How Can the Lakers Big 3 Fit + Marcus Smart Starting? & MAILBAG

How Can the Lakers Big 3 Fit + Marcus Smart Starting? & MAILBAG

What is going on everybody? Welcome back here to the channel. I’m Sean Davis. Make sure you guys hit that thumbs up button as hard as you possibly can and subscribe here to the channel as well. So, I want I went ahead today on Sean_DAVI and I posted a mailbag segment and I’m going to sit here and uh give you guys my thoughts on some of the top questions you guys have. So, if you want to participate in the next mailbag, which I do these once a week, make sure you guys are follow me on Twitter, Sean_DAB. All right, let’s start off with the first question today. My buddy Richard Staple. Make sure you guys go follow him actually on Twitter. Uh his handle is at Rich Staples uh on Twitter. He asks, “What do you think of the Lakers wing defense and if there are any tangible ways to circumvent our weaknesses there? Also the matter of whether or not Smart or Ruby should start next to the big three and there’s one other question similar to this. Um as it regards to Marcus Smart starting. So, uh, huge vibe says, “What do you think the likelihood is that Reic ends up starting Ruby again despite everyone else wanting Smart to start?” Um, I’m just going to say this. This is kind of always how my my stance has been on Ruy Hatchimar, who I do want to start off here and be a little more positive on Ruie and say that this is easily the most positive or optimistic I’ve been about Ruy Hatchima as a Laker since probably the Western Conference Final season. like every year since then, I feel like I’ve entered into the uh the subsequent season and been way lower on Ruie and what he is as a player. Um based off how he performed in the playoffs, I I I did not like uh the idea of bringing Ruie back heading into this season. I thought I I was kind of done with the Ruby experiment to be quite frank. um entering this season following the disaster that was last playoff run against Denver and uh even how last season went in general. I I was just kind of over I was I was over the Ruy Hachimura experience and then similarly I would probably lean the same way uh coming out of Yeah. No. No. So yeah, it would have just been last year. um so or two seasons ago and then you have this season where again easily the most positive I’ve been about Ryu Hatchima entering the the next season. So I do want to start there and give Ruiz credit. One of my biggest criticisms of Ruy Hatchima as a player is that for a guy that his role is to hit to catch and shoot spot up threes not nearly as much of a volume three-point shooter as he should be. And I thought we saw a massive switch in that from Rui Aimura about mid-season basically when they acquired Luca Dantage because the team kind of made a a organ a an offensive shift where you know a lot more spread pick and roll a lot more you know perimeter isolation drive and kick kind of stuff and Ruby was kind of forced to hey look dog you you got to shoot more threes and basically for the rest of the season Ruby became a five to six plus three-point point uh attempt guy per game, which is something I always felt that this was going to be Ruy’s rule. Yeah, he’s got to he’s got to shoot the ball more. Um, now to prevent myself from going on even further of a of a ramble here. I do think that Ruie is going to start day one. That is the one if there is one thing that this Lakers, you know, uh, higherups, whether it’s JJ or Jeie or Rob or whoever, they love themselves from Riachimura for one reason or another. They they really really do love Riachima. Um, I think and I I honestly agree with a lot of the people, a lot of other smart Laker minds that are agreeing with the fact that Ruie probably shouldn’t be starting. I just think you have too many guys defensively playing the same position. And that’s kind of the problem right now that I kind of run into with this Lakers team is in the regular season and hell probably in the playoffs too, Braun, Ruy, Luca are all playing similar positions. I get it. Luca’s got himself in shape, so maybe you can, you know, find a little bit more utility for him defensively. But like, bro, they all play the same position defensively. They are all uh helpers away from the ball. They’re probably guarding fours, especially last season. So, I I I do absolutely agree with the fact that why are we starting Ruby? I think it makes more sense regardless of the matchup to start Marcus Moore next to the big three and Aiden. Uh, like like the rest of the comments said and like and like Richard said, um, what do I think about the wing defense in general? I think honestly you kind of kill a lot of your wing weaknesses by starting Marcus Smart