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The Klaw 2.0 👀🔥#LakeShowpic.twitter.com/D7tichqyQC

— Matt Evans (@MattEvansBBall) December 16, 2020

🎙️Today on The Forum Club➡️ @billoram and @anthonyVslater discuss the #Lakers preseason so far, what role will Talen Horton-Tucker play and more!

🎧Listen for free⬇️
Apple: https://t.co/XiSlIy61N4
Spotify: https://t.co/QGRXTkfpuh pic.twitter.com/gLmAbjnKrd

— The Athletic L.A. (@TheAthleticLA) December 16, 2020

Dr. Buss bought the Lakers with the intention of giving LA – the city he loved – a team to be proud of and compete with the East Coast teams he felt the media favored – the Celtics, Knicks, 76’ers. He would love this especially as we raise #17 https://t.co/GuLmVYMzdM

— Jeanie Buss (@JeanieBuss) December 16, 2020

Frankly, both Gerald and I were pretty bummed out by the loss and were unusually in concert when it came to analyzing the game. I prefer the Lakers winning and Gerald and I disagreeing on why but unfortunately, that’s not where this Lakers team is at this point.

The Lakers are a team that lacks secondary stars, has major weaknesses at the point guard and center positions, and desperately needed better and more 3-point shooting but elected not to fix any of these problems at the trade deadline.

Schroder and THT are not going to fill the void left by Rondo. The combination of Gasol, Harrell, and Drummond is not going to be able to solve the center rim protection issues. And there may be too little time left for LeBron and AD to get healthy and the Lakers to repeat. We’re looking at the Lakers being a Play-In team.

As for Andre, I won’t write him off yet because he was obviously not in game shape and then got injured. We did see some positives in a blocked shot, a rebound, a couple of assists, and a player who wanted to play team ball. Unfortunately, we also saw a player who’s not a great dunker off lobs or drives, can’t shoot free throws, and is unlikely to carry the team offensively until Bron and AD return. In the end, there’s a reason he was bought out at 27.

Count me in on signing Boogie and having him take ten threes per game to spread the floor and stretch the defense. Now he’s going to do that to us on the Clippers while Dre blows lobs and turns the ball over going 1-on-1. What does it take for the Lakers coaching staff and front office to understand you win with LeBron by surrounding him with great 3-point shooting? Sometimes, you wonder what these guys are thinking. It’s like the ghost of Byron Scott is still haunting the team.
And Gerald is right, I do think the evidence is favoring the idea that the Lakers simply don’t want to rely on AD at the five, partly because he doesn’t want to play there and partly because of the injury and longevity concerns. The Brow is not a banger. He’s not Shaquille O’Neal. He’s more of a Pau Gasol type center.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, this is not last year and we’re going to face a lot tougher competition than the Blazers, Rockets, Nuggets, and Heat this season. While the Lakers got Drummond, the Nets got Blake and LaMarcus, the Clippers Rondo and Boogie, the Heat Oladipo and Ariza, and the Nuggets Gordon. If you think the Lakers are still favored to win the championship, maybe you need a reminder that this is April Fools’ Day.