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I don’t check Twitter for a minute and all of a sudden the Lakers got Marc Gasol! What the?! I think they have gotten even better than last years championship team which stinks for our draft picks.
They have added Dennis Schroeder, Wesley Mathews, Montrez Harrell, and Marc Gasol
You can argue the Lakers got better offensively, but defensively it is definitely a step back.
Javale and Dwight played a major role as far as rebounding and defense last year. They go from that to Harrel and Marc Gasol.
I think they have gotten WAY better offensively and they still got AD & LeBron who could both be on the all defensive first team every year IMO. We all know AD is going nowhereOriginally Posted by luckyman
C: Gasol
PF: AD, Harrell
SF: LeBron, Kuzma
SG: Mathews, KCP
PG: Schroeder, Caruso
I’m sure they get a cheap defensive center to join them
Last edited by DaPelFromHell; 11-22-2020 at 07:43 PM.
Let?s say Gasol best case plays 25 mins a game. Who else can they get right now? Adams is going to wipe the floor with Gasol and whoever they sign. Adams trade already paying off just in terms of matchups. I know it?s been a minute since centers have been viewed as important to ships but i promise they are about to again.
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Last edited by Sleeper; 11-22-2020 at 07:59 PM.
Getting away from hypotheticals I want to seriously address the 4 remaining roster spots. One of those one is a 2-way contract. Anyone aware of an undrafted guy that hasn't signed with someone that has potential as a wing. The kid from Canada (forgot his name) who was listed in several top 10 lists of remaining undrafted kids is still out there I think. I think they need another wing or two.
I realize folks don't worry about this side of the game in terms of the roster, but those 4 could play.
Karim Mane' is his name. I think he would have been a good signing as well, but Orlando signed him to a 2-way deal.
I agree that they got better, but it means nothing for our draft picks, really.
Firstly, Marc Gasol is probably going to retire after next season. So that's one thing.
Secondly, players like Wes Matthews and Montrezl Harrell are good complimentary pieces but are themselves not drivers of winning basketball: and in the playoffs, Harrell stops being even that.
Thirdly, Schroeder just isn't that good really, not sure where this hype for him has come from.
Basketball.
Fourthly...They are not built to sustain an injury to either 'Alpha' or 'Beta'.
I feel like their Alpha and Beta driving that prepandemic bus to the point the wheels were going to fall off and that hreak really benefitted them. We'll see how they go about this season that hopefully won't give them that respite.
Good positive energy.
But also, yo mama's fat.
With 3 guys to sign, how much are we under the lax line?
They'll have a built in excuse of no off season, but that 4 months off doesn't count.
Dario Saric has agreed to a three-year, $27M deal to stay with Phoenix, agents Jeff Schwartz and Mike Lindeman of @excelsm_bball tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 23, 2020
PHX is going to be a much better team this season.
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Free agent F Solomon Hill has agreed to a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 23, 2020
I saw that. Thanks
Free agent G Damyean Dotson has agreed to a two-year, $4M deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, his agent Chris Gaston of @Famfirstsports tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 23, 2020
Free agent Markieff Morris has agreed to a minimum deal to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, source tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 23, 2020
The PELS need a SF that can at least limit LeBron. We need to be difficult for the lakers.
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Why do we need to be difficult for the Lakers? We have zero chance against them in a 7 game series with our current lineup. Plus, the Lakers have gotten better in my opinion.
Keep the eye on the prize. Making the playoffs in the 7th or 8th seed is the goal this year with being a championship contender 2-3 years from now.
DeMarre Carroll is still a FA. Does he have anything left in the tank?
There's about 4 of those guys in the entire league and none of them are available right now. Sucks but it's true. We are not getting a serious FA contributor at SF now.
The guy who needs to take a step forward in this area is Zion. He's the guy that has the body and raw athleticism to guard the bigger SF/PFs. I think this year he needs to be tested in that area and learn from his mistakes
Totally agree. There is no physical reason why Maxi Kleber can do a good job defending those players and Zion, if he is in shape, can?t. There is a hard ceiling on this team if neither BI or Zion can defend the biggest wings, and because most of those guys win with strength, Zion is the more likely candidate.
Short answer - no.
That's my biggest area of observation for Zion this year. He doesn't need to prove to me that he can score at the NBA level: he averaged 29 points per 36 on 62%TS as a rookie, he's proven that to me already.
He also doesn't need to prove to me that he can pass: he's shown that already, although I do want him to get more opportunities on ball to explore that more.
What I want to see from him this year is defensive improvement. He was a really good defender at Duke (4%STL, 6%BLK, 87.4 DRtg, +6.7 DBPM) and while I don't expect him to rack up those stats in the NBA (4%STL rating in the NBA has only been done 35 times ever, and only twice in the last 20 years, for example, and 87.4 DRtg would tie Ben Wallace for the best single season DRtg in NBA history) I do expect him to be a capable defender who can use his strength well and utilise his high level instincts and feel.
Watching him last season, it was clear that he was a step slow - part of that is just to the long layoff from injury, part of it you could argue is the weight, part of it is that the team defense sucked anyway so it's hard to just slot in a new guy, and another part is that he looked hesitant: there were times he clearly considered going for a block but decided not to, I think out of fear of fouling.
This season, with plenty of time to get in shape, the injury behind him, a new coach who puts more priority on defense, and him starting at the same time as everyone else, I want to see that defense start to come out. Nobody is expecting All-Defense sophomore seasons or anything, but he should be at a decent defender this year.
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