Lakers Training Camp BATTLE Between Jake Laravia & Rui Hachimura! | Lakers NEW Starting SF?

Lakers Training Camp BATTLE Between Jake Laravia & Rui Hachimura! | Lakers NEW Starting SF?

[Music] You know, following the Lakers signing Marcus Smart and DeAndre Aiden, everyone’s kind of forgotten about Jake Lavia. Though, in my opinion, he was quietly a really good addition to their team, especially after they lost and kind of knew they would lose during Finny Smith. And not only that, but now he’s kind of one of the few, if not the only two-way potential wing player on their team and maybe a 3 and D wing. Now, I wouldn’t call him that yet, but he does have the ability to get to that point. And if he does, then he might eventually, and maybe sooner than we think, push Rui Hachimura for playing time. I mean, as of right now, he’s kind of the one that’s been looked at to do that in their starting lineup, be the two-way wing player, kind of the three wing. He definitely has the three-point shooting and offensive part of that down, but he doesn’t have the defense part down. Simply put, Hachimura is not a great side to side athlete. Yes, he’s a very good vertical athlete for his height and weight and even a really good north to south athlete, aka running the floor, but he’s not a good side to side athlete and therefore not a very good reliable nor effective perimeter defender. And well, I wouldn’t say that Jake Larabia is either, but he definitely has more potential to become that. And if he does eventually get to that point and maybe this season or maybe even during training camp, then we definitely could have a battle on our hands between them. No, maybe not for this starting lineup quite yet. Simply talking about playing time and rotation opportunity given. There could be a real battle between Rui Hachimura, Jake the Rabia, and potentially Jared Vanderbilt, but I really want to focus on Jake the Rabia and Ru Hachimura during today’s video as they’re the better two-way and kind of 3D comparison for right now at least. But talking about Jake Theavia and where a lot of this talk is currently coming from, mainly from what he showed last season and especially late last season. Last season, he averaged roughly seven points per game, four rebounds per game, shooting a very impressive 42.3% from three, comparable and actually better compared to Rui Hachimura, albeit on a lower volume than Hachimura, actually had a pretty good defensive BPM rating, posting a plus 1.1 defensive box plus minus rating, also having a positive defensive EPM rating, showing improvement, and showing upside to potentially become that two-way player that the Lakers so desperately need at this point. Then for Hatimura turning in a very impressive season himself, averaging roughly 13 points per game, five rebounds per game, shooting an efficient 51% from the field and 41.3% from three on 4.2 attempts per game. Overall, very good for Aima from a numbers standpoint. Though again, if we look more toward the defense and even the defensive numbers with him, they definitely were a bit lesser than Jakeia. Per defensive BPM rating, Hachimura posting a.6 six rating having a negative 1.1 rating for his entire career. Also having a negative EPM rating overall not really looking that great defensively did show some improvement as a helpside defender especially when he played more at power forward and more around the rim when LeBron was off the court compared to filling that small forward and wing defender role that he really can’t ever feel unfortunately. And you know, it really wouldn’t be that big of a problem if he wasn’t sharing the court with LeBron, who he himself kind of plays that par forward defensively. They obviously don’t want him to guard the perimeter very often, tiring him out and therefore not being able to conserve energy for offense. I mean, LeBron’s 40 going on 41 at this point. He definitely can and will turn it up during the fourth quarter, but throughout the entirety of the game, he’s going to fill that offball role defensively guarding the corner three-point shooters or guys that say around the dunker spot, not chasing guys around the wing or perimeter in general like Ruy Hatchim has kind of been forced to do because he can’t feel that power forward defensive spot that LeBron currently is filling. Like I said, definitely a good problem for them to have here. But it definitely is a current problem for them as that’s something that neither Luca Donuch can or will do for them on defense nor Austin Reeves can or will do either. And obviously that’s not going to be a job for DeAndre. So talking more about Jake Theabia and his potential defense and upside on defense, is that a role that he could potentially fill for them and feel better than Rui Hatchimal? Maybe. Now, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that he’s a great defender, a reliable defender, or a surefire defensive upgrade compared to Humera, but I will tell you that he definitely can be and definitely does have the upside to do it, which he showed actually quite a bit of last season. For example, here are some defensive clips that actually show it. Here’s one when he’s guarding former teammate Desmond Bane on the Grizzlies, actually chasing him around his screen and keeping up with him. This is something that Bruhim