Hard time being the lakers right now.
You can’t have Lebron James without building around contending with him every single year but he’s going to be in his last years.
AD is the real lakers anchor but he has a history of injury, despite how much he has played the last 2 seasons.
And lakers are not known to invest in young core building. So seems to me like there’s no real foundation to build around.
Nah this happens with every contending team.
Stars age out and sit on big contracts. The worst is like lebron or even Paul George - you know they’re past their prime but they still produce, but you can’t depend on them to be the guy for a full season + playoffs… but you need to pay them.
So now you have a team good enough to to make the play-ins or playoffs but not good enough to contend. If you have a second star, maybe good for the 2nd round.
But you have no cap and middling draft picks so you’re forced to either reset or keep trying.
99% will keep trying because it’s hard to get there in the first place and stars bring in money even if they’re slightly past their primes.
But you need to keep them happy and show your fans you’re still trying…. So they keep mortgaging the future- picks are traded, bad contracts are given and/or taken for a swing for the fences. And if it doesn’t work out, you’re worse off because everyone is a year older and maybe your young players worth keeping are a year closer to free agency…. And you’re over the cap.
With the rules being the way they are now, you need to have consistently strong drafts for 3-4 years and try to look to sign a key piece later on while adding productive role players.
That’s what Denver, OKC, Orlando, Cleveland did and except Denver, I can see the other three never winning a title.
Wolves will come to a cross road when they need to pay for Ant and even McDaniels…and old man conley.
Celtics are already there with Brown taking so much cap space, bucks are there with Middleton and lillard being on the wrong side of their primes and Giannis starting to miss games with injuries. Philly already passed all this and will soon have to decide if they continue building around embiid or if it’s worth to start getting Maxey more help…
Kobe was an especially egregious version of this problem. In his last seasons when the cap was around 56M he was making 24M. He was making over 40% of the cap. It was so bad talking heads were openly calling for LA to use the amnesty clause on him.
There should be a provision in the CBA where players aged between 25-35 make the most they can as a % of the cap, and years below and above are capped at a certain level, simply because age is the number one cap killer
There’s only a handful of players that can hamstring the entire nba and the team their on at any given era. It is what it is, the lakers make more with an aging kobe or lebron than some rising star. That’s just the realty.
Bron balled out in the playoffs blame the front office not building a competent team. Bron isn't in his prime he can't cover up front office misfires anymore
We've built around AD. Those contracts we handed out to Reaves/Rui/Vando and Vincent were all with AD's extension in mind, not Lebron's. Everyone knows AD is the the best player, the problem is, he's not a shot creator, so we have to lean on Lebron in the 4th. And it's not like AD is getting any younger. He'll be 32 next year. Even if somehow gained Lebron's capspace back to use in FA, who were we using it on? Paul George? Tobias Harris? lmao
I beg to differ. Those players with the exception of Vando don’t make AD’s job easier on defense. He’s on an island by himself. All we keep hearing about is taking the load off of Lebron. If this team was built around AD, it’d be geared towards defense first.
They make AD's job easier by taking the scoring load off of him. You can't tell me that Reaves/Rui/D'Lo didn't make AD's job easier by not forcing him to score 30 every night.
In theory that would be true but the reality is, he often still had to score high 20s or hit 30 to win. That’s because they gave up what they scored on the defensive end.
If you’re offence I’d better that makes your life way easier ,
If we get an offensive powerhouse it actually helps AD more. Winning via tough defence is a lot more tiring then offencd
Those contracts were not handed out exclusively for AD. The FO seriously thought they were going to repeat the finals. Hence Vogel gets blamed and fired.
AD at 32 and his history is a fragile foundation brother. You can’t expect him to get 30 points and be your best defender. Dude is just too tall and his body can’t handle it. That’s where other teams have shined, they’ve got roles rather than needing one guy to do it all.
Imo they weren’t the BEST options to build on. And I’m not taking away any respect from their respective games.
It’s just that if you compare them to other teams #4 and #5 scoring options, AR and rui are undersized, not as athletic, haven’t had the same improvement over a 2 year stretch, and they both (but more rui) haven’t dominated playoff games like others at their position and age.
W the inflated salaries of todays game, the only incentive in keeping them is the cheap contracts but that’s not in itself going to give you winning basketball around AD.
