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**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by licensed to ball,
- Start date
Fixed.
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I wanted Lowry too because he’s a better player and seemingly a better fit but I’m not overpaying or making a trade I don’t like/feel good about just to guarantee a ROI on any player. I don’t remember what the Raps wanted back for him but I trust that Rob made the right call. Can’t get sucked into making deals just to make deals.
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And then Lowry could've walked for nothing, after being injured for half the season. I'm fine with the team as is. There was a lotta shoulda/woulda/coulda when the Lakers were pursuing Kawhi and it turned out fine
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I am relieved the Lowry deal didn't happen 
You saw what Miami gave him
You saw what Miami gave him
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The Lakers would've had to give up as much for Lowry as they did for Russ except Russ is locked in for 2 more years. So you didn't really lose Schroeder for nothing when you traded for a top 10 PG to take his spot. Kind of a moot point
MVP
Supporter
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Yea Lowry seemed hell bent on going to Miami anyway. Russ >>> Kyle anyway.
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Losing Green and Schroeder/not getting Lowry allowed them fill the roster out better than it was last year with pieces that fit better (Russ I know is a weird fit but Russ
ennis and he's a better playmaker for other players) Caruso was a loss but having Nunn fill in as backup is not a bad thing at all.
ennis and he's a better playmaker for other players) Caruso was a loss but having Nunn fill in as backup is not a bad thing at all.
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anybody making the team on the summer league squad or they all going to g league?
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G league for Mac and brown
reeves and ayayi will be on the bench and able to play up to 50 games.
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I think EVERYBODY here will agree after 50 games that Russ over any other available point guard this offseason was the best point guard this Lakers team could have acquired.
Russ' ability to constantly put pressure on the defense (a la Giannis) is what makes this deal so great for the Lakers.
A lot of people on the NBA Thread will act surprised at how great of a fit Russ will be. I won't be surprised one bit. His skill set is exactly what Bron and AD need to complement their games. Russ will do wonders for Dwight's lob game as well
Russ' ability to constantly put pressure on the defense (a la Giannis) is what makes this deal so great for the Lakers.
A lot of people on the NBA Thread will act surprised at how great of a fit Russ will be. I won't be surprised one bit. His skill set is exactly what Bron and AD need to complement their games. Russ will do wonders for Dwight's lob game as well
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Bron off-ball is an underrated weapon. I think in the clutch it's better to get it in #6's hands, but he's the premier swiss-army knife even at 37.
I'm so glad Dwight is back, even in his twilight years he could do much more then bum drummond lol
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Losing Green and Schroeder/not getting Lowry allowed them fill the roster out better than it was last year with pieces that fit better (Russ I know is a weird fit but Russ
How so? The proposed Kyle Lowry trade was Dennis and THT for Lowry. Assuming the execute that deal, the Lakers would still have the assets of Kyle Kuzma, Trez, KCP, Caruso and the first round pick to execute another trade (or keep some of those guys).
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I mean I don't want to pay old Kyle Lowry that money he's making. They probably end up trading for Hield if they keep Lowry but that means no Russ and no AD moving to 5 and Bron to 4 which I personally think is huge.
I don't know who they would of traded for that is better than Russ with the pieces they had
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Russ the best point guard for the Lakers since Ramon Sessions
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False. It was kcp Shroeder and tht. Raptors weren’t really serious about a trade. They were just reaching for someone to give them a crazy offer. You just can’t trade both starting guards and young prospect for a guy who was out for WEEKS with a foot infection. He prob woulda left same bad taste and he woulda bolted for Miami anyways
We were in the middle of a damn title defense.
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D_eezus
formerly zombifed nach0
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Russ the best PG bron has played with huh?
