Separation - Lakers

[Neurotic Guy]

Plunges the knife deeper into my heart each time I see this thread title.

Looking forward to this thread being buried so I can remain firmly in denial for as long as possible.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I don't know if Gasol didn't adjust to the bubble well or if he is cooked.  His regular season wasn't that bad, so I think the verdict is out some on him till we see how he looks in say February. 

That said, the Lakers seems pretty clearly the best team in the West. 

Starters - Schroder, Matthews, James, Davis, Gasol
Regular Rotation - Harrell, Kuzma, Morris, KCP, Caruso

That is a pretty deep top 10.

I don't expect them to get the top seed again, but they are the most dangerous playoff team, sure.

They'll probably be a high 50-win team with the #1 seed. LeBron showing no signs of slowing down. Davis is healthy as ever. Davis only goes out with a season ending injury if he's not playing with the Lakers lol.

Figures, right? Dude's injured almost every season, then gets to the Lakers and is the picture of health. Not that I want guys to get hurt, I absolutely don't; but you just figure that certain things in life will happen, one of them being "Anthony Davis gets injured again." Must be taking whatever LeBron's taking.

Edit: And yeah, barring injury to LeBron and/or Davis, I expect the Lakers to again win the West—with relative ease, actually—and be the favorite to win the title.

Davis missed 9 of 71 games or 12.67%, which is in range for his prior seasons.

In 5 of his previous 7 seasons, he missed quite a bit more time than that:

2012-13: missed 18 of 82 = 21.95%
2013-14: missed 15 of 82 = 18.29%
2014-15: missed 14 of 82 = 17.07%
2015-16: missed 21 of 82 = 25.6%
2016-17: missed 7 of 82 = 8.53%
2017-18: missed 7 of 82 = 8.53%
2018-19: missed 26 of 82 = 31.7%

I'd say that last season was quite a bit better than usual for him in regard to time missed.

[Moranis]

I don't know if Gasol didn't adjust to the bubble well or if he is cooked.  His regular season wasn't that bad, so I think the verdict is out some on him till we see how he looks in say February. 

That said, the Lakers seems pretty clearly the best team in the West. 

Starters - Schroder, Matthews, James, Davis, Gasol
Regular Rotation - Harrell, Kuzma, Morris, KCP, Caruso

That is a pretty deep top 10.

I don't expect them to get the top seed again, but they are the most dangerous playoff team, sure.

They'll probably be a high 50-win team with the #1 seed. LeBron showing no signs of slowing down. Davis is healthy as ever. Davis only goes out with a season ending injury if he's not playing with the Lakers lol.

Figures, right? Dude's injured almost every season, then gets to the Lakers and is the picture of health. Not that I want guys to get hurt, I absolutely don't; but you just figure that certain things in life will happen, one of them being "Anthony Davis gets injured again." Must be taking whatever LeBron's taking.

Edit: And yeah, barring injury to LeBron and/or Davis, I expect the Lakers to again win the West—with relative ease, actually—and be the favorite to win the title.

Davis missed 9 of 71 games or 12.67%, which is in range for his prior seasons.

In 5 of his previous 7 seasons, he missed quite a bit more time than that:

2012-13: missed 18 of 82 = 21.95%
2013-14: missed 15 of 82 = 18.29%
2014-15: missed 14 of 82 = 17.07%
2015-16: missed 21 of 82 = 25.6%
2016-17: missed 7 of 82 = 8.53%
2017-18: missed 7 of 82 = 8.53%
2018-19: missed 26 of 82 = 31.7%

I'd say that last season was quite a bit better than usual for him in regard to time missed.

The Pelicans shut him down in 18-19 because they didn't want him to get injured to save his trade value.  He absolutely could have played down the stretch that season.  He wouldn't have been less than 13%, but he would have been no where near 32% missed either.  You can see this in his weird minutes that season where he was starting and only playing like 20 mpg before they finally just pulled the plug (he also had a finger injury where he missed way more time then he needed to because it led up to the trade deadline and they were holding him out - it was so bad the league threatened to fine them for not playing a healthy player).  Which would mean in the last 4 years, he actually hasn't missed all that much time due to injury.  He was more injury prone early on, though the Pelicans also shut him down at the end of seasons when he wasn't really injured quite a bit after they were eliminated from playoff contention i.e. he missed the final 3, 5, and 3 games in seasons when they were eliminated and he wasn't injured.  Add those 11 games back in and his missed time percentage changes a fair amount (13, 14, and 17).   

He hasn't actually missed much time recently as a result of injury.  Much more so the Pelicans choosing not to play him.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I don't know if Gasol didn't adjust to the bubble well or if he is cooked.  His regular season wasn't that bad, so I think the verdict is out some on him till we see how he looks in say February. 

That said, the Lakers seems pretty clearly the best team in the West. 