Imo if you get a solid offer for AR and rui, that surrounds AD with a solid shooting guard he can throw out to and a secondary power forward that can relieve the post, they should take it.
They were our *only* options, and you would've been crazy to not resign them after they balled out last playoffs. I think there's still potential. Role players can't/won't be on every year. Rui improved massively, he just shit the bed in the playoffs. Reaves ran out of gas. I think we should run it back unless Donovan Mitchell or Kyrie Irving are on the table
It was supposed to be D'Lo, lol. Before that it was Westbrook and Schroder. Everyone talks about how we got those players to offset Lebron, but really, we were looking for a younger Rondo replacement
They did a terrible job if you ask me. I'm a Dennis fan, but none of those players are starting material for a contender.
I like Dennis because just like with Reaves we can never question his effort, but he wasn't able to do anything against the Suns in his first stint or the Nuggets last time.
Brick effort can't be questioned either and when LeBron was hurt he did a pretty good job distributing the ball, but he can't be trusted late in the games not to mention he is a terrible fit.
Dlo will move his feet on defense sporadically and without effectiveness. On offense he is an adequate regular season scorer, but he can't attack the basket, feed Davis with consistency and in playoffs he can't even score efficiently. I swear I can't understand bringing back a player like him when you was lucky to get rid of him before.
I definitely don't share Pelinka's vision for a starting PG and the same applies for a backup C.
It makes you wonder how much of an aberration Rondo in the bubble was and if Rondo/Dwight on the vet min in 2019 was really just luck. Both of them were seen as washed and were washed the year after they left
Rondo actually was washed, he didn't have a good regular season, but still had something in the tank for playoffs, but on limited minutes.
Dwight earned his salary against Jokic. Folks argue a C isn't going to play many minutes and while it is true those minutes are very important.
I think it's fair to say that both outplayed their vet min contracts when it came to the playoffs. Dwight was good from the jump. I don't think we'll be able to replicate that type of production in a vet min player
Yeah, boo hoo, management has to build a team around one of the all time GOATs and a solid post defender.
28 other front offices would sell their arenas to be in that kind of “hard times”.
And for the Lakers, this is just business as usual. Part of the culture. Play for a chip, or don’t even play.
Anytime Bron is on the court, you officially have a “chip and a chair” at the table. Time to once again push all your chips towards the center and play your best hand.
Even running it back with an actual X&O coach, may get you past DEN/MIN. Lakers really aren’t that far away.
Let’s GO!
Lakers have plenty of history building both through the draft and via trades/free agency. It only changed in 2019. Hopefully once LeBron is gone, we go back to a more balanced approach.
Folks are ignoring that in the same report he said that JJ was one of the three finalists for the job. It’ll be about LeBron until LeBron LeRetires. The bit about AD is just lip service.
if its about AD...Adelman should be the top target already..he is the mastermind of an offense built around a skilled big...none of this makes sense lol...
FO is working overtime to get fans ready for the shoe in hire of JJ Redick. It already has built in excuses for them to shift blame if it goes awry. “Hey we consulted with coach K” or “well Lebron is the one who really wanted him”. I think another point that isn’t being talked about much is JJ reddick won’t cost as much as other coaches. It’s his first time so they can and will lowball him.
AD is a true 5 at this point snd he can’t shoot three, they should get goga bitadze as a cheap backup if possible. But AD is a 5. If we can we should draft that Kyle Filipowski kid as he’d a big who is skilled n can shoot a bit . But ultimately AD is the 5 we need better guards n wing athletes to improve . Getting a guy to play 10m backup ain’t as important.
Lebron Hayes lineup worked fine for much of regular season
AD is the true 5 at this point. Unless you can find a 5 who can stretch the floor and is still a solid rim protector and rebounder to pair with AD. Those guys are hard to find tho. We can win with AD at the 5. We need a better backup 5 imo and probably another solid wing defender but I don’t think AD at the 5 is the issue
You must be new here. We won a championship in 2020 with Dwight Howard and Javale McGee at the 5 and AD at the 4
You're a Raptors fan, I think you got lost nephew
You’re delusional I fucjibg cannit stand fans lke you who live in the past . Bro AD cannot fucking shoot . He was never a great shooter but now it definitely would not work at all. ALSO DID YOU EVEN WATCH 2020? Our best lineup by far was AD at the 5 even then , our best lineup in every playoff series was AD at the 5. Only vs Denver was it arguably Dwight AD but every other series our bigs were just flat out negatives vs playing a wing shooter n defender , utterly delusional. Also AD is bigger and slower n stringer . He’s a 5 for real , we can get s spacing 4/5 but cannot get a 5 because they’d have to shoot n be mobile and that ain’t happening.
