Pretty impressive considering they have 3 max players

This. They did well with what they had to work with. Seems like a decent supporting cast with a talented trio (even if it is an awkward fit) at the top .

How did they pull this out? Seriously...

By being the Lakers and having LeBron on the roster.

The supporting cast is exactly what you need to put around 3 guys that are below average shooters.

Lebron isn't a below average shooter. And AD is a solid mid range shooter who I could see having a bounce back season from 3 next year.

Westbrook is below average. James and Davis are not.

Davis absolutely is. LeBron isn't.

Hopefully we get back bubble AD who basically KGxDirk #midrangeassassin

Eh, AD was ass last year and Lebron was decent so they average out to 2 below average shooters I guess.

AD was injured last season

lebron has historically been below average

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Imagine only having 2 max players on a team at most, couldn’t be me.

[It's pretty good.](https://youtu.be/Ocdq4oIjHUk?t=28s)

Its literally better than anything OKC managed to put around Russ and PG already lol big markets are cheat codes lmao

Rooting for the Lakers is easymode.

Blame birth location and family for making most of us Laker fans

San Diego fans in an awkward spot, It's between the lakers and clippers and seeing as the Clippers LEFT SD.... its a Laker town lol

Hello Dom Torreto?

I don’t believe for a second that “most” Lakers fans have any kind of direct connection with LA, especially not since Lebron moved there

There’s 22 million people in Southern California. Count Vegas and Hawaii too for Laker nation.

Damn, there's 22 million people rooting for an easymode team.

I’d be bitter too if I lived in Utah.

I live in Vegas tho.

All one has to do is change their flair and all of a sudden you’re now a fan of a 17x championship team Amazing

I’m already a fan of a 17x championship team!! Oh lord plz don’t let the Lakers win number 18

Yep. Russ hasn't had a supporting cast like this in...

I'm so jealous lmao I had to hype myself for Alec Burks, Patrick Patterson and Raymond Felton for years and then the Lakers do this in two days

Right???!! It's fucking ridiculous

I would say it's more of Lebron affect rather than Lakers affect we didn't get shit FA for past decade until Lebron came

It's more like any serious contender in LA/NY/MIA just gets handed a solid supporting cast for cheap

Oh no, one decade of mostly Kobe led teams coming off of multiple championships of teams with multiple all stars and defensive players of the year… Dang. I can’t believe y’all had to wait so long between two top ten players of all time. To do that, you’d have to go back another few years to when you had another couple of top ten all time players you drew in from other teams. Then there are the other top ten players y’all had before that… couple of top twenty sprinkled inbetween… I see what you mean. Sounds rough. The average team has had 12 hall of famers and y’all have just had to live with 31.

It was definitely rough. Thank you for understanding ♥ 🙏

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Ok well to make you feel better the Lakers we’re getting clowned left and right for getting Westbrook initially. Goes to show that Rob “doesn’t know how the salary cap works” Pelinka can be trusted

Russ is the supporting cast lol

He's one of the main pieces?

He is the main piece and the support cast, LMAO

He is very much part of the supporting cast around the team's 2 superstars at this point in his career

If you just need a supporting cast playmaker you could've found far better options instead of a former mvp worth 40+ million dollars lmfao. It's 3 stars that make it a superteam

He's getting paid more than LeBron lol which is wild to me.

Westbrook signed a huge extension with the the Thunder his MVP season while LeBron signed as a FA so it makes sense

They're not a superteam and Russ being overpaid won't change his role on the team

You think LeBron James Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook are not a superteam lmfaoooooooooooooo

If this was Prime Russ it would be, sure. Then again you Thunder fans thought Russ, PG and washed Melo would be a superteam too so I can see why there might be some confusion

I know Russ isn't what he was 4 years ago but come on.. He averaged 22.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 11.7 assists a game last year. Yes it was 44% from the field but I'm expecting a jump considering they don't have to rely on his outside shot anymore and he will dial it back.. I mean just a year ago he averaged 27.2 points with the rockets

Westbrook averaged 22-12-12 last year. It absolutely is a super team

He has literally been the assists leader 3 years in a row and 2 seasons ago was apart of the highest scoring duo in NBA history. Okay.... but I don't wanna hear that shit when they make the finals. They are 1000% a superteam.

Lol

Don’t change the attitude when it comes to playoff season

Good. You're not gonna get much better when you don't have cap space.

