3rd Star

Aloha,

While I could write about how magical Lebron’s 23 minute were, there is a never ending number of articles that tell that story. I will write a few different things.

When we got off to a slow start the talk was what’s wrong with the Lakers, how to fix the Lakers. Who can we trade for. We need shooters etc. what all the writers were overlooking was the row of players sitting on the bench in street close. The Pels had a number of injuries also. I read a few articles on how the guys coming back were long and athletic defenders and that was going to really make this Pels team much better. Well we had long athletic guys coming back as well.

The truth is, our depth is our 3rd star. We are 9 and 2 when Cam starts. While he isn’t scoring a lot his defense has been elite. Add Vando to him and AD and now you have the recipe for an elite defense.

As for shooting, I said all along that we had shooters, that just weren’t making their shots. Prince is a very good 3 point shooter along with playing quality defense. He slumped early but over the 6 or 7 games he’s raised his season 3 point percentage to 36% and climbing after his 5 for 8 last night from 3.

Austin is also a proven 3 point shooter. He was slow out of the gate last year as well, but finished at 39% and 44% in The playoffs. He too is beginning to hit his shots. He is a big time player in big moments as we saw again yesterday.

Rui is back and shooting 40% from 3. As he plays his way back into shape I expect his shooting to continue to improve. And DLO is at 40% along with 6.5 assists. Dlo is a perfect point guard for us.

On any given night we have 3 guys that can put up 20 points to complement AD and LeBron.

Speaking of AD, the offensive criticism he receives it bit unfair. Teams come into the game with goal of taking one of the stars out. It’s easier to take AD out than LeBron because AD plays in the post and you can surround him. And teams have had multiple guys around him most of the time. With the DPOY defense he plays, I’m okay if he doesn’t hit 25 points every night. And with a full squad it should make it easier on him to score.

This team will not become an elite scoring machine but with the defense we play we won’t need to. I suspect the 3 point percentage to continue to improve but we don’t need to be at the top, just respectable.

This team really doesn’t need a 3rd star because we already have one. Our depth.