Dennis Schroder‘s contract situation is one of the reasons why Alex Caruso isn’t logging more minutes, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register speculates. After acquiring Schroder from the Thunder during the offseason, the Lakers are hoping to convince him to sign an extension instead of allowing him to enter unrestricted free agency this offseason. That’s why it is in the team’s best interests to keep Schroder in a starting role and give him steady minutes even though his offensive production has dipped significantly compared to last season.
We have more from the Western Conference:
- Grizzlies guard Grayson Allen will not be active on Saturday against San Antonio due to the league’s health and safety protocols, according to Evan Barnes of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Allen joined center Jonas Valanciunas on the list, as Memphis prepares to play for the first time since January 18. Valanciunas indicated on social media he’s recovered from COVID-19 and rejoined the team, though he’s not expected to play until next week.
- The Grizzlies will allow MVP season ticket holders to attend games starting on February 4 against Houston, Barnes indicates in a separate story. That will raise capacity inside FedExForum to just under 2,000 fans, or 11% capacity. The Grizzlies have allowed up to 74 season ticket holders to sit courtside, as well as 220 additional fans in suites and club boxes.
- Luke Kennard missed a good chunk of last season with Detroit due to tendinitis in both knees. Now a key reserve for the Clippers, Kennard is grateful for all the rehab he last season, as he told Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times. “It helped so much more than I could have thought and now I’m feeling great, my body feels great and I’m moving well,” Kennard said. “I hated it at the time — didn’t hate it, but it just took a while. It was pretty hard. Looking back now, I’m grateful and thankful I went through it.” Kennard signed a four-year extension in December.
- Even if the Warriors show improvement over the course of the season, they’re no better than the best of a mediocre group of Western Conference teams contending for a playoff berth, Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes.
The Lakers are lessening their chances of winning by playing Shroeder more & Caruso less, to be able to sign Shroeder cheaper for next season? What if Shroeder reads this story?
Kennard & Porzingis need to see the ball go through the hoop. Sooner the better.
The Warriors have a good pick anyway, might as well see how far the team can go, and be active in the FO through the summer. Hard to screw this up
Why do they want to keep an inferior player and not give Caruso the opportunity he deserves? Sounds like a decision made by LeBron.
Sounds more like a decision by FO ego & bean-counters.
Schematics ; Caruso is in the closing lineup with AD at the 5 and swapping C for Caruso
He will get major burn when it matters; him being a nice quite guy probably hurts him in reg season mins tally but he knows he will be out there when it matters- Id imagine the last 10-15 games of the reg season you will start seeing the true rotations tightening
They are still trying to integrate Shroder into the line-up.. they need to figure out how he can be used with the other guys on the roster. They know what they have in Caruso, it makes sense at this point in the season to give him more run and it’s not like he’s been bad.
Tony Slater said it best ^
Schroeder needs to be coming off the bench.. it’s a lot easier putting up pts going against teams second units.. his turnover to assist ratio is abysmal and he’s taking the ball out of lebrons hands.. lebron lead league in assists. Averaging 4 assists out of starting pg and 2 turnovers. Shooting 41% fg and 31% from 3.. those aren’t starting pg numbers.. it’s a lot easier to put up hollow stats on a bad team.. not easy to put up stats on a team expected to win. Lakers don’t need to kiss these players behinds to play for them.. players want to play for the lakers.. pelinka and vogel rim the team not to upset players.. players need to earn the minutes
@lakers1 “Pelinka and Vogel rim the team” wasn’t an image I needed.
It’s a players rim job
I disagree- His greatest worth is saving Lebrons energy, which he does oh so well- A lot of his buckets save the team energy on offence as well with his blow byes .
We didnt have a single player that could get their own last year outside the big 2 . They had to grit and grind the offence every possession. You dont want to do that with AD/LbJ going forward- In a perfect World DS would lead the team in mins and the stars could rest more
Slater said what most people can say about every team in the west. Only Utah is looking elite right now. Any of the top ten can beat any of the other teams. very much every team is in the same position.
His point isn’t who can win on a given night, it’s where they’ll finish. And right now Warriors are at the top of the middle of the pack. They’re not better than Lakers, Clippers, Jazz, or even Denver. After that, yeah it’s closer, but closer among teams not likely to finish in the top 4 or even make the conference finals. The season is done for them tbh
Slaters point not new news. Not sure why he saw a need to write it. I dont want the warriors to finish in top 10. They’ll lose their first round pick if top 10 finish and they’ll not be able to use Wolves number 1 until next year.
The point of the article is that the normally dominant West now has a lot of middling teams (e.g. the warriors), and they’re all pretty close in terms of competition. That’s news sweetie. Sorry if you dont like it.
Dude. Sweetie? And anyone thats followed the FIRST quarter of the season knows what EVERYONE expected and that is that there would be a a group of teams bunched up. So its not big news. I predicted it as did everyone and their mothers. Every preseason preview predicted it. And thanks for saying the same thing in two posts.
BTW, don’t post if ur going to refer to us as “sweetie”
Thanks Mr Redundant. Obviously I know the point of the article. And if you read any preseason preview they’ll say the same thing. Again , preseason. So its old news. If its new to you congratulations on surviving ur coma. And also congratulations on thinking “sweetie” is clever. Its moronic.
Schroder is probably better coming off the bench but KCP is the one who should have his minutes reduced.
THT should be playing more than KCP too.
Kuzmas minutes should be cut.. when Kcp not shooting, he still plays defense.. kuzma offense shows up every 3 games and no defense
Kcp and Kuz are fine its Gasol thats the problem
Kuz first 13 games were awful, his last 8 have been great energy/rebounding/ with nice scoring bursts
This team will play better with 9 man rotations; its not ideal to run 11 man rotations every game
So the Lakers have a policy of wasting Caruso? If so then let him go. I’m reminded of Al Davis & Marcus Allen. Maybe just because of LA.
schroder should practice shooting. his fg percentage in 2 & 3 this season with the lakers dip dramatically. he should be able to connect from 3 & 2 when open. the problem seems to be the touches that he’s getting, in okc, the ball is always in his hands when cp3’s not playing. so i think the pressure of scoring when he has the ball always comes into play. he should need to figure it out or he’s gonna be traded!
The problem with the Lakers is just Gasol, he’s done
The more complex issue for the offseason is who will they be able to keep outta Caruso Tht and Schroeder
Was nice to see the rotation trimmed to 9 vs Bos and Harrell get 30 mins. It sounds weird saying but this team really needs Javale McGee back