If I was a Laker fan then I would be more inclined to tear it all down because then you can build a young nucleus and speed the process up with a star free agent. Right now they are on year 5 of sucking. In year 6 they will probably start to be mediocre, unless they land the big free agent. If they don't get the super star free agent then the tear down/rebuild will not have worked. We don't have the luxury of relying on getting a big time FA. Yes the Philly project is looking promising right now. But IMO there are just as many examples of teams who are good, who got their super star without tanking. IMO 1 and done " kids" hurt teams at the top of the lottery, but actually help teams at the bottom of the lottery. Lot of misses at the top while at the same time others can slide because the resume is not complete. Plus you have the unknown international factor. (See Giannis and Gobert etc) They slide as well. We just need a better talent evaluator. Neil is average
If you enjoy watching this team play then I can see why you would want to not blow it up, frankly I am not enjoying how this team plays at all and I am the least interested as I have been in the past decade or more, too much hero ball from my viewpoint from both CJ and Dame and a coach that won't or can't change that and a dysfunctional roster that is very hard to change due to a GM's bad choices in the fateful summer of 16.
There are definitely some games this year I have not enjoyed watching. But there are also some games in the last 3 years that I have enjoyed. And as someone who has watched 48 years of the NBA, I know how quickly things can change from one year to the next without making massive roster changes. It often just takes one new player or coach.
I am certainly willing/hoping for some changes at the least, but I am not optimistic that it would change much, I think at least one of CJ or Dame needs to go
I think a pretty significant overhaul could be in order. Duplicity with Dame/CJ/Napier duplicity with Harkless/Aminu duplicity with Ed/Noah/Caleb
If Dame and CJ suck so much and can't win in the NBA paired with another all-star caliber guard, who's going to give up the King's Ransom for them, if they have less than all-star caliber guards?
Yeah, even if you keep the system in place (crosses fingers that they don't, but YMMV), there's too many of the same player type on the team. In fact, this reminds me a lot of that 2010-11 Clippers team Olshey had crafted. https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAC/2011.html Baron Davis, Eric Bledsoe, Eric Gordon, (and after Baron Davis, Mo Williams) at guard; Craig Smith, Ike Diogu grinding it out off the bench as forwards; DeAndre Jordan and Chris Kaman at center... lots of young guys, too many of the same kind of guard, too many of the same kind of forward... young talent, but no focus.
Sure but keep Dame, CJ, Nurk, and Collins Dame is the starter and Napier is the back up. No duplicity IMO CJ should plays SG only. We need a starting 2 way SF.......we have none. Yes an overhaul here is needed. Nurk is the Center. Do not overpay for him, but resign him. Ed is a fine back up. Zach can also help out here in the future. Move Leonard if possible, if not he is fine as 3rd team.... albeit expensive. Where I agree we have a duplication, is at PF. Collins IMO is the PF of the future. So yes decide on 2 back ups (Aminu and maybe Caleb as he will come cheap) Personally I love Noah off the bench as he a very good rebounder but not sure we can afford him. The biggest fallacy on this board IMO is that Dame and CJ are too short to play together. I don't buy it. There are ways to get around that. We need their offensive firepower. Just find the right SF. Hell we can always start a bigger SG and bring CJ off the bench if needed...as long as we have the right SF to start. CJ will still get 30 minutes regardless. If you get a steal for CJ ...sure take it, but trading him just to shake things up is not the way to go. Those type of moves are for teams whose players hate each other.
Maybe that's why this season hasn't been fun for me. We have young guys showing promise, but expensive guys we're trying to pump value into are playing ahead of them. I'd rather be mediocre or worse and have fun out there than grind out a few more wins and have the entire thing feel dreary and boring. Play the guys you see as your 2020 starters NOW and just go for it... as much as tanking, playing young guys and investing in them was part of the Philly plan. I'm a little tired of Evan Turner and Aminu starting just because we paid for them. Give me stupid lineups involving Jake Layman or Patty C and Zach Collins starting with Nurk, Dame, and CJ... at least that has entertainment value to me.
Imo if we traded CJ for an equivalent 2way SF, we then slide ET to SG. But the bigger issue IMO is the refusals to play Aminu at SF and start a real PF at the 4.
Stotts obviously thinks the SF position is a guard-plus position, so I can see from that perspective keeping Aminu away from it; his ball handling and three point shooting need to be given careful consideration (i.e., he's doing well now but is that because he's being played at PF? Would more ball handling and play making make those get worse?).
Stotts knows he needs wins in order to keep his job. It may be that playing Aminu as PF gives the team the best chance to win currently...I don't really know. What I do know is that Aminu is not the future at power forward and Stotts should be playing Collins/Vonleh there.
