2 of Amerika’s Most Wanted: The Official GOAT franchise Boss Angeles Lakers 2019-2020 season thread

[Sinnerman]

Impressive

We have a tough stretch coming up with Houston-Boston-Philly-Nets-Clips

Hopefully we can win at least 3 of those games

 

[Fortunate Lee]

Start at what position?

Take AB’s position..Bron does most of the playmaking anyway.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Take AB’s position..Bron does most of the playmaking anyway.

Then who the hell would defend the guards?

 

[Fortunate Lee]

Then who the hell would defend the guards?

He’s not a bad defender at all..he has length and is strong actually. Plus you still have Green in the lineup.

Nobody can defend the Lillards, Klays and Hardens of this world anyway

Bradley hasn’t been the defender that he was in the past.

By making him a starter..there is gonna be more pressure on him to do other things than scoring which would be great for the Lakers and his overall game

 

[Professor Emeritus]

He’s not a bad defender at all..he has length and is strong actually. Plus you still have Green in the lineup.

Nobody can defend the Lillards, Klays and Hardens of this world anyway

Bradley hasn’t been the defender that he was in the past.

By making him a starter..there is gonna be more pressure on him to do other things than scoring which would be great for the Lakers and his overall game

Kuzma is a HORRIBLE defender because he doesn't understand defensive positioning and makes the wrong decisions constantly. His feet are terrible on defense and it makes his length and strength irrelevant.

And AB has been a very good defender for much of this season.


You clearly haven't seen Lillard or Harden get shut down in the playoffs in recent history (Pelicans did it and damn near anyone who faces Harden has done it). And Klay ain't even active right now so what the hell?

 

[Fortunate Lee]

Kuzma is a HORRIBLE defender because he doesn't understand defensive positioning and makes the wrong decisions constantly. His feet are terrible on defense and it makes his length and strength irrelevant.

And AB has been a very good defender for much of this season.


You clearly haven't seen Lillard or Harden get shut down in the playoffs in recent history (Pelicans did it and damn near anyone who faces Harden has done it). And Klay ain't even active right now so what the hell?

When did Harden and Lillard get shut down by a single player?

You been drinking breh?

I guess we agree to disagree..I don’t think he’s “HORRIBLE” at all..it’s just not being asked of him. That’s when coaching is important

Bron wasn’t very good on defense in his first 3 or so years..until Mike Brown challenged him

 

[Osmosis]

Kuzma will start in the playoffs when AD slides to center

 

[Trojan 24]

He foot was fukked up. You expected bruh to be in NBA game shape let alone shoot well out the GATE after a foot injury? You know how that shyt feel? just to walk on let alone perform at a championship high level? cmon man some of yall gotta think more

Foot injury so he's limited with practice, comes back and gets the eye jammy all while trying to learn how to play with two top 5 players. He can't hang his hat on leading the defense like Bosh did. Brehs expected magic

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

Kuzma will start in the playoffs when AD slides to center

I dunno if it’ll be all that but I think we might try something similar to how we used Odom. Bynum/Gasol would start and Gasol/Odom would finish. It could be done if Kuzma got his defense just good enough for it.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

When did Harden and Lillard get shut down by a single player?

You been drinking breh?

I guess we agree to disagree..I don’t think he’s “HORRIBLE” at all..it’s just not being asked of him. That’s when coaching is important

Bron wasn’t very good on defense in his first 3 or so years..until Mike Brown challenged him

I didn't say that Harden or Lillard got shut down "by a single player". But Jrue bulldogged the hell out of Lillard and then the Pelicans would bring a second guy over to trap him. The trap doesn't work unless the initial defender can at least force him to a spot. And in years before that CP3 has done the same thing to him - Blazer fans know that CP3 was like kryptonite to Lillard, he really made his points tough to get.

And there's lots of guys that have guarded Harden one-on-one without getting burned - off the top of my head I think Jonathan Simmons, Andre Roberson, Klay, and Kawhi have all guarded him very well.

You put Kuzma in either of those situations and he's getting burned off the first step and the defense is suddenly playing 4-on-5. Kuzma cannot be trust to guard elite or even above-average guards at an even mediocre level. You do NOT want him there.

