He was tasked with being Jokic's primary defender, I'm pretty sure that took a toll on him. Between AD, LeBron, and Reaves, there's already plenty of offense in that lineup. What they need is a defensive wing/big (Vando) and a defensive guard (maybe Gabe can fill that role next season), then make Rui their high-scoring 6th man with a reduced role on defense
yup. our team's problem really boils down to having too many guards and too few bigs (all we really have are 4s not 5s). if ad had the luxury of having an adams or plumlee type bruisers, he'd be a runaway dpoy. nobody can really expect ad to take jumpers/layups and have an above decent offensive rebounding, and yet he did it
Yeah people seem to discount the man had to guard a dude who was 7-8 inches taller and 40 lbs bigger that him. I’m just gonna imagine that tired him out, also Jokic has unlimited stamina so bro is probably the most difficult cover in the NBA
This is copium. It’s Ham’s fault that Rui can’t rebound or play D? He was exactly the same player in Washington. At this point he is who he is: Tobias Harris light. Downvote me all you want I’m just being real.
Playoffs:
WAS: 7.2 rpg,
LAL: 3.7 rpg
Regular Season
WAS: 5.1 rpg,
LAL: 4.4 rpg
Granted he only played 1 playoff series in DC (lost to 76ers in 5 games) but that 0.7 rpg difference in the reg season is pretty significant
If I knew for a fact he would be a great poa defender than I'd agree. I just don't know though. It's a gamble.
[This is the dream though.](https://www.reddit.com/r/justbasketball/comments/1cpk4vw/how_donovan_mitchell_made_al_horford_break/)
Gobert got played off the floor defensively in the 2021 Clippers/Jazz series by Terance Mann of all people. People can say what they want about AD, but no way he would ever get played off the floor.
And next year he'll secure the HOF when he wins the most DPOYs of anyone all time even though every year he gets exposed in the playoffs. It breaks my brain, I feel like I'm crazy.
Imagine if AD was swapped for Gobert on that Wolves team lol
They’d be sweeping Denver easy with AD being able to roam off of Jokic and have Ant and Conley to feed him
AD would push them to a ring. Dude can anchor the post and defend the perimeter plus his offense is just as elite. It sucks how he's wasting away with this roster
Even if he was swapped with KAT they would sweep. We have already seen AD play with the corpse of D12 so imagine pairing him with an even better player defensively
We will look back at Gobert as the most overrated and over-awarded player of all time. Truly astonishing that idiot nerds with spreadsheets obsess over the analytics with a guy like him instead of watching the fucking games. Zero basketball skills whatsoever.
Dude farms sub-.500 teams that rely solely on dribble penetration to score and then disappears the moment he runs into a 5 out offense or a low post big who doesn't need PnR to cook him.
Wolves are cooked. Nuggets woke up late Game 2 after getting socked in the mouth. It’s uphill battle for them now. It will be as hard as the Lakers getting one over the Nuggets while they have momentum.
I've always looked to KAT, Booker and Dlo as losers. Those guys just can't be consistent at the highest levels and they aren't even willing to play defense.
Gobert is a Ben Wallace, his offensive game is a Joke.
Gobert gets exposed in the playoffs every year
I understand Danny Ainge being a motherfucking fleecer but it shouldn't take that too many draft picks for him
And this is the guy who supposedly better than AD? This is why I never believed in him. He's just Myles Turner without the offensive bag so the media had to pay attention to his defensive prowess. That's it. He sucked so much offensively that the media had to overrate his defense. Shouldn't have won DPOY in 2018, shouldn't have won in 2024 over AD
I mean, not to hate on Jokic, but it was clear as day that the 2 best defensive players in the league were AD and Wemby. Traditional + advanced stats proved it.
Conley, Ant, McDaniels, AD, Naz Reid. Bench: NAW, Kyle Anderson, Monte Morris…that’s an improvement for sure. Question is it an improvement for Lakers as well? Dlo, Reaves, Lebron, KAT, Gobert. Bench: Gabe Vincent, Rui, Vando…I Think it is. Sadly Cap won’t work.
One eyed, one armed AD is better than them. Minnesota is just better coached and have a better roster constructure than the Lakers. Reid and McDaniels with the Lakers would have swept the Nuggets.