next to the big three. Um, I think Marcus Smart and and I’m going to piggyback off on my buddy Tim uh Crang Basketball. I’ll follow him on Twitter at Tim_NBA said um when talking about okay if you’re facing a team that’s your best players to guard you can trust Marcus Smart to handle that POA assignment. You have Austin as a chaser Braun and Luca as your helpers and you go from there. But Marcus Smart honestly at least from a national media standpoint I don’t think it’s enough credit for his positional versatility defensively where Marcus Smart could very comfortably guard up in that scenario as well. And that’s where Austin kind of slots in as your POA guy against the secondary option that’s a guard in this scenario. I think a good example of a team like this would honestly be like the Celtics if you’re facing them and it’s Jaylen Brown. Okay, Marcus Mars Jaylen Brown guy uh and then Austin’s probably checking Simons or or Derek White and then you go from there. So, I I I do think I I’m in agreeance that you I think it makes just more sense structurally with how the the roster is currently shaping up to just start Marcus Smart and bring Ruie off the bench and let Ruie kind of cook in an offbench role. I mean, that that that’s just that’s just where my head is at uh as of right now. So, appreciate the couple of questions. I wanted to loop in those two uh questions because they were very similar. Uh, Messiah asked on Twitter, “Why don’t they go all in for a third star?” Because I think they view Austin Reeves as the third star. If we’re being completely honest, I think they view Austin Reeves as the third star. Um, and there’s some like there’s some arguments for and against that belief. I think the biggest argument is for Austin Reeves already kind of being that third star is one, I think there’s a couple of things you could point to. Number one, Austin Reeves very clearly post D’Angelo Russell trade. Austin Reeves they kind of shifted and gave him a massive workload offensively and all he did was say okay and was perfectly fine. In the month of December he averaged 226 and8 shooting 47% from the floor and 38% from three getting around six free throw attempts per game. a slight dip in the month of January, but then you get to February and the rest of the season. And as a matter of fact, instead of doing that, just look at the postall-star break numbers for Austin Reeves, he averaged 22, five and five, shooting 48% from the field and almost 41% from three. So from the Lakers standpoint, that’s the third star right there. You don’t like the third star from the Lakers because you still view Braun as one of the core pieces. Obviously, those that’s third star numbers for Austin Reeves. I think metrically as well. All the analytics and the data points Austin Reeves being a really significantly good offensive player last season. I think the the biggest jump from Austin Reeves as a player last season. And again, this is specifically kind of post D’Angelo Russell trade. I think AR just legitimately made a pretty significant playmaking leap where in years past and I think this also before I continue on with my point. I think this is especially important if we’re talking about guys that are going to play next to Luca Dantage. I think having one of your your core guys or honestly having multiple of your core guys being able to legitimately create for themselves and for for others is so so vital uh for for this team. So, if you look at Austin Reeves, and I’m really quickly uh trying to look at Bball Index while I’m uh bringing this up, but talking about Austin Reeves’s performance last season, again, I think he took a like gigantic leap as a playmaker. Austin Reeves this season amongst players that played at least 751 minutes this season. Austin Reeves was the 19th best playmaker uh sorry the 18th best playmaker if you’re looking simply in terms of Bball index’s uh playmaking talent metric which I do think is a you know decently uh supportive metric analytic that talks about the value of of an individual’s playmaking. So you look at you’re talking about the 18th best playmaker this season to if you go if you’re going back to last season Austin Reeves was the 61st best playmaker if you’re simply going off of Bball Ball Index’s playmaking talent great uh uh metric if you will. So that that is a and and you know analytics are analytics or whatever. But I do think I do think that the film and the performance that we saw from Austin Ree particularly in a regular season does back up the fact that Austin legitimately ma made a huge leap as a playmaker this season and at least in a regular season the data supports being a top 20 regular season playmaker this season. So, I think the Lakers view AR