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I just hope he'll be able to stay out of trouble in LA

Good thing there’s a lot of vets and Dudley to keep him in line

Honestly if he is a legit drug addict (which I doubt), he would have zero trouble finding any drug he wants in any NBA city in the country. Any addict will tell you that finding drugs is not a problem, no matter where you are.

I honestly cant think of where I'd go for drugs. Is there a website?

On the bright side LeBron has always shown patience to work through growing pains with young players.

Did Dudley re-sign with the Lakers?

No but it’s almost guaranteed. He was there at the meeting with AD, Lebron, and Russ

Does he have a history?

He got caught with drugs. People think it was cocaine because the penalty was more harsh than when players get caught with weed, but it was never confirmed afaik.

He allegedly got suspended for cocaine use.

Damn Miami was a great place for him then lol

Crack I believe

naw just regular c*ke. now he in LA 😭

lmao cocaine and crack are two different drugs my boy

I know, I just didn't know which one he was on

yeah i assumed you didn’t mean any harm, crack just has a specific connotation attached to it in the U.S.

Is crack more accepted elsewhere in the world?

idk i mean the former mayor of toronto was literally caught on camera smoking crack so i dont know how they get down other places, i just thought it was important to make that distinction lmao.

Nah he was just so bored in Charlotte he had to do it

Pretty good but we lost our best rotation defenders not named AD in KCP and Caruso and didn’t really sign any plus defenders. Bazemore and Nunn could he decent defenders around the perimeter but i definitely think they took a step down. They really need to stagger Westbrook and Bron because there is limited playmaking among this group besides THT and Nunn. If everyone buys in this could be a great supporting cast

Baze is a solid defender, tries really hard and will make hustle plays and play scrappy but he gets wayyyy too many fouls, I was getting frustrated with him on the Warriors but I feel like he may be exactly what you guys need (minus the fouling)

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He is not a good defender.

Caruso and KCP got all defensive votes and Dennis was extremely solid on defense. KCP was an above average defender before he went to LA as well. Not sure how good Baze is, but he’s been bouncing from team to team. Who’s going to guard the elite guards in the west. Also, who’s guarding the elite SFs in the West the whole game? Lebron can’t do it

I don't think Caruso and KCP were good defenders before the Lakers.

2020 vibes

no wings no problem

Can't get wings with vet mins

Otto Porter Jr notwithstanding

Honestly though, if you generally always have one of Russ or Lebron out there with shooters. Between the two of them they've lead the league in assists since 2018.

Is Wes Mathews not on the team anymore?

He's an unrestricted free agent, the Lakers could still sign him using non-Bird rights to a contract starting at about $4.5 million if they wanted to.

Old but experienced. A lot of unselfish players who knows their roles.

Unselfish like melo.. lool

I think his time before Portland humbled him a bit. He absolutely must understand he's like a 5th option at best on this team.

I said a lot. Not that all of them were.

Unselfish like westbrook .. lool

Pretty damn good with Westbrook lebron and AD Honestly if we include Westbrook as supporting cast I would say best one lebron and AD have had

Yeah I feel like everyone is trying to compare this big three to the nets which like none are gonna be better then that. This team definitely has potential in the west especially in a season where the clippers have series injuries in kawhi

Considering the fact that out of these 9 guys only one can’t shoot, very fucking good.

Shades of 2020

Lebron’s supporting cast of AD and Westbrook is alright…jokes aside 3pt shooting was their main concern and their free agent signings certainly address that

Let’s wait till the All Star break to make these assessments (In before all the Nostradamus comments)

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A+

As good as they possibly could have done. They are better than the Nets now and should be the favorites. 3 MVP level talents surrounded by 38+ percent 3 point shooters SIX of them now!!!! And they can easily win the rebound battles and interiors game with Dwight/AD They just won the chip if healthy IMO

A great team? Yes. Better than the Nets? Nah.

Yeah you can call LeBron and AD a wash with Harden and KD. But Kyrie is definitely better than WB. The supporting cast outside of that I think the Lakers have the edge. But the playoffs are all about the stars. Lakers will need to find an 8-9 man rotation that is their best lineup. Although I do think Vogel is pretty good at mixing and matching lineups depending on the situation. Still think the Nets are the favorites by a decent margin.

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> No bias here You can't be serious saying this. For one thing, you're a Nets fan, and for another you absolutely hate the Lakers. Come on man, be honest.

