Avery Bradley will be re-evaluated next Friday after the Lakers return from their road trip, Brett Dawson of The Athletic tweets. Bradley, who signed a two-year deal this offseason, is dealing with a leg injury and appears to be leaning toward the end of the one-to-two week timeline announced last Friday.
Here’s more from Los Angeles:
- There have been grumblings from agents that they could not get players on the Lakers without LeBron James‘ approval, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated writes. GM Rob Pelinka has admitted that he consulted James when making acquisitions this offseason.
- James, Pelinka and Anthony Davis have a group chat and Mannix adds that roster moves have been a regular topic in the forum. “I think we’re always open to listening to the player’s voice,” said Pelinka. “But I do think as a principal with the Lakers, we do want the GM and the front office to be building rosters, and the coaches to doing the strategy. And I think it’s important to empower people to do their job in their lane and not to be meddlesome. So we definitely stay away from that.”
- The key to coaching James? Be as prepared as he is, Mannix writes in the same piece. Former teammate Richard Jefferson told the scribe that LBJ will know if you are not prepared. “Is he easy to coach? No,” Jefferson said. “Was Kobe Bryant the best teammate? No. But guys like that, their job is not to be easy to coach or be the best teammate. Their job is to go out there and be competitive. A great player will challenge a coach.”
Richard Jefferson talks a lot of sense, seems very knowledgeable, an extension of his career a really sensible good player.
Just another former player, nothing special about him.
Special these senses: sense, college career, what Popovich paid for him, what he did before Pops got him, and one title.
James must be saying no, because stars are generally consulted at least for major moves.
Advocacy is the problem in that situation. Mediocre KCPope has been been turned into a quieter JRSmith, with shooting compromised by defensive responsibilities. Fast-paced RRondo is not a style fit and Kuzma’s style is to get overrated. Neither rookie has gotten much chance.
Players are stastically as I predicted.
James, Davis, McGee, Howard, DGreen, & Dudley are doing well. Caruso & Bradley look good anyway.
The Lakers are 12-2 though with minimal money to invest after the top guys, so James isn’t nuts.
Dudley has been a dud.
Except KCP didn’t get anything close to a ridiculous JR Smith contract.
KCP was overpaid though at $8.1MM, and paid from limited funds under the cap. Meanwhile the Cavs were already over, and it was either grab Smith or not for them; there was no oportunity cost involved. The Lakers were lucky Danny Green waited to the end.
Now maybe I don’t the Laker cap situation right– these things are complicated. He had Bird rights but signed early. (Does his salary even count against the cap?) But Rich Paul is his agent.
Dudley is maybe a dud in practice but he has made all of his 3s! (just 4 ha)
When Kuzma gets traded (I am assuming), Dudley will get time.
Pelinka is wishing he kept Ingram I bet… like I, and probably James, said.
Lakers need a wing that can score consistently. Some one like jj reddick, damian lilard, cj mccolum, devin booker, dangelo russell, bradley beal. Acquiring one these studs would be difficult but i think thats all they are missing from really standing apart from the field. Come playoffs you need to be able to hit 3’s and lakers so far arent that good outside 34% i think getting into a shootout with houston or clips wont have a great outcome so adding value in this area will help us match up.
In the games i have watched even the losses the offense relys to heavily through lebron and ad and historically lebron isnt a good closer, this year further paints that picture. Adding one of the mentioned guards takes the pressure of lebron to focus on facilitating while also giving ad breathing room in the paint. If kuzma doesn’t evolve i can see him plus other pieces being delt to a team like the trail blazers should they continue there downward trend.
I still feel like Kuzma can be that guy you’re looking for. It took him a few games to get into his groove but since has looked pretty good before the eye injury. In the 5 games before the eye injury, Kuzma was averaging 18 pts on 50% from the field and 47% from 3(over 6 3pt attempts per game).
Outside of Kuzma I feel it will be going with the hot hand more than 1 specific person. The roster has a lot of bench players that can score in bunches but none that can do it consistently outside of the top 3.