Los Angeles Lakers

After flirting with the idea of ‘running it back’ with a healthier team, the Los Angeles Lakers changed course and opted instead to embark on an extreme makeover to change the role and reduce the workload for LeBron James.

In a bold shoot-for-the-moon move, the Lakers traded for enigmatic point guard Russell Westbrook to replace LeBron James as the team’s primary playmaker so James and Davis could move to power forward and center. The Lakers then proceeded to turnover their entire roster from last year, keeping only 21-year old Talen Horton-Tucker, whom they re-signed for 3-years and $32 million, and Marc Gasol, who still may be traded or waived.

So why such an extreme makeover for a team many thought would have repeated as champs had James and Davis not been injured? After all, Rob Pelinka had stated the Lakers hoped to keep the core of the team together. The answer it turns out is the core of the team consisted only of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Talen Horton-Tucker. Marc Gasol remained on the roster only because the Lakers’ efforts to trade him were unsuccessful.

The dramatic moves the Lakers have made so far confirm they’re committed to doing everything they can to reduce excessive wear-and-tear on LeBron James, extend his playing career, and optimize his championship window.

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LAKERS’ MOVES ARE ALL ABOUT LEBRON?

It’s ironic the early focus was more on the future health and prospects of Anthony Davis than LeBron James but the decision to trade for Westbrook instead of Hield quickly showed the Lakers’ concern was LeBron’s health.

Generational players like LeBron are so important to winning that nothing brings back greater returns than optimizing what they can do. That’s what this offseason was all about for Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers. Trading for an elite point guard like Russell Westbrook was not just an opportunity for the Lakers to add a third legitimate superstar but a chance to reduce LeBron’s workload to free him up to play off the ball in the post.

While it may seem crazy to think about taking the ball out of LeBron’s hands, that just might be the smartest thing for the Lakers to do, especially with an exceptional point guard like Russell Westbrook who excels at playmaking. Russ is what changes the dynamic and gives the Lakers the luxury of playing LeBron off the ball and closer to the rim. The move is part of a strategy to make life easier for LeBron and the Lakers’ offense more difficult to defend.

Moving James and Davis to the four and five allows the Lakers to play two elite 3-point shooters at the two and three to give Westbrook two of the best finishers in the league to pass to in LeBron and AD when he attacks the rim. Expect to see a steady diet of post ups going forward as that was one of the most potent parts of LeBron’s offensive arsenal. The goal this season is for LeBron and AD to score in the paint and let the shooters rain the threes.

After being injured in two of the last three seasons, it’s time to reduce the 36-year old James’ workload. Moving him to the four to unleash his ability to be more of a big time scorer rather than playmaker is a smart move.

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WHY TURNOVER THE ENTIRE ROSTER?

The biggest surprise was the Lakers’ decision to turnover the entire roster, trading or allowing to leave in free agency multiple rotation players who were major contributors to the team winning the bubble championship.

The Lakers traded Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma, and their first round draft pick to the Wizards for Russell Westbrook and then allowed Alex Caruso and Dennis Scroder to leave in free agency. They also opted to not bring back Markieff Morris, Wesley Matthews, Andre Drummond, or Jared Dudley, although they still have three open roster spots so there’s still a chance one or more those slots could go to returnees.

While Russell Westbrook filled the Lakers’ need for an elite playmaker to free LeBron from being the facilitator, none of the players from last season’s roster took or made enough threes to solve the LA’s 3-point shooting woes. Fortunately, this free agency class was strong in high volume, high percentage 3-point shooters and the Lakers were able to add shooters like Wayne Ellington, Malik Monk, Kendrick Nunn, and Carmelo Anthony.

In the end, the Lakers decided they needed more playmaking and shooting to compete with the Brooklyn Nets than the roster that had won the bubble championship could provide them so they opted for an extreme makeover.

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WHAT REMAINS FOR LAKERS TO DO?

The Lakers are essentially done building the roster they will roll out once the 2021–22 NBA season starts in October. All that remains is deciding whom to sign for the three remaining available minimum salary roster spots.

Major decisions remain as to who is going to start alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook and whether the Lakers are going to go small with AD at the five or more traditional with Gasol playing center. The hope is the Lakers have finally embraced the small ball lineup with LeBron at the four and AD at the five that carried them to the championship in the bubble. Russ’ shooting woes almost demand the Lakers go small.

