The NBA season is over and now we enter the offseason, and just wanted to write down some thoughts I have about my Lakers as we prepare for the upcoming season.
#1: Please get us some more shooting
Anyone who has been a fan of the Lakers over the past couple of seasons has lamented the lack of shooting on the roster. Watching your team just keep missing wide open 3 after wide open 3 is an absolutely painful experience. Even if the percentages of guys like Kuz, KCP, Caruso look fine the truth is that when it comes to the playoffs good teams will gladly give them wide open 3s to load up on AD and Bron. I don't care if you will shoot 38% in the regular season but when it's the Western Conference Finals do teams take you seriously as a shooting threat and will you be able to create space for AD and Lebron. There is a rumor the Lakers are trying to trade for Buddy Hield. I think that would be a perfect fit with our roster in terms of a player who can space the floor credibly.
#2: The Center position
It's clear following him for 2 years that AD doesn't want to play Center a lot, but there is a big difference between playing Center 10% of your minutes this past seasons versus closer to 40% in the title year. By signing Marc and Trez (and then later Drummond), the Lakers added 3 rotation players who can only play Center depriving the team of more minutes with AD at his best position. Marc gave the Lakers a different look with a center who could space the floor and pass. Finding a center like Marc, I still think makes sense as someone to play next to AD and Lebron.
The Lakers do need players to eat some of the center minutes but the reality is that we should be building the roster around what works in the playoffs and spending money on players that fit next to AD/Bron. Montrezl Harrell is a good player but in no universe would he be playing a lot of minutes next to AD/Bron when it counts during the playoffs. To spend the full mid-level on a player that doesn't fit next to your 2 best players didn't make a ton of sense and should serve as a guide for how to build the roster this season.
Hopefully the team recognizes that getting a center is important but to build the roster knowing we will be featuring AD at center more than we did last season.
#1: Please get us some more shooting
Anyone who has been a fan of the Lakers over the past couple of seasons has lamented the lack of shooting on the roster. Watching your team just keep missing wide open 3 after wide open 3 is an absolutely painful experience. Even if the percentages of guys like Kuz, KCP, Caruso look fine the truth is that when it comes to the playoffs good teams will gladly give them wide open 3s to load up on AD and Bron. I don't care if you will shoot 38% in the regular season but when it's the Western Conference Finals do teams take you seriously as a shooting threat and will you be able to create space for AD and Lebron. There is a rumor the Lakers are trying to trade for Buddy Hield. I think that would be a perfect fit with our roster in terms of a player who can space the floor credibly.
#2: The Center position
It's clear following him for 2 years that AD doesn't want to play Center a lot, but there is a big difference between playing Center 10% of your minutes this past seasons versus closer to 40% in the title year. By signing Marc and Trez (and then later Drummond), the Lakers added 3 rotation players who can only play Center depriving the team of more minutes with AD at his best position. Marc gave the Lakers a different look with a center who could space the floor and pass. Finding a center like Marc, I still think makes sense as someone to play next to AD and Lebron.
The Lakers do need players to eat some of the center minutes but the reality is that we should be building the roster around what works in the playoffs and spending money on players that fit next to AD/Bron. Montrezl Harrell is a good player but in no universe would he be playing a lot of minutes next to AD/Bron when it counts during the playoffs. To spend the full mid-level on a player that doesn't fit next to your 2 best players didn't make a ton of sense and should serve as a guide for how to build the roster this season.
Hopefully the team recognizes that getting a center is important but to build the roster knowing we will be featuring AD at center more than we did last season.