playoff bubble rondo was the ultimate player

and they all deferred to the man with the guitar

> prime Lebron 

Got to narrow it down, there are like 5 of them

Well now we have prime Luka and Mamu Mentality

I mean this is prime Luka who has led the league in scoring 2 of the last 3 seasons and only reason he didn’t that one year is cause he was traded and injured all year.

Everyone thought LeBron was past his prime in 2020

Oh trust me I’m a big hater on the roster they’ve built, Luka/AR is no Lebron/AD… I just remember it being the same talking point when they won that chip.

Good old meme team roster.

Zaire helps a ton. One more good wing and this is a complete and balanced rotation

Grimes was 40% from three playing in Dallas next to Luka

Williams is a defender, not a sharpshooter

Kessler we don’t know yet, we’ll see how he shoots but his interview suggests he’s worked on it further

They’ve also pushed Vando out of the rotation, and removed Smart, Hayes, and Ayton three of which can’t shoot and one of which is bad at shooting. Also, the total 3PT attempts per game for all the new signings are a lot higher than the outgoing players. So they’ve significantly increased 3PT volume while keeping the percentage the same.

The analytics love it based on their roles in their previous teams. For instance, the basketball reference lineup tool has the starting lineup at +13-14 net rating with Grimes and Mamu starting. Slotting in Kuminga for Grimes turns it into a +17.5. Obviously that’s all theoretical, but it’s clear this roster reconstruction is data driven and very likely led by JJ.

Another important factor is most of these guys can attack closeouts and playmake to an extent. Something Rui couldn’t do and Kennard could only do against weak defenders. It’s a roster that’s a lot less one-dimensional that it was last year. Kuminga, Kessler, Carr, and Adou are also much bigger lob threats than last season’s equivalent players which naturally fits Luka’s playstyle better.

Also Grimes is a JJ guy, JJ talked about really liking his game a couple years ago.

Bballindex is ran by a prominent lakers fan who also works as consultant for NBA teams in their analytics departments

His stats get posted a lot on r/lakers, for example here is Mamus “report card” https://np.reddit.com/r/lakers/s/coWV9Wnir4

Basically the lakers signings look strong on those metrics, it’s why lakers fans feel the team is analytically driven. Whether that’s right or wrong depends on if you trust that data

For reference too the data has hated a lot of past lakers moves and Cranjis has been very vocal and unashamed to say when he hates them

Luke is low volume and very infamously protective of his percentages by hesitating on anything that isn’t wide open. Bron is not spacing the floor at his age. Come on now. Rui is super stationary and also completely invisible if he isn’t shooting 50%. Guys like Grimes and Carr if his game even remotely translates are going to shoot way more and in more ways. I would trust JJs input on this kind of thing

You, my friend, are shooting for the Sudan.”

edit : Link

We basically paid what we should have for getting Luka the way I see it

I agree that this core is an improvement over last years team and players that actually gel together in terms of playstyle and skillset.

Very excited to see how this year turns out and with Reaves taking a little less money to be able to give us flexibility next year is great.

The transition from a “one year at a time” LeBron team to a “2-4 years at a time” Luka team was always going to be rough.

I think they’ll be better this year and I don’t think it’s a weird take at all.

Yeah, thats exactly where im at with them. The team seems a lot more cohesive, but the price they paid for Walker Kessler both in terms of picks and the contract makes my nuts shrivel, but its definitely the time to take risks.

Sexton, Grimes, Mamu, Ziaire, and Kessler are all solid pieces to add though, and I liked the Carr pick too. Y’all are definitely one of the teams I’m most interested in seeing on the court next year to see how it all fits.

I don’t even think they’ll be worse without LeBron. Barring injuries this team will win at least the same amount of games and definitely have a better net rating. The Lakers had the 29th bench scoring in the entire NBA last year and they made a ton of moves to improve the bench.

This is what LeBron leaving allows them to do.

With LeBron and doncic/Reaves you were stuck in a win now but be flexible stance because one player was past his prime but so good you can’t let opportunity pass you by but you have 2 young players that you want to keep happy and not tie the team down with mismatching contracts.

Now the team can build around Luka and Reaves and whether they’ve done it well or not, they picked a direction and are running with it.

There is a world out there where bro will be our starting 4 lool

Knecht getting locked into a broom closet before fighting anybody for minutes

knecht is basically excommunicated at this point

He’ll beat out Knecht for playing time 100%

I think Jake hit a wall, last season was probably the most amount of playing time he’s seen on the court as a pro player

Yeah

if anything, this upcoming season might just be Ziaire’s best.

I’m just glad we have another wing on the roster that JJ might play at this point lol it’s all gravy to me after staring at the possibility of 30+ mins of Laravia

LeSperGM

Yeah still missing 2 starter level players so likely not a contending team next year but if Carr & Adou can develop into those 2 starter level players that they are missing then they might have a chance at contending in a few years.

I think that’s what the franchise is banking on because otherwise they don’t have any assets left to trade to get those 2 players from other teams since they traded everything they had left for Kessler.

Chinese NBA fans so good with the nicknames lol

Definitely right that defense is more of a team weak point but you still have to be at least a threat from 3 so that teams can’t just ignore you on offense

Even Lebron was forced to be LeAlfred to Luka and Reaves

Jordi wanted a reunion with Keon Ellis

No he’s not that good saying he’s a 3 and D piece is being generous because if he was so good he wouldn’t have been signed for scraps 😂

Ziaire Williams’ career has involved a LOT of people saying “hopefully he figures it out this year”

Because Kuminga wants $20M+ per year whereas his value around the league is probably more around half of that. Once him and his agent understand this, he’ll get signed.

LeBron undecided basically means he’s waiting for those who didn’t win the sweepstakes to offer him a contract. It’s the same reason why players like Danny Green didn’t sign offers till after Kawhi decision in 2019.