I'm hopeful about Caruso, but I think many people are getting ahead of themselves and maybe even overrating him.
Yeah, he looked good late last season, but it was a small sample space. The league will adjust to him this season, and I want to see if he's really that good (or even better hopefully).
Caruso isn't ready to start at all. Bradley, acoording to teammates and coaches, has looked great in camp, so Caruso would have to beat him out, as well as Rondo and his 8 assists a game plus his championship experience.
I guess there's a chance Caruso is ready to start late in the season or next year. He's young, so I really hope he's as good as he looked late last season because then he'd be like a first-round draft pick without actually using a first-round draft pick.
Bradley is an undersized SG forced to play out of position because of KCP, Rondo has been a net negative player for years, Cook is an even worse defender than Rondo and an even more undersized SG than Bradley, while Caruso is a career backup CG. You work with what you got and wanting Caruso to get more minutes than Bradley, Cook, and Rondo at PG isn't overrating him it's making the best in the short-run out of a mediocre situation.
ETA:
Bradley, Green, and KCP all have issues with decisionmaking and shot selection when chased off the line and all three rarely get to the rim or the FT line. There's a lot of redundancy between the three of them. Rondo can get to the rim and distribute the rock (with few trips to the line), but he funks up spacing and can dribble the air out of the ball in the half-court in order to create, which severely limits his value next to Lebron.
Caruso, otoh, flashed some three-level scoring aptitude (merely flashes, his inbetween game was not good last season), got to the rim and got to the line more frequently than the other guards on the roster while remaining a threat as a C&S and off-the bounce 3pt shooter (even though it's unsustainable at the same efficiency he displayed during his hot streak last season). He has his deficiencies as a passer, but he's certainly going to be a much better distributor than KCP, AB, and Green, and he's not the defensive sinkhole that Rondo is - far from it, Caruso has actually been an effective, smart team defender for both of his first two seasons and he seems to be the only reliable switching guard on the roster.
So why not bet on the younger guy with the more well-rounded skillset? _________________ Under New Management
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8361 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:11 pm Post subject:
Baron Von Humongous wrote:
slavavov wrote:
I'm hopeful about Caruso, but I think many people are getting ahead of themselves and maybe even overrating him.
Yeah, he looked good late last season, but it was a small sample space. The league will adjust to him this season, and I want to see if he's really that good (or even better hopefully).
Caruso isn't ready to start at all. Bradley, acoording to teammates and coaches, has looked great in camp, so Caruso would have to beat him out, as well as Rondo and his 8 assists a game plus his championship experience.
I guess there's a chance Caruso is ready to start late in the season or next year. He's young, so I really hope he's as good as he looked late last season because then he'd be like a first-round draft pick without actually using a first-round draft pick.
Bradley is an undersized SG forced to play out of position because of KCP, Rondo has been a net negative player for years, Cook is an even worse defender than Rondo and an even more undersized SG than Bradley, while Caruso is a career backup CG. You work with what you got and wanting Caruso to get more minutes than Bradley, Cook, and Rondo at PG isn't overrating him it's making the best in the short-run out of a mediocre situation.
ETA:
Bradley, Green, and KCP all have issues with decisionmaking and shot selection when chased off the line and all three rarely get to the rim or the FT line. There's a lot of redundancy between the three of them. Rondo can get to the rim and distribute the rock (with few trips to the line), but he funks up spacing and can dribble the air out of the ball in the half-court in order to create, which severely limits his value next to Lebron.
Caruso, otoh, flashed some three-level scoring aptitude (merely flashes, his inbetween game was not good last season), got to the rim and got to the line more frequently than the other guards on the roster while remaining a threat as a C&S and off-the bounce 3pt shooter (even though it's unsustainable at the same efficiency he displayed during his hot streak last season). He has his deficiencies as a passer, but he's certainly going to be a much better distributor than KCP, AB, and Green, and he's not the defensive sinkhole that Rondo is - far from it, Caruso has actually been an effective, smart team defender for both of his first two seasons and he seems to be the only reliable switching guard on the roster.
So why not bet on the younger guy with the more well-rounded skillset?