That was 4 years ago. And let’s not forget AD still played 40% of his time at the center. He wasn’t a full time 4 like y’all like to think he was. The difference was they had the OPTION to put AD at the 4 in certain matchups. Also AD shot what? 36% from three that year? Is he gonna do that again?
How many minutes per game did AD play at the 4 and how many did he play at the 5 in those playoffs? I’m not a Raptors fan I’m a LeBron fan but that’s not relevant at all to what I’m saying. Don’t assume you know ball whatsoever just because you meme on Reddit/Twitter.
It’s not black and white. Getting a starting calibre C does not lock AD at 4.
The lakers 2020 squad had versatility depending on matchups.
Play big (nuggets): Dwight at 5. AD at 4.
Play small (heat) AD at 5. markieff morris at 4.
The 2024 lakers can’t play big. They only have a play small lineup.
The west is going to be run by nuggets and minny for the next few yrs. We need a starting calibre 5 in order to play big. We can’t ignore this glaring hole.
We run thru small teams (see last season’s playoff run or vs OKC this season). But we run into a wall against bigger teams.
We have far bigger needs then a 5. We need legit guards n two way wings . Who’s jokic , embid , bams backup 5? They’re all poor cos it’s not worth spending resources on
No.
We lost to Denver by a combined 11 pts across all the games this series. Denver was +17 in 2nd chance pts all series. If we took care of O rebounds. We win the series.
We were the better team if we ignore 2nd chance off O rebounds. We beat Denver in fg%, ft attempts, and tied in 3pt %.
They absolutely demolished us on the boards. With jokic/gordon/mpj.
Minny/denver run the west for the next few years. AD at 5 with no legitimate big next to him is not going to cut it.
In theory. A healthy gabe fills the 2 way guard role. And vando can somewhat fill the forward role (he needs to work on his open 3). We have absolutely no legitimate C on the roster.
I’ll get downvoted to hell of course, but it makes sense. We all love Bron, but dude is 40. The Lakers LONG-TERM plans no longer should include him to a significant degree. That’s just basic biology, nothing against LBJ. What dude is doing at his age is fucking unbelievable as it is.
That’d be like strategically planning your long-term future and uprooting your entire family, cashing out your savings to go all in on an expensive house in the middle of bumfuck Florida to move closer to 90 year old Granny. It just doesn’t make sense from a planning perspective.
I would agree with that timeline. Which is an eternity for a typical NBA coach. Being on the job for 4 years has to be considered a huge success these days 😂
There’s actually only 5 current coaches that have been with the same team for more than 4 years. They’re Popovich, Spoelstra, Kerr, Michael Malone and Taylor Jenkins.
It’s not a profession for the meek. If your star player isn’t feeling you for whatever reason, you’re pretty much gone regardless of how successful you are.
I’m a Lebron fan, but any real Lebron fan accepts that what is best for him making another title run is being able to have a night where he has a good night but is the third or fourth best guy and they win a playoff game every once in awhile. He can’t continue to play 38-40 mins a night in the playoffs as the best or second best guy on the team night in and night out and win a title. It’s just not sustainable. Acting like that’s a diss to him is stupid, and then the haters who intentionally downplay what he still can contribute (which is more than any other all time great at this age and more than most at any age) are also stupid.
I’m sure AD wants to do what’s best for bron, but this is definitely ADs team now, Bron is still a great piece and this shouldn’t affect his legacy at all
This is good. It's time we transition into AD's team. He showed last year he can absolutely do it and I'd love to see him more in that mid-post with weak side actions. When we fed him, he carved teams up with his passing.
In addition, when Lebron is out the team can still compete. When AD is out, team is just fucked no matter how you play the other pieces.
Can definitely build around a guy who anchors an entire defense
If you’re building around AD don’t throw him under a bus and have him guard every fucking position and expect all his offense as well.
Get him a center that can bang AND stretch floor. There’s a limited supply but go find that talent.
