So it has come down to this for the Lakers

[Pelicanidae]

I wasn't here for that being on the outside, I don't think fans from other teams paid much attention, but it sounds pretty much like Tim Duncan throughout his career. My main theory for that was: Duncan wants to be compared to the all-time greats at the 4 and not the 5, which pretty much puts him at the top of the heap. You throw him in with 5's, and even before you do that, nobody can make a conclusive argument when you have Kareem, Wilt, Shaq, Hakeem, Bill Russel.

And even if it had to do with the then present era, it could mean Duncan didn't want to be compared against the much physically stronger Shaq, with whom he had uncountable battles, and a totally different type of game.

Could be the same for AD? Either he is thinking ahead and doesn't want to be compared to greats at the 5, or he doesn't want to be compared to current guys like Embiid who are stronger than him.

Putting aside the Duncan comparison (which I get why you made, but I just have Duncan top 5 all time so I don't wanna squabble about it. Duncan > Shaq, Hakeem, Wilt, Bill Russell, imo), I do think there are similarities in that.

Now, Duncan did transition to playing the 5 more towards the end of his career, and maybe AD will do the same, but I seriously do think it's a mental thing.

AD seems to think that positions require certain playstyles. He plays a more face-up game, does more ball handling, shoots more from distance, and has a relatively small focus on the post game for a traditional centre, and for him that's the game he thinks he would be expected to play if he was listed as a 5. As a 4, his style of play is more typical historically (especially if you remember that people like Bird actually played a lot of PF in his career), and he seems to feel better when his playstyle fits that expectation. I think he's afraid that if he is listed as the 5, he would expected to be someone that he isn't.

Obviously that's not true, and in today's NBA centres are not expected to be play like Robert Parish, but if it's a mental block (which I think it is) then what can you do about it? Not much. Just play him next to a PF and list them as the centre instead, and let him pretend he's a PF while he does the C job all day.

[ml wave]

I think he doesn't want to bang with the big boys and if he's the 4 someone else can deal with Embiid. He can't come out and say "I'll play the 5 except in certain matchups" because he'll think that makes him look weak.

[Pelicanidae]

Dwight Howard is on his way back to the Los Angeles Lakers, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. https://t.co/kivzAhm0n6

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 23, 2019

Dwight Howard’s agent, Charles Briscoe of Briscoe Sports Group, has completed buyout with Grizzlies officials, and Howard will sign with the Lakers once he clears waivers, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 23, 2019

DWIGHT IS ON HIS WAY BACK TO LA

D12 IS BACK WITH THE LAKERS

AD SAVED FROM PLAYING CENTRE BY DWIGHT. IT'S OFFICIAL.

edit: also, lol at the Lakers resigning Dwight on Kobe's birthday

[Pelicanidae]

Lakers are entering a Howard partnership with caution. For years, he's talked about making changes in how he interacts with coaches and teammates. He's still saying those things now, but the ability to cut him without cost keeps leverage with organization. https://t.co/Q7i5NcAtJA

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 23, 2019

''Lakers players were involved in the process''

You know what that means. AD begged for a centre, and Lebron requested Howard.



I've said before even in this thread, that I don't actually think it would be a terrible hire just from an on-court perspective, and keeping the deal non-guaranteed is actually a very good move on LA's part, but the optics of this are just fantastic.

[Pelicanidae]

I kinda feel bad for Lakers fans, in a kind of 'someone should get them some help' way.

I've already seen lineups where people take the rumours of Lebron playing point literally, as if they only need one functional guard, which is fantastic. They seem to forget that they still need someone who can GUARD opposing PGs, and while Lebron could definitely do that in 2013, it's not something he's really up to at this point in his career.

They also all seem to believe that Avery Bradley is still an elite defender, which is pretty funny given that he's been a very subpar defender for multiple seasons now; his steals percentage is down dramatically from his days in Boston over the last few years, and last season he was 75th among shooting guards in DRPM. For comparison, JJ Redick (who is definitively not a lock down defender) managed to rank 54th among SG DRPM.

In fact, just as a little experiment, here's some of the key names from LA's current roster and where they ranked at their respective positions in DRPM last season:

Now, I'm not saying that this is the most popular proposal out there, but I've seen seen Lakers fans on twitter suggesting that they roll out Bradley/Kuzma/Lebron/AD/Howard as a starting 5. A few of them have even gone as far as to suggest that this 5 man lineup would be one of the best defensive lineups in the league.

