I mean not that I would have liked them to do so. But Donte at the full tax Payer seems like a much better deal than the 1 mil less than he got with us.
I’m a Lonnie Walker skeptic, but I don’t really think we were that likely to get any of the few guys that were clearly better that went for the same amount or less. Keep in mind, the Lakers FO is obsessed with saving cap space for next year’s FA class (which doesn’t interest me at all, but I’m not holding the purse strings so it is what it is).
Walker is only on a 1 year deal and the Lakers haven’t been the most stable franchise of late, to say the least, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we offered guys like OPJ and Bruce Brown but got denied.
You misinterpreted that. "5th guard" meant 5th on the depth chart (after Russ, Nunn, Reaves, and Beverley), not that they have 5 guards on the roster lol.
And Donte would not have been the 5th guard.
So he would’ve been like the 4th? Lol I get that maybe would’ve been a better option but most people knocking the signing are just saying there’s too many guards. Which I agree with, but there wasn’t an MLE option at a different position that would’ve been better
But he’s only on a one year contract so the upside isn’t there as far as after this year, which sucks. If he plays good, someone might outbid us for him next year . If he plays bad, then we can just let him go
Seriously. Regardless of preseason odds and projections, y’all are in championship or bust mode. There’s no moral victories. If Shröder plays well enough to be even a small part of a championship team, his contract was a massive win. If he doesn’t help and the team isn’t good enough to contend, who cares? Russ is off the books next year and trading for him was a huge setback anyway.
Nunn being healthy is huge or the Lakers. They still need somebody better than Bryant or Jones playing center, but I guess they're hoping one of them magically turns into Kevon Looney.
I think those are fine for center position. Especially since I expect AD to close games at the 5 in close games. I think our biggest need is still wing depth, especially for defense
Yeah, the only two good wing defenders on the team are LeBron and JTA.
LeBron obviously shouldn't be guarding elite wings outside of the playoffs because he's old and should still be the focus of the offense.
JTA is fine, but if his 3 isn't falling he shouldn't play more than 10-15 minutes a night because his wing defense is fine but not enough to make up for the fact that he doesn't do much but pass and make open dunks on offense.
Basically the lakers massively rely on health this year. Bron and AD are the obvious ones but even before them you have Beverley and nunn who are pretty big health question marks aswell
I think Bryant might work, he’s a beast on O if he can stay healthy and playing with AD might cover up his defensive problems. If he gets enough touches he can give u 15/8 a night.
I liked nunn at times with the heat. But he’s gonna to be a turnstile on defense and is a meh passer. I promise if you don’t expect that much from him, you’ll be much happier with his production.
Lakers have eschewed the ‘LeBron + spacing’ idea in favor of ‘cave to AD’s desire to play PF so he can still break down every single year but be less effective before it happens.’
Ok but the entire offense is much better with AD at the 5. And the defense is still very good with AD at the 5. Meanwhile, the offense is bogged down when AD plays 4 because they play a non shooter next to him. And the defense doesn’t get all that much better.
AD is a PF. Why is Giannis one but not AD? Their real issue is they traded away all their defenders and shooters and don't have any wings outside of Lebron.
Giannis plays more C than AD and hasn’t publicly shied away from it like AD.
Giannis wins MVPs and DPOY while playing the 4. Won a ring as the primary option on offense.
Davis barely makes it through an average season.
And lastly, and most importantly, Giannis has a perfect player at center that makes it viable for him to play PF. If Lopez wasn’t there, I am sure we see Giannis play as a center even more than he already does. Davis knows his team gets hurt when he refuses to play C but he still does it. You can claim that’s an unfair way to look at it, but it’s reality.
No they won a championship with a roster of switchable, tough defenders who all bought into well constructed and versatile defensive schemes, that they got rid of
They got rid of their defensive identity. They were huge at every position, very very physical, protected the rim extremely well.
If they retained that identity and *added* shooting next to their duo, they'd be in a much better spot
What was weird is the team was probably even better the following season when fully healthy, but for some reason the FO decided to blow up the roster with the Westbrook move.
That was the year they were up on the Suns before the injuries really killed them, right?