Those are fair points. I never wanted Rondo to start, but I think he should be the backup point guard because his floor general skills and championship experience allow him to stabilize the bench unit, like he did after LeBron got hurt in the Christmas day game in GS. This way, if/when Rondo is really hurting us defensively, we can just take him out of the game again.
But do you really think Caruso is ready to start and play 25-30 mins/game? I don't want us to set ourselves up for disappointment if it turns out his late season run was fools gold. _________________ Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers
But do you really think Caruso is ready to start and play 25-30 mins/game? I don't want us to set ourselves up for disappointment if it turns out his late season run was fools gold.
Who is going to be disappointed if an undrafted PG turns out to not be the answer as a full time starter? Whatever. We move on. He's not a big contract, nor a long one, anything he contributes is all upside.
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8361 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:03 pm Post subject:
RG73 wrote:
slavavov wrote:
But do you really think Caruso is ready to start and play 25-30 mins/game? I don't want us to set ourselves up for disappointment if it turns out his late season run was fools gold.
Who is going to be disappointed if an undrafted PG turns out to not be the answer as a full time starter? Whatever. We move on. He's not a big contract, nor a long one, anything he contributes is all upside.
The problem with that is if we start Caruso and he's in over his head, we'll waste the first few weeks of the season and lose some games we should've won.
With an easy schedule the first 20 games or so, we need to win as many of them as possible and get a head start on our competition.
Just start Bradley. Then late in the season we can start Caruso instead if he's clearly better than Bradley. _________________ Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers
But do you really think Caruso is ready to start and play 25-30 mins/game? I don't want us to set ourselves up for disappointment if it turns out his late season run was fools gold.
Who is going to be disappointed if an undrafted PG turns out to not be the answer as a full time starter? Whatever. We move on. He's not a big contract, nor a long one, anything he contributes is all upside.
The problem with that is if we start Caruso and he's in over his head, we'll waste the first few weeks of the season and lose some games we should've won.
With an easy schedule the first 20 games or so, we need to win as many of them as possible and get a head start on our competition.
Just start Bradley. Then late in the season we can start Caruso instead if he's clearly better than Bradley.
Honestly for better or worse the ball will be in Bron/Ad’s hands. We don’t have to have traditional pg’s in thefloor.
I'm hopeful about Caruso, but I think many people are getting ahead of themselves and maybe even overrating him.
Yeah, he looked good late last season, but it was a small sample space. The league will adjust to him this season, and I want to see if he's really that good (or even better hopefully).
Caruso isn't ready to start at all. Bradley, acoording to teammates and coaches, has looked great in camp, so Caruso would have to beat him out, as well as Rondo and his 8 assists a game plus his championship experience.
I guess there's a chance Caruso is ready to start late in the season or next year. He's young, so I really hope he's as good as he looked late last season because then he'd be like a first-round draft pick without actually using a first-round draft pick.
Bradley is an undersized SG forced to play out of position because of KCP, Rondo has been a net negative player for years, Cook is an even worse defender than Rondo and an even more undersized SG than Bradley, while Caruso is a career backup CG. You work with what you got and wanting Caruso to get more minutes than Bradley, Cook, and Rondo at PG isn't overrating him it's making the best in the short-run out of a mediocre situation.
ETA:
Bradley, Green, and KCP all have issues with decisionmaking and shot selection when chased off the line and all three rarely get to the rim or the FT line. There's a lot of redundancy between the three of them. Rondo can get to the rim and distribute the rock (with few trips to the line), but he funks up spacing and can dribble the air out of the ball in the half-court in order to create, which severely limits his value next to Lebron.
Caruso, otoh, flashed some three-level scoring aptitude (merely flashes, his inbetween game was not good last season), got to the rim and got to the line more frequently than the other guards on the roster while remaining a threat as a C&S and off-the bounce 3pt shooter (even though it's unsustainable at the same efficiency he displayed during his hot streak last season). He has his deficiencies as a passer, but he's certainly going to be a much better distributor than KCP, AB, and Green, and he's not the defensive sinkhole that Rondo is - far from it, Caruso has actually been an effective, smart team defender for both of his first two seasons and he seems to be the only reliable switching guard on the roster.