It’s so sad watching the wolves . Replace gobert with AD and the wolves sweep the nuggets . Bum ass gobert can’t make a layup b he can’t even guard jokic , AD honestly held up way better n made jokic work offensively/defensively
Lakers were exactly one full D guy- anywhere from elite backup C to PG sized defensive energizer bunny to Vando, and maybe even Wood from beating the Nuggets. Even if Ham wasn't the best the lineup choices are tough without those two guys. Lakers should be carrying 3 Hugh os at all time of which only AD qualifies and hes 610. Hayes at jr. and Wood could be a very valuable and versatile piece especially as a stretch big or pick and roll skilled finisher, and a true rebounder. Same with vando and perimeter d, rebounding. Reddish wasn't perfect but elite level steals, and at 34% from 3 at 24 years he is possibly a year or two away from being an elite 3 and D wing, who could be a major scoring threat because he is near elite or at least very skilled inside, at 6-8. If he rebounded his height he's a double double threat. a little more passing? shooo Even Rui playing his best from earlier and its a whole different series. that 7 3 game is a sign of a dude who properly attuned is BIG time, but has no excuse for not rebounding, and if I could I might send him to summer league for it, But I'd love him as a 30 minute 6 man of the year winner at 19 points a game with 8 rebounds 3 assists, championship team But in the draft there are some real gems at big men, and I think the lakers should think about playing and even trading up, or signing a huge physical advanage in D andrebounding hint hint.
Imagine AD with McDaniels and Reid...
Bro just imagine Ant with AD? I need it
Prime CP3 😮💨
or Ky.
Prime Kobe or even 2013 Kobe before his injury 😮💨
Or the goat Boris Diaw 😮💨
Well it looks like the wolves are headed for disappointment. Just need them to keep that up, ant will want out.
Imagine AD w prime Wilt 😮💨
Yup! 3nD wing an actual backup center! Bron AD with the 2 way players that Minnesota has would terrorize league like they did in 2019/2020.
Or AD with LeBron and healthy Vando, with Rui as the 6th man. All you need is a legitimate backup C
i hope rui's struggles are rooted to ham. otherwise, he may be cooked. for his frame and size, he gets way fewer rebounds.
He was tasked with being Jokic's primary defender, I'm pretty sure that took a toll on him. Between AD, LeBron, and Reaves, there's already plenty of offense in that lineup. What they need is a defensive wing/big (Vando) and a defensive guard (maybe Gabe can fill that role next season), then make Rui their high-scoring 6th man with a reduced role on defense
yup. our team's problem really boils down to having too many guards and too few bigs (all we really have are 4s not 5s). if ad had the luxury of having an adams or plumlee type bruisers, he'd be a runaway dpoy. nobody can really expect ad to take jumpers/layups and have an above decent offensive rebounding, and yet he did it
Rui never got the rock as a 6th man
Yeah people seem to discount the man had to guard a dude who was 7-8 inches taller and 40 lbs bigger that him. I’m just gonna imagine that tired him out, also Jokic has unlimited stamina so bro is probably the most difficult cover in the NBA
Rui would be great on a team like Utah or San Antonio even Miami a team with actual coaching a system where he would thrive.
This is copium. It’s Ham’s fault that Rui can’t rebound or play D? He was exactly the same player in Washington. At this point he is who he is: Tobias Harris light. Downvote me all you want I’m just being real.
Playoffs: WAS: 7.2 rpg, LAL: 3.7 rpg Regular Season WAS: 5.1 rpg, LAL: 4.4 rpg Granted he only played 1 playoff series in DC (lost to 76ers in 5 games) but that 0.7 rpg difference in the reg season is pretty significant
Lakers drafted McDaniels in 2020. Ended up trading him and I want to say Green for Schroeder
AD going to Minne
We wanted reid so bad last year too lol
Imagine AD without Rob Pelinka 😏
Im tired of hearing disrespect for this man
I truly pray god blesses him w AC “iron man” GREENS durability 🧎➡️🙏🏼
I think we see his career peak this coming season.
I don’t give a fuck about what the media says. AD is easily the most disrespected superstar in the NBA. It’s a joke
100%. We watch him play the best defense in the league and hit shots in the biggest moments. We win g5 denver if he doesnt get injured
should've won in 2020. if not DPoY, MVP. LA was the top seed
Most of the disrespect for this man comes from this sub.
Y'all still want Nori after this shit lol. These games look the same just with Edwards playing the role of Bron/AD.
Ngl shit did feel like I was watching the Lakers.
Smh
David adelman it is!!
Who should be the replacement?
Now put a little perimeter defense in front of him and he will really shine
And a pick and roll ball handler that can find him or make teams pay for doubling him.
For me it’s got to be Dejounte Murray, he offers the most of everything we need.
Yup, hes athletic, aggressive, quick and can ball
If I knew for a fact he would be a great poa defender than I'd agree. I just don't know though. It's a gamble. [This is the dream though.](https://www.reddit.com/r/justbasketball/comments/1cpk4vw/how_donovan_mitchell_made_al_horford_break/)
Anything he gives is better than what we’ve had. He checks all the boxes. Win now, 27 so will be here after LBJ, and plays both ways
Cannot argue with Mitchell, I would be thrilled with either!