The best hope for Kuz is that the other team has a relatively weak link at the 3/4 that you can hide him on. PJ Tucker on the Rockets or Ferguson on the Thunder. But you get to the teams that matter like the Clippers rolling out Kawhi/PG13 and you're screwed.

 

[Osmosis]

KCP/Caruso/Cook/Daniels shooting 9-18 from three is great, but you really think that is sustainable? What could the Lakers do differently to take advantage of that? Those guys get their chance to hit threes every game, they just aren't that consistent.

Rondo showed out as the primary point guard for this game against strong opposition. Does that really mean you think he should be getting more time at the point going forward? He's already averaging 20+ minutes/game as it is.

Kuzma is shooting 42% this year on 11 shots/game and has really struggled on the defensive end of the ball. He likes the ball in his hands to score but he can't create for other players - even in this game he had exactly 0 assists in 40 minutes. So if Lebron and AD are on the floor, what do you really want Kuzma's role to be and how do you handle the defensive issues that his presence causes, especially when playing Kawhi/AD or Giannis?

I think this came was a confidence builder for the supporting cast. Hard to see it as more than that.

Imo Vogel has done a disservice to Kuzma. He plays most of his minutes exclusively with Rondo who likes to dominate possession and when Kuzma does get the ball he’s been miscast as an isolation player.

The coaching staff needs to recalibrate how they view Kuzma: he’s not the traditional sixth man instant offense player like Lou Will and Jamal Crawford. He needs to get the ball in his spots/moving downhill, he needs plays written for him, and he needs to be empowered to take 5-7 threes a game. Kuzma can score from the outside, has an in between game, and is efficient from floater range.. his two biggest weaknesses are his dribbling and passing.. he’s not the type of player that you task with creating offense for himself and his teammates. He needs to be running off screens more.

As for Cook and Daniels, I get why they were removed from the rotation but I think they should get another shot. They aren’t good defensively but I like how aggressive they are in taking three pointers and shooting off the dribble. Rondo, Caruso and Bradley aren’t those type of players.

 

[CHERUB]

Dudley read the Coli

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Imo Vogel has done a disservice to Kuzma. He plays most of his minutes exclusively with Rondo who likes to dominate possession and when Kuzma does get the ball he’s been miscast as an isolation player.

The coaching staff needs to recalibrate how they view Kuzma: he’s not the traditional sixth man instant offense player like Lou Will and Jamal Crawford. He needs to get the ball in his spots/moving downhill, he needs plays written for him, and he needs to be empowered to take 5-7 threes a game. Kuzma can score from the outside, has an in between game, and is efficient from floater range.. his two biggest weaknesses are his dribbling and passing.. he’s not the type of player that you task with creating offense for himself and his teammates. He needs to be running off screens more.

As for Cook and Daniels, I get why they were removed from the rotation but I think they should get another shot. They aren’t good defensively but I like how aggressive they are in taking three pointers and shooting off the dribble. Rondo, Caruso and Bradley aren’t those type of players.

I can roll with that regarding Kuzma, though I think Kuzma actually likes iso plays and scores better off of them than he does catch-and-shoot a lot of the time.

With Cook and Daniels I just don't think you want one-dimensional players when the playoffs come around. I've just seen way too many guys who got shut down or stopped hitting under pressure and then were a huge liability on the other end as well. Playoff Rondo, Caruso, and Bradley are all multi-tool players who can do other things for you even when their shot isn't falling. And Rondo/Caruso are actually hitting enough of their threes (35% on the season for both) while AB has picked up his shot recently too and actually can be aggressive with the midrange game and getting to the rim from time to time. You don't need them to hunt for their shot like Cook and Daniels do, you just need them to hit enough to keep the defense honest and give Lebron and AD room to work. Danny, Kuz, KCP, Lebron, and AD are already giving you 23 threes a game between them, Rondo/Caruso/Bradly put you up to 30, how many more threes do you need from your squad?

 

[GreatestLaker]

 

[THE MACHINE]

These two are gonna be a goat duo in retirement. As different as their personalities are, I see them hanging out a lot