Los Angeles will be the center of the basketball universe during the upcoming season.
The Lakers’ acquisition of Anthony Davis to pair up with LeBron James and the Clippers’ coup in signing Kawhi Leonard and trading for Paul George has created a new level of excitement in Tinseltown.
The flip side to having two superstars is that it’s difficult to surround them with quality pieces due to salary cap restrictions. However, getting the right role players is essential to winning the championship.
The Lakers, of course, had to trade away several young players in order to secure Davis’ services with Kyle Kuzma being the notable exception. They were heavily criticized for some of the veterans they signed to short-team deals last summer but several have returned.
Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were re-signed. The Lakers also brought in a batch of new free agents, including DeMarcus Cousins and Danny Green.
If Cousins can regain some of his All-Star form prior to his Achilles injury two seasons ago, he’d be a steal. But that’s a huge if. Green, of course, was a prominent member of the Raptors’ championship team and is the likely starter at shooting guard.
Avery Bradley, Quinn Cook and Jared Dudley are some of the other reserves signed to fortify the bench.
The Clippers gave up potential star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the George trade but has a little more roster stability with Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and Landry Shamet returning.
They re-signed restricted free agents Ivica Zubac and Rodney McGruder and unrestricted free agent Patrick Beverley, who attracted a lot of interest around the league due to his defensive prowess. JaMychal Green was also re-signed to back up Zubac, while Maurice Harkless was acquired in a trade.
That leads us to our question of the day: Which of the two Los Angeles teams has the best group of role players surrounding their two superstars?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
lakers have the more established guys…..
Maybe, but the Clips are younger and, I believe, more athletic. Plus, arguably the two best players on the Clips’ 48-win team last year (at least in the second half of the year), were Lou Williams and Montreal Harrell, and they are now complimentary players. I’d take the clippers’ bench over just about any team in the league.
I guess you could say the Lakers do have more established guys but I’d just say they have more name recognition. Guys like Dudley, Daniels and yes, even Bradly are huge candidates to play themselves out of the rotation. The majority of those guys are specialists doing one thing well. Nearly every player on the Clips roster is a 3 and D guy. We’ll see how it plays out tho.
Who else is 3 and D outside of Beverly, George, and Leonard?
Prolly shouldn’t have said nearly every player but Green, McGruder, are 3 and D, Potentially Harkless. The point is LAC has multiple defensive guys that can also knock down 3s. Kabengele if he plays..
Green is a stretch. McGruder and Harkless are good defenders but bad 3 shooters. If they are decent shooters their former teams wouldn’t just give them away.
*Complementary
I like the Lakers depth and think that we are going to make a huge push this season…exciting time in La La Land for both fan bases
Ya agreed two great teams, maybe a little more Clippers in the long run, but this year is all Lakers , no one can hang with them if they stay healthy.
Clippers……Lakers
PBeverly*…..ABradley
WChandlr…..*JaDudley
JamGreen*…..KylKuzma
Harkless*…..TroyDanls
MHarrell……DCousins
Kabngele*…..THTucker
McGruder*…..QuinCook
LaShamet……DanGreen
LWiliams**….KCPope
IviZubac…..*JavMcgee
Mann,Robnsn..*Caruso,Norvell
I think James/Davis is better than George/Leonard, but I am giving more stars to the Clipper “rest of” team, 7to3. Almost 8to3, maybe Beverly should get another over Bradley. Not sure what to expect from Bradley, Cousins, DannyGreen.
Of course LBJ/AD is better than PG13/Kawhi any hoops fan knows that… but the bench is also better for the Lakers, DMC will be a beast, Green is a very good player too, Kuzma, Bradley, Rondo… I mean only injuries can derail the Lakers from the finals this year, once in the finals they will have an epic clash with the sixers!
Cept Wilson Chandler signed with Brooklyn
Plus I missed Rondo signing (working with espn rosters), put him in for Quinn Cook and take away a Clipper point. Clips still have an edge by my ratings, at least in the RS.
How did you come to the conclusion that Jamychal Green is better than Kuz? I only see one getting asked to play for team USA
link to basketball-reference.com
Kuzma is below average. Green had a good postseason while Kuzma has not had one. Green rebounds better, shoots at a much higher percentage, can play the 5, and isn’t horrible on D compared to Kuzma. Why Kuz gets so much credit, IDK.
Retreads… vs…. core to build around
Waiting to be fired coach vs championship coach
Jeanie and frenemies vs competent management.
Ummm hmmmm tough one… at least the Lakers have AD for a year….
This is hilarious. KL and PG are the Clippers core to build around. So either your being ridiculous by comparing bench players to 2 superstars or calling LBJ and AD retreads. Either way its some drivel
Player PERs from last season. Very tight but slight edge to Clippers. Lakers take the division due to George’s continued injury and Leonard’s “load” management issues thus diminishing their contribution. Admittedly, Davis has missed quite a few games and LeBron’s age increases susceptibility to injury. Maybe they will tie for the division.
Lakers PER Player PER
Anthony Davis 30 Kawhi Leonard 26
LeBron James 26 Montrezl Harrell 23
JaVale McGee 22 Paul George 23
DM Cousins 21 Lou Williams 21
Alex Caruso 14 Ivica Zubac 19
Kyle Kuzma 14 Johnathan Motley 19
Danny Green 13 JaMychal Green 15
KCP 13 Maurice Harkless 13
Quinn Cook 13 Patrick Beverley 12
Rajon Rondo 12 Landry Shamet 11
Troy Daniels 10 Jerome Robinson 7
Avery Bradley 8
Jared Dudley 8
Clippers. Night and day, really. One of the deepest teams vs one of the most shallow.
The LAL’s entire team outside of their top 3 were signed as UFAs. For UFAs, salaries are the best indication of a player’s league-wide market value / starter level status. Only one of LAL’s UFA signings got starter money (Green). Yeah, vets like Cousins and Bradley might recapture what they were, but their contracts indicate the league is betting they won’t. Listing LBJ as a PG, and talking about Kuzma as a SF, are bad signs.