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

[tupac003]

I say give boogie a 10 day and see if he can help. Then see what happens in the buy out market.

 

[MVP]

Ain't going to cut it. Period.

 

[niceshoes247]

Nope

 

[MVP]

Can they waive Dudley too. Tired of the mascots.

 

[tupac003]

Can they waive Dudley too. Tired of the mascots.

Giannis brother can go too.

 

[SORIANOTRON]

I’m just waiting for Gasol on the playoffs. I expect nothing from him right now

So you putting this teams faith to repeat into “playoff marc gasol”?

Nah man. Nah.

Whiteside or Cousins and we are back on track.

The shooting will hopefully return, if not we were able to win last year without it BUT we will need that inside presence to stop teams from scoring at will on us.

if we can stop buckets at the rim and force teams to outshoot us, it will look alot more like last year.

This year teams can FINISH the rim and FT line if their shots aren’t falling, this gives teams multiple ways of beating us. Last year we essentially shut down the driving lanes and made teams beat us with shooting.

WE NEED THAT RIM PROTECTION to close the loop.

 

[pmatic]

I think the perimeter defense is more leaky than last season. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me.

If AD is healthy, he's playing center for 40 minutes a night so you figure the rim will be protected enough.

 

[sb]

defense has been sus lately. ant being out is a part of it but not all. need some enforcers.

 

[drewsone]

Reports unlikely to reunite with Boogie

who the hell they getting then lmao

 

[SORIANOTRON]

I think the perimeter defense is more leaky than last season. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me.

If AD is healthy, he's playing center for 40 minutes a night so you figure the rim will be protected enough.

AD don’t play center tho

and he been primarily defending on the perimeter this year.....you been watching or nah?

 

[pmatic]

AD don’t play center tho

and he been primarily defending on the perimeter this year.....you been watching or nah?

If I wasn't clear, I mean come playoff time.

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

Whiteside come on down

 

[SORIANOTRON]

Nah man, if AD is to cook he needs to be the PF....thats the reason we signed Marc....so u move AD to C then what do you do with Marc? Have him guard forwards?

having marc on the floor really hurts us, it will be MAGNIFIED in the playoffs.

not sure why some of y’all think our issues are automatically going to disappear in the playoffs with a few tweaks?

 

[MajinZuub]

Cousins and Gasol as the center tandem isn't it man Both will be damn near unplayable in the playoffs.

 

[SORIANOTRON]

Cousins and Gasol as the center tandem isn't it man Both will be damn near unplayable in the playoffs.

Better than gasol and trez.

what would you suggest?

 

[pmatic]

Nah man, if AD is to cook he needs to be the PF....thats the reason we signed Marc....so u move AD to C then what do you do with Marc? Have him guard forwards?

having marc on the floor really hurts us, it will be MAGNIFIED in the playoffs.

not sure why some of y’all think our issues are automatically going to disappear in the playoffs with a few tweaks?

AD's ceiling is the roof when he plays center. It would be a disservice to keep him at PF for a majority of his minutes. I think Kuzma has showed enough that he can be the other frontcourt player with Bron down the stretch of games.

 

[SORIANOTRON]

huh? Disservice? AD has been a PF his whole career?

how many games AD play center for us last year

[rogan] jamie can you pull that up? [/rogan]

I bet it’s less than 10, probably more like 5

 

[MajinZuub]

Better than gasol and trez.

what would you suggest?

Man I don’t know I just know it’s bad
Big market is pretty *** right now

 

[SORIANOTRON]

Man I don’t know I just know it’s bad
Big market is pretty *** right now

I hear you bro, same.

I do trust in Rob, he watch the team very closely. He knows what we need.

 

[pmatic]

"Anthony Davis doesn't look right this year. He rarely goes to the basket in post-up situations and is settling for way more jumpers (and missing more often as well). Do you think he's injured? Saving his body? Are Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell clogging the paint?"
- Jonathan

Since this question was posed, we've gotten an answer: Davis is in fact bothered by the Achilles tendonosis that sidelined him this week, which he told reporters has caused soreness around his right calf muscle for "a couple of weeks."

I think it's worth digging into how that might have affected Davis' performance.

First, let's note how high a bar Davis had to set for his still-excellent play -- he ranks 13th in the NBA in my wins above replacement player despite the time he missed this week -- to not look right. But there are meaningful differences, particularly in the interior play you mentioned (albeit not post-ups specifically, which are largely unchanged). Per Second Spectrum tracking, Davis' shot attempts in the restricted area are down from 8.0 per 100 possessions during the 2019-20 regular season to 5.8 so far this season.

That entire drop can be attributed to half-court possessions, where his attempts in the restricted area are down by more than a third (6.4 per 100 possessions to 4.2). It naturally follows that Davis isn't getting to the free throw line as often -- 8.3 attempts per 100 possessions, down from 11.7 last season and his lowest mark since his rookie season.

It's interesting that this trend predates when Davis said the soreness in his right calf began. In fact, his rate of half-court attempts in the restricted area is actually up slightly in the past month. And his free throw rate was lowest at the start of the season. Over the first four games of 2020-21, Davis attempted just 13 free throws, his second-lowest four-game total with the Lakers. That suggests there's something more than just the injury going on here.

At first, I was skeptical of the hypothesis that it had to do with the Lakers' centers given Marc Gasol is providing more floor spacing than Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee did last season. And it's true that Davis' half-court attempts in the restricted area per 100 possessions were better when he played center in 2019-20 (8.0 per 100 possessions) than so far this season (6.9). But I was probably missing an important point, which is that Davis hasn't played center very much this season.

According to analysis of data from NBA Advanced Stats, Davis has played just 12% of his minutes this season as the Lakers' center as compared to 40% last season. He's played more frequently with starter Gasol (53% of his minutes) than McGee (40%) and with backup Montrezl Harrell (34%) than he did Howard (20%). This might be by design to save Davis from additional wear and tear during the regular season. If so, we can expect AD to look more like himself when the Lakers turn more frequently to smallball lineups in the playoffs like last season, when Davis played 60% of his minutes at center.

Do the Lakers need more from Anthony Davis?

From Lakers frontcourt issues to debating All-Star selections, Kevin Pelton answers your questions.

www.espn.com

 

[Lizakers]

Pelinka and the FO team really dropped the ball making this team smaller.

 

[tupac003]

Lakers to waive Quinn Cook, unlikely to reunite with DeMarcus Cousins

The Lakers will waive guard Quinn Cook before his contract becomes guaranteed, a source says. Multiple people call a DeMarcus Cousins return unlikely.

www.latimes.com

No boogie and more talks of whiteside.

 

[king j]

How do yal feel about the Trez signing at this point?

 

[SORIANOTRON]

Trez been very solid, pleased with his ability to buy in and provide BIG ENERGY for this team.

He got a crazy nack for being in the right places at the right time and using angles on the block. Dood scores around the rim like he’s in middle school.

can’t knock him for being undersized as a defender. He’s doing what we are asking him to do to his ability.

I think if we get another big, we can take some of the defensive liability off his shoulders and let him cook even more.

 

[grittyman]

How do yal feel about the Trez signing at this point?

Trez has been great.

Don’t think just throwing the ball down him on the post is the best way to utilize his talents but that’s more on coaching than anything else. I’m happy with the signing, not perfect but he’s an overall positive impact player.