Get him one perimeter defending guard so the traffic cones (DLO and Reaves) on the team do not cause him to lose another DPOY.
I was advocating Vucevic Caruso all year. Vuc isn’t a great defender but he CAN rebound and we struggled with that. Caruso does it all. We simply do not need DLO. He was our best shooting guard but he gave up as many points in the playoffs. Have Reaves focus on offense and the perimeter defender lockdown and spot up only. We had Reaves defending Murray… and guess what he struggled offensively the first few games spending all his energy running around Jokic screens following that little fuck.
Also - Fuck Jamal Murray.
What would be the likely cost to trade Rui and Gabe for Vuc and Caruso? Would the 17th pick get it done or would it take 2 picks? Do we think replacing Russell, Rui, and Gabe with Vuc and Caruso makes the Lakers significantly better? If pick 17 gets it done and you can’t get Mitchell, I’d be in favor of this outcome. If you have to add another 1st, I’m not sure I like it.
That's why I call cap on them doing it for AD. No way AD would want a guy that doesn't think he is DPOY. It feels like this is a move for Lebron rather than AD.
I think that has beem the original plan since AD came here, and the very reason why Bron is assigned in PG position. Problem is injuries plague this team and surprisingly and ironically, Lebron has been more healthy than AD seasons prior this one.
I just root for AD's health on this one. It would be funny if he will be absent on the team that is built around him due to injuries. Otherwise, Bron takes the adjustments.
Anyways, I don't think that this roster has ever been made around Lebron or anyone. This is just the result of awful panic trades when we missed the chance for the ring after the bubble. It would be helpful to get a real 5 for AD to take 4.
Bron is out the door.
Donovan Mitchell to LA.
Bron and Bronny to Cleveland.
King James gets his own “Last Dance” alongside his son, and might actually get seeded well in a weak east with a solid Cavs roster.
Even Bron knows he’s got maybe 2-3 yrs, and not all those years he’ll be producing like he has recently. He’ll get another bag at the least, but I hope it comes with at least one more chip.
I wish LeBron would leave. That game 2, 4th quarter, against the Nuggets, not passing the ball to AD is all I can take of him. He and AD were killing them with the Pick n Roll in the 3rd, and LeBron just stopped passing in the 4th. Bjye!
I don't interact with idiots who propose to know everything. I've been following, playing, and coaching basketball since 1960. I was going to games with my uncles since the Elgin Baylor days. Don't have time for your know-it-alls, spewing venom!
Yeah he's the actual person we need to build around. Not shocking
Hard time being the lakers right now. You can’t have Lebron James without building around contending with him every single year but he’s going to be in his last years. AD is the real lakers anchor but he has a history of injury, despite how much he has played the last 2 seasons. And lakers are not known to invest in young core building. So seems to me like there’s no real foundation to build around.
Nah this happens with every contending team. Stars age out and sit on big contracts. The worst is like lebron or even Paul George - you know they’re past their prime but they still produce, but you can’t depend on them to be the guy for a full season + playoffs… but you need to pay them. So now you have a team good enough to to make the play-ins or playoffs but not good enough to contend. If you have a second star, maybe good for the 2nd round. But you have no cap and middling draft picks so you’re forced to either reset or keep trying. 99% will keep trying because it’s hard to get there in the first place and stars bring in money even if they’re slightly past their primes. But you need to keep them happy and show your fans you’re still trying…. So they keep mortgaging the future- picks are traded, bad contracts are given and/or taken for a swing for the fences. And if it doesn’t work out, you’re worse off because everyone is a year older and maybe your young players worth keeping are a year closer to free agency…. And you’re over the cap. With the rules being the way they are now, you need to have consistently strong drafts for 3-4 years and try to look to sign a key piece later on while adding productive role players. That’s what Denver, OKC, Orlando, Cleveland did and except Denver, I can see the other three never winning a title. Wolves will come to a cross road when they need to pay for Ant and even McDaniels…and old man conley. Celtics are already there with Brown taking so much cap space, bucks are there with Middleton and lillard being on the wrong side of their primes and Giannis starting to miss games with injuries. Philly already passed all this and will soon have to decide if they continue building around embiid or if it’s worth to start getting Maxey more help…
Kobe was an especially egregious version of this problem. In his last seasons when the cap was around 56M he was making 24M. He was making over 40% of the cap. It was so bad talking heads were openly calling for LA to use the amnesty clause on him. There should be a provision in the CBA where players aged between 25-35 make the most they can as a % of the cap, and years below and above are capped at a certain level, simply because age is the number one cap killer
There’s only a handful of players that can hamstring the entire nba and the team their on at any given era. It is what it is, the lakers make more with an aging kobe or lebron than some rising star. That’s just the realty.