So why not bet on the younger guy with the more well-rounded skillset?
Those are fair points. I never wanted Rondo to start, but I think he should be the backup point guard because his floor general skills and championship experience allow him to stabilize the bench unit, like he did after LeBron got hurt in the Christmas day game in GS. This way, if/when Rondo is really hurting us defensively, we can just take him out of the game again.
But do you really think Caruso is ready to start and play 25-30 mins/game? I don't want us to set ourselves up for disappointment if it turns out his late season run was fools gold.
I don't think Rondo provides any consistent value at this point in his career - the numbers seem to bear that out - and letting him run the second unit night in and night out waiting for the occasional Rondo renaissance game will harm the Lakers chances of earning a high playoff seed in the balanced, deep Western Conference. Outside of reputation the aging Rondo hasn't earned the right to fail until he succeeds because in his time as a Laker last season he was literally the difference between a close game and a double digit loss:
Quote:
BJ Metta
@bj_metta
ICYMI: Rondo 18-19
On Court: 1369 mins, NetRtg -8.6
Off Court: 2587 mins, NetRtg +1.9
That's gross.
Wrt Caruso, it's better to figure out if he can be that 25-30 mpg guy on a playoff team out of the gate rather than dithering around with Rondo because Caruso is the only guard on the roster who can potentially shoot, drive, pass, and defend. If he's not up to the challenge, then the Lakers have to resort to a flawed, known quantity like Rondo (and tbqh, Bradley) and pray, but why break the window before you even try turning the handle? _________________ Under New Management
It's somewhat sad to say, but Alex Caruso is the most well-rounded veteran guard on the Lakers roster, and based on last season's results he's the second most impactful guard on the roster behind Danny Green. His performance may have been fool's gold, but how is it wiser or safer to bet on Rondo and/or Bradley regaining their form after 2-3 consecutive down seasons than on Caruso continuing to progress at a younger age? If Kuzma is chock full of youthful potential at age 24 going into his third season, why is Caruso a limited flash in the pan at the crusty old age of 25 in his third season?
A last final note of optimism is that in the limited minutes AC and Lebron spent on court last season - 147 to be exact - the Lakers posted a +9.1 Netrtg. Small sample size no doubt, but it seems worth giving them a few more minutes together to see if that positive impact wasn't a fluke. Caruso did admirable work down the stretch last season taking over primary initiator duties, but he really is a secondary creator combo-guard who knows how to move without the ball, sets solid off-ball screens, can functionally attack hard closeouts, etc., which could allow him to flourish even more alongside Lebron while making the team more dynamic offensively (without sacrificing much defensively). _________________ Under New Management
Joined: 17 Jun 2003 Posts: 6287 Location: Central Coast
Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2019 5:09 am Post subject:
I'm rooting for Caruso, but my guess is that Bradley really returns to form, and becomes the starter. We seem to have too many guards and are kind of light at SF. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see some kind of minor deal at the deadline to balance the roster a little more. _________________ LAKERS 2019-2020: NBA World Champions!
I'm rooting for Caruso, but my guess is that Bradley really returns to form, and becomes the starter. We seem to have too many guards and are kind of light at SF. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see some kind of minor deal at the deadline to balance the roster a little more.
Was Bradley at his best ever really all that good? Has he ever been better than KCP in his career? _________________ Under New Management
I'm rooting for Caruso, but my guess is that Bradley really returns to form, and becomes the starter. We seem to have too many guards and are kind of light at SF. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see some kind of minor deal at the deadline to balance the roster a little more.
Was Bradley at his best ever really all that good? Has he ever been better than KCP in his career?
He was absolutely better his last year in Boston. There’s a reason he made All D
I'm rooting for Caruso, but my guess is that Bradley really returns to form, and becomes the starter. We seem to have too many guards and are kind of light at SF. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see some kind of minor deal at the deadline to balance the roster a little more.
Was Bradley at his best ever really all that good? Has he ever been better than KCP in his career?
