Observations of the opening night matchup between then Lakers and Warriors. Let me start with the good news for Laker Nation. LeBron James in my personal opinion is still the best basketball player in the world. I never took him off the top of my list, but the disrespect by some people not even including LeBron in their top 5. LeBron was outrunning Warriors youth with the ball in his hands, slashing to the goal and finishing through multiple defenders. Not to mention 20 years in the league LeBron’s basketball IQ is 2nd to none. The way LeBron trains and takes care of his body is an inspiration to us all, and should be no surprise that LeBron is still a dominant force in year 20. Bron finished with 31 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 assist. Trying everything possible to help this Laker team win, but was still not enough.
Anthony Davis looks healthy, in shape and motivated which is always a good thing to see. We saw Davis attacking the basket, running the floor, and active on defense, and honestly in my opinion he is moving better than he did the year the Lakers won the title in the Bubble. Davis finished the game with 27 points, and 6 rebounds and played the majority of his minutes at Center, which has always been a question seeing he has been unwilling to play Center in the past, even when it means for the betterment of the team.
As for the Lakers as a whole…. the team looks absolutely terrible. Rob Pelinka did the worst job and executive could possibly do in constructing the roster. Almost half of the roster are names I haven’t even heard of. And more importantly there is little to no 3 point shooting on this team. Instead if trading for Patrick Beverly he should have certainly traded for a 3 point shooter. Instead of signing Juan Toscano and Lonnie Walker he should have signed 3 point shooting. The 1 bright spot other than James and Davis is the return of Kendrick Nunn who did look pretty solid. Russell Westbrook played decent but he is in no way a fit for this team, with the lack of floor spacing, and so many ball dominant players.
The good news out of all this for the Lakers is the fact the played the defending champion Warriors who already have a system in place, are a well oiled machine, and favorites to win the 2023 title. So moving forward they may actually be able to still win some games. But they desperately need to make a trade, and if last year was any indication of if they will make a trade, Rob Pelinka did nothing.
I know Rob Pelinka is Kobe’s boy and all, and Kobe is my favorite all time player, but Rob Pelinka SUCKS at this job so bad. He should have been gone at the same time as Frank Vogel.
