….obviously, the Lakers will be making some moves this summer. New coach, possibly 3 new starters, new bench, new system, etc. So let’s say Rob miraculously pulls off what most think would be the optimal trade given what we have to work with….Turner, Heild, & Brogdon for Russ, the 2 picks, THT, & Nunn. My question is this…..where does that leave us? All things being equal (injury-wise and present roster construction) I’m looking at us being no better than the 4th best team in the West; behind Phoenix, Memphis, & Golden State. That’s not even counting the Clipps if they can somehow stay healthy. We’re going to have continuity issues early on as we incorporate all these new players as well as a new coaching staff & system.
Not saying that we shouldn’t pursue these moves, just saying that I’m not so sure they will make us contenders as Lebron’s window continues to close.
One other thing that I’m noticing as I watch this opening round of the post-season is the quickness of some of these teams and I feel like it something that we sorely lacked this season. I’m not talking about “pace” because obviously we like to get out & run the break. I’m talking more about lateral quickness especially in the half court on both offense & defense. Probably has something to do with our rebounding issues as well as our overall bad defense and our seemingly lack of ability to come up with all those 50/50 balls. Not sure if any of these proposed trades help in that area.
“Bottom line” is that eventually we need to get younger and quicker.
Yeah, it’s kind of obvious that we’re undergoing a changing of the guard in a way and the young guns in the NBA are showing up big these playoffs. Will be interesting to see if that’s just their making their steady was towards more experience of if any player breaks through and changes the status quo of top players.
One thing for sure is we need to abandon the idea of loading up on older vets who will shine in the playoffs. Too many good young players all over the league to do that any more. That’s a lesson we should have learned for good this last season. We lost a lot of good young player development last season because of Vogel wasting all the time on Jordan and Bradley. Of course, the solution is to get three new starters who are really qualified to start and fit with LeBron and AD.
Good post, Mongo. Franky, as much as I am obsessed with what the Lakers could get back in trade this summer to rebuild team and how important that will be to our chances to win another ring with LeBron, the truth is what we do this summer is secondary to whether LeBron and Anthony can elevate their play again to be top five players or whether their moment in the sun has come and gone.
That tells me that single biggest thing the Lakers need to do when deciding whom to trade for this summer is finding players who truly fit well with LeBron and AD and whose presence will free up, complement, or help LeBron and AD play better. In other words, fit is king. Everybody we add has to fit. No exceptions. That’s the biggest mistake everybody made last year. We ignored fit and surrounded LeBron and AD with players who didn’t free up, complement, or help LeBron and AD do this job.
Here’s the point that’s important, surrounded by the ‘right’ players, we know LeBron James and Anthony Davis can dominate opponents and win a championship. We don’t need to bring in three starters that are better or even as good as the starters on our competitors’ teams. We just need to bring in three who fit with and complement our two superstars.
Were we to get Turner, Hield, and Brogdon, for example, I think that would be a championship caliber team, especially with a bench that included Nunn, Monk, Reaves, Johnson, and Gabriel. Provided we stay healthy, those three would make LeBron’s and Anthony’s jobs so much easier not only because they’re far better players than the guys they replaced but because they all fit.
Turner solves the size, rim protection, and points in the paint problems and unleashes AD to be our top scorer and 1-on-1 lock down defender. Hield gives us that high volume, high percentage, high gravity 3-point shooter we need to beat paint packing defenses. And Brogdon gives us the size we need to be able to switch more successfully on defense and better ball security.
We add three veterans who all can stretch the floor, including the league’s best shot blocker, #2 highest volume 3-point shooter, and a big point guard who can shoot, pass, and defend. Good as they are, it’s what they free up LeBron and AD to do that makes the team a championship contender.
All very good points. My question about “fit” with Lebron is who is this Lebron we’re trying to fit guys around? He put up tremendous numbers this season but he did it in a very different way than in the past. Relying so much more on his perimeter shooting and picking & choosing his spots to play bully-ball. He shot by far the most 3’s per game on the team. So is he gonna continue this trend (and save some wear & tear on his body) or was it a result of the poor roster construction and lack of spacing? Cuz right now…he’s our volume 3pt shooter. This needs to be addressed before building out the roster and right now we don’t even have a coach (which is a whole other can of worms).
Haha. Great question, whose answer leads to another question: how much of LeBron shooting so many threes was the result of the paint always being packed and LeBron settling knowing attacking the rim every time would wear him out and lead to risk of injury.
Like most things, the answer is probably a combination of both LeBron changing his game due to age and the team’s lack of spacing due to poor roster construction and a coach who didn’t seem to care about spacing.
I think LeBron needs to be at the 2 on offense. His shooting is getting better and less wear and tear. We gotta stop this deal where at 38 he’s got to do it all. Who else on our did it all? NO BODY!
On offense, LeBron plays 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 but only guards 3, 4, and 5. He’s really a positionless player who could start at all five positions since starting is usually determined by player’s offensive role.
I don’t think any of the moves make us sure-fire contenders but there aren’t many teams that check that box. I wasn’t even of the opinion that the team that did win the title was a sure-fire winner. So many things broke right for that team and we did end up winning it all. A lot of those things will never happen again, especially the three month break just before the playoffs.
In the end I think LeBron’s window here has basically closed. 82 + playin (potentially) + playoffs = too many games for a dude his age. No shame in that, just how it goes. Yes, he put up astounding, historical numbers for a guy his age. But he did so in a way that didn’t translate into wins or often even close games. He, was in essence, one of those guys we see on other teams who don’t have a legit superstar and bloated numbers because somebody has to shoot it.
We can continue to delude ourselves that healthy LeBron and AD are all we really need but that’s just smoke up the rear. They will never be 100% come playoffs, one or both will have something going on, like all players, and AD isn’t tough enough to push through. It’s just who he is. Like Kobe wishing for Black Swan Pau we will continue to hope that AD discovers his inner tough guy but I don’t believe it exists.
Furthermore that narrative has a cute way of ignoring something important: the rest of the team that helped them win. LeBron and AD did not win a banner all on their own. Rondo, Danny Green, KCP, Kuz, Caruso, Dwight and JaVale all had huge roles in that journey and they were all, basically, shown the door as a result. Would that team have turned around and won it all the next season? We’ll never know.
Given our cap situation, guys who we have Bird Rights for, draft assets and general vibe of the franchise I don’t see us winning another title with LeBron on the roster. If I were Rob I take all the calls for all the players on the roster. He won’t, because he’s a mediocre GM, but he should.