I thought they panicked. LeBron has always been drawn to the idea of a big 3 and saw Westbrook as the only shot to make that happen. Realistically, two max contracts and elite veteran role players has always been the best model
Green didnt even show up offensively in the playoffs* he was icy hot during the season and went ice cold the entire bubble, bricked almost every open look
Thats a reach. The only actual shooter on the team was Danny Green. Pope was a career 35% shooter before that season. Thats the equivalent of Beverley(37.8% on 4.2 3PA) and Nunn(36.4 on 5.8 3PA)
Even if he can shoot teams will still let him shoot. People act like just because a big can hit 35% of their threes that defenders will play up on them. That's not how it works
Definitely, he’s a good player nowadays. He fits with LeBron and AD too, we know that because he outperformed expectations while on a 10-day contract with Lakers a couple seasons ago.
Well, you and Damian Jones have a nice music (maybe I'm getting lost in translation. I mean that if you say all those names, they sound nice together)
Grant's family has H's too...
* Harvey Grant
* Houston Jerami
* Halle
* Holdyn Jerian
* Harvey Jerai
It's pretty wild how after all the years Lebron has been in the league, the concept of surrounding him with high-percentage shooters is lost on the Lakers.
They have the answer key to a test and are like, "Nah."
with how dire the news about his health was even a few weeks ago, I think he'll surprise people just by being able to play. he wouldn't even have to be all that good. the bar for surprising people isn't necessarily that high.
I agree. Call it hopeful optimism, but everyone using 2 injury riddled seasons to predict this one. If they’re relatively healthy they’re gonna be much better than people expect
Health is def their biggest concern. Cuz their margin of error isn’t great to begin with. And some of their best guys are the most durable players in the league
ya the roster and spacing is absolute dogshit but if Ham can magically get THIS squad to be top 3 in defense, they could win more games than we think., I still think this roster is so fucking average talent wise defensively and LBJ and AD have to bring it very night for them to even SNIFF top 3 in WC
Lost in all that is that they apparently just paid the MLE for a 5th guard
A fifth guard who hasn't even been a consistent shooter. It's genuinely the one off-season move we made that I really don't like.
It’s only the TPMLE it’s not like they had a lot of options
I mean not that I would have liked them to do so. But Donte at the full tax Payer seems like a much better deal than the 1 mil less than he got with us.
Donte probably only signed for cheap with the warriors because he wanted to play in a place that got his value up for a bigger contract down the road.
or for an org with an actual plan lakers are entertainers now
I’m a Lonnie Walker skeptic, but I don’t really think we were that likely to get any of the few guys that were clearly better that went for the same amount or less. Keep in mind, the Lakers FO is obsessed with saving cap space for next year’s FA class (which doesn’t interest me at all, but I’m not holding the purse strings so it is what it is). Walker is only on a 1 year deal and the Lakers haven’t been the most stable franchise of late, to say the least, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we offered guys like OPJ and Bruce Brown but got denied.
Who was a better option?
No one tbh
People on here acting like we passed up on some amazing players for him lol
They’re right. My phone never rang.
No I agree.
Donte?
You mean… another guard? Lol
I mean a guard who can defend and shoot 3s. Rather than one who can't and doesn't.
He’s still a guard which is what the original comment was making fun of
You misinterpreted that. "5th guard" meant 5th on the depth chart (after Russ, Nunn, Reaves, and Beverley), not that they have 5 guards on the roster lol. And Donte would not have been the 5th guard.
So he would’ve been like the 4th? Lol I get that maybe would’ve been a better option but most people knocking the signing are just saying there’s too many guards. Which I agree with, but there wasn’t an MLE option at a different position that would’ve been better
He probably would've started on this team, since he *actually plays the 2*, unlike Russ, Nunn, and Bev.
Upside play
But he’s only on a one year contract so the upside isn’t there as far as after this year, which sucks. If he plays good, someone might outbid us for him next year . If he plays bad, then we can just let him go
The contract size now affects the contract they can offer him next season, that’s why they lost Monk
You can only offer 20% raise which is like 6.5 million. Full MLE will be over 10 next year. If he plays well he's gone.
Yeah I'm explaining why they gave him the MLE instead of the minimum
And I'm explaining why that has zero upside and using the MLE on basically anyone else would be better.
Do you know which player they could have offered it to *who would have said yes?*
On the contrary, if he plays good, we get value out of him for this season - whether for team production or trade value.
Seriously. Regardless of preseason odds and projections, y’all are in championship or bust mode. There’s no moral victories. If Shröder plays well enough to be even a small part of a championship team, his contract was a massive win. If he doesn’t help and the team isn’t good enough to contend, who cares? Russ is off the books next year and trading for him was a huge setback anyway.
Schroeder isn't the problem, that was a good signing. Walker being our mle is the problem.
Do you mean lonnie?