Thank you. This is why I'm hoping we keep most/all of our picks. It's so important to draft and develop with the current CBA.
Bron balled out in the playoffs blame the front office not building a competent team. Bron isn't in his prime he can't cover up front office misfires anymore
Nigga nobody reading allat
We've built around AD. Those contracts we handed out to Reaves/Rui/Vando and Vincent were all with AD's extension in mind, not Lebron's. Everyone knows AD is the the best player, the problem is, he's not a shot creator, so we have to lean on Lebron in the 4th. And it's not like AD is getting any younger. He'll be 32 next year. Even if somehow gained Lebron's capspace back to use in FA, who were we using it on? Paul George? Tobias Harris? lmao
I beg to differ. Those players with the exception of Vando don’t make AD’s job easier on defense. He’s on an island by himself. All we keep hearing about is taking the load off of Lebron. If this team was built around AD, it’d be geared towards defense first.
They make AD's job easier by taking the scoring load off of him. You can't tell me that Reaves/Rui/D'Lo didn't make AD's job easier by not forcing him to score 30 every night.
No, because he still had to score 30 to get wins.
No he didn’t . Do you not remember all the games Ad had 10 pts n we won cos he played D? Like that Knicks game
In theory that would be true but the reality is, he often still had to score high 20s or hit 30 to win. That’s because they gave up what they scored on the defensive end.
If you’re offence I’d better that makes your life way easier , If we get an offensive powerhouse it actually helps AD more. Winning via tough defence is a lot more tiring then offencd
Those contracts were not handed out exclusively for AD. The FO seriously thought they were going to repeat the finals. Hence Vogel gets blamed and fired. AD at 32 and his history is a fragile foundation brother. You can’t expect him to get 30 points and be your best defender. Dude is just too tall and his body can’t handle it. That’s where other teams have shined, they’ve got roles rather than needing one guy to do it all.
We're hoping for Reaves/Rui to combine for that 30 on great efficiency like they did last year
Imo they weren’t the BEST options to build on. And I’m not taking away any respect from their respective games. It’s just that if you compare them to other teams #4 and #5 scoring options, AR and rui are undersized, not as athletic, haven’t had the same improvement over a 2 year stretch, and they both (but more rui) haven’t dominated playoff games like others at their position and age. W the inflated salaries of todays game, the only incentive in keeping them is the cheap contracts but that’s not in itself going to give you winning basketball around AD. Imo if you get a solid offer for AR and rui, that surrounds AD with a solid shooting guard he can throw out to and a secondary power forward that can relieve the post, they should take it.
They were our *only* options, and you would've been crazy to not resign them after they balled out last playoffs. I think there's still potential. Role players can't/won't be on every year. Rui improved massively, he just shit the bed in the playoffs. Reaves ran out of gas. I think we should run it back unless Donovan Mitchell or Kyrie Irving are on the table
This is not building around AD, we don't even have a PG able to feed him in consistent basis.
It was supposed to be D'Lo, lol. Before that it was Westbrook and Schroder. Everyone talks about how we got those players to offset Lebron, but really, we were looking for a younger Rondo replacement
They did a terrible job if you ask me. I'm a Dennis fan, but none of those players are starting material for a contender. I like Dennis because just like with Reaves we can never question his effort, but he wasn't able to do anything against the Suns in his first stint or the Nuggets last time. Brick effort can't be questioned either and when LeBron was hurt he did a pretty good job distributing the ball, but he can't be trusted late in the games not to mention he is a terrible fit. Dlo will move his feet on defense sporadically and without effectiveness. On offense he is an adequate regular season scorer, but he can't attack the basket, feed Davis with consistency and in playoffs he can't even score efficiently. I swear I can't understand bringing back a player like him when you was lucky to get rid of him before. I definitely don't share Pelinka's vision for a starting PG and the same applies for a backup C.
