Aloha
Last night the Lakers banged my table and nearly knocked over my half full glass. Now I wasn’t one of those guys that predicted the Lakers would burn through the NBA to open the season. I knew when you turn over almost your entire roster there are going to be growing pains. And all the injuries only made matters worse. So I wouldn’t even mind the losses if we were playing with the energy required to win in the NBA. Unfortunately I think the Bucks loss was the only one that we found that energy. We made the Thunder, Twolves, Celtics and trailblazers all look like title contenders. The Lakers are the team you play to heal.
I believe the the blame can be spread evenly between Rob, Frank and the players. I think Rob over thought the situation. Now I have never been on board with 3 super stars. I have always been more of a deep support cast for 2 stars. Sure we struggled when our stars were hurt last year but the reality is that it hasn’t changed. If AD or LeBron go down in the playoffs we aren’t going to win a ring even with Russ. Now Russ was about the only star we could have traded for with our assets. The Wizards needed to get out from under his massive salary and build a team around a Beal, and they did a great job. There was DeRozen but a sign and trade would have hard capped us and knowing Pop he would have asked for AD and draft picks in return. 😂
The problem is that the team Rob put together isn’t the defensive team that we have been. We now have to score a lot to win. Our offensive system is basically, put the ball in a stars hand and get out of the way. And that’s fine when you are a top notch defensive team. Not so much when you aren’t. If the Warriors with all of the player and ball movement, I wonder if even Steph Curry could excel like he does in our offense.
Honestly I think we would have been better bringing most of the core back. Even trading for Buddy would have been a waste because this offense has never been one to create good looks for 3 point specialists. Love or hate Dennis, he was a quality defender. I honestly believe at fair price he is a better fit then Russ has been because of that defense. I mean nearly every post game James Worthy mentions him and his D.
Look at this roster.
Dennis (again reasonable salary)
AD
LeBron
THT
Kuz
Alex
KCP
Nunn
Ellington
Monk
Melo
Trevor
Dwight
Reeves
That would have been is a better team than this one. Primarily because the defense would have made up for our lack of a dynamic offense.
Now after all of that my glass hasn’t tipped over quite yet. Both Nunn and Trevor will bring much needed defense, along with new dedicated energy to the defensive side we will get better. But the offense needs to be fixed. THT didn’t have a great night, but only getting 6 shots after his last 3 games, is clear example of the problem. AD even said in the post game that THT needed more looks. Yes we do need to learn to play together with LeBron. As long as we put the ball in a stars hands and get out of the way, we will continue to struggle. And if the energy isn’t dramatically improved it will be a very long season.
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1462176230761926656
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1462178263602655232
Aloha, Michael,
I don’t see any benefit at this point rehashing what we could or might have done instead of trading for Russ. What’s done is done. We’re not going to admit we made a mistake until the season is over. Like it or not, Russ will be our third superstar and the focus should be on how we resolve the problem.
Frankly, it’s still early and we’ve only played 7 games with all three superstars so in a way, Russ is right that the three have not played together enough nor with the two players with whom they will likely be starting. We’re making minor adjustments but still have not found the solution and a big part of that is our lack of size without Ariza. Trade will have to be made at deadline.
Looking over the stats, we’re not seeing good defensive numbers for LeBron and AD on defense. LeBron and AD both rank in the bottom third of the Lakers with negative net ratings. Those are our two best defenders. When Reaves returns, we will have this season’s version of Caruso, which will help. As will Ariza and Nunn. Move them in to replace Bradley, Baze, and Rondo and we will see a dramatic improvement.
Hopefully, last night was the bottom and we can start to rise. Next three games are must games for this team despite how early in the season we are. Time to play Lakers basketball.
Yo Michael. I don’t think there was any way Rob was bringing Dennis back after he snubbed our overly fair extension. Also, water under the bridge at this point. The issues I see are we are overly reliant on either over aged or unproven players. The 37 year old Ariza will simply not be enough to fix the several large issues we have on defense. Too slow to keep up with most SF’s, too small to bang with most PF’s. Nunn will hopefully put Bradley and Rondo to the bench or into an appropriate backup role. I think we need a defensive center not named Dwight Howard who can pop from distance, doesn’t have to be great from 3. That’s enough to keep defenses from over-loading the paint when you consider that all of our superstars are good at getting or working there. The issue is that we’d have to trade other essential players to make that happen and so then you basically ending being the little Dutch boy plugging holes in the dyke only to see more open in other places. No single trade or player can turn this around. The fix has to come from within.