yah they could get Russ. lol wtf. Russ isn't on Dame or Beal level and doesn't carry the same value. Lakers would laugh and accept a Russ for Simmons swap. It's the Sixers that would hang up.

the Lakers would rush Westy to the airport for Simmons...

Both of you bought into the narrative. Russ is elite at playmaking and defense like Ben and just marginally worse at offense than Dame or Beal. Russ is the second best pg in the league behind Steph. The media has put a hit job on him the past few years.

I'll take the 25/10/10 player over the 28/4/3 player everyday of the week.

[God Squad]

Hell yah they could get Russ. lol wtf. Russ isn't on Dame or Beal level and doesn't carry the same value. Lakers would laugh and accept a Russ for Simmons swap. It's the Sixers that would hang up.

the Lakers would rush Westy to the airport for Simmons...

Both of you bought into the narrative. Russ is elite at playmaking and defense like Ben and just marginally worse at offense than Dame or Beal. Russ is the second best pg in the league behind Steph. The media has put a hit job on him the past few years.

I'll take the 25/10/10 player over the 28/4/3 player everyday of the week.

[whatisacenter]

Hell yah they could get Russ. lol wtf. Russ isn't on Dame or Beal level and doesn't carry the same value. Lakers would laugh and accept a Russ for Simmons swap. It's the Sixers that would hang up.

the Lakers would rush Westy to the airport for Simmons...

Both of you bought into the narrative. Russ is elite at playmaking and defense like Ben and just marginally worse at offense than Dame or Beal. Russ is the second best pg in the league behind Steph. The media has put a hit job on him the past few years.

I'll take the 25/10/10 player over the 28/4/3 player everyday of the week.

cool, we are both glad Russ plays for the Lakers.

[JPriest]

damn why are lakers fans so hung up on brand names and ill fitted players past their primes. Westbrook the 2nd best PG in the league? that's down right delusional.

[HiRez]

If Steph has just a mediocre shooting night and Klay is playing, Warriors win this by 20+.

Bjelica the MVP of this game for the Dubs though.

[righterwriter]

I forgot Wiseman is on the Warriors lol

He's basically Darko on this team at this point

Nah. Covid season for a raw 19 year old big man straight out of high school. Now dealing with a meniscus tear keeping him out for a while longer.

His teammates all think he will be great. Anyone who wants to write him off now is jumping the gun, clearly.

[HiRez]

Yup knew that about Wiseman, didn’t realize that about Kuminga till now, my bad

Kuminga would not have played in this game even if healthy though. He’s gonna get garbage time only and G-League minutes for most of this year, a lot of promise but a lot to learn as well and Kerr won’t trust him in these types of games.

[KingFox]

Milwaukee has been together for years and it showed. Same thing with Golden state for the most part, although their offensive system built around Curry is all they really need. Lakers and BK will be fine but need a few weeks for certain. I just wanna know why the hell Vogel didn't play Austin Reaves at all. That Kid really impressed me recently

[zimpy27]

Dunno, but if they have any picks there's this gentleman in Oklahoma, a collector...

I don't think Westbrook gets moved anywhere. They have to try make this work. It won't be worse than tonight on average.

I don't think it makes any sense for the Lakers to move him any time soon, but it's also hard for me to imagine Westbrook spending 2 years with the Lakers.

I think he stays. They will make it work.

[Lalouie]

Bruh Lakers lose with AD and Brom playing as well as they can, while Steph was trash shooting. Not a good sign.
Warriors bench and Poole really did well.

Imo LeBron and Westbrook are not a good fit. Both too ball dominant

so my question is WHY does lebron have to be ball dominant???

are you(people in general) saying if lebron is not ball dominant he's useless? lebron is supposed to be the goat complete skillset player. if either of the two has to be ball dominant it has to be westbrook simply because that's the ONLY way he knows how to play. lebron otoh perplexes me. he should be able to do many things and shift his skills to accommodate russ.

if russ isn't 9rpg/10apg this season the lakers and lebron have wasted their time and lebron especially i would hold responsible as he should be ENABLING russ not shutting him down.

Westbrook doesn't only know how to play ball dominant ball though. He didn't play that way at UCLA. It's just a bad habit OKC encouraged him to embrace, and it's absolutely something he needs to break himself of because it doesn't make sense for a team to base their offense around his playmaking any more (though it's not a bad approach if you have him leading the 2nd unit).