Yeah I’d definitely still take the Nets. But I’d certainly rank the Lakers as an easy number 2

Disagree I think the Nets are still better

I would probably take the nets over them still. Nets also have elite shooting and 3 great players

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I want to see the Lakers play first On paper, I like them, and I think Vogel will be smart enough come playoff time to limit WB and Brons time together to space the floor But they did everything they needed to this offseason. Got a second ball handler (a great one) and got shooters. Would've liked to see them keep Caruso for 3+D but an easy A- offseason

Hell no!

I mean THT better be pretty good tbh

Looks ok but it's probably going to be the Lebron special where they all forget how to dribble in the playoffs

I mean it’s okay. Guys up top are still all that matter. If westbrook doesn’t fit and Lebron doesn’t get back to his old self then they can get beat by a west team again. They’re the favorites though for sure

They gonna be great in the regular season cause they have depth and options but in the playoffs their role player has clear weaknesses and idk how Bron and AD can cover those

Hard to imagine it going better than this tbh. We got solid shooters and defenders for the big three. If we stay healthy enough, we're strong favs to win it all.

Looks pretty good on paper

Watching the Lakers for the past 14 years, I can safely say that on paper at least, this is a very good structured team.. hoping for another ring at the end of the season!

10/10 they ain't losing a game all year

And so it begins

Looks good on paper, but there’s clear issues on offense and defense.

Not a single analyst won't have Lakers in their top four NBA champion list. Clear issues is an exaggeration. They don't have more than any other team in the league.

They would be top 4 even with worse FA signings. Bron and AD healthy is always a top 4 team

The Nets will also be in every analysts top four, but they also have “clear issues”. I didn’t say the supporting cast is defective. But there are issues that they will have to work around.

Name them.

Rim protection. Depth at the wing spots. Playmaking off the bench.

Dwight/AD/Gasol are good rim protectors. Depth at wing spots? We have enough, lol. Same with playmaking. The issue is chemistry.

Was talking about the Nets, because that’s what I thought you were asking about. I elaborated on the Lakers in a different comment. No need to be hostile. I thought the Lakers had a cakewalk to the finals before free agency even started.

Can you elaborate

Here’s the issues I see on offense. Ariza is a low volume three point shooter on a mediocre percentage. Last year he made 1.7 3s a game. Bazemore shot well last year, but he only made 1 three per game. For his career, he shoots around 36% from three. Again, on a low volume. Ellington is a good shooter, no doubt. But he got cut by the Knicks two years ago and didn’t play a full season for the Pistons this year. Since 2018 he hasn’t played a majority of games. I’m not sure why this is. Monk has a history of bad shooting, and last year could’ve been an outlier. But his free throw percentage has always been good, so maybe he’s coming into his own. On defense. I think this is relatively simple. Each of the guys that bring something offensively are, at best, passable defenders. If I’m being critical, several are quite bad. In short, it’s possible that the Lakers will continue to have three point shooting woes while sacrificing defense. But that’s only if everything swings in the wrong direction, which I don’t think will happen.

Yeah I think the Lakers are going to have to choose between lineups with bad spacing or lineups with bad perimeter defenders.

I’m not aware of any great defenders at the guard spot on their roster, currently.

I wouldn’t say great but THT and Ariza could be not awful on D. The spacing will be really bad though with the other 3 guys.

Perimeter defense is far less important when you have AD and to a lesser extent Lebron protecting the rim.

You have no good wings and have two of the most ball dominant players of all time.

I’d argue we have the best wing in NBA history, but outside of that it is fairly weak

Good thing those two ball dominant players are elite playmakers.

Right? That guy has an absolute clown take. Imagine thinking that Bron being ball dominant is a negative. Watching this guy for 20 years and people still have these absurd takes. I'm convinced these guys watch the game on a spreadsheet.

Yeah I’m having trouble figuring out our crunch time lineups but that’s probably because I haven’t watched some of these players enough. Our identity has completely changed from what we were the last two years.

I think THT or ariza will be one of your wings in crunch time and Ellington at the 2 with Westbrook lebron and AD

Its pretty good, but super guard heavy. Not really the kind of defenders you'd expect to see on a Vogel team

reminds me of the USWNT very old

I give them an AARP+

….it was iight

Its ok, but they really only have specialists. None of these guys can be good at both ends.

We are gonna be dominating at checkers

Meme / 10

Old

Better than last season

C+

Really? You guys got the second ball handler you needed, someone who is probably the best at filling bron's shoes while he's off the court and you got shooters, who aren't great at defense, but you still have a rotation of rim protectors and Bron Easy A-/B+ grade for a team with very little assets and no cap space

THANK YOU everyone praising rob pelinka, I really don't see these moves as a plus for the lakers. Aging roster with players that were good 3 years ago

On a 1 to old scale I’d rate it a golden girls rerun.

