The offseason isn’t over, exactly, but the free-agent frenzy essentially is. Aside from Kawhi Leonard, who does absolutely everything at his own pace, all of the top-tier players are off the board. Here are some notes about what’s happened, starting with the remade Los Angeles Lakers
Well, the Lakers are completely different. Just four players are back from last season’s roster, and of the eight players who were in the rotation by the end of the 2020 NBA Finals, only LeBron James and Anthony Davis remain. (Also, Dwight Howard, who was out of the rotation, has returned for his third stint as a Laker.)
Next to James, Davis, Marc Gasol, Talen-Horton Tucker and Howard are Russell Westbrook and a whole bunch of guys who can shoot 3s: Kent Bazemore, Trevor Ariza, Malik Monk, Wayne Ellington, Kendrick Nunn and Carmelo Anthony.
This group is divisive. James has already tweeted-and-deleted a response to those who have talked about “my squad, our personnel ages, the way he plays, he stays injured, etc etc etc.” As far as the on-court fit goes, much of the discussion has understandably centered on the Lakers’ defense, which will all but certainly decline from the elite level it has maintained since Davis’ arrival.
At least in the regular season, the Lakers are going to give regular minutes to players who don’t pester guards at the point of attack as well as Alex Caruso or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and don’t have the same versatility as 2019-20 Danny Green or 2020-21 Kyle Kuzma. Their hope, it seems, is that this won’t matter all that much, since they can still put awesome defensive lineups on the floor in the playoffs.