Starters - Schroder, Matthews, James, Davis, Gasol
Regular Rotation - Harrell, Kuzma, Morris, KCP, Caruso

That is a pretty deep top 10.

I don't expect them to get the top seed again, but they are the most dangerous playoff team, sure.

They'll probably be a high 50-win team with the #1 seed. LeBron showing no signs of slowing down. Davis is healthy as ever. Davis only goes out with a season ending injury if he's not playing with the Lakers lol.

Figures, right? Dude's injured almost every season, then gets to the Lakers and is the picture of health. Not that I want guys to get hurt, I absolutely don't; but you just figure that certain things in life will happen, one of them being "Anthony Davis gets injured again." Must be taking whatever LeBron's taking.

Edit: And yeah, barring injury to LeBron and/or Davis, I expect the Lakers to again win the West—with relative ease, actually—and be the favorite to win the title.

Davis missed 9 of 71 games or 12.67%, which is in range for his prior seasons.

In 5 of his previous 7 seasons, he missed quite a bit more time than that:

2012-13: missed 18 of 82 = 21.95%
2013-14: missed 15 of 82 = 18.29%
2014-15: missed 14 of 82 = 17.07%
2015-16: missed 21 of 82 = 25.6%
2016-17: missed 7 of 82 = 8.53%
2017-18: missed 7 of 82 = 8.53%
2018-19: missed 26 of 82 = 31.7%

I'd say that last season was quite a bit better than usual for him in regard to time missed.

The Pelicans shut him down in 18-19 because they didn't want him to get injured to save his trade value.  He absolutely could have played down the stretch that season.  He wouldn't have been less than 13%, but he would have been no where near 32% missed either.  You can see this in his weird minutes that season where he was starting and only playing like 20 mpg before they finally just pulled the plug (he also had a finger injury where he missed way more time then he needed to because it led up to the trade deadline and they were holding him out - it was so bad the league threatened to fine them for not playing a healthy player).  Which would mean in the last 4 years, he actually hasn't missed all that much time due to injury.  He was more injury prone early on, though the Pelicans also shut him down at the end of seasons when he wasn't really injured quite a bit after they were eliminated from playoff contention i.e. he missed the final 3, 5, and 3 games in seasons when they were eliminated and he wasn't injured.  Add those 11 games back in and his missed time percentage changes a fair amount (13, 14, and 17).   

He hasn't actually missed much time recently as a result of injury.  Much more so the Pelicans choosing not to play him.

Fair enough.

[scottwedman]

Daniel Ray Ainge has been bypassed and outmaneuvered the past 5-6 seasons.  Is it time to move on from him?

Celtics have had way too many assets  to not have a bona fide superstar paired with Tatum.

[ausbacker]

Losing Rondo's going to be HUGE for them, just watch.

Unfathomable that they didn't offer him some 2-year deal........

That NINETEEN POINTS he gave them in the closeout game against MIA....incredible but let's be real here THAT'S RONDO........

While they still have a formidable bunch I don't see anyone on that team with that kind of Big-Game Toughness that Rondo has, plain and simple.

and what about game 5 that the Lakers lost by 3 when Rondo was 1 of 7 and -13 in 18 minutes.

And?

I think THAT GAME was more remembered by most as the game where Danny Green missed that open 3, right? The one that got him death threats from the Laker faithful LOL?

Don't believe most LAL fans will blame THAT GAME on Rondo's stat line.

My point was "playoff Rondo" was terrible more often then he was great. 

I mean these were his 6 finals games
2 of 7
5 of 9
2 of 8
1 of 7
1 of 7
8 of 11

This is not a guy you can consistently rely for anything.  He is all over the map.  Some games he looks good, some games he is terrible.  The Lakers won't miss him at all.

Good points but I think they'll miss his leadership off that bench.

Leaders come through when needed - and his performance in Game 6 was huge.

The Lakers don't need leadership.  Sure Rondo might provide some of that to the Hawks, but the Lakers don't need an inconsistent guy who isn't even that good when he is good even when said guy has some leadership qualities.

LeBron disagrees.

https://clutchpoints.com/lakers-news-lebron-james-heartfelt-message-to-rajon-rondo-after-decision-to-join-hawks/

I think the part where LeBron says "We don't win this thing without YOU" speaks volumes as to how important Rajon Rondo was to LAL.

You are reading way more into that then you should be.  He said basically the same thing for Quinn Cook and Danny Green. https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1329520665737584643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1329520665737584643%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spin.ph%2Fbasketball%2Fnba%2Fdanny-green-expresses-gratitude-as-lebron-sends-farewell-message-a1931-20201121

Lebron does that with his teammates.  It is what good leaders do.

The same great leader who has walked out on multiple teams leaving them with nothing as he chases individual glory? LeBron isn't a leader's backside.