as their third star star already. And I think that’s one of the biggest reasons why that it’s a no-brainer that when Austin Reeves is eligible for that bigger extension, which will be next summer once he opts out um and and and takes the deal, then that that’s why it’s a no-brainer. And all the rumors around like, oh, he’s going to be making $30 million. I’m like, duh, question mark. like Austin Reeves is going to get paid next summer, partially because the Lakers already view him as a uh as the the secondary star next to Luca. I think the one thing about Austin Reeves, if you want to poke at him being the third star, and and before I even make this argument, there is even a counterargument to the argument I’m about to make, so bear with me here for a second, is that this is now the a consecutive playoff run where one the jump shot kind of just disappears from from distance. Now, you had at this point, I mean, I think Austin is a great shooter. I do want to give him that. a really good shooter. There’s some elements of that conference finals run that’s just at the end of the day kind of fluky. He shot 44% from three in the conf in that conference finals uh run season in the playoffs. And that season in general, he was a lights out three-point shooter. Shot 36 12% from three last season uh the year they lost to Denver in the first round. And in that playoff series, he shot 26 and a half 26.9% from three and wasn’t all that efficient. And then this year backtoback years where he this year he shot he shoots 31.9% from three. Now the one drawback or sorry the one point I’m like that’s kind of unfair is is now known obviously after the fact that Oscar Reese was dealing with a pretty significant toe injury. something of the likes that we saw what it looked like for Darius Garland trying to fight through that and first off how much time Darius Garland missed and then even when he did come back from that injury what he looked like and and and clearly how bothered he was um when he did come back. So I do want to give Austin some benefit of the doubt there because very clearly was was hampered uh by that injury. Uh let’s see what else we have here. We’ll go a few more. So, Mario says, “Will Vando be healthy and whether or not he’ll be effective with his offensive limitations? Will Jared Vanderbilt be healthy?” That is obviously the gazillion dollar question if you’re a Vando fan. Um, and this kind of the the flip for me. I’m a little bit lower on on Vando compared to years past. I don’t think he was as impactful as we as we’ve seen in years past from Vando. I think he’s had moments. I think part of it is honestly I’m not quite sure JJ knows how to use Vando. Um and and you know we’ll see if there’s some growth there uh from Bando and the staff going forward. But I mean this is not back-to-back season since getting that contract where Bando played in 29 games last season and played in 36 games this season uh the regular season and was available for the entire playoffs this year. Missed the entire playoffs last year. So, that’s a million-dollar question. And the problem with Vando is he’s he’s actually a fine short roll guy in terms of his playmaking and some of the handling stuff, but just an egregiously bad finisher and an awful three-point shooter. So, I mean, honestly, just give me the finishing at the very least and we can maybe work something out, but um that is obviously the biggest question mark there with Ruy Hatch, I’m sorry, with Vando. Uh, Eric, do you expect our French rotation players Maxi Koko, Dalton, maybe Bronnie to make a difference? I honestly hope that they go into the season and are not just giving Gabe Vinca bench minutes. I think in the year of our Lord 2025, I don’t think it’s an insane thing to say that Bronnie can actually challenge Gabe Vincent. Like I think Gabe is a perfectly serviceable secondary playmaker and a perfectly serviceable defensive player, but Minnesota just went at him and his shot is at this point just broken. Shot 35% from three in the regular season. He’s very clearly a streaky three-point shooter and that’s at best. Shot 30.8% from three in the playoffs this year, 14% last year. It’s very clear that 2022 23 season from Gabe, specifically that playoff run where Miami couldn’t miss until the finals, very clearly that was just a pretty fluky run. And even that season, Gabe shot 33% from three. Realistically, Gab’s best year was probably 2022 where he shot 37% from three if you round up. And then that same playoff run wasn’t as efficient from three, but you know, I I I think that’s still arguably Gab’s best season. So that is one thing I I am kind of curious to see is if they enter this season and how much of a legitimate shot do the Lakers and