Random thoughts

Aloha,

I have a few random thoughts while we wait for the new season. While the season starting this soon is probably not ideal for our returning players, it’s pretty cool for fans, still celebrating the championship.

First everyone was surprised by AD signing for 5 years, including myself. But taking a closer look, it made perfect sense. The cap was kept artificially high this year. With the uncertainty of another COVID season, there is an uncertainty about when revenues will return to normal. If AD signed a short deal he could have found a lower cap and available salary. While I like the warm fuzzy story of finding a home in LA it was still a smart business decision.

I’m beginning to think about rotations now that the roster is set with the signing of Cook. One of the amazing things about this roster is we took what was already a versatile roster and made it even more versatile. The biggest question will be what the center rotation will look like. I was a little surprised that they didn’t sign another big but we have 2 two way bigs that will each be able to play up to 50 games because of COVID so they are probably looking at those two as our depth.

I think we will see Marc play about 25 minutes a game, with AD playing the same number of minutes at the 5 as last year. I believe Harrell will probably play minutes at the 4 with AD at the 5 and will get maybe 8 to 10 minutes depending on match ups.

Who starts at PG will be interesting. I like Dennis starting. Playing with C3P he proved that he can play on or off the ball. With LeBron he can play Averys role, defending point guards and being a secondary ball handler and a better 3rd scoring option. When LeBaron rest, he can run the show.While he may not have Rondos Basketball IQ he does most things better. But don’t sleep on Alex, he made huge strides last year. We are fortunate to have them as our PG combo.

Will we extend Kuz? I think it would be a good move. First even without improvement his market value is much higher then 3 mil. Career analytics can be deceiving when you play all but one year on a bad team. I prefer the eye test, which he passed in the playoffs. One stat that jumped out at me was he had a better defense rating in the playoffs then AD. 105 to AD’s 106. Of course he’s not better than AD but it was a testament to his growth as a defender. If he straightens out his 3 point shot, we could have him on a bargain contract. Plus we no longer have cap space to add a significant star player, so we need tradable assets. Kuz would give us another tradable contract next summer.

As for super star chasing is concerned, if this years squad performs well, this could be our group for the next few years. I don’t think the Greek Freak is going anywhere. So who will be our next target? If everything goes well with this group over the next two years, and LeBron continues to defy Father Time, I’m thinking Bradley Beal. He’s the right age for AD and the right position to fit with him.

One last thought is organic improvement. We have 8 players 27 or younger. All of them, even AD are going to be better. Considering that 6 are rotation players, that’s a scary thought for the rest of the league. Combined with our seasoned vets, we have a terrific balance of old and young.

You need good health and a little luck to win a championship. But looking at what the rest of the contenders did I don’t see one team that got better then us. Even though the Bucks added Holiday, with the moves we made, we are still a better team. While Holiday is better than Dennis, he is not that much better to where he is a game changer. One more thought on Dennis. I could see him becoming our 3rd star. This could be a dynasty in the making.