I just want to inform you that while Lebron ranked 9th in DRPM among small forwards last season, and AD ranked 3rd among PFs, and that does appear to be a promising start for this supposed defensive juggernaut of a lineup, Howard ranked 38th among centres, Bradley ranked 75th among SGs, and Kuzma ranked 75th among PFs. 75th among PFs, and they're suggesting he play the 2.

They probably can field lineups that would be solid defensively, I'm not doubting that (although I would doubt the ability of those lineups to consistently create offense outside of asking Lebron to just make shots appear for everyone, which he can certainly do, but which doesn't fit the idea that Lebron doesn't want to be doing everything all the time anymore), but I do not for a second believe they have anything like a top 5 defense, and possibly not even a top 10 one.

[Mythrol]

Can we pick up Dwight off waivers just to stick it to the Lakers?

[Pelicanidae]

pic.twitter.com/yPVmSHVl18

— Jacob Goldstein (@JacobEGoldstein) August 23, 2019

Jeeeeesus

Imagine going to the Lakers facility, intending to see three of the Lakers key guys, and they shove you in a room with Rondo and Javale.

Shamit's saying on twitter that you just know Rondo's going to politic his way into being the starting PG, which is both true and hilarious.

[Pelicanidae]

Can we pick up Dwight off waivers just to stick it to the Lakers?

I think our roster is full, so we'd have to cut someone, and as much as I like being petty I wouldn't want to lose anyone at this point for Dwight.

[13 - 3]

Rondo is going to politically bully his way into starting and I'm here for it.

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) August 23, 2019

[13 - 3]

LOL

When you look at locker room equity on the Lakers, no one has any outside Bron and AD. Who's gonna tell Rondo no? Kuzma?

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) August 23, 2019

[Pelicanidae]

LOL

When you look at locker room equity on the Lakers, no one has any outside Bron and AD. Who's gonna tell Rondo no? Kuzma?

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) August 23, 2019

It's gonna be great.

People said WE would have trouble shooting...

Rondo/Green/Lebron/AD/Howard ... yikes. I count 1 shooter, 1 guy who can consistently create his own shot, and precisely 2 switchable multi-positional defenders.

Jeeeeeeeesus.

[13 - 3]

Non-guaranteed contract offered to Dwight. Obviously they don’t trust him. Get the popcorn out!

[Pelicanidae]

Laker's third best player is Danny Green.

I like Danny Green a lot.

Is he the third best player on a championship team in this West, on a team with few high quality complimentary pieces? Not really.

[WildlifeAirGrp]

We gotta hope they have enough mustard for an 8th seed this year. Then let time, physics and lack of draft selections set in for the next 4 years. After the nuclear dust has settled, Griff will be hailed an absolute genius and the Staples Center will resemble the New Orleans Auditorium.

[Pelicanidae]

We gotta hope they have enough mustard for an 8th seed this year. Then let time, physics and lack of draft selections set in for the next 4 years. After the nuclear dust has settled, Griff will be hailed an absolute genius and the Staples Center will resemble the New Orleans Auditorium.

Why do we have to hope anything?

If anything, wouldn't it be even funnier if they missed the playoffs entirely but only ended up getting a late lottery pick (say, 12th?), we made the playoffs, AD walked to (just spitballin' here), maybe the Clippers, and LA was completely doomed to garbage for the next 6 years?

[WildlifeAirGrp]

Why do we have to hope anything?

If anything, wouldn't it be even funnier if they missed the playoffs entirely but only ended up getting a late lottery pick (say, 12th?), we made the playoffs, AD walked to (just spitballin' here), maybe the Clippers, and LA was completely doomed to garbage for the next 6 years?

Eight seed would guarantee a non-lottery pick. of course we would be 4th or 5rh seed.

[Pelicanidae]

Eight seed would guarantee a non-lottery pick. of course we would be 4th or 5rh seed.

Sure, but them getting the 12th pick or similar in next years draft (not exactly a draft that's loaded all the way or anything) and just missing the playoffs entirely is much more fun than them getting the 17th pick and making the playoffs.

AD demands a trade to LA, citing wanting to win as his reason. Goes to LA. Misses the playoffs again, while his old team makes it.

That's funny.

[Mythrol]

AD demands a trade to LA, citing wanting to win as his reason. Goes to LA. Misses the playoffs again, while his old team makes it.

This is all of it right here. I don't care about picks or anything else this season. I would love to make it further than the Lakers in the playoffs.

