LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond played together for the first time as teammates on Friday night in the Lakers‘ loss at home to the Kings.
Drummond, who signed a free-agent deal to join the team in March, had yet to play with the superstar duo together as James and Davis recovered from injuries. The 28-year-old finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and 24 minutes in the losing effort against Sacramento.
“He makes the game very easy for everybody,” Drummond said after his first game with James, according to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times. “I feel like he sees everything. He’s like a quarterback, so having him out there’s been really fun — my first game being on the same side as him. It’s definitely been a great learning experience for me, I’m looking forward to being on the court with him more to do better things.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division today:
- Kings center Chimezie Metu underwent an X-ray on his lower back that came back clean on Friday, Sean Cunningham of ABC10 Sacramento tweets. Metu is experiencing back soreness after sustaining a hard fall in the contest. He left in the second quarter and didn’t return.
- Marvin Bagley III‘s recent time away from the Kings was something that he and the team both agreed upon, Jason Jones of The Athletic tweets. Bagley, who returned on Friday after missing 23 games due to a fractured left hand, told reporters that his absence wasn’t a vacation and said that both sides felt it was best.
- Warriors superstar Stephen Curry is continuing to accelerate his team’s timeline, Ethan Strauss of The Athletic writes. Curry has put forth an MVP-caliber season despite Golden State owning just a 31-32 record, averaging a career-high 31.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game.
Curry is having the greatest season of all-time and the front office and Kerr literally said “No Klay, no care. We’re bringing in Oubre, Bazemore and Wanamaker to replace Klay, KD and Iggy because we hate the F out of our fanbase AND we actively prove we don’t believe in our superstar’s ceiling time and time again by doing nothing, keeping open roster spaces, burning roster spaces on absolutely useless players like Mannion and Smailagic, and routinely playing shorthanded.”
This year really lis mirroring the movie MAJOR LEAGUE, but for no reason: they aren’t the cheapskate Cleveland Indians, they are the Warriors: they are the richest/most valuable team in the game. They are the Yankees of the NBA. They should never EVER write off a Steph Curry prime season, for any reason. They should have bought in literally anyone but Oubre, Bazemore and Wanamaker. Kerr has been checked out since mid-2017 when he realized he didn’t have to do anything because he had the greatest team of all time, and he lost to the Raptors because of this.
If they kept Jerry West they’d be in first place right now, period. They instead replaced him with the owners children who passed on a perfect Kerr player in Lamelo Ball for the worst possible Kerr-system player in Wiseman. Pathetic. Unacceptable. Everyone deserves better.
Who do you think they should have added instead of Oubre and Bazemore that would have fit their salary cap situation?
Ask Jerry West.
What? Marty is differing to Jerry West? I thought you were the greatest basketball mind ever. You keep telling us you know more about basketball than anyone, ever.
Even while having the greatest season of all-time will Steph even manage to come in 3rd in the MVP vote after Jokic and Embiid?
I’m asking you.
Why would you rather know what an anonymous internet commenter thinks over a legendary HOFer? Get your priorities right in life, toddy B.
Apart from the unlikely prospect of Jerry West showing up here to answer, you seem convinced that he would’ve identified better players who fit into their salary slots and under the cap. Again, I’m asking you. Who would’ve made this team better?
If you’re just venting over a mediocre season, cool. But if you honestly think there were better moves to be made, spill it.
Well, he’s asking you because you’re questioning the decisions made by the man hand picked by Jerry West.
Hindsight is 20/20, however I was a big fan of Saddiq Bey in the draft, I wish we had moved back in the draft(maybe with DET for 16th pick & Andre Drummond) therefore keeping our protected pick that went to Phoenix for Kelly(and using the Iggy TPE in the Drummond acquisition).
This team is just too small, and I’m not saying that because I’m an old head, but it’s Oubre/Wiggins(6’7), Looney(6’9), and Wiseman(7’0)-then a bunch of 6’3-6’6 guys. Having a big body center and maybe even a PF/SF type(Wilson Chandler/James Johnson-esque) would be nice. It would allow Looney/Dray/JTA/Paschall/Wiseman to focus their energy on their strengths as opposed to fighting Embiid/Adebayo/Ayton/Davis/Valanciunas/JJJ/KP/Kleber/Vucevic/Jokic/Adams/Nurkic/Gasol/Boban/Kanter/Randle/Lopez/Gobert/etc from leaning/boxing out/shoving/fighting for positioning, and instead use that energy on their strengths.