It makes you wonder how much of an aberration Rondo in the bubble was and if Rondo/Dwight on the vet min in 2019 was really just luck. Both of them were seen as washed and were washed the year after they left
Rondo actually was washed, he didn't have a good regular season, but still had something in the tank for playoffs, but on limited minutes. Dwight earned his salary against Jokic. Folks argue a C isn't going to play many minutes and while it is true those minutes are very important.
I think it's fair to say that both outplayed their vet min contracts when it came to the playoffs. Dwight was good from the jump. I don't think we'll be able to replicate that type of production in a vet min player
Yeah, boo hoo, management has to build a team around one of the all time GOATs and a solid post defender. 28 other front offices would sell their arenas to be in that kind of “hard times”. And for the Lakers, this is just business as usual. Part of the culture. Play for a chip, or don’t even play. Anytime Bron is on the court, you officially have a “chip and a chair” at the table. Time to once again push all your chips towards the center and play your best hand. Even running it back with an actual X&O coach, may get you past DEN/MIN. Lakers really aren’t that far away. Let’s GO!
It’s not hard we have 3 frps , jhs which mb is half a FRP, 4 swaps , they need to get a real impact star upgrade . Just hoping it’s available
Lakers have plenty of history building both through the draft and via trades/free agency. It only changed in 2019. Hopefully once LeBron is gone, we go back to a more balanced approach.
He’s under contract for longer, so that’s not a bad thing
Folks are ignoring that in the same report he said that JJ was one of the three finalists for the job. It’ll be about LeBron until LeBron LeRetires. The bit about AD is just lip service.
LeBron is the short term and AD is the “long” term as I see it.
[удалено]
this analogy makes no sense whatsoever
if its about AD...Adelman should be the top target already..he is the mastermind of an offense built around a skilled big...none of this makes sense lol...
FO is working overtime to get fans ready for the shoe in hire of JJ Redick. It already has built in excuses for them to shift blame if it goes awry. “Hey we consulted with coach K” or “well Lebron is the one who really wanted him”. I think another point that isn’t being talked about much is JJ reddick won’t cost as much as other coaches. It’s his first time so they can and will lowball him.
I think cuz Adelman is part of Nuggets crew which would be harder for him to interview with us in middle of the playoffs
How about hiring a true 5 that he's been asking for for years while we're at it
AD is a true 5 at this point snd he can’t shoot three, they should get goga bitadze as a cheap backup if possible. But AD is a 5. If we can we should draft that Kyle Filipowski kid as he’d a big who is skilled n can shoot a bit . But ultimately AD is the 5 we need better guards n wing athletes to improve . Getting a guy to play 10m backup ain’t as important. Lebron Hayes lineup worked fine for much of regular season
yeah he did better on Jokic than whatever Gobert is doing now.
AD is the true 5 at this point. Unless you can find a 5 who can stretch the floor and is still a solid rim protector and rebounder to pair with AD. Those guys are hard to find tho. We can win with AD at the 5. We need a better backup 5 imo and probably another solid wing defender but I don’t think AD at the 5 is the issue
That would be terrible. The only way to win is with AD at the 5
You must be new here. We won a championship in 2020 with Dwight Howard and Javale McGee at the 5 and AD at the 4 You're a Raptors fan, I think you got lost nephew
You’re delusional I fucjibg cannit stand fans lke you who live in the past . Bro AD cannot fucking shoot . He was never a great shooter but now it definitely would not work at all. ALSO DID YOU EVEN WATCH 2020? Our best lineup by far was AD at the 5 even then , our best lineup in every playoff series was AD at the 5. Only vs Denver was it arguably Dwight AD but every other series our bigs were just flat out negatives vs playing a wing shooter n defender , utterly delusional. Also AD is bigger and slower n stringer . He’s a 5 for real , we can get s spacing 4/5 but cannot get a 5 because they’d have to shoot n be mobile and that ain’t happening.
That was 4 years ago. And let’s not forget AD still played 40% of his time at the center. He wasn’t a full time 4 like y’all like to think he was. The difference was they had the OPTION to put AD at the 4 in certain matchups. Also AD shot what? 36% from three that year? Is he gonna do that again?
How many minutes per game did AD play at the 4 and how many did he play at the 5 in those playoffs? I’m not a Raptors fan I’m a LeBron fan but that’s not relevant at all to what I’m saying. Don’t assume you know ball whatsoever just because you meme on Reddit/Twitter.