Other decisions involve how to use the new Superstar Big Three of James, Davis, and Westbrook. Obviously, you want to start and close with all three but maybe you want to stagger them to have two on the floor ast all times. Unless the Lakers sign a ackup point guard, we might see Vogel stagger LeBron and Russ to have an elite playmaker on the floor at all times. Then there’s always the issue of how to make sure there are enough shooters.

Bottom line, the Lakers have undergone an extreme makeover by trading for Westbrook, signing a host of quality high volume 3-point shooters, and moving LeBron James to the four and Anthony Davis to the five.

That’s unfortunately what peoole think about Russell Westbrook. That the issue is more about the Lakers making him a winner than him making the Lakers a winner. This for one of the best point guards to ever play the game.

One thing for sure is Russ doesn’t give a damn about what people think. Like Chris Paul, he’s been written off as a mercurial superstar who’s style of play doesn’t work well within a team game and doesn’t translate into winning. Labeling Russ a loser is the ultimate disrespect, especially when you consider he averaged a triple-double four of the last five years and led his team to a successful winning record in nine of his eleven NBA seasons.

So what gives? Are the critics and pundits right that Russ is a poor fit for what the Lakers need? What does he have to change in his game for the Lakers to win a championship? Can the Lakers make Westbrook a winner?

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WHY ARE CRITICS AND HATERS SO DOWN ON RUSS?

I wonder if the trade for Westbrook would have met with the same negative media and fan response had the Lakers had not been publicly on the verge of pulling off a trade for Buddy Hield, who was the perfect fit for the Lakers.

That the Lakers changed course at the last minute and traded for Russ instead of Hield has been the lead story as analysts evaluated the team’s roster moves and questioned whether Buddy would have been a better fit. There’s no question Hield’s high volume, high percentage 3-point shooting would have been a perfect fit on the Lakers but that doesn’t give critics the right to ignore Russ’ potential contributions as a legitimate third superstar.

Westbrook not only is a poor midrange and 3-point shooter but his presence on the court eliminates point guard as a position to create spacing for LeBron and AD, leaving the Lakers with only two positions for shooters. Rather than waste one of those positions on Gasol or Howard, the Lakers superstars proposed that LeBron move to the four and AD to the five so the Lakers could then use the two and three spots for volume 3-point shooters.

Russ at the point unquestionably makes it harder for the Lakers to put shooters on the court but that doesn’t mean they can’t figure it out. After all, Russell Westbrook gives the Lakers a legitimate Superstar Big Three.

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WHAT DOES RUSS HAVE TO DO FOR LAKERS TO WIN?

The Lakers have always been a franchise that thinks big and shoots for the moon so it’s no surprise they opted to gamble on a home run in the form of Russell Westbrook over a solid extra base hit in the form of Buddy Hield.

So how do the Lakers transform their gamble on Westbrook into a win? It all starts with the private meeting Russ had with LeBron and AD at LeBron’s home a couple of weeks before free agency. That meeting ignited the trade. During that meeting, Westbrook told James and Davis he would play whatever role they wanted him to play while LeBron and AD suppsedly said they would be willing to move to the four and five to accomodate Russ.

What do the Lakers need from Westbrook? First, they need his superstar playmaking and attack dog mentality as a point guard to allow James to move to the four and play off the ball to save energy and reduce workload. Second, they need Russ to become a pass first point guard other than when attacking the rim. Russ’ job will be to run the offense and create easy shots for teammates, whether LeBron or AD attacking the rim or 3-point shooters.

Westbrook is so talented that he should be able to continue to average a triple- double as a pass first point guard on the Lakers. If he can average 10 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds per game, the Lakers will be champs.

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Russ, LeBron, and AD agreeing to play small ball was the trigger that made the Westbrook trade make sense and the biggest strategic change since the Lakers completed the mega trade with the Pels for Davis two years ago.

After two years of accomodating AD’s preference to play the four, the Lakers finally received approval to move Anthony to the five to open up both the shooting guard and small forward positions for needed 3-point shooters. Finally, the Lakers will play their two superstars at their best positions and start games with their best lineup. That change combined with the addition of Russell Westbrook should unleash LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

If Russ is serious about adapting his game to what LeBron and AD need, expect the Lakers to make him a winner and the team to enjoy their best season since LeBron James and Anthony Davis put on purple and gold.

It’s going to be ‘Game Over’ when the Los Angeles Lakers unleash ‘Monster Ball’ — their long, lethal, bully ball version of small ball — on the rest of the league with Westbrook at the one, James at the four, and Davis at the five.