Not necessarily saying we NEED a center for 20-30minutes a night, however one that plays 5-12 with the capability to play 20 would be great. A big body. Willy Hernangomez, Robin Lopez or even drafting Seton Hall’s Sandro Mamukelashvili would be upgrades over Smailagic.
I’ve even entertained the idea of Wiggins for Adams+Bledsoe as it would open the starting SF spot for Kelly, and turn our center rotation into one of the league’s best with Adams/Wiseman/Looney, with sprinkles of Draymond.
I’d prefer a Wiggins+MIN pick for Josh Richardson and Maxi Kleber but I think both franchises value their individual players too much for that, however Wiggins is exactly the type of player Luka needs, and defends more positions/(opposing wings) than JR. whereas the Warriors would add a big body that can shoot/play with Dray for a few minutes at a time as well as a backup 2 guard that can defend 1-3. This also opens up the starting SF spot for Oubre.
A Curry/Klay/Oubre/Dray/Looney lineup with Richardson/Poole/Lee/JTA/Kleber/Wiseman/Paschall/Bazemore/Mannion team isnt perfect, nor is a Curry/Klay/Oubre/Dray/Adams with Looney/Bledsoe/Poole/JTA/Wiseman/Lee/Paschall/Bazemore/Mannion.
BUT, Curry/Bazemore/Oubre/Wiggins/Draymond with Looney/Paschall/Lee/Poole/Mannion/Payton II/JTA hasn’t been able to get it done, and their lack of size is definitely a HUGE drain on both ends of the court.
Boban would also be a great fit as he doesn’t need much money, nor does he require a ton of minutes, yet he’s the definition of size at the 5. Willy Hernangomez or Robin Lopez could also be great fits as rotational bigs, as could Bobby Portis. I’d still love RoCo or Wilson Chandler, somehow but I do understand we can really only add players via MLE and trades♂️
Q: How many times can Marty not understand what happened in one post?
A: In a long post, many times. Ask Jerry West.
If curry doesn’t sign on the dotted line in the off season he’s as good as gone. I’m a die hard warrior fan and I wouldn’t blame him. He deserves to compete for championships in the twilight of his career.
I don’t agree but I respect the intensity
Most infuriating season to sit through. Coach and front office just actively trolling the fans. “We aren’t chasing wins.” Curry banned from playing the first 6 minutes of the most important quarter, just terrible crap to sit through. No one deserves to see Bazemore and Oubre on court together, no one. You can’t ever win with more than 1 low IQ player on court at any time, and GSW has about 5 of them that all play heavy minutes in SocKerrTes “genius” rotations. I’m not alone either, GSW fans worldwide are feeling this. We didn’t deserve this, and neither did Steph.
If trolling is so bad, why do you troll us so often?
Come on Marty the warriors are tanking it. I have no doubt about it since they are playing only 8 players. They are playing a ultra small lineup. I guess they figure go for a better draft pick since they have 0 chance at a championship this year.
The Yankees never “tank it”. You don’t deserve to be the most valued franchise by Forbes and be allowed to tank. Unacceptable. If you are a real fan you should be mad at this, not accepting. Be better.
I don’t accept it but my feeling is its Bob Meyers that is the one responsible. there has been a problem all year once chris went down with a injury no big enforcer in the middle. They have had a open roster spot for a while but refuse to get some guys with height to go against bigger team. What has Bob Meyer done? KD fell into his lap.
Marty you be more concerned with truth and less with telling a story that gets you off.
Theres hardly any difference between the 12 pick and 20 …your throwing darts in that range….there not tanking for “a better pick” . Thats just laying a soft pillow down to put your mind at ease
Theres just not much value to trade anymore for upgrades … NO Iggy no Russell to flip, nobodis excited about Oubre or Wiggy league wide.. Getting next to nothing from Wiseman this year surely didnt help
Kerr seems like a whiny baby, if he’s not on top he cant handle the fight, Id bet this fall has more to do with him not knowing how to dig himself outta a hole than them physically “tanking” …How do you tank and be in the playoffs first of all?
They have done nothing this year to improve even though anyone that watches them knows they can’t beat bigger teams. They made no trades at all and only signed 1 player Payton jr out of the g league. They had offers for Oubre but they have this fantasy that he will sign back in the off season. Not sure how they can with being over the cap and anyone can outbid them for his services. Bob Meyer is the one to blame.
As I said before it happened, the Lakers made themselves worse by starting Drummond
Agree – even with LeBron I’m not sure Drummond is going to be worth it for LA (even tho they paid next to nothing for him).