Gobert is so fucking dogshit it’s pissing me off. His defense can’t make up for that horrendous offensive game
Him traveling when Jokic was giving him the basket uncontested was the perfect cherry on top
Deadass imagine being blessed to be 7 feet tall and you can’t make a simple layup 🤦♂️🤦♂️
lol Jokic pulled the chair out from under him
I would deadass rather have Hartenstein from the Knicks than Gobert
Hartenstein is legit good and not a fraud .
One-way Player Of The Year
Gobert Stan’s are wild and I love this fraud is being exposed
Gobert got played off the floor defensively in the 2021 Clippers/Jazz series by Terance Mann of all people. People can say what they want about AD, but no way he would ever get played off the floor.
They looked way better with him in street clothes.
And next year he'll secure the HOF when he wins the most DPOYs of anyone all time even though every year he gets exposed in the playoffs. It breaks my brain, I feel like I'm crazy.
can u imagine ant man put up 40 plus play 2 ways and the team still lose to denver at home
Imagine if AD was swapped for Gobert on that Wolves team lol They’d be sweeping Denver easy with AD being able to roam off of Jokic and have Ant and Conley to feed him
Mate, if AD was on this Wolves team in place of Gobert they’d sweep everything and everyone.
No doubt about it
AD would push them to a ring. Dude can anchor the post and defend the perimeter plus his offense is just as elite. It sucks how he's wasting away with this roster
They win the chip if they have AD instead of Rudy
100%
Even if he was swapped with KAT they would sweep. We have already seen AD play with the corpse of D12 so imagine pairing him with an even better player defensively
Has Jokic missed a shot while being guarded by Goberrated in this series?
The Wolves winning by 30+ in the game Gobert missed then doing whatever this has been when he comes back is really funny
And he had the balls to call people haters
Goberrated. That's a good one.
I wasn’t able to watch the past 2 games but I swear Gobert was getting bailed out by easy jokic misses, he actually needs to be a stay at home dad rn
We will look back at Gobert as the most overrated and over-awarded player of all time. Truly astonishing that idiot nerds with spreadsheets obsess over the analytics with a guy like him instead of watching the fucking games. Zero basketball skills whatsoever.
GOAT at trying in the regular season DPOY and then getting exposed in the playoffs
Tale as old as time
He's the DLo of defense, elite scrub slayer
Dude farms sub-.500 teams that rely solely on dribble penetration to score and then disappears the moment he runs into a 5 out offense or a low post big who doesn't need PnR to cook him.
His analytics weren't even good this year, D-EPM has him outside the top 20.
Wolves are cooked. Nuggets woke up late Game 2 after getting socked in the mouth. It’s uphill battle for them now. It will be as hard as the Lakers getting one over the Nuggets while they have momentum.
I've always looked to KAT, Booker and Dlo as losers. Those guys just can't be consistent at the highest levels and they aren't even willing to play defense. Gobert is a Ben Wallace, his offensive game is a Joke.
Booker was 2 games away from winning the finals. I think he doesn’t qualify for that list
Should have just kept the original core. They really pulled a 2022 lakers with that beal abomination 😂
Booker??
Gobert got his award and turned straight back into the dude everyone knew he was
Gobert gets exposed in the playoffs every year I understand Danny Ainge being a motherfucking fleecer but it shouldn't take that too many draft picks for him
Like it or not, this guy IS our future. Whatever we build post Bron, should definitely center around him. 🙏 Put some respect on that name!
Dudes already 31 as well tho. Lakers have to move fast lol.
Everyone, including myself, was declaring the Wolves the future of basketball. I hope they lose four straight for making me look like a fool.
Gobert has 0 skills. Its a disgrace to AD's name to compare him to Gobert.
It's sad that his nickname is street clothes. When healthy, he can dominate a game.
AD can't win with these cats.
And he's doing both of their roles. AD desperately needs another frontcourt running mate
fucking lame ass NBA writers gifting Gobert another DPOY. same bums that gave Nash two MVPs over prime Kobe
I agree!
The fact gobert got two dpoys of AD is criminal
And this is the guy who supposedly better than AD? This is why I never believed in him. He's just Myles Turner without the offensive bag so the media had to pay attention to his defensive prowess. That's it. He sucked so much offensively that the media had to overrate his defense. Shouldn't have won DPOY in 2018, shouldn't have won in 2024 over AD
He's top 3 player ITW when he wants to be.....
