Cousins is the best true low post scoring big man who can defend the rim and the post in the NBA and he is also excellent in the new style of big man because he can run dribble pass is long and can shoot 3's. There actually never been a player like Cousins. His issues will never be a problem here.
Maybe we can make a trade with the Sixers. Randle, Clarkson, Zubac, Caruso For... Okafor, Bayless, Covington, McAdoo Lonzo, Bayless KCP, Bayless/Ingram Ingram, Covington Kuzma, Nance Lopez, Okafor That is a tight 9 man rotation. Adding Bayless is nice because he can shoot and can play both spots. His D is suspect but he is a nice change of pace from KCP who is more defensive oriented. Covington is going to be a nice SF. Like a guy we used to have but better. Lopez and Okafor can even play together for a bit for a twin towers effect because Brook can run and can play outside while Okafor is the opposite. If we lose Lopez to FA we still have Okafor left who is on rookie deal. Plus it means Kuzma plays more.
We are 4 games into the season and we’re already trading 1/2 our team for 1/2 of another team? This losing sucks, but I don’t like these trade one set if rookies for another right now ideas.
Bad 1st quarter doomed LAL tonight..an otherwise competitive game 3 fellas score 20+, none of them Ingram, Lopez or Zo..depth is flexed a little bit there Kuzmania continues..I think Luke is right..Kuzma may be physically ready to be more consistent than Ingram right now Julius with a decent game, but I can still see him being phased out and its sort of sad So many of the guys on this team know that they won't be with the Lakers for long, its hard to expect them to buy in 110% and to not be out there for themselves Zo, Kuzma and Ingram are essentialy the only guys who are pretty much guaranteed futures with the club Its hard, but that said, I don't see much quit in them either..probably thanks to leader types in Lopez, Bogut and Brewer Lastly, but not least, another solid showing from Zo..for the culture.
Randle is not buying into the koolaid. And Magic is not going to stand for this kind of shit, right? Something drastic is going to go down if Randle does not get his shit together and get with the program. I get your dislike of Okafor but he can be made to look good and then flipped if needed. Randle is not going to be here next year, might as well flip him for someone else's problem. Clarkson is looking kinda good so he may be a sell high candidate. Boston lose a big chunk of their offense with the Gordon injury so an offense infusion via trade might not be a bad idea. And the Sixers are going to be the trade partner for the Celtics and the lakers. Boston gets Jordan Clarkson from the Lakers and Dario Saric from the Sixers two offensive weapons. Lakers get Robert Covington who is a 3&D defender, Okafor, and Jerryd Bayless who plays little D but runs and shoots well all from the Sixers. Philly gets Julius Randle, Ivica Zubac, Thomas Bryant, and the Celtics give up Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart and their rights to the Lakers pick which now belongs solely to the Sixers who also take on the contract of Deng since they are still at least 2 years away from competing and can flip him by then. PG: Lonzo, Bayless, Ennis SG: KCP, Covington, Hart SF: Ingram, Brewer PF: Kuzma, Nance C : Lopez, Okafor, Bogut That is not a bad team. Lopez does not have to play more than 28 or so minutes a night. Nance, Brewer, and Covington can be paired with Okafor to do all the dirty work that Okafor might forget to do. Its an easy rotation. Some point in the late middle of the first period Lopez, Kuzma and KCP are replaced by Okafor Nance and Covington who all end the quarter together with Ingram and Lonzo. This is the switch from the 1st team to team 1.5. Ingram and Lonzo are the constants but they change the other 3 guys in two shifts. Shift A which is Lopez, Kuzma and KCP and shift B which is Okafor, Nance, and Covington. The 2nd shift comes in to start the 2nd period. This has Bayless and Brewer come in with fresh legs so Ingram and Lonzo can sit. After about 3 to 6 minutes the 1A team comes back in. Lonzo, KCP, Ingram, Kuzma, and Lopez. They can either finish the half together or if one is not performing to par or is in foul trouble or in a bad matchup you bring up the 1B guys of Okafor Nance and Covington.
