**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins

[pmatic]

Thanks Steph.

 

[nermindee]

Fans clowning laughing yellin don’t shoot
Altercations with fans calling him Westbrick
The booing. The zero accountability in interviews. Defensive with the press. Bad sound bites. Shaqtin a fool plays every night. It’s too much. He’ll be traded. I can’t believe they wanna go through this again

this is what no one ever really talks about, he played like doodoo most of the season and acted like he never had a bad game

 

[ill 949]

what?! everrryone BUT russ talked about it

 

[noblekane]

Its crazy that ten thousand air balls, bad shots, and bad defensive awareness isnt enough for you guys to give up a draft pick to never see the most horrific player to ever wear a laker jersey suit up in a laker uni again.

when was the last time the lakers drafted a generational talent capable of leading a dynasty?

lakers dont draft giannises or lukas. thats not how they build their championship teams.

please get rid of russ by any means.

one season was enough!

 

[atlsfinest]

Welp.

I mean look at whats been mentioned in rumors as far as possible trades:
Hayward/Oubre, Buddy/Brogdon, J Wall, etc…

Are they better options than RW? Yes
Do they move the needle and make the Lakers contenders? Nope

Unless there’s something else better in the works behind the scenes, which might be possible, this current window is cooked. I don’t really think they should give up any future compensation, taking on any of these terrible multi-year contracts (minus Wall of course) is already more than enough.

Eat this last season of Russ/Bron/AD ball and start over next summer…

Yawn

“Better than the crap we have now”

Brodgon who misses more games than AD, and Buddy the specialist will make the Lakers significantly better than missing the play in game.

So tell me what the ceiling is for a team composed of those 2, AD, Lebron, the young players from last year and 4-5 minimum guys?

I totally agree that we shouldn't take back bad contracts or include draft picks in order to get off our Westbrook's contract but my opinion on what it will take us to become a contender has changed.

Watching the Finals, I don't think that this Boston or Golden State teams are world beaters. I went from thinking that it would be impossible for us to become legit contenders but if all we need to do is get on Golden State or Boston's level, I think we can do that.

Buddy and Brodgon would make us better and its not like there is a dominant team in our way. Of course we'd need to Lebron, AD and Brogdon to stay healthy which is a stretch

Leave it to MVP and the Lakers will trade AD and Lebron and build around Russ

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

For one, neither Bos nor GS is intimidating AT ALL no matter how mant times ABC/ESPN gonna say the Celtics have the league's best defense.

2020 Lakers WAXES these Celtics in 5-6 games. Why? The Lakers had BETTER BIGS.

Lakers know exactly what to do. Load up on Bigs so that AD doesn't have to worry about Robert Williams and Al Horford by himself

Rob Williams and Al Horford easily get neutralized by the 2020 Laker bigs AD, Javale, and Dwight and Boston's wings - Tatum, Brown, GWilliams - would have been manhandled by Bron, Kuzma, Kieff, Caruso and DGreen while KCP, THT, Bradley and Rondo easily take down Smart and White.

2020 Lakers would do the same vs GSW cause of their Size and Length.

Pelinka already knows The Formula. Gotta build the makeup of the team similar to that of 2020's, which could play any style of basketball and had a near perfect mix of vets and young, hungry role players

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

One more thing: Rob please bring back GP2 when he becomes a FA this summer if GSW decides not to re-sign him

 

[pmatic]

Very clearly gonna get Eric Bledsoe.

 

[DLF]

One more thing: Rob please bring back GP2 when he becomes a FA this summer if GSW decides not to re-sign him

Why? Makes no difference for title. Similar to Caruso. Remember

 

[DLF]

Very clearly gonna get Eric Bledsoe.

That’s not bad. Makes no difference anyways.

 

[grittyman]

Watching the Finals, I don't think that this Boston or Golden State teams are world beaters. I went from thinking that it would be impossible for us to become legit contenders but if all we need to do is get on Golden State or Boston's level, I think we can do that.

Buddy and Brodgon would make us better and its not like there is a dominant team in our way. Of course we'd need to Lebron, AD and Brogdon to stay healthy which is a stretch

These are two pretty good, but not all-time great teams for sure.... both teams caught some breaks to even be in the finals this year though.

So as I'm watching the games I think about how many guys do the Lakers have on their roster who would be able to play in the series without being an offensive or defensive liability against either team.

Lebron and AD can play against anyone, that's a given...and of course they're going to be your 4 and 5 when it matters the most.

So a couple of questions. Can any of the perimeter players actually defend on ball? Brogdon used to be cool but after all of these injuries can he still defend at a high level? Will the Lakers have the ability to switch on defense? Will LBJ (and AD) still have the ability to defend on the perimeter in year 20? Do any of the guards/wings (what wings?!?) have the athleticism to rebound in traffic if Bron or AD are switched out on the perimeter? I could add more but you get the picture.

Things I'm optimistic about: Lebron playing at a high level, Ham being a good coach, young players improving over the offseason.
Things I'm hopeful about: Health, AD playing at a top 5-10 level again.
Things I'm not feeling great about: Roster construction, and sadly I'll have to put health here again.

 

[lovehateself]

I believe and trust a healthy AD will make a huge difference

But

 

[DLF]

I say we skip next season. What’s the point. Lebron and ad should just retire.

 

[noblekane]

this wasnt even halfway thru the season. he did not get better

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

this wasnt even halfway thru the season. he did not get better

Shaqtin-a-brick

Perfect music for the lowlights btw

 

[Lizakers]

Bro. This fool Russ after 20 games pretty much guaranteed to lead the league in turnovers even if he never committed another TO in the last 60 games. that’s literally how bad he was

 

[pmatic]

 

[DLF]

He doesn’t care. Why do we?

In all seriousness. He read prob told by a psychologist to step away for a couple months to clear his head. That bubble run was prob tough on him mentally. Soft ***

 

[DLF]

Guess he isn’t taking 1000 threes a day all summer

 

[atlsfinest]

Ehhh I don't really care about this. He's still recovering from his injuries and even when AD was dominating in from 2016-20, he often took months off during the off-season.

 

[pmatic]

 

[pmatic]

 

[MVP]

Def an improvement

 

[pmatic]

Why do they have to incorporate black.

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

Why do they have to incorporate black.

Was thinking the exact same thing. There is no need, like the guy said unless it's the black Mamba jersey