Despite whatever happens in 2021 playoffs..a question about 2022 (future)

[Beethoven]

What is your outlook on LeBron and AD for 2022 at least?

Will age finally put a hamper on LeBron at 37 years old and his 19th season? It seems it has already right now, (but I am not too sure yet).

Is it because his recovery time (and with AD's recovery) was a bit rushed bc of our expectancy of trying to make a run at a 2nd championship? Has that expectancy hurt this team's players more than we really know? If they were being realistic and sensible about it, they would have assessed that the recovery process should have been first and foremost in priority rather than trying to make a run for it in the postseason.

There are opinions out there that the high ankle sprain and the achilles tendinosis should have been several months of recovery time. Not weeks.

Has that aged LeBron prematurely? ...

And AD...Now that the tendinosis turned into a calf strain, turned into a knee sprain, turned into a groin sprain, not sure how well this will end up IF we even beat PHO and go onto the Denver/Portland series and more.

(You do see that with full health and functionality, AD is a total game changer. Monster. Not sure how much of it is because our team emotions are weak when AD is down, but you do see it is night and day when AD plays at his full capacity; we can run any team out off the court.)


--
Can AD be the number 1 option then? I can see it. Will LeBron just take a backseat, and/or just ride off into the sunset (retire early) if he 'knows' his body because he already claimed he cant be the same ever again. He knows this injury is something grave. deep inside. I can see it that it changed him mentally it plateaued him mentally not only physically as soon as SOLOMON HILL decided to lean toward him to hurt him.

or

if Lebron does go on a 6 month rest and recovery conditioning program and comes back in late January, are we going to see the same 2020 Lebron at least once more...possibly?

Do we have one more 'championship favorites' season in us next year?

I know no one nor I can answer these of course but we can discuss our thoughts solely about the future health and capacity of LeBron and AD.
--
(dont care to discuss the rest of the team and their impending offseason moves here sorry)

[Slink]

AD can be the no.1 option, but his health will determine how far he can take the Lakers. We'll have to see how LeBron comes back from a full off-season of rest. He was playing at an MVP level before the ankle sprain, but it looked to me, because of the short off-season, whole team was mentally exhausted more than physically. There was no fight in them. I want to see what this team's attitude is like next season, whether they want to coast or try for a championship.

[reamily]

Needed a third star and so sad on whaf happened to trez but we can use his mle on someone else who is hungry..we need dwight back for toughness.. dennis was a bad fit.. kuzma wouldnt explode if te others arent clicking..depth is the key if we are really patient with ad and Bron

[RamonSessions7]

I’m skeptical of the juice left in LeBron. He’s been insane already to this point, IMO still being the best player in basketball up until last year, but he is basketball old now. I don’t think he will cliff dive next year or even the following, but we need him to barely or not at all decline to maintain contender status with this roster.

AD as the other max in a top two heavy construction is even more concerning due to his persistent ability to find injuries.

While I understood at the time going for Harrell and Schroeder as players more able to put up stats and carry them through a tough regular season after no offseason, Schroder not really fitting with the team and Harrell being the guy who proved himself nearly unplayable as a Clippers big was what came to be and proved to be unfortunate roster moves, not that it’s extremely easy to land a stud with what we could offer.

The two are extremely great, but due to the age/injury factors with how much this roster relies on them being top 10 and also available and combined with the questions I have with the ability of our FO leaves me a bit questionable on the strength of the pole keeping our window open.

[Liam_Gallagher]

What 2021 proved to me is that depth is overrated in the playoffs - we had too many cooks in the kitchen down low. Drummond, Trez, Gasol, Morris, Kuz, AD, LeBron...all redundant and bad floor spacers and Vogel wanted to play all of them. In reality they should've picked 2 or 3 and went small most of the time.

[iamworthy]

Just get healthy and we will be fine next year. It's that simple.

[thebigbird]

This is what LeBron looked like at the end of January. The way he moved was night and day compared to this series. He didn’t fall off a cliff in four months, he just got hurt and never fully healed. He’ll be back next year.

Read on Twitter

?s=21

[tamaraw08]

Pelinka and Jeannie will soon meet with Lebron and Rich Paul regarding the future roster for this team.
They both ask James, who they think they should go after. Lebron tells them he's been burning the phone lines to convince Bradley Beal to demand a trade to the Lakers and that the Wizards star is still contemplating. He then looks at Paul for more answers.
Klutch Czar pulls out his tablet and scrolls down his long list of clients.
Paul: you guys need to trade for John Wall.
Rob: coughed, ahem, salaries need to match and he's getting paid above 40 mil.
Paul: ok Ben Simmons, this guy is a stud, him with Lebron and AD would form the BIG 3 that would pancake those bozos in Brooklyn.
Rob:He's tied up up to 2025 but we can surely try. Not sure they let him go unless we have assets they want.
Paul: ok, I have these awesome cheap scorers. , D'on Waiters, JR Smith, Ben Mcclemore, these guys would surely light a fire to Frank Vogel's very frigid offense.
Rob: coughed and reminded Rich that they ALL were signed and tried before, no good results.
Paul: Ok then, you want sure fire scorers, DeJounte Murray, Eric Bledsoe, Clarkson.
Rob: all these guys are also tied up
Paul: fine, Corey Joseph and Gary Trent then, and make sure THT gets the max.
Rob: Can you name actual good players who are available and not in your client list?
Paul: nope.