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Was watching cavs warriors 2016 finals highlights
can’t believe I was rooting against Bron back then. Lol
cavs won playing love, jr smith, rich Jefferson, Kyrie major minutes. Defensively, those guys aren’t exactly world class. Sometime scheme and effort can make up for pure defensive skill.
can’t believe I was rooting against Bron back then. Lol
cavs won playing love, jr smith, rich Jefferson, Kyrie major minutes. Defensively, those guys aren’t exactly world class. Sometime scheme and effort can make up for pure defensive skill.
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Can Russell Westbrook adapt to life as Lakers’ third star? ‘We will figure it out’
It was an occasion for a smile, not a snarl. On the day a childhood dream came true, the familiar knot of intensity and focus that has taken up permanent residency on Russell Westbrook’s face temporarily uncoiled.
Basketball’s most relentless and combustible superstar even found himself nodding along at the mention of something he has rarely been asked to do in his 13 years in the NBA; the one thing that will likely determine how successful Westbrook can be alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Sacrifice.
“Any time you have three great players like this there is an element of sacrifice required,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Tuesday. “And we’ve all talked about that and are all-in on that.”
Much of Tuesday’s news conference at Staples Center to introduce Westbrook focused on his homecoming. Sentimentality abounds with this overhauled Lakers roster, from former Lakers returning to Carmelo Anthony finally linking up with his best friend LeBron.
None of them quite compare to that of Westbrook coming home to Los Angeles. A local kid who grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant and cut school to witness championship parades, Westbrook grew into a league Most Valuable Player and one of the opponents Bryant most admired.
On Tuesday, Westbrook finally held up a purple and gold jersey with his own name on it.
He lifted it high and smiled for the cameras, then turned his gaze to the front row where his family was seated and said, “There ya go, Ma,” as his mother, Shannon, captured the moment on her phone.
“Just being able to be with my kids all the time, being able to see my mom and dad and my wife all the time, is to me the best thing you can ask for being back home,” Westbrook said.
But that sentimentality only helps the Lakers win in the offseason, and if Westbrook’s Lakers tenure is to have a storybook ending on par with its tender beginning, Westbrook will have to show a willingness to adapt his style to fit around James and Davis. Even after the Lakers worked to populate their roster with veteran defenders and 3-point shooters, there are persistent questions about how Westbrook’s ball-dominant style and woeful 3-point shooting fits next to the 6-foot-9 James, who two years ago led the league in assists and often operates as the team’s de facto point guard.
“As it pertains to ballhandling and all that, it really doesn’t matter,” Westbrook said. “There’s many different ways you can impact the game without having the ball in your hands, and I’ve been able to do that for many years, and we’ll figure it out.”
Playing off the ball does not only mean shooting 3-pointers, but it is an important part of it. And in that area, Westbrook has perennially struggled, making more than 33 percent of his 3s in a season just once in his career.
Westbrook is comfortable playing with other superstars, from his days alongside Kevin Durant to his more recent stops in Houston with James Harden and in Washington with Bradley Beal. He has not, however, ever played the role of the third star.
In fact, after Durant bolted Oklahoma City for Golden State in 2016, Westbrook became an even more pronounced version of everything he already was: a one-man wrecking ball, a player possessed, with a seemingly single-minded focus on accruing triple-doubles. His shooting percentages tumbled even as the counting stats continued to climb.
Last season, Westbrook broke Oscar Robertson’s record for career triple-doubles, a mark once seen as untouchable.
“I think all of us when we’re young, we see things a certain way, and a lot of his triple-doubles early were done with force,” said Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations. “And I think now his triple-doubles are done with force and with thoughtfulness and how he uses the pieces and the players he plays with.”
Vogel said Westbrook fits into the mold of James and Davis as “make-the-right-play players,” meaning, “It’s not just about scoring or being a one-dimensional player.”
The creativity and intelligence each of the three stars plays with should keep each of them engaged and motivated as the Lakers try to rebound from a dispiriting first-round exit in June.
Westbrook will no doubt generate highlights next to James and Davis, but whether that combination also will yield championship results remains a serious question mark.