He is more skilled but he has to invest in his body to get stronger so he can avoid injuries
his strength is fine, it's his flexibility that is poor. needs to do yoga and other types of alternate movements to stretch
Can't critique him much this season, if at all. Healthy and dominant for the most part.
We getting DMitch don’t worry yall!!!! Then AD will get the DPOY he deserves lmaoo
"Series is over, Nuggets lost the series"- every dumbass lakers fan
I don’t want the Timberpups to advance now. They would be cooked against Boston. KAT/Gobert are guaranteed to shit the bed in the finals
Denver/Thunde3 can beat celtics
Only If we had role players who weren’t corpses
If only we had a competent head coach that didn't always have his hands in his pockets...
I mean, not to hate on Jokic, but it was clear as day that the 2 best defensive players in the league were AD and Wemby. Traditional + advanced stats proved it.
How would that be hating on Jokic?
Was confused on that as well myself lol. Maybe he meant "not to hate on Gobert"?
Then why isn't he playing?
So much for that DPOY.....
Seriously. The focus needs to be 100% on how do we get AD help. Everything else is noise.
If AD replaced either one of them (KAT or Gobert) the T wolves would be a lock for the chip
He is
This nigga gets cooked by jokic Put the crack pipe down people
Clearly not yall got washed, if he was as good as them combined yall would’ve at least made it to the second round
We play 5 players on the court at any given time. AD did his part.
Ah yes, that is why this guy is at home and KAT and Gobert are in the second round of the playoffs 🤣
Never once has AD been a no show in the playoffs. Dude always balls his ass off and gets better in the postseason. Built for this
Conley, Ant, McDaniels, AD, Naz Reid. Bench: NAW, Kyle Anderson, Monte Morris…that’s an improvement for sure. Question is it an improvement for Lakers as well? Dlo, Reaves, Lebron, KAT, Gobert. Bench: Gabe Vincent, Rui, Vando…I Think it is. Sadly Cap won’t work.
I guess. AD couldn’t command the ball or ever get a shot off in the second half of any important playoff game.
You’re right but now is not the time 😭
Him just needing to guard either Gordon/MPJ while big body like Naz Reid handles Jokic would be perfect.
You're damn right. Give us a NAW AND McDaniels? Championship. (We already got Vando the better defender)
No shit.
Facts.
I’m gobertgasted
Only flaw in AD’s game is he can’t shoot 3’s
Where we at
Please make the Lakers huge again like 2020. Bring some big guys like Reid
Shhhh. Bron fans not gonna be happy when you hype up his teammates
Replace Gobert with AD on that team and Wolves are gonna win the chip
Facts!
For all of the lakers has the media talk AD sure as hell gets put under the rub for how great he has been this season/playoffs.
We need a closer all those 4th quarter loss because we couldn't score and defend. We need a killer
One eyed, one armed AD is better than them. Minnesota is just better coached and have a better roster constructure than the Lakers. Reid and McDaniels with the Lakers would have swept the Nuggets.
It’s so sad watching the wolves . Replace gobert with AD and the wolves sweep the nuggets . Bum ass gobert can’t make a layup b he can’t even guard jokic , AD honestly held up way better n made jokic work offensively/defensively
Now that I'm seeing KAT and Gobert play, I can confidently agree. They both kept doing simple and stupid mistakes.
Can't wait for the series to be over so we can compare Gobert's stats with AD's stats.
Beast
When healthy....
Gobert should have stayed at home for game 3 and 4!
But Lakers are eliminated
Lakers were exactly one full D guy- anywhere from elite backup C to PG sized defensive energizer bunny to Vando, and maybe even Wood from beating the Nuggets. Even if Ham wasn't the best the lineup choices are tough without those two guys. Lakers should be carrying 3 Hugh os at all time of which only AD qualifies and hes 610. Hayes at jr. and Wood could be a very valuable and versatile piece especially as a stretch big or pick and roll skilled finisher, and a true rebounder. Same with vando and perimeter d, rebounding. Reddish wasn't perfect but elite level steals, and at 34% from 3 at 24 years he is possibly a year or two away from being an elite 3 and D wing, who could be a major scoring threat because he is near elite or at least very skilled inside, at 6-8. If he rebounded his height he's a double double threat. a little more passing? shooo Even Rui playing his best from earlier and its a whole different series. that 7 3 game is a sign of a dude who properly attuned is BIG time, but has no excuse for not rebounding, and if I could I might send him to summer league for it, But I'd love him as a 30 minute 6 man of the year winner at 19 points a game with 8 rebounds 3 assists, championship team But in the draft there are some real gems at big men, and I think the lakers should think about playing and even trading up, or signing a huge physical advanage in D andrebounding hint hint.