https://twitter.com/_JasonLT/status/1435781947029032961
Playing the 5 would help AD’s injury luck because less play in a crowd
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September 8, 2021 7 Comments
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By September 8, 2021 7 Comments
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https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1435796845138104323
As long as he’s healthy, does it really matter? They will play to the match-ups, and he’ll be a Problem. If not, well, you know…
Does it really matter? Probably because the Lakers play better when AD is at the five and AD’s performance is better when he plays the five.
I think part of the thought process behind trading for Russ was a realization that it might open the door for AD to play the five, which solves many of the Lakers’ issues.
So yes, it could be the difference between the Lakers winning or losing the championship. Whenever a team does not put out its best lineup, that’s the risk.
And yes, you can say it won’t matter until the playoffs but we’ve seen that argument fail every time an underachieving team fails to elevate their game come the playoffs. You don’t want to burn out your roster but how you play in the regular season usually affects how you play in the playoffs.
Yeah…except we just saw it play out in The Covid Cup involving the same dudes..namely AD & Frankie. If they believe they have the blueprint to “flipping the switch” and the proof to back it up, then it’s gonna affect some of the things we see in the increasingly meaningless regular season.
While that’s true, but that was then and now is now. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then and a major revamping of the roster with more playmakers, shot creators, and a third superstar that add pressure for AD to play more at the five if the Lakers are to beat a Nets team that is far superior to the Heat team we beat for the bubble championship.
Very little pressure in the regular season.
That’s true. In fact, I expect the Lakers to dominate the regular season and post maybe their best regular season record ever.
What I don’t like is the idea we can play one way during the regular season and then effectively change course going into the playoffs and be efficient.
We would be smarter to play the same way all season, including load management to avoid wear-and-tear and injuries, so that we have more experience on how we’re going to play in the playoffs.
To a certain extent, that means avoiding having AD only play center occasionally during the season and then switching to the five in the playoffs. There are too many adjustments that should be worked out during the season, especially on defense, that can’t just be a switch turned when the playoffs start.