Best bet for them may still be the AD at the 5 lineups.
We still definitely need to overhaul the buyout system though.
Right?
Guys…right?
Cuz like it’s not…fair. Right?
Absolutely. Blake Griffin is an average to below average backup PF and it still infuriates me to this day.
Like most of Detroit and some of Cleveland.
He’s a step slow mentally. I mean it shows up as being a half-second behind, give or take. It’s like he is holding on to a bit of contempt because he thinks he has to.
Oops *edit* I meant fans in those areas are likely to think “a step slow” about Drummond.
Def a Work in progress Form, but Im willing to give it some time – That 4th qrter debacle was certainly not his fault yesterday- I still think Gasol has 2 (4 min) stretches’ in him per game to be a positive contributor – Lot to figure out next 9
Surfer- No doubt AD at the 5 is ideal, but AD agreeing to it is a whole different story …maybe?
X- Thats a great analysis indeed …. There is just something slightly offff upstairs ….Like Blake Snells genealogy
Kings did Bagley and injustice by not trading him. Watch him sign an extension to remain on a suck team….
The Warriors had offers for the 2nd pick and chose to go for the future and it cost them. Wiggins is just average and Oubre does not have desire to play hard. Weisman start for him
Behind.
“Weisman star for him Behind”? What?
Warriors has needed a big man that was healthy and there was none available during the trade deadline. The one that was traded cost 2 draft picks and 2 good young player. so what great player would they have received for Wolves pick that you know about?
Kerr’s system promotes smallball anyway, its useless to get a high ceiling big man in there unless he plays him at the 4 spot (like KD), not the 5. The best C’s they can get are Looney-types. Ball should have always been the pick. Wiseman might actually be a stud if they play him at 4 and Draymond at 5, but for no reason at all Kerr decided to shoehorn him in in the same role Looney has.
Big men are overrated in the first place but trying to shoehorn them in at C in Kerr’s rotation ust doesn’t work if they can’t pass like Dray.
Agreed — given the system Ball should have been the pick. Hindsight is 20/20 etc etc. But it’s also Jerry West. I hold him to a higher standard.
Actually, my top 2 picks were Haliburton and Avdija…both available to GSW and both superior options on Kerr’s GSW to Wiseman. Haliburton was ready-made for a team like GSW.
Jerry West of the Clips?
Nobody thought of Wiseman as a 4, not sure anybody does now. Oh wait there’s Crae Rae who thinks it obvious and in need of multiple reminders daily.
Damn Marty I said that exact same thing In February and you ripped me apart !
I agree, GSW never needed a high profile Center whatsoever for their proven winning system …..Now its easy to say Ball today, and you know I love Ball, but draft night LaMelo was a huge huge risk ……. Who knows the trade discussions had, but Id bet the league is alert to the fact that GSW have been pretty good at winning trades big in the not so distant past so it might make other teams worried today dealing with them
Yeah I think the Wiseman pick is on track to go down as one of the biggest ‘What If?’ picks in recent drafts.
You’re 100% right, Ball was a HUGE question mark on draft night. But another element to consider, setting aside GS’s system, is the FO probably knew that within the next year they’d look to flip whoever they drafted for a more seasoned player.
To me that points even more in the direction of Ball, because even with his question marks I think most people agreed Ball probably had the highest upside of anyone in the draft. It’s not too different from what they did with D’Angelo—get the talent, then sell him for someone who’s a better fit when the time’s right.
Now with Wiseman you have a rookie center who had a pretty underwhelming first year, in a league where the ceiling for centers has never been lower.
Again, it’s all hindsight, but if they can’t flip Wiseman plus the Minny pick for another All Star, or if they keep Wiseman and he continues to flounder, there’s no doubt there will be endless “think pieces” written about whether that pick cost GS a late-Curry era run at a ring.
Why is everyone so high on Ball? He is inconsistent and most of his good games are against very bad teams. Haliburton is the one that impresses me the most. the guy looks like a vet out there. George is showing a lot of promise. Wiseman when drafted was very raw and the warriors knew it. He will be a very solid player in the NBA. most big men take much more time than a PG in the league. Check back in 3 years on who is the best player in 2020 draft.
Why is everyone so high on Ball?
Do you have a Tv…Youtube?
Inconsistent? He rattled off like 19 outta 20 good games before going down … Not only does it seem he’s adapted to NBA pace he was in complete control of it.