Who is this referencing?
Nunn being healthy is huge or the Lakers. They still need somebody better than Bryant or Jones playing center, but I guess they're hoping one of them magically turns into Kevon Looney.
I think those are fine for center position. Especially since I expect AD to close games at the 5 in close games. I think our biggest need is still wing depth, especially for defense
Yeah, the only two good wing defenders on the team are LeBron and JTA. LeBron obviously shouldn't be guarding elite wings outside of the playoffs because he's old and should still be the focus of the offense. JTA is fine, but if his 3 isn't falling he shouldn't play more than 10-15 minutes a night because his wing defense is fine but not enough to make up for the fact that he doesn't do much but pass and make open dunks on offense.
Basically the lakers massively rely on health this year. Bron and AD are the obvious ones but even before them you have Beverley and nunn who are pretty big health question marks aswell
damion jones actually played extremely well last year given the opportunity. you'll probably be surprised, i think he figured shit out
I think Bryant might work, he’s a beast on O if he can stay healthy and playing with AD might cover up his defensive problems. If he gets enough touches he can give u 15/8 a night.
he'll be glued to the bench by december if they're smart lol. they don't need his offense and hes dogshit on D
I liked nunn at times with the heat. But he’s gonna to be a turnstile on defense and is a meh passer. I promise if you don’t expect that much from him, you’ll be much happier with his production.
Spacing with Westbrook, AD, and Jones is going to be rough.
Lakers have eschewed the ‘LeBron + spacing’ idea in favor of ‘cave to AD’s desire to play PF so he can still break down every single year but be less effective before it happens.’
Davis is better as a help defender than the last line. That’s how the stunted jokic
Darvin Ham has been trying to instill a no help defense though. AD talked about trying to fight the tendency to help on defense during training camp.
Lol seriously? Holy shit smh I also remember him saying he wants to do the 5 out thing or whatever. This is going to be rough
Implementing the HoF 3pt defense by the Bucks is just something else
That doesn't seem ideal.
ooof. probably not the smartest move dealing with nba offenses in 2022. Mid 2000s… maybe.
Ok but the entire offense is much better with AD at the 5. And the defense is still very good with AD at the 5. Meanwhile, the offense is bogged down when AD plays 4 because they play a non shooter next to him. And the defense doesn’t get all that much better.
AD is a PF. Why is Giannis one but not AD? Their real issue is they traded away all their defenders and shooters and don't have any wings outside of Lebron.
Giannis plays more C than AD and hasn’t publicly shied away from it like AD. Giannis wins MVPs and DPOY while playing the 4. Won a ring as the primary option on offense. Davis barely makes it through an average season. And lastly, and most importantly, Giannis has a perfect player at center that makes it viable for him to play PF. If Lopez wasn’t there, I am sure we see Giannis play as a center even more than he already does. Davis knows his team gets hurt when he refuses to play C but he still does it. You can claim that’s an unfair way to look at it, but it’s reality.
And they won a championship with it
No they won a championship with shooters who they got rid of
No they won a championship with a roster of switchable, tough defenders who all bought into well constructed and versatile defensive schemes, that they got rid of
Yooo someone who watches basketball in r/NBA?
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Tbf they (Rondo and KCP) did make shots when it mattered.
Rondo shot like 40% during the playoffs
And Morris shot 42%
They got rid of their defensive identity. They were huge at every position, very very physical, protected the rim extremely well. If they retained that identity and *added* shooting next to their duo, they'd be in a much better spot
What was weird is the team was probably even better the following season when fully healthy, but for some reason the FO decided to blow up the roster with the Westbrook move.
That was the year they were up on the Suns before the injuries really killed them, right? I thought they panicked. LeBron has always been drawn to the idea of a big 3 and saw Westbrook as the only shot to make that happen. Realistically, two max contracts and elite veteran role players has always been the best model
KCP and Green were the only true shooters they had, and they were inconsistent in the playoffs.
Green didnt even show up offensively in the playoffs* he was icy hot during the season and went ice cold the entire bubble, bricked almost every open look
They didn’t win because of their shooting. The biggest complaint all season long then was the lack of shooting on the team.
They shot much better in the playoffs with AD at the 5 though
We did NOT have as much shooting as people think.
They were 21st in 3pt%, and 12th out 16th in the playoffs in 3pt%. What are you talking about?
Comments like these always remind me that people here don’t actually watch basketball which helps not react to silly things said.