Paul George 6-20 FGs tonight VS the Wolves, and getting roasted by Wiggins. Smh Everybody looking for George to get tired of playing with Westbrook this year..I can't wait until the narrative turns into " George isn't a winner, isn't ready for the west. " Anyway, on to something that's actually possible right now..now Eric Bledsoe wants out of Phoenix after the firing of Watson. Tweeted he wants out earlier today. And LAL should check into that. I'd do Julius/Clarkson/Deng for Bledsoe/Tyson Chandler in a heartbeat. The money works and everything. Tyson Chandler is actually Kuzma's mentor. Kuzma said Chandler's had a hand in his progression. Bledsoe is actually another one of LeBron's guys..another Rich Paul client who LeBron's long been trying to get to CLE..was rumored to be headed to CLE for Kyrie before the Boston thing happened. Put Bledsoe in the starting lineup with Zo and play him off the ball while having him defend the smaller quicker guards. Done. KCP goes to the bench, where streaky guys tend to be better. KCP can be the 3rd guard..Kuzma moves into the 6th man role vacated by JC. Bledsoe deals with the occasional injury every other year it seems, but this is perhaps LAL's chance to get value for Julius, dump Deng, and inch closer to LeBron all at the same time.
Pretty shitty, but like I said above..with Bledsoe now wanting out it presents Pelinka/Magic with an opportunity. Nice looking contract Bledsoe has too..nothing too crazy
PG: Bledsoe, Lonzo SG: Lonzo, KCP, Brewer SF: Ingram, KCP, Brewer PF: Kuzma, Nance C : Brook, (Tyson/Bogut/Zubac/Bryant all for fouling people) Thats a tight 8 man rotation +1 from the pool of backup bigs. Starts off all offense and then Nance and KCP and sometimes a backup big come in to shore up the D a little bit.
Also, I get that the Lonzo hate is coming from people who hate his Dad but goodness this kid would of had over 15 assists if his guys could of scored in the 1st quarter. People are really hating on a pass first PG who plays his ass off and isn't afraid of the bigger guys. He's kind of damned if he does, damned if he doesn't at this point.
It should be clear to anyone that actually watches, that when Zo gets older/stronger he's going to be damn tough to handle because so many of his missed shots from the outside are hitting the front iron, but are right on line. Its ignorant stuff, dude..just have to ignore the foolishness. That boy is 19 with more assist/rebound instincts than 99.9% of the rookie points guards who have ever played and he plays a heady brand of defense too. The fact that this era is so soft with relaxed rules is only going to aid his progression. Yeah a lot of the hate is rolling in from the anti-Lavar demo, but can't forget the silly ass, young D'angelo fans that are hating on Zo too Lol Fuckem both, TBT
Also, on the Bledsoe front..it appears that LAL has checked in. Wouldn't shock me if Rich Paul reached out with the quickness for another favor. We'll see what happens, but I like the idea. Bledsoe, dating back to college, has always played well next to a ball handling PG and has a ton experience off the ball. Whether he was riding shotgun with Wall at UK, CP3 with LAC, or all the PGs that have gone through PHX like Dragic, Isaiah Thomas, etc. Dude flourishes when he's not the primary ball handler. This is Pelinka's chance..another one
almost forgot how much fun it is to watch guys foul each other for the last 10 minutes of a game of basketball 7 pts each from ingram and lopez nice against the pelicans lol doesn't seem all that long ago i anticipated a sunday night laker game
So Bledsoe was sent home from shoot around today and PHX is listening to offers. No word yet on what LAL is offering and maybe thats good..maybe. Knicks and Nuggets are sniffing around. PHX's GM has said Bledsoe has likely played his last game as a Sun. In other news, Dwyane Wade has told Coach Lue that he wants to come off the bench..which means that Lue probaby told him that he needed him to come off the bench and that this is spin. Still..Wade is willing to do it now and will more than likely be willing to do it if he comes to LAL with LeBron next year, so a positive step. He can now fall into the Iguodala role.
