We know the big lineup works on both sides of the ball. Strong drives to the basket on fast paced offense from high energy defense. Rondo. Hart. Ingram. LeBron. Javale Small lineup cant operate without either a tough defender down low to improve D or significantly better 3 point shooters. Ivica is not the answer to that and while Kuz has been anchoring that second unit he should not be in C on defense at all.
Getting a center is a priority. Moritz might help a little eventually. That will actually improve perimeter defense having a taller guy waiting to help in the paint.
Rondo. Ball Hart. KCP Lebron. Lance Ingram. Kuz AD. Javale That would be a good rotation. Even if they don't get AD maybe they end up giving Randle that contract he wanted.
Btw, Luke better realize hes not a rookie head coach here. Magic will get rid of his ass if they bomb the first 20 games. There are a lot of holes on this team, but lots of talent. The lack of a big backup and 3 pt shooting is something that this team cannot hide and have to address at some point if they want to be in contention. besides that? I liked the commradiere and intensity they played with. Every game is gonna be a big one when brons lakers come to town and this team is gonna find out soon, they cant take a play off. They aren't used to that. For the young guys this was their first playoff game. No longer will they be hidden by mediocrity. every move, mistake, loss and win will be overanalyzed to death. But we will see soon who can play under this spotlight and having to give 100 every single night for 82 games. gonna be a fun season.
16th loss in a row to Portland. Smh On the strength of fuckin Nick Stauskas, good god. Hart with 20 off the bench and good shooting..wtf happened to him starting? Guess he still played 27 minutes, but his role may have to grow since he's a good rebounder. Only 28 minutes for Ingram..he should be 30 or more. Beasley and his 2 minutes played. Lol May as well give his jersey to Noah..but Noah's called LeBron a bitch to his face about 1,000 times over the years, so not sure he's gonna get a call. LeBron reaching out to Lance was nothing, that was a playful little eastern conference matchup. If LeBron were to reach out to Noah, though, that would impress me.
Damn I didn't realize Houston also lost their top defensive coach to retirement Jeff Bzdelik. So 3 key defensive figures are gone. Lakers need to take advantage tomorrow