As for why LeBron needs to be ball dominant, well you might as well ask the same thing about Magic Johnson. These guys can be valuable if they have less decision making power on the court, but since they are always better at making decisions than their teammates, you're generally better off letting them be floor generals.

except magic, wonderous skills notwithstanding especially in that mvp championship game, made his bones a passer. and though he did cultivate an all around game, he was never put in a position to bring in another ball dominant player like westbrook. he was a 20ppg player and yet a pass first player and did what all pg's did at the time,,,dominate the ball

people keep saying lebron is pass first but the dude maintained a score-first 28ppg. even with kyrie, love, bosh, allen, wade, jones, frye, korver, smith, battier, and a miami team that was top5 in 3pt%, lebron HAD TO get his 28ppg with ONLY 8apg. in my eyes that's a score first player. westbrook otoh had his highest apg last year with the worst 13 man(no beal) squad in the nba.

this is all i'm saying. of the two, lebron is the more capable 2. he is the more capable wherever he wants to play. russ is not - his ucla days are long gone, and yes i also blame okc for burdening and cultivating the westbrook we see today, but here we are and in the now i still believe lebron is the more adaptable player

when the wiz decided to give westbrook full control they became the 10th best offense in the league. the lakers were #22 in offense last year

anyways, i see here that postgame ad said westbrook has to be more aggressive. whelp this happened @hou and @wiz. new player on a new team and westy was deferring all the time. ironically melo said the exact same thing at okc.

only this time will lebron allow westy to be more aggressive. imo it's all very simple. westbrook won't be aggressive unless lebron allows it. that's a fact.

[Lalouie]

Bruh Lakers lose with AD and Brom playing as well as they can, while Steph was trash shooting. Not a good sign.
Warriors bench and Poole really did well.

Imo LeBron and Westbrook are not a good fit. Both too ball dominant

so my question is WHY does lebron have to be ball dominant???

are you(people in general) saying if lebron is not ball dominant he's useless? lebron is supposed to be the goat complete skillset player. if either of the two has to be ball dominant it has to be westbrook simply because that's the ONLY way he knows how to play. lebron otoh perplexes me. he should be able to do many things and shift his skills to accommodate russ.

if russ isn't 9rpg/10apg this season the lakers and lebron have wasted their time and lebron especially i would hold responsible as he should be ENABLING russ not shutting him down.

Did you watch the game? Westbrook did nothing and was a negative once he set foot on the floor. Lebron can’t enable Westbrook’s crap defensive effort either.

Just put him on the bench and stagger him.

Don’t cater to a worse player that’s not how sports or life in general works.

westbrook is the new guy on a new team. he did the same @hou and @wiz. he deferred in the beginning and when "they" allowed him he gave those teams another gear or did you not watch THAT. but that is not the point i was getting at. to be sure it's early but i am saying westbrook cannot be a 5rpg 4apg player if the lakers want to win

[Lalouie]

so my question is WHY does lebron have to be ball dominant???

are you(people in general) saying if lebron is not ball dominant he's useless? lebron is supposed to be the goat complete skillset player. if either of the two has to be ball dominant it has to be westbrook simply because that's the ONLY way he knows how to play. lebron otoh perplexes me. he should be able to do many things and shift his skills to accommodate russ.

if russ isn't 9rpg/10apg this season the lakers and lebron have wasted their time and lebron especially i would hold responsible as he should be ENABLING russ not shutting him down.

Not a Westbrook fan, but I 100% agree with this. Lebron should adjust if it will help the team perform better. If not, then they will be horrible all year.

LeBron is a phenomenal passer and driver. But he is a mediocre shooter (although he is good in the clutch). He needs the ball to be great.

i think the lakers are past this point. westbrook is here and that is that. if lebron NEEDS the ball to be great then that is a dilema for the lakers and lebron. lebron pushed for westbrook on the lakers. lebron is the versitile player. westbrook only plays one way.

[DCasey91]

so my question is WHY does lebron have to be ball dominant???

are you(people in general) saying if lebron is not ball dominant he's useless? lebron is supposed to be the goat complete skillset player. if either of the two has to be ball dominant it has to be westbrook simply because that's the ONLY way he knows how to play. lebron otoh perplexes me. he should be able to do many things and shift his skills to accommodate russ.

if russ isn't 9rpg/10apg this season the lakers and lebron have wasted their time and lebron especially i would hold responsible as he should be ENABLING russ not shutting him down.

Did you watch the game? Westbrook did nothing and was a negative once he set foot on the floor. Lebron can’t enable Westbrook’s crap defensive effort either.

Just put him on the bench and stagger him.

Don’t cater to a worse player that’s not how sports or life in general works.

It's a lazy take. Westbrook's struggles werent about ball dominance. How did Rondo manage to stay involved if that were the case? He was even ineffective with Lebron off the floor. Westbrook doesn't just require high usage, he needs high usage in a specific style of offense.The equal opportunity sets they're trying to run at times also doesn't suit him. He doesn't know how to screen or cut, he has to start the possession with the ball in his hand and at the top of the key. Any possession that has him starting from the weakside might as well start with 4 players.

What’s lazy is Westbrook’s crap defense, he literally blew a defensive rotation to cheat a rebound look at the replays if you must.

Bolded statement is why you don’t cater it’s works the other way. Russell for once in his life needs to accommodate not the other way around, which he can’t because:

- Crap shooter
- Crap off ball
- Can’t play defense despite his size adv
- Low IQ for a star
- Lost his athleticism
- He doesn’t know how to screen or cut

Why ever would you want that player to have more of the ball or run off ball plays?

Your exactly right Lakers played with 4 players this game.

Face reality Westbrook is a crap fit with the Lakers, and is mediocre at best if everything is catered to him.

Has he ever expanded or complimented his game to be a roleplayer? No that’s what he is right now.