[bb22]

Not even the addition of Lowry would have moved the needle much. The team just didn’t have the fight. Seemed like a season long championship hangover. Even Lebron looked somewhat checked out once the playoffs began (injured or not).
Not much ability to make a major move this off-season, but this team will need a player along the lines of a Curry/Dame to swing things in the right direction and compete for a championship.

[The Hypnotoad]

I’ve said this before, and I know Lebron DESERVES to be paid max; but if he wants to stay in contention he’s gonna have to take a massive paycut, which at this point isn’t possible cause everything’s signed. I think the biggest mistake was everyone started patting each other on the back at the beginning of the season when they were playing well. Lebron and AD took max extensions each, and Kuzma got a 3 year when they should have seen how well he played with a bigger role. Then we saw how badly the new pieces really fit later in the year and we were already locked in. I for sure thought Lebron was going to take less to get more help but they thought they had enough, they don’t.

He needs to realize his life’s challenge isn’t getting max dollars, it’s Jordan. Maybe it wasn’t at first, but he had it in sights and got greedy thinking he could have his cake and eat it too.

[EArl]

Watch on YouTube

Looks like Schroder wants to come back. I don't want to overpay him, but getting him and doing a S&T is better than nothing.

[slifersd]

I think our championship window, where we are the favorites to win at least, is probably closed after this year. Even if we bring everyone back healthy, Brooklyn has three in prime superstars and they are going to add whatever they are lacking, defenders, length, depth or whatever in free agency this offseason and become the new powerhouse of the NBA next year.

LBJ still looked fine prior to his injury, but we do need to start wondering what his body is starting to break down. He has gotten injured in two of the three seasons he has been here. Each time he gets injured, he takes a long time to recover and can never come back the same. High ankle sprain is typically a 4-6 week injury and he took almost 6 weeks off and still came back limping. If his body is starting to break down, then we definitely need a third star who can carry the load in the back court. I don't doubt LBJ can still ball at a high level but we have to start looking at his injuries and wonder if this is the norm moving forward or not.

AD is not a No 1 option, period. Physically, the guy is one of the most brittle player I have ever seen. Usually guys who get injured this often and miss this much time are guys with chronic injuries like a bone on bone knee, but this guy's body just falls apart everywhere. On top of that, I have questions about his mental approach too. Lets not forget that he also came into this season playing like crap even before the Achilles thing. He has the talent to be an all time great, but does he have the mental focus and physical durability to ever reach that level? He's been around long enough for me to say he is just not that guy.

Moving into next season, I think we need to do a major clean up of the roster. Almost amazingly, literally every single player we brought in last offseason had failed. Matthews, Gasol and Harrell were all major busts; Drummond and Schroder were not horrendous but also failed to reach the level expected of them. For next year, we need to be aggressive again and try to add player makers and shooters to this team. And no, not shooters like KCP or Avery Bradley, but actual shooters who can hit three pointers at a high clip. Pelinka's got his work cut out for him for sure.

[reamily]

High expectation about matthews, he just did his job as a veteran rotation player, he is no Danny Green or avery bradley, its Dennos schroder that was expected to carry the load hiven the health of our 2 stars, kuzma is a given to be untouchable by unexplainable circumstances

[Kilroy]

I agree with ROBaller... THT is our third star, we just need to groom him a bit more...
Get AD and LeBron healthy... Sign Caruso and THT long term...
SL for the Reg season next year:
Caruso
THT
LeBron
AD
Gasol

LeBron and THT can split ball handling duties, along with Caruso... Caruso focuses on Defense, Gasol helps spread the floor and distributes with LeBron, AD is our primary offensive weapon with THT and LeBron pitching in.
Target Top 5 defense and offense...

If Schroder really wants to come back, sign him as our 6th man... Sign a defensive-minded big to the min... Try to dump Kuz, but if we can't he can come off the bench with KCP...

Bench mob of:
Schroder
KCP (probably starts some too for Caruso depending on matchup)
Kuz
McKinnie
Big (Howard, Trez if he picks up his option, Drummond if he doesn't want the world and commits to learning how to play the position the right way this summer)
And whoever else wants to win a ring...

