You don't think his dad would send him overseas?
His Dad is a lunatic. If he did then he would effectively end his career.
I would hope that Lonzo is smart enough to tell his dad to pound sand in that situation. 30 million from the Nets is better than 3 millions from some Turkish team.
Sure. It certainly CAN work if both players dedicate themselves to working together and improving their defense. No question.
And certainly the Lakers front office knows more about this stuff than I do. So they may be pretty comfortable with Ball's ability to settle in to the team. But looking at the draft and pure fit, it could be argued that Dearon Fox would be a better fit.
May work on one end of the court -- not sure about the other.
Defensively. Yes. But from everything I've read and seen, Ball fits better with what Luke wants on offense. Honestly, I don't think a team can go wrong with any of the top 4.
Yeah. Ball seems like a quality player. The question is whether they they can have Russell and Ball can coexist.
I can see them coming up with a smaller lineup rotation.
- Ball
- Russell
- George
- Ingram
- Randle/Zubac
Then have guys like Nance, Zubac and Tarik Black come off the bench for height in certain situations
As soon as that scenario is presented to George, he would immediately take the Lakers off his list.
Just ask Larry Bird. I'm sure his utter dismissal of Paul's opinion was the beginning of the end.
“I don’t know if I’m cut out for a 4 spot,” George said after the Pacers’ 110-105 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, a game in which he started matched up against 6-11 All-Star Anthony Davis.
“I don’t know if this is my position. I’m still not comfortable with it regardless of the situation. It’s still something I have to adjust to or maybe not. Or maybe it’s something we can go away from.”
PG said often “we” will see how it goes re: role as starting PF. I asked him how much say he’ll have in decision to keep on playing it.
PG: "I hope I lot. I hope my happiness comes 1st in this whole ordeal but again I’m not someone that’s going to change a locker rm.
"Well, he don't make the decisions around here," Bird said. "I [played power forward]. I loved it after I did it. I just think offensively it's going to be one of the greatest feelings he's ever had. I'm not going to get in a battle with Paul George on where he wants to play. He's a basketball player. He can play any position you put him out there."
Again, offensively it shouldn't be an issue. Ball is pass first and Russell isn't an iso guy. Defensively is where there could be an issue. But that's true with the whole team because of how young they are. They are all going to have to learn to play at least adequate NBA level team defense.
I kinda disagree with you there. Russell and Ball are on the ball type players. Ball is a pass first kinda player. Russell tends to be a shoot first but can he play a traditional 2?
He played a traditional 2 for about the last 20 or so games of the season. Over that time, he played the best basketball he's played as a Laker. He had the ball a lot when he played PG, but when he played the 2, he wasn't holding the ball. We're not talking "Kobe lite" here. lol
In fact, the way he played at the 2 was part of the reason the Lakers started showing flashes of what Luke wants (an offense like GSW) and why they went on that late win streak that everyone said was going to cost them their top 3 pick.
I think it might depend. If the Lakers come up with their own version of GSW's "death lineup" that it used for a short time in certain situations, he'd probably be good with it.
But I don't see him playing it full time and wouldn't want him to try.
I can see them coming up with a smaller lineup rotation.
- Ball
- Russell
- George
- Ingram
- Randle/Zubac
Then have guys like Nance, Zubac and Tarik Black come off the bench for height in certain situations
I can see them coming up with a smaller lineup rotation.
- Ball
- Russell
- George
- Ingram
- Randle/Zubac
Then have guys like Nance, Zubac and Tarik Black come off the bench for height in certain situations
Hard to see how Ball and Russell could ever be in the same back court together.