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Comments
The Davis-Cousins tandem worked pretty well before Boogie got hurt in 2017, iirc. Now imagine replacing Solomon Hill and Nikola Mirotic with Lebron James. That's what we've got now.
If Cousins gets healthy enough to be his old self this coming season The Lakers will easily have the biggest, most powerful front court in the league. Ten years ago that would probably have made them dominant. In the perimeter centric NBA of the past few years it's not clear how it would stack up against teams whose strengths are full court offense and perimeter defense though. The Clippers now have a Jordan/Pippen type of elite all court defender and offensive tandem. The Clippers look more like a 2019 NBA contender, but who can say how The Lakers will work together.
As CTDawg mentioned, Davis and Cousins worked well enough together in New Orleans, but The Pelicans probably were never top tier. We all know how Lebron transformed every team he's been on till last year's Lakers team though. So stay tuned, it should be very interesting.
It's Andre Igloo-dollar.
Lakers are going to be extremely injury prone relying on guys like AD, Boogie, Rondo, and a 35 yr old Lebron James. Ignoring that and assuming that somehow the Lakers get through the regular season unscathed, the Clippers are way deeper than the Lakers and depth has been extremely crucial in any postseason run. The Lakers 5 might be able to hang with the Clippers but their bench is going to hemorrhage points. I do think that the Clippers will have a lot of difficulty guarding AD but with Kawhi and PG, Lebron is going to have a tough time imposing his will.
Rondo was straight up bad for the Lakers last year. He was 347th in offensive rating and 473rd in defensive rating.
Rondo has declined a whole lot in recent years and there's no reason to think he'll ever be the player he was for Boston. He might be somewhat more productive with the talent around him this coming season though.
Clippers will have the best perimeter defense the league has seen in quite some time with Beverly, PG and Kawhi. Clips also got to keep South Gwinnett's own Lou Williams. Harrell is very capable as a defender, and very efficient on offense. That's a scary five to end a game with.
Here's a hot take for you- The Lakers won't make it to the conference finals. I don't think Kuzma is a legit 3rd option on a contending team, they still don't have enough shooting and I don't trust 35 year old Danny Green to maintain a high enough level of play to make a difference. I know they have Boogie but I don't love the fit of him AND AD and Lebron. Now if he goes back to pre injury form it might not matter, but him and KD clogs the lane and there aren't enough shooters to have teams lay off.
Lakers grabbed Avery Bradley and resigned Caldwell-Pope. Couple of pretty versatile guards, and if they can land a couple of veteran shooters like Kyle Korver they might have a little shooting to grease the wheels for Lebron
AD is going to have to be the MVP we thought he could be if they are gonna make noise. Two year window for this team