[bahmamamba]

This is all of it right here. I don't care about picks or anything else this season. I would love to make it further than the Lakers in the playoffs.

imagine pulling a Portland and getting to the WCF poor ad

Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk

[Pelicanidae]

Top 6 names, head to head, Pels vs Lakers, at this stage of their careers. So when I compare AD to Zion, that's 7 year veteran AD vs rookie Zion, not career projections, obviously.

PG: Lonzo vs Rondo - Lonzo wins
SG: Jrue vs Green - Jrue wins
SF: Ingram vs Lebron - Lebron wins
PF: Zion vs AD - AD wins
C: Favors vs Howard - Favors wins
6: Redick vs Kuzma - Redick wins

Pels win, 4-2.

Yet some people think the Lakers are title contenders and the Pels won't even make the playoffs. Crazy.

[SoCal4Pels]

Funny being a crazy fan of them for the last 21 years--I even have a ball signed by the team when we had Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton. But as I said in my introductory thread, I had to ask myself what I really was a fan of anymore. From ownership to the FO to players (outside of Kuzma), the team is now full of people I have never liked. Will still watch their games because it is gonna be crazy around here for the foreseeable future with the Clippers vs. Lakers dynamic. Gonna be rooting for the Clippers, though I must say PG13, historically a classy guy, left a bad taste in my mouth after his whiny poor sportsmanship comments after what Dame did to him. Not unforgivable I guess, and you gotta respect people like KL, Rivers, Jerry West, and ownership.

As far as the playoffs, unless there is a major injury, I find it pretty much impossible that 7 of the 8 slots are not already reserved: Clippers, Golden State, Lakers, Denver, Portland, Utah, Houston. Going to be super interesting because it is so wide open--there will definitely be some teams that will surprisingly overachieve (my picks are GS, Portland), and some that surprisingly underachieve (Lakers, Houston).

If the Pelicans can squeak in at number 8 in this insanely stacked conference, it will be a massive, massive success for this year with such a young team that hasn't gelled. But it is refreshing to be rooting for a team that I am assuming has a fanbase that can appreciate the team even when they don't win a championship. I like Portland too; kinda feels like Zion/Jrue could be like Dame/McCollum in that regard.

Looking forward to it!

[Pelicanidae]

As far as the playoffs, unless there is a major injury, I find it pretty much impossible that 7 of the 8 slots are not already reserved: Clippers, Golden State, Lakers, Denver, Portland, Utah, Houston. Going to be super interesting because it is so wide open--there will definitely be some teams that will surprisingly overachieve (my picks are GS, Portland), and some that surprisingly underachieve (Lakers, Houston).

If the Pelicans can squeak in at number 8 in this insanely stacked conference, it will be a massive, massive success for this year with such a young team that hasn't gelled. But it is refreshing to be rooting for a team that I am assuming has a fanbase that can appreciate the team even when they don't win a championship. I like Portland too; kinda feels like Zion/Jrue could be like Dame/McCollum in that regard.

Looking forward to it!

As much as I agree with your 7 playoff teams, I do have to add that I wouldn't be too surprised if the Lakers didn't make the playoffs. Outside of AD, Lebron, and Danny Green, that roster really is just not very good whatsoever, and if either AD or Lebron miss even a couple of games (not a major injury, let's just say they both play something like 65-70 games each, which in today's load management era is not that many missed) due to injury, they could be teetering on that edge.

I think the Pelicans fanbase overall definitely wants a championship, of course, every fanbase does. But we've never won one, and we're not dumb enough to assume that we're gonna win one immediately. We've seen what happens when you try to rush the process, or try to skip steps, and it's not pretty. Do we want a ring within the next decade? Sure, of course we do. Do we expect or demand a ring every single season starting this year? God no, that's absurd. Even if we miss the playoffs this year, that'd suck of course, but as long as we're fun to watch and there's progress among the younger players, I think we can handle that without an issue.

[UNO Gracias]

It will be interesting to see if the Lakers waive Dwight after Jan. 7th in order to bring in Iggy.

[Pelicanidae]

It will be interesting to see if the Lakers waive Dwight after Jan. 7th in order to bring in Iggy.

Assuming Iggy is actually available, which he may not be.

[SoCal4Pels]

Or buy out Rondo to sign CP3 if he gets a buyout. Though I think that this is still extremely unlikely for a number of reasons, despite how much CP3 and Lebron would like it to happen. Lakers would likely have to pitch in a bunch of cash to help cover the buyout, CP3 would have to take a haircut on his current deal and take a small deal to try to chase a championship within Lebron's remaining window, and OKC would have to be willing to get almost nothing else for him since the Lakers already gave NO all their picks. Probably a bunch more I am forgetting.