really struggles at. You know, he’s a more physical player and uses his physicality and strength pretty well, but he’s not great at chasing players around screens, keeping up with players side to side, and again, simply cing and facing up on the perimeter. But for Jake Ravi, I’d say he’s actually better at that compared to taking on the more physical and tougher matchups at his size. Yes, he is 6’8 like Ru Hatchimura, but he plays more like a shooting guard that’s 6’5 or 6’6 rather than a big physical power forward that uses his size again to physically impose his will. Here we have another play where he picks up Desmond Bane at half court, goes around and switches on screen onto Lamar Stevens, keeps up with him after he gets the ball back, forces him into a awkward pass that ends up in a turnover, being able to move his feet well, not biting on shot fake, and actually being able to hold his ground and be a little bit physically imposing, albeit not as much compared to Hashimura or some other bigger defender. Like I said though, I definitely like the side to side movement and side to side potential of Jake Lav on defense. He can actually keep up with smaller players like a Desmond Bane for example, shooting guards, smaller wing players in general, and the slightly bigger wing players where he can actually use his height and length too. For example, here’s Larabia match up with Jason Tatum, a wing player with a similar height and length to him. Lorravia actually picking him up at roughly half court here. Tatum trying to isolate at the end of the first quarter. Trying to get an angle on Jake Labia. Labia not giving it to him. Tatum trying to go right through him, but Labavia holding his ground against him and getting his hand in there to pick the pocket of Jason Tatum. This is actually another thing that Jake the Rabi does quite well for a wing. Getting up in players and then getting a hand in there to pick their pocket. Disrupting the ball also a bit of an issue with him due to foul trouble with it. Kind of goes after it a bit too much. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t work out for him. Though he definitely is more effective at it compared to Rui Hachimura again. Last season, for example, averaging nearly two steals per 36 minutes. Again, it sometimes works for him, sometimes doesn’t. Does have to become a bit more disciplined on defense, but with the combination of his side to side movement, the athletic ability, being able to hold his ground at least fairly well, and then the pickpocketing ability, I like the upside of Jake the Rabia. And well then for those that might ask if he can actually be a starter and if he has any background with it, yes he does. Not a gigantic sample here, but he did start in six games last season. And during that time frame, he put up roughly 21 points per game, four rebounds per game, three assists per game, shooting an efficient 47% from the field, and 44% from three while attempting roughly 3.3 of them per game. And not to mention shooting nearly 90% from the free throw line, just about having a 50490 shooting split. Again, definitely looking at a limited and tiny sample with them. But if you point to the defensive upside, the three-point shooting, scoring ability, all around the two-way ability and potential, there is some good trajectory for Jake the Rabia to potentially enter their starting lineup or maybe to simply be a bigger part of the rotation than some people might think, which may indirectly take away playing time, or rather directly take away playing time from Rui Hatimura. I mean, I’m not going to say I’m hoping for that to happen for Jake Theabia to take away playing time from Hatchim, but I think competition is definitely a good thing and definitely could motivate Hashimra too. Knowing that he has somebody like Jake the Rabia behind him kind of with Finey Smith they could play together and not saying that Jake the Ravi and Hachima can’t as well but more so with Dorian Finey Smith taking on that role and doing it better than Hashimra they could play together. Lia Laravia is more on the track to potentially succeed Hachimura, actually take away playing time from him. So, this could be a healthy competition that brings the best out of both of them. And I for one am definitely looking forward to it, especially in regard to Jake the Rabian watching him potentially grow their team this season, which will hopefully be into a good reliable 3D option as the Lakers have a desperate need for at this point, especially on the wing. But with all of that being said, what do you guys think? How do you feel about a potential battle between Jake Draabia and Rui Hatimurra? Not exactly for a starting spot. I mean, you could maybe make that argument, but simply for playing time, a healthy competition, and for maybe Jake the Rabia to eventually succeed Hatchima. Let me know your thoughts about all of that in the comments down below. But I think that’ll pretty much do it for this one. And if you enjoyed the video, then I would greatly appreciate it if you dropped a like, subscribe to the channel if you have not already, and hit that notification bell to never miss out when I upload a video. But as always, thank you for watching and have a great day or night. [Music]

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