He was absolutely better his last year in Boston. There’s a reason he made All D
What an odd season for him. The shooting improvement makes sense, but Stevens must've had Bradley crash the defensive glass like crazy (maybe to protect IT?) because he's been an average to mediocre rebounding guard for the rest of his career.
All-D teams can be flaky, so help me late career Kobe Bean Bryant. But that 2016-17 season is a reasonable reason for optimism even if Bradley still shouldn't be given much responsibility with the ball as a nominal PG. _________________ Under New Management
_________________ “Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there."
- John Piper
Many here point to Bradley's turn around in Memphis as proof that he's back only to dismiss Caruso's (& KCP's) e/o season production last season.
The numbers didn't matter for either team since both didn't qualify for the playoffs - but production is production.
I'm not sure who's going to play best this year, but note that AB actually has some history we can look at where he was a good perimeter defender while not being a total minus on offense.
Do we have that type of history for Alex and KCP? I guess a little argument can be made for KCP. But the Alex hype is getting nuts. I understand most of it is in jest. But it's getting into coo-coo-ville. Hopefully, any one of these 3 guys who gets their numbers called, will perform.
KCP has never even made an all defensive team. The only reason he even became available to the Lakers two years ago was because Detroit dropped him in order to get Bradley. Go figure. _________________ “Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there."
- John Piper
KCP has never even made an all defensive team. The only reason he even became available to the Lakers two years ago was because Detroit dropped him in order to get Bradley. Go figure.
That worked out well for Detroit, huh? It's almost like SVG was kicking the can down the road rather than giving big long-term contracts to fungible wings. I do look forward to the Lakers signing Stanley Johnson next summer, btw.
Anyway, thanks for providing some context to the otherwise pointless highlights video from the season after Bradley made the All-Defensive team. _________________ Under New Management
I'm rooting for Caruso, but my guess is that Bradley really returns to form, and becomes the starter. We seem to have too many guards and are kind of light at SF. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see some kind of minor deal at the deadline to balance the roster a little more.
Was Bradley at his best ever really all that good? Has he ever been better than KCP in his career?
I believe he was. In his prime Boston days he was such a superior defender, really athletic, underrated offensively and did impact games with said defense.
I'm rooting for Caruso, but my guess is that Bradley really returns to form, and becomes the starter. We seem to have too many guards and are kind of light at SF. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see some kind of minor deal at the deadline to balance the roster a little more.
Was Bradley at his best ever really all that good? Has he ever been better than KCP in his career?
I believe he was. In his prime Boston days he was such a superior defender, really athletic, underrated offensively and did impact games with said defense.
Too bad he did not develop any PG skills.
Man, all-in-one stats really didn't like him even at his best. One of those guys, I guess. _________________ Under New Management
I'm rooting for Caruso, but my guess is that Bradley really returns to form, and becomes the starter. We seem to have too many guards and are kind of light at SF. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see some kind of minor deal at the deadline to balance the roster a little more.
Was Bradley at his best ever really all that good? Has he ever been better than KCP in his career?
I believe he was. In his prime Boston days he was such a superior defender, really athletic, underrated offensively and did impact games with said defense.
Too bad he did not develop any PG skills.
Man, all-in-one stats really didn't like him even at his best. One of those guys, I guess.
Yes looking at his D and O stats not overly impressive. Just going off memory and remembering how he would attach himself to the player he was guarding.
Would prefer he come off the bench to give that defensive energy to the 2nd unit and have Caruso start.
Bradley at his best was an elite on ball defender. He was always undersized however. If he doesn't need to be a traditional PG he can make a big difference for the Lakers if healthy.
Stats also back up Bradley's claim on health. In Memphis he was back to his normal stats, whereas prior (Det/LAC) he didn't do well nor play a lot of games. He is also a better 3pt shooter than I thought at .364 career.
Bradley at his best was an elite on ball defender. He was always undersized however. If he doesn't need to be a traditional PG he can make a big difference for the Lakers if healthy.
Hopefully so. A rejuvenated Bradley with Caruso and Green would be a respectable trio with KCP and Cook ready to fill in. _________________ Under New Management
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