“I think we’re going to be an extremely dynamic, fast-breaking team and one that can play off the ball with three guys in many different ways,” Vogel said. “So I think with the speed and athleticism of those guys plus the guys, the complementary parts we put together — the shooters and the defenders — I think we got a real chance this year to do something special.”
Westbrook’s arrival was sudden, the draft night capper to weeks of conversations between James, Davis and Westbrook, who had just averaged a triple-double for the fourth time in five years with Washington. With the Lakers closing in on a trade for Sacramento’s Buddy Hield, the Wizards instead swooped in and offloaded Westbrook, who had been searching for a way back to Los Angeles, in exchange for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell plus the Lakers’ first-round pick.
The trade cemented a dramatic makeover to a roster that had been seen as championship favorites until James suffered a high ankle sprain March 20. Still, they were viewed as a legitimate title threat, even after slipping into the Play-In and entering the postseason as a 7-seed.
The Lakers led the Phoenix Suns 2-1 in the best-of-seven series before Davis suffered a strained groin, the final blow in an ultimately doomed season.
Suddenly, the one-time title favorites were at a fascinating crossroads. Should they double down on the roster that had looked so promising before its run of bad luck? Or change course?
Pelinka said it all came down to opportunity.
“I think it was an opportunity to make an aggressive move that we felt bettered our probability to bring the 18th title to the Los Angeles Lakers,” he said. “When an opportunity like that comes, you’re thoughtful, you analyze it, you look at the pros and cons and then you make a decision.”
Pelinka has now given Vogel the franchise’s most ambitious collection of talent in LeBron’s tenure, even if it all may not be an obvious fit.
As the least conventional piece in the Lakers’ superstar jigsaw puzzle, Westbrook was eager to acknowledge things may not come together right away.
“As the season (goes along),” he said, “we will figure it out. There will be ups and there will be downs. That’s normal, that’s OK, but we’re going to figure out how to play the … way that we want to play to be able to win a championship.”
All it will take is a little sacrifice.
It was an occasion for a smile, not a snarl. On the day a childhood dream came true, the familiar knot of intensity and focus that has taken up permanent residency on Russell Westbrook’s face temporarily uncoiled.
Basketball’s most relentless and combustible superstar even found himself nodding along at the mention of something he has rarely been asked to do in his 13 years in the NBA; the one thing that will likely determine how successful Westbrook can be alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Sacrifice.
“Any time you have three great players like this there is an element of sacrifice required,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Tuesday. “And we’ve all talked about that and are all-in on that.”
Much of Tuesday’s news conference at Staples Center to introduce Westbrook focused on his homecoming. Sentimentality abounds with this overhauled Lakers roster, from former Lakers returning to Carmelo Anthony finally linking up with his best friend LeBron.
None of them quite compare to that of Westbrook coming home to Los Angeles. A local kid who grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant and cut school to witness championship parades, Westbrook grew into a league Most Valuable Player and one of the opponents Bryant most admired.
On Tuesday, Westbrook finally held up a purple and gold jersey with his own name on it.
He lifted it high and smiled for the cameras, then turned his gaze to the front row where his family was seated and said, “There ya go, Ma,” as his mother, Shannon, captured the moment on her phone.
“Just being able to be with my kids all the time, being able to see my mom and dad and my wife all the time, is to me the best thing you can ask for being back home,” Westbrook said.
But that sentimentality only helps the Lakers win in the offseason, and if Westbrook’s Lakers tenure is to have a storybook ending on par with its tender beginning, Westbrook will have to show a willingness to adapt his style to fit around James and Davis. Even after the Lakers worked to populate their roster with veteran defenders and 3-point shooters, there are persistent questions about how Westbrook’s ball-dominant style and woeful 3-point shooting fits next to the 6-foot-9 James, who two years ago led the league in assists and often operates as the team’s de facto point guard.
