Aloha,
I gave up trying to figure Rob and the Lakers out. Rob did learn a couple of things from last year. Defense matters and young legs are a good thing. Apparently 3 point shooters and size on the wing didn’t sink in. Of course our limited cap space made it impossible to accomplish everything. So when you have Lebron and AD concentrating on defense makes sense. And we will be better defensively.
It’s also finally clear what the Lakers strategy is. They are willing to give up the picks only for a star. I understand that. While adding a couple of decent role players would help it wouldn’t push us into the contender conversation. By waiting they can A. Find out they have and what they will need. And B. Perhaps a star becomes available and C. The asking price for role players could come down.
I was never a fan of bringing Russ back but I never believed he would destroy the team either. He has a lot to play for. He will play hard and probably try hard not to become a distraction. His next pay check depends on it.
So for me I am no longer concerned with trade speculation. A trade could happen quickly or not at all. My focus are on the guys we have. Of course nothing will matter if we are not healthy so that’s a given. Here are a few of the things I will be watching.
3 point shooting. While a sniper may not emerge, we will need to get at least average 3 point shooting from several guys. Troy Brown is a career 35% shooter. It would be helpful if he could add a couple of percentage points to that. Austin’s shot didn’t look broken and he shot the 3 much better in college. I’m actually expecting in big jump from his 31% last year. Walker was a 35% shooter until he had an off year last year. It would be great if he could get back to at least average. Nunn and PatBev both have been able to knock down 3’s so if we can get multiple guys shooting a decent percentage that would be huge.
I’m really interested in who starts at center. Before he injured himself Thomas Bryant had proven himself a to be an NBA starting center. He a ferocious rebounder with a high motor and is a 35% 3 point shooter. The reports have been positive. He he can come back fully he could be as big of a steal as Malik. So far Damien Jones has been playing with the starters. He is very good shot blocker, rebounder and something that can’t be over looked is his ability to guard the perimeter. If his 3 point shot is real, he could play some.
Which brings me to the 4. Where’s our depth? I guess it’s Gabriel. He did show me something at times last. Hopefully he can bring it more on a consistent basis. There is Swider. He he can prove to be a taller version of Buddy and do a little more then shoot, maybe he will be like Austin who received a full contract in the preseason. All though there is no rush, we have him for 50 games before we have to do that.
I’m really excited about the reports on Nunn. He had the same glowing praise last year before he hurt himself. All the focus was on LeBron and AD, Nunn’s injury was also a blow last year. If he could stay healthy it could be huge.
Speaking of PG. WTF? We trade for PatBev but didn’t trade Russ, then we sign Dennis and still don’t trade Russ. At least unlike last year if Russ isn’t doing the job we have plenty of options. Both Nunn and Pat can play the 2 but they are both undersized and should be out there with a bigger guard. I think we have a chance with health and a couple of break outs to make it into the 5th or 6th seed. But barring a unexpected big trade, we are a long way from contention.
Outside of Kyrie, which doesn’t sound like it was ever really close, there was no trade that was going to allow crack the top 6 in the west. Seeing what Ayton got Vanzetti what Adam’s re-upped for makes me think we can sign Turner for $15 mil, or less, next summer. No need to give up a FRP for him and guy who doesn’t fit into Ham’s defense first vibe. At any rate, I won’t be blown away if Russ finishes his deal here. I also won’t be blown away if we trade him for both picks. What will be surprising is if it’s for the players we’ve seen written about all summer. Anyhow, hard to have much of an opinion about any of this until we see something now. Looking forward to tomorrow night.
I think LA should put LBJ as a shooter. Last season was above career averages in all shooting aspects.
I’m looking forward to the preseason games as well. I hope our starters get some game time together. Last year we tried to save them for the season when they really needed to play together. I think that set us back. As for Turner I’m not a huge fan of trading for Turner for several reasons. First I see center as our deepest position. If Bryant and Jones turn out to be just decent back ups then I guess we would be forced to play AD there. Having to play one of the top 3 centers in the league would be a total disaster
while Turner maybe the best player we can get in a trade, Bryant and Jones both do some things better than Turner so I don’t see Turners addition elevating us that much. He’s not an all star and even with his shot blocking ability he’s never even made 3rd team all defense. The asking price for him has been a 1st round pick. The fact other teams are not willing to do that speaks volumes. Then there is his role. His biggest complaint with the spacers was he wanted a bigger role on offense. Would he be any happier here? I really don’t want to spend a 1st round pick on a rental. I’m hoping some of the other guys surprise us, because even with a trade we are not going very far unless a few of them really step up.
Hearing that Ty Jerome is possibly heading to the Warriors is frustrating. That’s the kind of guy who could maybe start at the 2 if not be a force of the bench for us. What role will he have on GS? I don’t know if we made a pitch for him or not but I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t.
As long as Rob is in charge you can consider my expectations tempered at best.