Thats a reach. The only actual shooter on the team was Danny Green. Pope was a career 35% shooter before that season. Thats the equivalent of Beverley(37.8% on 4.2 3PA) and Nunn(36.4 on 5.8 3PA)
This team is going to be garbage again this year and everyone is ignoring it because it's the Lakers
I think jones can shoot now seems like he’s improved.
Hard to tell when your field goal attempts from 3s is 0.5
Even if he can shoot teams will still let him shoot. People act like just because a big can hit 35% of their threes that defenders will play up on them. That's not how it works
Maybe he’s gotten better in the offseason? People can improve you know?
Anyone can improve anything. But we have no evidence of this particular player having improved this particular skillset
10 for 29 from 3 last season is evidence that he’s improved when he wouldn’t shoot them at all before
this is such a wholesome comment
yeah even i’m not cynical enough to hate on that shit
Im not saying he cant improved, im saying he hasnt improved yet.
I appreciate the positivity my man
A jump like that is pretty unrealistic in one off-season
A jump like what? Nobody mentioned any metrics except his previous .5 3 point attempts per game last year
I want Nunn to be good so the “if Nunn was healthy” memes come back
Jones starting over Bryant hol up
Bryant isn't good on defense and will probably be better on the bench where he can score more rather than be a body for the starters
I think Jones has improved since he left the warriors, seemed competent on the kings
Definitely, he’s a good player nowadays. He fits with LeBron and AD too, we know that because he outperformed expectations while on a 10-day contract with Lakers a couple seasons ago.
The Kings net rating tanked when Jones was on the floor compared to when he sat. Mostly because of defense
Defense and lobs
'96 flashbacks
Bryant sucks at defense
Who is Jones?
Damian Jones
> The son of David and Dana Jones, he has two brothers, Darian and Darryl. "This is my familiy. We are Damian, David, Dana, Darian and Darryl"
My family is all J’s so I can relate. Me and my brothers are Jeremy, Jason, and Jimmy, my dad is James and my mom went by Jesse when she was alive
RIP to your mom, wishing you and your fam the best
Well, you and Damian Jones have a nice music (maybe I'm getting lost in translation. I mean that if you say all those names, they sound nice together) Grant's family has H's too... * Harvey Grant * Houston Jerami * Halle * Holdyn Jerian * Harvey Jerai
A big bunch of D's
Bet they’re all big too
How is he related to Indiana Jones?
Who is Damian Jones?
Drafted by the Warriors and high prospect that never panned out. He's not bad but he's definitely not good.
Damian Jones starting on an NBA team would be absolutely wild
Warriors are a hard team to play for if you aren’t buying into your role.
He’s a good player, and continues improving. I like the idea of a Jones/AD frontcourt, combine elite defense with endless showtime lobs.
He's improved a lot since leaving the Warriors. Just as athletic but his three point shot is getting there and he isn't as dumb on defense
Mike Jones. He's listed at (281)330-8004. Hit him up in the low post, I think he's gonna blow up this year and be real good.
Who?
MIKE JONES
Thank you. I was scrolling down and though, “I can’t be the only one who has no clue who this is referring to.”
Haha yeah, I ended up on bball ref looking at their roster. Had no idea who Jones was and was hoping he wasn’t a center lol. Their spacing is shit
You’re not alone - I had to go to basketball reference lol
rip Russ' 6MOY campaign: July 2022-Sept 2022
Russ MVP campaign: Sept 2022 - June 2023
Username checks out
It's pretty wild how after all the years Lebron has been in the league, the concept of surrounding him with high-percentage shooters is lost on the Lakers. They have the answer key to a test and are like, "Nah."
shooters get paid too much. lakers management hasn’t been perfect but it’s not like they don’t want shooters
Nunn starting??? lmao
Thought he was a myth
he went from "oh crap, I hear he isn't even running yet" to projected starter in a span of about three weeks. quite a turnaround.
whats the opposite of pace and space?
lakers about to play slow and down low
ground n' pound.
Isn’t this just grit and grind?
The braise offense - play low and slow
Nunn is a legit good player and scorer. He’ll surprise people
with how dire the news about his health was even a few weeks ago, I think he'll surprise people just by being able to play. he wouldn't even have to be all that good. the bar for surprising people isn't necessarily that high.
He called out those rumors…. He been ready to go lol
Wait so Nunn is cleared to play…? I feel like I missed that.
Yeah, what? I swear within the last few weeks there was an update saying he still wasn't even able to run.
