Better, yes, but how much better? Does AD joining a completely mediocre, non playoff contending team, who already has a good player who plays his position, and who gutted their roster and future to get him, suddenly make them the best in the West? Doubtful.
Davis Kuzma Lebron Ariza kind of player Kemba I don't think this is mediocre if it happens, which seems likely tbh.
Yea that's a contending team for sure. If it were just LeBron, AD, Kuzma and a bunch of fillers I wouldn't even care. But if they can get Walker or Irving then yea pretty much you can punch their ticket to the Finals barring catastrophic injuries.
[Spears] “And word is that Williamson was excited and very much at home during his recent two-day trip to New Orleans to visit the Pelicans.” “Word is that Ball, Ingram and Hart are all excited for a fresh start in New Orleans playing with Williamson, too.”
Will AD be willing to play center? He has preferred to be a PF most of his career. Kuzma is a PF so thats kind of an issue there that the Lakers talent are in the same areas. Heck LeBron can play PF easily in any small ball lineup. If the Lakers do start Davis/Kuzma/LeBron as their front court that is fine but that leaves them super thin off the bench. Regardless of what their cap space I am not sure if they have bird rights to any of the players from last season with the exception of maybe KCP. I believe they may end up having a top-heavy team which can work if the top heavy talent is distributed but it doesnt seem to be the case at the moment with LA. How they plan to round out the roster will be interesting but AD has on average missed 15 games per season (just under 20% of the season) since he was a rookie. If LeBron follows the 'load management route' that probably means he will not play in 20% of the games as well. I think the Lakers made a huge mistake in trying to get LeBron in his remaining years. If they just built around the young guys they did have they could have had a team of: D'Lo/Lonzo/Clarkson/Ingram/Kuzma/Nance/Randle/Zubac Which to me is far more balanced and deep could have made much more noise in the west right now. (Hart probably would not have been drafted without the D'Lo trade) Lakers maybe favorites to win the title right now in Vegas but I do not see it happening unless they get a 3rd star and a bunch of capable players that are all willing to sign for the vet min.
Kuzma will lead the 2nd unit. but the Davis/Kuzma/LeBron trio will be on the floor during crunch time the ~~ 20 Mil cap space can afford folks like, Danny Green, Brook Lopez and others in retro, LAL biggest mistakes last yr was trading away Zubac
Kyrie Irving is still "in play" for the Lakers according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. The Durant injury is basically going to make Irving pick Lakers since he wouldn't want to wait a full year for Durant to be healthy. Already calling it right now
Danny Ainge really upped the ante on the Lakers while knowing Davis prob wouldnt resign there. Typical move of his douchey caliber...
"The Knicks discussed a trade package for Anthony Davis that included Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith, Thursday’s No. 3 overall pick and other draft compensation but they never fully offered forward Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports. The Pelicans weren’t particularly high on either Knox or Robinson anyway but the Knicks were reluctant to jeopardize their future flexibility because they weren’t convinced Davis would re-sign with them."
Joining a mediocre team... LeBron Kuzma no one no one no one and even with the players they had in those slots...how did the Lakers do? 35-47, Finished 11th in NBA Western Conference. That's not really even mediocre. Also, I don't see your list happening. Lakers will have I believe about $24M in cap space? That probably doesn't get Kemba, and it certainly doesn't add another Ariza kind of player along with it. It adds whoever they can pick up from the neighborhood, or maybe raffle each game for 7 fans to join.
Yes, because Kyrie has a long history of willingness to take less money and relegate his role on the team to others. Makes sense.
This is realistic. All those still talking about Lakers getting another superstar are very math challenged. Lakers will fill out their roster with players like you mention. Does that make them 4-1 favorites to win the West? Not in any rational world. The Lakers have shown they have no idea how to get parts that fit together. Also, it takes time for those parts to gel. Finally....what track record does their coach have of getting disparate parts like that to fit together and win a championship?
Not sure i get your point... "joining a mediocre team", they are literally building a team from the ground...how is relevant how well they did last season when the only players that are still there are Lebron freaking James and the best rookie scale player they had? Regardless, they can open up around 30M if (which is not even a if, it's a given) Davis waves the kicker in his contract (4M) and they move Wagner and/or Bonga, at that point whether it's Kemba or Vuc, Cousins or Middleton, if not Irving or someone via trade, and another solid player like Ariza, Danny Green, Beverley, Rivers, DeAndre, Redick, Aminu, Payton, Morris, Mirotic etc with the MLE...i'd say yeah, that has the chance to be more than a mediocre team.
Exactly my point. They didn't have much to begin with, and half of what they had is gone. As for building a team from the ground...maybe wait until we see what that looks like before anointing them champions? How well did the Lakers construct teams the previous....decade? Also, even IF they do get decent pieces, it takes time for those pieces to gel. and this is all based on the IF LBJ stays healthy. Given his player age (which is several years older than his actual age, which is getting up there itself), that's certainly not a given.
Well i'm not saying it's a given it happenjs of course, no one could say that lol, but i feel like it's likely, only this. I can agree with the fact tha they would've to gel etc, nothing is guaranteed, but acting like they won't be a problem regardless is just a wrong approach imo.
That's fair...I'm just saying everyone leaping to conclusions about pre ordained Laker greatness is a bit .. premature, at this point.