Come playoffs, stop dicking around with a 2 big lineup and tell AD he either plays the 5 or we lose...

Caruso
THT
LeBron
(Shooter... McKinnie, KCP, Mathews?, McLemore? whoever)
AD

With Schroder, Kuz, KCP and maybe Gasol in rotation... Cut the BS, stop getting cute and messing with things and let the players be comfortable with their roles...

Obviously, all this is out the window if we can get a legit star as a 3rd option, and that star is no older than AD.

[Frank Dux]

Keep Lebron, AD, Caruso, THT. Trade, or let go of the rest. And for the love of god, don't ever let Schroder or Drummond back in Los Angeles. I absolutely despise those two.

[iamworthy]

As annoyed as I am with KCP, he deserves a pass. Dude has been our Iron man for a while. He just laces up his shoes and plays ball. It wouldn't bother me one bit if he was our starting shooting guard next year.

[Eric Bieniemy]

I'd somehow sign Derrick Rose. He would be the guy who can consistently give davis and James relieve. He would also be the perfect mentor to Tucker.

I'd also resign Morris, Tucker, Caruso, and McLemore. I'd also grab a young, long 3&D wing who can be groomed to replace Matthews.

Rose - Tucker
Pope - McLemore
Davis - Gasol
James - Morris
Matthews - Caruso

[BEazy]

Just get guys that can make life easier for AD and LBJ. Dennis and Drummond DO NOT make life easier for those two.

I would keep THT at all cost, I mean the max any team can offer is around 10 mil. We can and should easily match that. The only way I trade THT is if we're getting a Lillard or Curry type player back. If not then I'd rather take my chances at THT starting or even AC should he re-up with us.

Dennis needs to be a bench player but he refuses to do that. A lot of politics this year that made coaching very hard for Vogel too. I honestly think Dennis was the cancer in the locker room and he's been a huge distraction to the team. I know a lot of guys have different opinions on Dennis, but it's my opinion and my opinion of him won't change even if he does win a championship with us.

As for LBJ, I'm not worried about him. He'll spend his usual 1 million dollars on his body and recover and become a sensation again. He'll prove all his dumbass critics wrong as usual.

AD, I do worry about him for next season. He needs to change his training routine. Maybe try some boxing that would help his footwork tremendously. Would be a dream come true if he worked with KAJ or Hakeem.


Side note: Whoever is the strength and conditioning coach for this team needs to get fired immediately. The doctors that cleared AD need to be released as well. Totally a dumb decision to let AD even enter the game. That groin could've been so much more worse...

[tamaraw08]

Lakers can dump every role player they have and replace them with other role players. They can keep some like Caruso, if they decide to resign THT , he better watch a thousand of game tapes and get tutored by a defensive guru , heck hire Tony Allen or Shane Battier because if doesn’t improve, Vogel would just use him sparingly like he did for 2 years now. All these restructuring won’t matter if AD is not healthy. Whenever I see him wince every 5 games since he got here I feel he has these little cracks in his body that gets bigger every time he plays 15 straight games or so, geeze, even a day before the play in game vs the Warriors, he was declared questionable because of Shoulder ailment. Lebron was reported to spend a Million dollars per year for his body, the Lakers need to spend 5 mil for AD, heck get that german scientist who concocted that super Soldier Serum if needed.

[Eric Bieniemy]

Just get guys that can make life easier for AD and LBJ. Dennis and Drummond DO NOT make life easier for those two.

I would keep THT at all cost, I mean the max any team can offer is around 10 mil. We can and should easily match that. The only way I trade THT is if we're getting a Lillard or Curry type player back. If not then I'd rather take my chances at THT starting or even AC should he re-up with us.

Dennis needs to be a bench player but he refuses to do that. A lot of politics this year that made coaching very hard for Vogel too. I honestly think Dennis was the cancer in the locker room and he's been a huge distraction to the team. I know a lot of guys have different opinions on Dennis, but it's my opinion and my opinion of him won't change even if he does win a championship with us.

As for LBJ, I'm not worried about him. He'll spend his usual 1 million dollars on his body and recover and become a sensation again. He'll prove all his dumbass critics wrong as usual.

AD, I do worry about him for next season. He needs to change his training routine. Maybe try some boxing that would help his footwork tremendously. Would be a dream come true if he worked with KAJ or Hakeem.


Side note: Whoever is the strength and conditioning coach for this team needs to get fired immediately. The doctors that cleared AD need to be released as well. Totally a dumb decision to let AD even enter the game. That groin could've been so much more worse...

I respect your opinion, but I don't think Tucker is ready for the type of role Schroder played (and was supposed yo play) this season.

I think Tucker needs a minimum of one more year coming off the bench in a defined role.

He's too young and inexperienced to put him in prominent minutes on a team looking to make a deep run. He's just not ready.