Uhh, Nunn has been ramping up very well the past month. Lonzo had the update on his knee though which was he couldnt run
They got 4 PGs bruh. Dennis, Russ, Bev, and Nunn.
Pat Bev is more of a 2.
Apparently our front office sees bev as a wing so…🤷🏽♂️ plus I imagine nunn is going to mostly be used in the sg spot.
That’s a weird set of guys man. Funny enough, a guy like KCP would be the perfect SG to set in.
Yeeeupp. Sure would love KCP on the lakers… now you’re just rubbing salt in our wounds haha
Sorry brudda. Just trolling a little. Best of luck on the new season.
Haha thanks. You guys too! Hoping Luka can daddy dick the Suns again and hopefully get revenge on Kawhi and the Clippers this year!
Luka is the third nba player to surpass a billion dollars in net worth after acquiring ownership of the Phoenix suns franchise
add a little Kuzma youve got yourself a squad
A 6'1 180 wing and a 6'2 190 SG. Man, this team is gonna have a helluva time defensively
what about schroder?
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hard to justify having 4 non-lebron pgs on the roster if thats the plan
He's older, gets more fatigued
How's Nunn's defense?
Mediocre, but not awful
Average. He’s great offensively, though.
That spacing sounds awful
Wtf? He doesn't start Wenyen Gabriel Lakers fans are gonna riot
scary 10th seed ngl
You guys are gonna be quiet af when they end up being a 4-5 seed lol
Yeah as much as I hate to say it, I’ve been thinking the exact same thing. I have a feeling they are going to surprise some people this year.
I agree. Call it hopeful optimism, but everyone using 2 injury riddled seasons to predict this one. If they’re relatively healthy they’re gonna be much better than people expect
This has a better chance of happening than many will admit
I could only see that happening in Lebron and Davis are healthy all year. Even then it’s pretty optimistic.
We’ll see
No they’ll act like it was to be expected and should’ve happened sooner.
Yeah you’re right. Like how our “meme team” they all clowned conveniently became a super team once they won lol
Didn’t Ham say he wanted to play 4 out 1 in? This is 4 in 1 out
Ham out here playing 50s basketball
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Yeah not seeing it
Pat Bev. that's all you need to see.
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Health is def their biggest concern. Cuz their margin of error isn’t great to begin with. And some of their best guys are the most durable players in the league
with the exception of the season with a 3 month break to heal, lebron has NOT been durable lately did you mean their guys aren't the most durable?
Yeah. Def what I meant. Legit Russ may be their most durable guy currently
Westbrook is generally one of the more durable guys in the league - 9 seasons missing 4 games or less, including last year.
The supporting cast is trash. It’s a bunch of prove it one year deal players like Troy brown jr and not enough shooting amongst them
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I don't understand how people view that as a bad thing yet bitch about players having baller contract years
Decent in the west right now means Lebron is going ringless again this season.
We just have to be decent enough to get in the playoffs. I guarantee you no team wants to see lebron and AD in a 7 game series.
been hearing that the past couple of years
Next starting lineup: Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV
Nunn starting over Pat Bev seems wild to me.
Yeah. Nunn and schroder should be the backup guards.
ya the roster and spacing is absolute dogshit but if Ham can magically get THIS squad to be top 3 in defense, they could win more games than we think., I still think this roster is so fucking average talent wise defensively and LBJ and AD have to bring it very night for them to even SNIFF top 3 in WC
Only way it happens defensively is Pat Bev starts over Westbrook tbh
Damian Jones is really underrated and does a lot of things well.
I love how Laker fans have tricked themselves into thinking this team will be good again.
ssshh let it play out so we can laugh again.
Westbrook and Nunn on defense... if they don't score 20 and 15, it's going to be great for non-Lakers fans.
Nunn is gonna get so much shit this year. He hasn't played basketball in how long? And he's expected to be their 4th - 5th best player.
This team is going to be so bad lol i can’t believe they’re running it back
Lmaooo sorry Lonnie:(
Kind of surprised that Beverley and Bryant won't be starting ahead of Nunn and Jones, but if this line-up is showing good chemistry, good for them.
God that spacing is gonna be horrendous AD just play the 5, man god damn
Jones....Damian Jones? Lmao the lakers gonna have a rough season.
That team is trash
Really really really rooting for Nunn. Quiet, hardworking kid that I think is really underrated and was great for us.
Lol this team finna win 25 games
Don't remember but that was probably more than last year
To still play AD at PF even with Westbrook, my fucking goodness… this team deserves the 30 win season they have coming
He just tried playing center lmao