“As it pertains to ballhandling and all that, it really doesn’t matter,” Westbrook said. “There’s many different ways you can impact the game without having the ball in your hands, and I’ve been able to do that for many years, and we’ll figure it out.”
Playing off the ball does not only mean shooting 3-pointers, but it is an important part of it. And in that area, Westbrook has perennially struggled, making more than 33 percent of his 3s in a season just once in his career.
Westbrook is comfortable playing with other superstars, from his days alongside Kevin Durant to his more recent stops in Houston with James Harden and in Washington with Bradley Beal. He has not, however, ever played the role of the third star.
In fact, after Durant bolted Oklahoma City for Golden State in 2016, Westbrook became an even more pronounced version of everything he already was: a one-man wrecking ball, a player possessed, with a seemingly single-minded focus on accruing triple-doubles. His shooting percentages tumbled even as the counting stats continued to climb.
Last season, Westbrook broke Oscar Robertson’s record for career triple-doubles, a mark once seen as untouchable.
“I think all of us when we’re young, we see things a certain way, and a lot of his triple-doubles early were done with force,” said Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations. “And I think now his triple-doubles are done with force and with thoughtfulness and how he uses the pieces and the players he plays with.”
Vogel said Westbrook fits into the mold of James and Davis as “make-the-right-play players,” meaning, “It’s not just about scoring or being a one-dimensional player.”
The creativity and intelligence each of the three stars plays with should keep each of them engaged and motivated as the Lakers try to rebound from a dispiriting first-round exit in June.
Westbrook will no doubt generate highlights next to James and Davis, but whether that combination also will yield championship results remains a serious question mark.
“I think we’re going to be an extremely dynamic, fast-breaking team and one that can play off the ball with three guys in many different ways,” Vogel said. “So I think with the speed and athleticism of those guys plus the guys, the complementary parts we put together — the shooters and the defenders — I think we got a real chance this year to do something special.”
Westbrook’s arrival was sudden, the draft night capper to weeks of conversations between James, Davis and Westbrook, who had just averaged a triple-double for the fourth time in five years with Washington. With the Lakers closing in on a trade for Sacramento’s Buddy Hield, the Wizards instead swooped in and offloaded Westbrook, who had been searching for a way back to Los Angeles, in exchange for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell plus the Lakers’ first-round pick.
The trade cemented a dramatic makeover to a roster that had been seen as championship favorites until James suffered a high ankle sprain March 20. Still, they were viewed as a legitimate title threat, even after slipping into the Play-In and entering the postseason as a 7-seed.
The Lakers led the Phoenix Suns 2-1 in the best-of-seven series before Davis suffered a strained groin, the final blow in an ultimately doomed season.
Suddenly, the one-time title favorites were at a fascinating crossroads. Should they double down on the roster that had looked so promising before its run of bad luck? Or change course?
Pelinka said it all came down to opportunity.
“I think it was an opportunity to make an aggressive move that we felt bettered our probability to bring the 18th title to the Los Angeles Lakers,” he said. “When an opportunity like that comes, you’re thoughtful, you analyze it, you look at the pros and cons and then you make a decision.”
Pelinka has now given Vogel the franchise’s most ambitious collection of talent in LeBron’s tenure, even if it all may not be an obvious fit.
As the least conventional piece in the Lakers’ superstar jigsaw puzzle, Westbrook was eager to acknowledge things may not come together right away.
“As the season (goes along),” he said, “we will figure it out. There will be ups and there will be downs. That’s normal, that’s OK, but we’re going to figure out how to play the … way that we want to play to be able to win a championship.”
All it will take is a little sacrifice.
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I've grown accustomed to them now honestly... I don't even mind the current purple jerseys
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Highlighter yellow, black stripes on the purple jerseys and not exaggerated enough shadow drop on the numbers.
An atrocity.
An atrocity.
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I truly hate the new shade of jerseys...