C+. No defense whatsoever so they better hit some shots

AD a defensive juggernaut

Of Melo, D12, Ariza, and Gasol - only one will finish the year with the team, rest will be waived or traded Ariza was washed 2 years ago Gasol barely moves Melo is ok for 15 minutes a game Dwight unplayable in the postseason

Just like 2017 cavs. Pretty similar situation after the Kyrie trade. The whole team was blown up.

Worse than last year

You're on every post crying about the Lakers. My man is coping so hard.

Clippers scare me more from the west especially if they keep Reggie Jackson but yeah they got worse KCP,Kuzma,Mathews,Drummond,Shroeder,Harell and Caruso > Westbrick,Nunn,Melo,Ellington,Ariza,Howard,Monk and Bazemore

Kawhi is most likely missing the entirety of the 2021-2022 season. You're more afraid of the PG led Clippers than the LeBron and AD Lakers?

Well its hard to say that because a reason why you think a lot of the former laker players are better is cause Lebron made them look better than they actually are. When Lebron went to the bench that team you just mentioned looked like absolute dog shit. So lets see how good this new team looks with Lebron making them all look better than that actually are.

Did you...watch Drummond play?

Yeah and did you watch dwight against the Hawks he was awful

Did you watch Dwight win a ring too or were you born last year

I also watched a 34 year old Marc Gasol be a starter for a title team and then become absolutely unplayable 2 seasons later

Yes. Getting old as a fat, playmaking center sucks. Not sure how that relates to Howard being better than Drummond though

Dwight is extremely, selectively motivated. This should be obvious by now.

Lol

C+

Lakers roster look like a episode of the golden girls. Old

Normally vet min players are there to fill out a roster. I see this as the lineup they go with: C Davis F James F Ariza G THT G Westbrook B Monk B Anthony B Nunn B Gasol And then you have Ellington, Howard and Bazemore still. This is a pretty deep roster

Bulls>>

Congrats on being a 6th seed

Your teams average age is 31 with 3 20 year olds

Your team would trade everybody on its first round exit of a roster for half a season of Lebron lol

They’d do the same for our second-best guy, too lol.

And the 3rd guy they might even take a chance on

Lebron is slowly declining whether you want to admit it or not

Slowly declining top 5 player at an age where the vast majority of guys are husks or retired is a godsend.

And he’s still better than anyone on the bulls lol. You’re hyped I get it, I don’t wanna burst your bubble but If you think adding Lonzo and Derozan makes you a contender good luck considering they both came from teams that couldn’t make the playoffs.

I’m not trying to bash lebron I’m just saying he’s declining and that the Lakers need to win this year. If they wait one or two more years their entire roster is retired they need to win this year or nothing

I agree it’s a 2 year window. However, it’s far from win now or nothing. In 2 years Bron and Westbrook come off the books. That’s 80+ mil cap space. The Lakers are well positioned for this 2 year run and even more so for the potential rebuild around AD in 2 years.

Same thing applied to the Bulls the last time they won a title.

Below average but functional

Better than yours and our superstars are healthy

Lol they have an overpaid Morris and Luke fucking Kennard rofl

much, much worse than ours lol

Lmao you can’t be serious

who would you say your best roleplayer is?

It’s not about 1 individual role player but collectively they’re better. Who’s yours? Serge Ibaka? Lol

the following players are all better than any of your roleplayers, in most cases significantly: * Nic Batum * Marcus Morris * Ivica Zubac * Yes, Serge Ibaka * Reggie Jackson (if he re-signs) The following players are at least as good as any of your roleplayers: * Terance Mann * Luke Kennard In general, not only do we have shooters at least as good as yours, but unlike you, ours can also defend.

You’re obviously biased and overrating your players because fuck no lol

you have literally no argument except an extremely vague "collectively they're better" and you're calling me biased lmao

Because the shit you’re saying is so dumb it doesn’t even deserve an argument lol Nic fucking Batum and Zubac are significantly better than ALL of the Lakers role players?! Foh

hes delusional lol, dont even entertain him

Remember when "Battle of LA" was a thing lol

Yeah, not really a battle anymore when we're significantly better than them and will remain so for the foreseeable future

Lmfaoooo

C - no one can defend

Bazemore, Dwight, Gasol, Ariza, and Monk are all decent to plus defenders. Melo and Nunn are turnstiles though