JJ give Bronnie to maybe steal some of those uh to maybe steal some of those gave Vincent minutes. I don’t know how early in the season we’ll see that, but I do think that that is a fair question to ask. Um, as it goes to Maxi or Koko, I doubt it, honestly. If I’m being completely honest with you, I think the Lakers center rotation is going to go uh Aiden, Jackson Hayes, and then their small ball group with Vando at the five, Braun at the five, Ruby at the five, whichever combination they want to go with. I don’t really expect to see much of Maxi or Kyoko. The only one I would maybe see some of would be Maxi only because you’re paying them a lot of money to just do absolutely nothing. So, I think they’re at the very least going to give Maxi some semblance of a chance to just prove that, okay, look, you’re not an NBA player anymore. Then, Dalton, I still am of the belief they should just trade him. I don’t think JJ and crew are that all that high on on Dalton anymore. Um, let’s see, Mike, with the offseason acquisition of starting center and the Lakers resigning Jackson Ace, how often do you see JJ utilizing small ball lineups of Ruer or LeBron to five this season, assuming the team is relatively healthy? I think it’ll be in limited spots. And in the regular season, I think it’ll be Ruie at the five, not necessarily Braun. Best lineup from Twizz on Twitter. Uh, best lineup. I think it’s Luca. I think it’s honestly the I think it’s the big three, Aiden, and Smart. Check ball. Check ball. Give me that group. We’ll go one more. Um, we will go one more. Uh, Mario asks, “What’s the ideal encore dynamic between Luca, LeBron, and Austin? How do you maximize strengths to minimize weaknesses?” So, Luca head of the snake. Ma high dosage of spread, pick, and roll, isolation, creation. I think Austin honestly fits in like a glove in the Kyrie role. Not saying he’s Kyrie Irving, but playing one pass away, being the spot up catcher, shoot threat. That’s why you cannot have a regression to the mean for Austin. and he goes back to being 2023 Austin Reeves where he can’t hit a catch and shoot three. You need Austin Reeves from this season from the three-point line to be the same Austin Reeves where he’s shooting high volume threes. He’s also making a high percentage of said threes. In the regular season, Austin Reeves was lights out if you left him open on on catch shoot three. Shot 47.8% on catchesue threes that were unguarded per synergy. shot 40% overall and then obviously in the playoffs did not have a great playoff run shooting. Did shoot however 38.9% if you left him open on catch and shoot threes. Really was a pullup three-point game from Austin. It kind of took a a big step back compared to 2023 and 2022. So I think in letting Austin be that second side creator if he’s playing at that opposite slot and his man wants to plug plug the gap and and help off on a Luca drive. Bang. Austin’s attacking with with the tilted defense or being able to make a quick decision on whether it’s a catch and shoot three, drive and attack, etc., etc. So, I think Austin and Lucas fit is actually pretty simple. I also to a certain extent think Braun and Lucas fit or Braun and Reeves’s fit is kind of pretty simple. It’s Braun being that mid post nail isolation or postup guy that’s working as a screen setter and and a hard roller. I can I can envision now some good action where it’s Braun as a as a screener. You hit him in the short roll. DeAndre is kind of roaming underneath in the dunker area and it’s also relocating. I think when Luca and LeBron are on the floor, I’m using utilizing LeBron a lot as a cutter, as a spot up just threat. He’s legitimately like hit the second half of the second half of his career. He’s been just a lights up three-point shooter. 20223 just a clear fluke that he was a bad shooter that season very clearly hampered by that foot injury. Um and then when you get to LeBron centric lineups where is Braun plus five or Braun plus Austin even maybe then you can get some more if you want to Braun pick and roll or Braun post up. I’m very clearly utilizing LeBron as a screener, as a cutter and as a spot-up threat when they’re all three together. I think that’s the way it makes the most sense. Um, and probably even more as a cutter or as a spot-up guy if it’s Aiden on the floor as well. So, that’s what I got, guys. Quick AMA section. Let me know what you all think in the comment section down below. As always, leave a like and subscribe here to the channel for more great Lakers content and coverage. Till next time, everybody. See you. Stay safe and as always, go Lake

Sean Davis breaks down your top Lakers questions as the offseason continues!

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