Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Lessons from a Brooklyn sweep in China!
By Ronald Agers
The personnel the Los Angeles Lakers got in the offseason are getting exposed!
Look at the picture above. Looks nice, don’t it? If you didn’t watch the game, you would think Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is going to do something here. Oh he did, he missed the dunk and the ball flew back to about the third row out-of-bounds.
This play alone is a microcosm of the Lakers weekend. Understand Kyrie Irving has not been mentioned much. That’s because he re-aggravated his facial fracture. Without their star, the Nets just played harder than the purple and gold and took their lunch money. Remember Caris LeVert did not play in the first game much either because he got scratched in the eye by Anthony Davis.
Here’s a fun fact about Caris LeVert. He’s actually a distant cousin of Eddie LeVert of the singing group “The Mighty O’Jays”. You’ve heard their work on ESPN’s show Jalen and Jacoby. When they go to commercial, you hear “Got to give the people what they want”.
In China, Caris LeVert just gave the Lakers the business. It’s not that the Lakers weren’t making things easy for him. He seemed to be wide open for almost every shot.
https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1183023376345907202
A whole lot has been said about the wing players and what they bring to the table this season. In China, as a collective unit, Avery Bradley, Danny Green, Rajon Rondo and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were terrible. No doubt about it.
If the Nets didn’t spend the weekend knocking down 3-point shots (35), they ran the pick and roll with no resistance from these Lakers perimeter players leaving the big men out to dry.
Sure he led the team with 14 points. Most of them came when the game was over. What might not get noticed he had a plus/minus ratio of -19. Worst on the team. He did catch a nice putback dunk though.
Rajon Rondo:
Sometimes the comments section of Lake Show Life articles is more entertaining than the actual piece. But sometimes a Lakers fan comes through with spot-on analysis that comes to light. A fan by the name of CreativeIce21 made a comment warning fans to watch out for Rondo’s pace-setting on offense. Man, was he right.
Rondo was a total non-factor scoring the same amount of points you did reading this article. That was just on the offensive end. As for his defense? Let’s just move on.
Danny Green:
If Danny Green keeps playing at the level he has this preseason, Lakers fans are REALLY going to have animosity towards Kawhi Leonard. Is this type of production $15 million dollars for the next two years is worth? The Nets weren’t worried about him at all. Taurean Prince at times just went at him.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope:
Just read the above comment again. Then think back to his preseason performance last year. Do that and you should be caught up on his progress.
On a lighter note, a special Lake Show Life shout out to Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s brother, Kostas Antetokounmpo, who made his debut in a Lakers uniform. He really did some good things, scoring nine points including a nice move to draw a foul.
https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1183012451178008576
It was a shame to hear “Hell Naw” when he banked in his only 3-pointer. He hesitated and passed on open shots after that. Hopefully, with hard work and mentor-ship from his MVP brother, he will continue to improve. Until then, take the open shot, Kostas!
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The next preseason game is Monday against the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center. Lake Show Life will have post-game analysis.