Which was better: last year’s team or this year’s team?

Halflife · Franchise Player Joined: 15 Aug 2015 Posts: 16799

losing to the heat would have been laughable lets say they lose (they wont) to the nets

buduan · Starting Rotation Joined: 24 Feb 2002 Posts: 770

Definitely last years team. That team had a huge size advantage that was too much for the league. Kind of like the Bynum, Odom, and Gasol team from a decade ago.

It's going to take a Herculean effort from LB and AD to win it this year.

LakerSD · Franchise Player Joined: 10 Nov 2016 Posts: 23791

lakersfever714 · Franchise Player Joined: 05 Jan 2016 Posts: 11877

KingKobe20 · Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2021 12:49 pm Post subject:

Game 6 of the NBA Finals our starting lineup was

Lebron
AD
KCP
DG
AC

Our biggest 6th man contributor by far was Rajon Rondo.
Dwight played 1 minute. Javale 0.

They are fantastic for the regular season but we are too quick to forget that AD can protect the rim just as elite as those two when the games actually matter.

With all that said I’m still open to finding another defensive minded above the rim playing big to help with the load of these remaining 50+ games.

yinoma2001 · Retired Number Joined: 19 Jun 2010 Posts: 119487

Hate to say it, but this team is playing like it's bored. I thought bringing new blood would shake things up but the team as a whole kind of seems bored and waiting for the playoffs. Chief among the players is AD. Not sure what can wake this team up.
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KingKobe20 · Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2021 12:52 pm Post subject:

yinoma2001 · Retired Number Joined: 19 Jun 2010 Posts: 119487

LakerSD · Franchise Player Joined: 10 Nov 2016 Posts: 23791

Theseus · Franchise Player Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 14266

I remember when we were mired in a 4 game losing streak last year including a loss on christmas. People were talking about how we couldn't beat good teams, and weren't going to do anything.

RashardA · Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2021 1:24 pm Post subject:

BILBJH · Star Player Joined: 23 Jul 2020 Posts: 5129

buduan · Starting Rotation Joined: 24 Feb 2002 Posts: 770

ocho · Retired Number Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 53855

This question can be answered when the playoffs are over but not before and definitely not after 20 games.
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Mike@LG · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2021 6:51 am Post subject:

32 · Retired Number Joined: 04 Nov 2009 Posts: 73101

This year's team is deeper than last year's team. 10-11 deep. Vogel has a lot of tools in the toolbox. They are the best team on paper. The only thing that could beat them is fatigue from the quick turnaround between last season and this season. Only 71 days.
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LakerSD · Franchise Player Joined: 10 Nov 2016 Posts: 23791

wolfpaclaker · Retired Number Joined: 29 May 2002 Posts: 58348

Last year's team had niche role players who did not need a lot of time to know their roles. Guys just knew what their role was right from the get go, as it was almost the same role they played elsewhere. Only Kuzma and Rondo were not on page with the rest of the team right away and it took Rondo some time, but he found his footing. Guys like Green, McGee, Bradley, Dwight, Kieff even. They are all low usage players around AD-Bron. We just had to wait for AD and Bron to keep figuring out how to run the offense to their advantage. By playoffs. Bron and AD knew how to maximize each other.

This year's team has a little different vibe in that it has more high usage players around AD-Bron than last years team. Those high usage players are in roles different from their previous teams. Dennis Schroder is an elite 6th man, but we use him as starting guard. He is often the guy that brings up the ball and initiates the offense, which is a role different to the aggressive scoring role he had in OKC last year. He is asked to be more athletic DFish on offense than he is to be what he was last year. He's a high usage player. Trez is also a high usage player, who wants the ball (and needs it to be effective) inside. Only he is quite small. So those easy obvious above the rim plays are not there, nor is he sealing position and getting obvious post entry. Giving the ball to Trez is like trusting a guy like Bron-AD. You're trusting his 1 on 1 skill in the post. Does a team with Anthony Davis and Bron, really instead trust their 3rd best player in isolations? I mean, AD and Bron, should get those isolations. So Trez has to pick up the scraps a bit, and get more dunks/layups off dribble penetration from ballhandling guards. But previoiusly, Trez was treated like a go to scorer on hiis teams.

The O and D ratings speak for themselves IMO. Lakers are #1 ranked D team.

104.8 #1 D rating. Last year 106 D rating #3.
112.6 #8 O rating. Last year 112 O rating #11.

The talent is more on offense by a lot. The defense seems to have caught up and been the same. We have shown just as much shut down ability. We are the #1 rated team on D. Fans really concerned about our defense, yet we have shown elite D against Boston and Milwaukee on the road. And other teams. This was a huge concern of mine early on, as our D looked pretty weak the first few games of the season.

We simply now have to wait and see if we can progress and get on another level when its playoffs. That is what happened last year. For whatever reason, when playoffs began, Lakers upped their level a lot. I think it has a lot to do with AD playing more 5, and Bron shifting into another gear in the playoffs. What are goal right now should be to find as many good lineups that work around Trez, and Dennis, as possible. Our biggest advantage vs last year is still not being maximized on offense. Being the 8th ranked team on offense, and Dennis/Trez have not really been what they are capable of, yet. If we figure that out, league's in trouble, because we will have AD/Bron advantage AND the advantage of Trez/Dennis vs bench units AND elite D. That's gonna be very tough to stop, even for teams like Clips, Jazz, Sixers etc.