Wilbur Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 In my eyes this year's Laker lineup was noticeably worse than the prior, championship-winning team. They didn't make wholesale changes or anything, but the loss of three key players really degraded their firepower to my way of thinking. For instance, getting rid of Danny Green seemed like a bad idea right from the beginning. Montrez Harrell isn't an improvement Dwight Howard or even JaVale McGee. Why did the Lakers intentionally get worse this season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 10 hours ago, Proudfeet said: What happened to Drummond? Didn't play at all. And that's with Davis out, Gasol with apparent foul trouble and Harrell being -16 in eight minutes. Vogel finally realized that Drummond is a terrible player and a horrible fit for the Lakers, but it was too late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 With the assets they gave up for Davis and their cap situation, I honestly don’t see the Lakers winning another one with LeBron there. As much as it pains me to say it, AD’s injury history is not in their favor. I would have to think that LeBron’s tenure in LA if it ends with only one ring will have to be seen as a disappointment at the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 1 hour ago, Wilbur said: In my eyes this year's Laker lineup was noticeably worse than the prior, championship-winning team. They didn't make wholesale changes or anything, but the loss of three key players really degraded their firepower to my way of thinking. For instance, getting rid of Danny Green seemed like a bad idea right from the beginning. Montrez Harrell isn't an improvement Dwight Howard or even JaVale McGee. Why did the Lakers intentionally get worse this season? The big assets that they picked up were Harrell, Schroeder, Gasol, and Drummond. Gasol is a good fit for the Lakers, but he's just old and noticeably diminished from what he was 2 years ago with Toronto. Harrell was 6th man of the year in 2020, which is not an award they give to chumps (usually the guy winning that award is something like the 50th best player in the league). He definitely seemed like an upgrade over Howard, but he never fit as well as he did on the Clippers and it just didn't come together. Schroeder was supposed to be a guy who provided much needed offensive spark to the second unit, capable of being the #2 option on offense whenever one of Lebron/Davis is resting. He had some good games this year, but overall he was unreliable on offense and consistently poor on defense. Drummond is just an anachronism, he would have been an all-star 20 years ago but he's a liability on any playoff team now. I'm not sure he'll be in the league much longer. Losing Green was really the one guy that felt like a really bad idea. But Green is a very fluky player too, he was a huge asset in 3 different championship runs, but he's also had years where he was a below average player. It felt like a real possibility that his defense or shooting could fall off a cliff at any time, and the Lakers didn't want to take that chance. 45 minutes ago, Rhom said: I would have to think that LeBron’s tenure in LA if it ends with only one ring will have to be seen as a disappointment at the least. Gotta disagree. I think one championship is pretty good for that pairing. Davis has always been injury prone and Lebron was already 34 and had his first major nagging injury the season before. Any season where both of them weren't 100% had no chance of winning a ring, and even if they were fully healthy, it's no guarantee. Lebron and Davis are both top 10 guys, but there wasn't a ton of talent around them, definitely nothing that could be called a "Big 3" or anything like that. Looking at the talent on each roster if they're fully healthy, I think that LAL are at best the 4th most talented squad in the league after the Nets, Bucks and Nuggets. And I could make an argument for a couple of more teams like LAC and GSW being right there with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Tiger Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 8 hours ago, Rhom said: With the assets they gave up for Davis and their cap situation, I honestly don’t see the Lakers winning another one with LeBron there. As much as it pains me to say it, AD’s injury history is not in their favor. I would have to think that LeBron’s tenure in LA if it ends with only one ring will have to be seen as a disappointment at the least. No, because the only teams to win multiple titles in the last decade had at least 3 guys who could carry the team in tough situations. The other ones did not and only won 1 title. Also one of your 2 stars already had 15 years on his legs when he arrived. It may just be one title, but this actually follows a pattern. GS - 3 titles (Steph and Klay for the first title. Steph, Klay and KD for the other 2, also, see Cleveland below) Miami - 2 titles (LeBron, Wade, Bosh) Dallas - 1 title Toronto - 1 title Lakers - 1 title Cleveland - 1 title (Now if you wanna talk about a disappointment, THIS team should have won more than 1 title and they probably would have if it hadn't been for those meddling 2015 injuries to Love and Kyrie) San Antonio - 1 title The only teams with multiple rings also had at least 3 stars. So the only way I can see LeBron's tenure in LA as a disappointment is if LA gets LeBron and AD their own version of James Worthy and they fail to get another title. Otherwise, it's 2 guys who got you a chip and you can't ask for more than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proudfeet Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 6 hours ago, Maithanet said: Losing Green was really the one guy that felt like a really bad idea. But Green is a very fluky player too, he was a huge asset in 3 different championship runs, but he's also had years where he was a below average player. It felt like a real possibility that his defense or shooting could fall off a cliff at any time, and the Lakers didn't want to take that chance. I thought that he was washed when he was on the Spurs. Obviously, he's since gone on a ring collecting tour and has a better season average in stats with better teams around him, but I think that he's been playing at a very replaceable level, and might not even have been the fifth most important player in the playoffs both years. Gasol has been unable to score inside since he was with Memphis and found his three point shot, so its really his defense, passing and spacing that you're looking for, but I guess he's fallen off even further since. I think that he could have helped more if the Lakers committed to him instead of adding Drummond though. Or if Vogel better managed the the roster. I thought that Nurse managed the Ibaka/Gasol pairing well, although maybe even he would have problems with Davis and Harrell on top of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proudfeet Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Clippers finally putting Kawhi on Luka to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 2 hours ago, Proudfeet said: I thought that he was washed when he was on the Spurs. Obviously, he's since gone on a ring collecting tour and has a better season average in stats with better teams around him, but I think that he's been playing at a very replaceable level, and might not even have been the fifth most important player in the playoffs both years. I'd say green was like the 5th or 6th most important person on both of those championship teams, yes. But that's still really good, he's a guy getting 30+ minutes a night in the finals. That's why having Green seemingly thrown in as an afterthought of the Kawhi trade was pretty crazy. Two guys good enough to start in an NBA finals in a single trade is very unusual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 The rare game seven in which the series has already started six times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Road team is 6-0 so far this series, but the home team wins like 80 percent of the time in game 7. Something's gotta give. I'll stick with my clippers prediction, I still think they're the better team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingintheNorth4 Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Paul George stepped up big in the fourth quarter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireWolfSpirit Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Frikn Dallas folds with the chance to close it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 I still think the Clippers will find a way to lose, this franchise is cursed. Plus it's an early game on Sunday, pretty quick turnaround, I am not sure if Kawhi will have the energy to go 100% throughout, he's struggled to maintain his effort level on both ends since his quad issues started appearing. But what a game 6 by him, the guy is just an amazing scorer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 So the Magic need a new coach. Open to suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argonath Diver Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Terry Stotts, by a mile. Will put a rebuild in the right direction. (I still wish the damn Bulls had rested their good players that final game they gritted out against the 3rd string Bucks, but nooooo). Going from 25.x% to steal a top 4 back as the lone 8th pick would have been juicier than the 20.3% due to the three way tie. You guys will get the 8th but man, that's a big swing in ping pong probability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireWolfSpirit Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Nets v Bucks kicking off tonight. Forgive me, but I consider this the EC Finals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relic Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 My gut says Clippers Nets Heart says Suns Bucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 Another injury could make a mess of these playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingintheNorth4 Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 KD has a tough task of trying to box out Lopez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarGalley Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 Nets looking good now. Blake Griffin showing a lot of hustle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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