AROUND the NBA:

[omahen]

https://www.reddit.com/r/lakers/comments...arnes_and/

It's happening...

I think someone should not make judgements based on one possession  Luka has actually been very solid on defense this season. This play shows a lot more than just Luka complaining. Rui didn't even bother to get back on defense and Hayes was jogging back while two SA players overtook him despite not being in full sprint. A team with Luka needs high energy guys fighting in these kind of plays. Lakers don't have them, other than perhaps Smart. 

As a person that watched all Lakers games, I can tell you that team severly lacks athleticism, which shows especially against more athletic teams. While Luka will never be a plus defender, opposing teams don't even need to bother and attack him. Players like Fox and Castle can literally get by any of Lakers players at will. Put Lakers defense into scrambling mode always a step to slow to recover. Lay-ups or open threes all the time. Lakers are terrible in transition defense and don't force TO.  Lakers are third worst team in offensive rebounding in the league. The only really athletic guy they have is Vando, who has unfortunatelly become (or always was) beyond bad on offense. 

So far basically all my fears about integrating LeBron have been confirmed. Not because he is a bad player, but he simply doesn't fit next to Luka and Reaves and the other pieces Lakers have. Starting unit (Luka-Reaves-Rui-Hachimura-Ayton) doesn't work as there is no plus defender in it. Reaves looks much worse with him than without him. LeBron and Hachimura play same position. Their starting unit has a -13 net rating so far. A unit where you replace LeBron with Smart has a +13 net rating. Besides all of that, their bench has been a complete no-show lately. 

Lakers made one mistake in the offseason, which was cutting Goodwin instead of creating space to keep him. He would have been huge for this team. However, I can understand it to some extent, as creating space another way would most likely cost assets. Lakers are rightly saving those assets and will spend them only for the right long-term solution, imho. While Goodwin is a really nice player, his ceiling is a bench rotation player. Lakers will need to bring in at least one starter level player after LeBron. 

I always looked at this season as a transition season from LeBron to Luka. As such, it creates a bunch of issues. Most of their team is expiring. You can't bench Reaves (nor should you based on how he is playing), because he will walk in the summer if you do. His market value is low, as his possible extension is much lower than what he will get in the summer. You can't really bench Rui,  because he is also in his contract year. Rui can be a great PF once LeBron retires, if Lakers find an athletic point of attack defender to replace LeBron, so you don't want to ruin this relationship either. 

I assume this is LeBrons last season as a Lakers and they have plenty of flexibility on how to replace him until next season start.