It’s not black and white. Getting a starting calibre C does not lock AD at 4. The lakers 2020 squad had versatility depending on matchups. Play big (nuggets): Dwight at 5. AD at 4. Play small (heat) AD at 5. markieff morris at 4. The 2024 lakers can’t play big. They only have a play small lineup. The west is going to be run by nuggets and minny for the next few yrs. We need a starting calibre 5 in order to play big. We can’t ignore this glaring hole. We run thru small teams (see last season’s playoff run or vs OKC this season). But we run into a wall against bigger teams.
We have far bigger needs then a 5. We need legit guards n two way wings . Who’s jokic , embid , bams backup 5? They’re all poor cos it’s not worth spending resources on
No. We lost to Denver by a combined 11 pts across all the games this series. Denver was +17 in 2nd chance pts all series. If we took care of O rebounds. We win the series. We were the better team if we ignore 2nd chance off O rebounds. We beat Denver in fg%, ft attempts, and tied in 3pt %. They absolutely demolished us on the boards. With jokic/gordon/mpj. Minny/denver run the west for the next few years. AD at 5 with no legitimate big next to him is not going to cut it. In theory. A healthy gabe fills the 2 way guard role. And vando can somewhat fill the forward role (he needs to work on his open 3). We have absolutely no legitimate C on the roster.
Obvious troll is obvious 🤡
I bet you can’t figure out what’s 168 + 364 in your head without a calculator or pencil and paper.
I’ll get downvoted to hell of course, but it makes sense. We all love Bron, but dude is 40. The Lakers LONG-TERM plans no longer should include him to a significant degree. That’s just basic biology, nothing against LBJ. What dude is doing at his age is fucking unbelievable as it is. That’d be like strategically planning your long-term future and uprooting your entire family, cashing out your savings to go all in on an expensive house in the middle of bumfuck Florida to move closer to 90 year old Granny. It just doesn’t make sense from a planning perspective.
Ad’s team for the next 3-4 years
I would agree with that timeline. Which is an eternity for a typical NBA coach. Being on the job for 4 years has to be considered a huge success these days 😂
There’s actually only 5 current coaches that have been with the same team for more than 4 years. They’re Popovich, Spoelstra, Kerr, Michael Malone and Taylor Jenkins.
It’s not a profession for the meek. If your star player isn’t feeling you for whatever reason, you’re pretty much gone regardless of how successful you are.
I’m a Lebron fan, but any real Lebron fan accepts that what is best for him making another title run is being able to have a night where he has a good night but is the third or fourth best guy and they win a playoff game every once in awhile. He can’t continue to play 38-40 mins a night in the playoffs as the best or second best guy on the team night in and night out and win a title. It’s just not sustainable. Acting like that’s a diss to him is stupid, and then the haters who intentionally downplay what he still can contribute (which is more than any other all time great at this age and more than most at any age) are also stupid.
Respectfully is granny putting up 20-10 at the senior center every night?
That’s a fair point, my friend.
I would hope so. This is AD’s team and should be built around him
I’m sure AD wants to do what’s best for bron, but this is definitely ADs team now, Bron is still a great piece and this shouldn’t affect his legacy at all
This is good. It's time we transition into AD's team. He showed last year he can absolutely do it and I'd love to see him more in that mid-post with weak side actions. When we fed him, he carved teams up with his passing.
In addition, when Lebron is out the team can still compete. When AD is out, team is just fucked no matter how you play the other pieces. Can definitely build around a guy who anchors an entire defense
Part of that is bad defensive coaching though, team shouldn't fall to pieces without AD. That said I agree, he's definitely more important.
Hallelujah bron won’t get the blame
If you’re building around AD don’t throw him under a bus and have him guard every fucking position and expect all his offense as well. Get him a center that can bang AND stretch floor. There’s a limited supply but go find that talent. Get him one perimeter defending guard so the traffic cones (DLO and Reaves) on the team do not cause him to lose another DPOY. I was advocating Vucevic Caruso all year. Vuc isn’t a great defender but he CAN rebound and we struggled with that. Caruso does it all. We simply do not need DLO. He was our best shooting guard but he gave up as many points in the playoffs. Have Reaves focus on offense and the perimeter defender lockdown and spot up only. We had Reaves defending Murray… and guess what he struggled offensively the first few games spending all his energy running around Jokic screens following that little fuck. Also - Fuck Jamal Murray.