It took Russell Westbrook meeting with LeBron James and Anthony Davis two weeks before free agency but the Lakers appear to be ready to embrace an enhanced version of the small ball lineup that won the championship. That they traded for Russell Westbrook is a clear sign LeBron James is finally ready to give up being the Lakers’ point guard and Anthony Davis is finally ready to jetisone his objections and accept playing small ball center.

While some doubters and naysayers still predict Vogel will still start Gasol or Howard at center, those with inside info like L.A. Times’ reporter Brad Turner are now reporting James and Davis will start at the four and the five. Rob may be the GM and Frank the coach but the NBA is a superstars’ league and the reason the Lakers are finally going to embrace small ball is the same reason they resisted it before: because that’s what their superstars want.

For a Lakers team that spent two years aggressively reducing the time Davis spent playing the five, the idea of finally joining the modern NBA and embracing small ball with LeBron at the four and AD at the five is exciting.

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A Monster Ball Lakers lineup with Westbrook at the one, elite volume 3-point shooters at the two and three, James at the four, and Davis at the five could be the biggest and baddest, fastest and quickest small ball lineup ever.

The NBA got its first taste of the Los Angeles Lakers’ unique version of small ball when they won their 17th championship led by 6′ 9,” 250 lbs LeBron James playing the four and 6′ 10,” 250 lbs Anthony Davis playing the five. James and Davis not only dominated offensively — dropping dunks, raining threes, dishing dimes — but also defensively — making steals, blocking shots, guarding and shutting down the opposing team’s leading scorer.

The Lakers’ bubble version of small ball was probably the best since prime Golden State Warriors’ ‘Death Lineup.’ Unlike the Dubs’ small ball lineup, the Lakers played their version of small ball over half the time in the playoffs. Now it looks like Russ, LeBron, and AD have sold the Lakers on a version of small ball that’s even faster and more physical than we saw in the bubble. One ignited and fueled by Russell Westbrooks’s unstoppable engine.

It’s no secret the Lakers want to return to the small ball style and physicality that won them a championship. The addition of Russell Westbrook was all about the vision he, LeBron, and AD had for Lakers playing Monster Ball.

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So why should the Lakers’ version of small ball be called Monster Ball? It’s because the NBA has never seen a small ball lineup that has the pure speed and raw physicality that Russ, LeBron, and AD bring when playing small.

Speed kills and the Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook because no point guard embodies speed the way he does. The Lakers want to run, which is why they traded for Russ and will move LeBron to the four and AD to the five. There’s no way the Lakers are going to slow down their starting lineup by playing slow footed Marc Gasol at the five. Lakers want to take advantage of the speed of their Superstar Big Three and dominate teams in transition.

Physicality is the second component of the Lakers Monster Ball attack. The Lakers sorely missed the bully ball antics and freakish physicality of Dwight Howard last season. Bringing Howard back was one of Pelinka’s priorities. With three of the league’s most physical superstars in Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers don’t have to sacrifice size or physicality like other teams do when they opt to go small.

Whether on offense or defense, the Lakers’ Monster Ball lineup with Russ at the one, LeBron at the four, and AD at the five is a superstar fueled and turbo charged version of small ball the likes of which the NBA’s never seen.

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We knew the Lakers faced a daunting challenge when free agency started because they didn’t have cap space and had to use their only tradeable contracts — Kuzma, Caldwell-Pope, and Harrell — to trade for Westbrook.

Rather than run it back with last year’s players, the Lakers decided to completely turnover their roster, bringing back only Talen Horton-Tucker to join LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Mark Gasol, and Russell Westbrook. They added Kendrick Nunn via the MLE and Kent Bazemore, Malik Monk, Wayne Ellington, Carmelo Anthony, Trevor Ariza, and Dwight Howard on minimum contracts and Joel Ayayi and Austin Reaves on two-way deals.

Pelinka did a fabulous job building a championship roster by surrounding Westbrook, James, and Davis with elite volume 3-point shooters like Nunn, Ellington, and Monk and proven quality defenders like Howard and Ariza. The result is a roster filled with talented veteran players who complement the Lakers’ Superstar Big Three and are great fits for their run-and-gun small ball offense and trapping, doubling, and rotating aggressive team defense.

The Lakers’ Monster Ball lineup will redefine what playing small means. It’s the ultimate small ball lineup and perfect system to take advantage of speed and physicality of Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis.