NBA Discussion

[KidsSeeGhosts]

Shows how bad he is defensively I guess. He averaged 30/7/6 against Minny.

For sure part of it, but he also had a fall-off as a facilitator this year. Bad tendency to hammer isos. Too much of their offense was taking an eternity to switch onto Connelly and then drain more clock in iso with bad ball movement

 

[BillBra5ky]

It's hard enough to build a championship roster these days when any of your starting 5 is a net negative on offense/defense, let alone your no.1. Best case Luka can become Jokic lite on defense, but at minimum he needs to not be a blow by liability. Even then I'm still taking Jokic, Shai, Tatum, Wemby, Ant, and Giannis over him, and next year you could reasonably see adding Cunningham and Paolo to that list. Luka had a bad series and I think next year is a real make or break for his true elite player case. The round 1 series MVP representing the city of LA right now is probably fucking Ivica Zubac.

Points were valid but then you had to add the bolded red part lol.

 

[KidsSeeGhosts]

Points were valid but then you had to add the bolded red part lol.

Yeah, could be a little early, but also have to factor in age and untapped potential.

Paolo averaged 29/8/4 w/ 44% 3PT%. 20 PER (to Luka's 21.2). Same BPM and VORP. With Wagner as his second banana/no Suggs against a much better Celtics team. Very bullish on his upside at 22.

Cunningham averaged 25/8/9 with 3 stocks (same DBPM as Draymond and Jaden McDaniels--though Knicks) on a team in its first playoff series w/ a bunch of upside. His 3 for sure fell off, but regression to the mean on that one. Thompson, Cunningham, and Duren is going to be a great core to build around.

Luka is fat and his athleticism has regressed pretty much every year since entering the league.

 

[tman87]

It's hard enough to build a championship roster these days when any of your starting 5 is a net negative on offense/defense, let alone your no.1. Best case Luka can become Jokic lite on defense, but at minimum he needs to not be a blow by liability. Even then I'm still taking Jokic, Shai, Tatum, Wemby, Ant, and Giannis over him, and next year you could reasonably see adding Cunningham and Paolo to that list. Luka had a bad series and I think next year is a real make or break for his true elite player case. The round 1 series MVP representing the city of LA right now is probably fucking Ivica Zubac.

We'll see how serious he is about his conditioning in the offseason. Probably won't know until training camp. He needs to lose 20 to 30 lbs. He was decently athletic his first few years, but extra weight has definitely effected his game. He has been able to increase his skill level and also does use his heft to create space, but overall losing 20lbs and getting back to his first few years physical shape would be something a player serious about maximizing their talent would do.

He was never 100% healthy after the trade, either. But part of that is not carrying extra weight.

His lateral ability is bad. He can play good positional defense, and is great in passing lanes and getting steals. His vision is elite on both ends of the court. But teams look to put him on an island to match him up against more athletic players. With no rim protector in the paint for LA, this creates a real problem. During their 2.5 month run of #1 in the league, the Lakers small-ball lineups were scrambling, switching and communicating very well. They also were outworking teams which did not hold up in the post season. Other teams raise their effort levels and intensity in the playoffs, and not only were the Lakers somewhat hurt, but also worn down from exerting so much energy during the reg season. I figured their great defense they showed during the regular season was likely to not hold up in the playoffs, and that happened. Also, Minny was a bad matchup for the Lakers. Minny played near the top of the league level ball for the last several months of the reg season - their #6 seeding was not really the level of team they are.

 

[KidsSeeGhosts]

We'll see how serious he is about his conditioning in the offseason. Probably won't know until training camp. He needs to lose 20 to 30 lbs. He was decently athletic his first few years, but extra weight has definitely effected his game. He has been able to increase his skill level and also does use his heft to create space, but overall losing 20lbs and getting back to his first few years physical shape would be something a player serious about maximizing their talent would do.

He was never 100% healthy after the trade, either. But part of that is not carrying extra weight.

His lateral ability is bad. He can play good positional defense, and is great in passing lanes and getting steals. His vision is elite on both ends of the court. But teams look to put him on an island to match him up against more athletic players. With no rim protector in the paint for LA, this creates a real problem. During their 2.5 month run of #1 in the league, the Lakers small-ball lineups were scrambling, switching and communicating very well. They also were outworking teams which did not hold up in the post season. Other teams raise their effort levels and intensity in the playoffs, and not only were the Lakers somewhat hurt, but also worn down from exerting so much energy during the reg season. I figured their great defense they showed during the regular season was likely to not hold up in the playoffs, and that happened. Also, Minny was a bad matchup for the Lakers. Minny played near the top of the league level ball for the last several months of the reg season - their #6 seeding was not really the level of team they are.

Gotta be encouraged w/ the development of Rui. He had a good series. Would worry about the long-term fit of Reeves and Luka defensively. Lebron still giving elite efficiency on both ends of the floor is absurd, but as you've noted limited long-term sustainability.

 

[tman87]

Gotta be encouraged w/ the development of Rui. He had a good series. Would worry about the long-term fit of Reeves and Luka defensively. Lebron still giving elite efficiency on both ends of the floor is absurd, but as you've noted limited long-term sustainability.

Bron has a year or two left, most likely. He may want to stay longer for his younger son Brice, who will be draft eligible next summer I believe. Brice is also bigger and better than Bronny. Since Bron has not fallen off much (some, but he's still a top 20 player and a top 2 draw with Steph), who knows on when he hangs them up. But any smart team will be making sure Bron doesn't have to shoulder so much heavy load as much.

I've liked Rui for a couple years now. He stupidly got froze out by Darvin Ham 2 seasons ago, then when Ham finally started him (and played him) Rui showed his value. He's not a star, but as your 4th scorer, and ability to score at 3 levels, plus his size and not a huge contract, definitely a guy one keeps.

Word came out today that Reaves had a severely strained big toe, happened in game 3, was in a boot on off days between games this series. My worry with Reaves has always been his low ceiling athletically, but he had a heck of a year. Jeanie Buss loves him, so Reaves only goes out if the return is at least same level of player. Or in a big trade (say Giannis says trade me to Lakers and only Lakers - hypothetical). But the issue is you have Reaves and Luka who are both lower than average athletes.

Luka needs to drop 20 lbs. He was also hurt much of the season and never 100%, plus it is not easy integrating into a new team half way through the season, and a team with only one lob threat big (Hayes) who got played out of the rotation later in the season. Luka has to have a couple of athletic vertical threat bigs to maximize his game, plus for rim protection on the defensive end.

 

[Seaofred92]

Rockets win in San Francisco and force game 7 in Houston on Sunday

Game 7 tonight between Nuggets/Clippers

How we feeling @HuskerGarrett ?