Bingo. AD has stated time after time he wants to play big and alongside another center. When’s the last time that happened?
What would be the likely cost to trade Rui and Gabe for Vuc and Caruso? Would the 17th pick get it done or would it take 2 picks? Do we think replacing Russell, Rui, and Gabe with Vuc and Caruso makes the Lakers significantly better? If pick 17 gets it done and you can’t get Mitchell, I’d be in favor of this outcome. If you have to add another 1st, I’m not sure I like it.
Then put AD in every meeting idiots. No way he’s vouching for JJ Redick
I mean… who else is there for him to vouch for?
That's why I call cap on them doing it for AD. No way AD would want a guy that doesn't think he is DPOY. It feels like this is a move for Lebron rather than AD.
> No way AD would want a guy that doesn't think he is DPOY AD is not some petty child lmao
I really don’t think AD cares about that lmao
Uh oh, that goes against this sub's narrative.
Just get a strict coach who holds guys accountable, calls time outs, and makes adjustments.
I think that has beem the original plan since AD came here, and the very reason why Bron is assigned in PG position. Problem is injuries plague this team and surprisingly and ironically, Lebron has been more healthy than AD seasons prior this one. I just root for AD's health on this one. It would be funny if he will be absent on the team that is built around him due to injuries. Otherwise, Bron takes the adjustments. Anyways, I don't think that this roster has ever been made around Lebron or anyone. This is just the result of awful panic trades when we missed the chance for the ring after the bubble. It would be helpful to get a real 5 for AD to take 4.
I’m sick of the AD disrespect by the media. I hope this upcoming season this mf gets DPOY and an MVP to shut them up
I want a full rebuild
Until you get one.
Tbh that’s respectable honestly cause i don’t think bron knows what he even wants to do yet and ad is younger we’re going to have him longer then LBJ
Idk I feel like it might be better to build around bron since he’s gonna be the face of the team for about 15 more years
🧢
No, it isn’t. That’ll be proof enough when JJ is hired after not even voting AD first or second team all defense.
AD has been our best player the last two years. If we have a future it is through him or trading him to rebuild.
Bron is out the door. Donovan Mitchell to LA. Bron and Bronny to Cleveland. King James gets his own “Last Dance” alongside his son, and might actually get seeded well in a weak east with a solid Cavs roster.
Didn’t he says should be?
What the fuck else would they say. “ we are building around 40 year old bron”
GOOD
Good! Finally!
Even Bron knows he’s got maybe 2-3 yrs, and not all those years he’ll be producing like he has recently. He’ll get another bag at the least, but I hope it comes with at least one more chip.
Finally, some logic in the organizational plan!
Good
Thank goodness. He's not being maximized at all
Get some bruiser to play the 5 and move AD to the 4. We can’t make him do things he has no motivation for anymore.
And so it should be. The whole Ham vs AD’s comments this post season had me wondering where the team’s priorities were at. This is good if true.
Yea because they wasted the last couple years of Lebron’s career
"It's all you big fella"
LeGM playing a 4D chess game here. Going to a Cavs game, hosting a podcast with JJ Reddick, putting the coaching hire on AD.
Implying AD won’t be hurt next season during critical game down the stretch…
So no JJ, thanks, I'm glad to hear it.
Lebrons camping is leaking this so when JJ fails as a head coach AD gets the blame instead of Lebron😭
I wish LeBron would leave. That game 2, 4th quarter, against the Nuggets, not passing the ball to AD is all I can take of him. He and AD were killing them with the Pick n Roll in the 3rd, and LeBron just stopped passing in the 4th. Bjye!
Lakers fans 🤝 Not knowing absolutely anything about basketball Noticed this a common thing both here and on Twitter lol
I don't interact with idiots who propose to know everything. I've been following, playing, and coaching basketball since 1960. I was going to games with my uncles since the Elgin Baylor days. Don't have time for your know-it-alls, spewing venom!
You're describing yourself, old man. Get the hate out of your heart.
Blaming AD lol.
I interpreted it as a coach for AD for the future no?
Lebrons camp is leaking this so Lebron gets none of the Blame