LeBron James and Austin Reaves both sat out LA’s preseason opener Saturday in San Francisco against the Warriors, so in one sense, it’s hard to view anything about the results of the game (the Lakers lost) as any sort of barometer about what’s coming this season. But just because the final score didn’t really matter doesn’t mean stuff that happened was unimportant.
There was much good:
Anthony Davis looked smooth and sharp, particularly with that perimeter jumper that’s been winning praise from folks over the last few weeks. Davis was 2-3 from downtown, and if the shooting form holds (meaning Davis finally becomes the distance shooter he teased at a couple years ago, the Lakers will have a new weapon at their disposal). But broadly, Davis was moving well and looked very comfortable.
D’Angelo Russell was excellent, controlling the flow of the offense en route to 15 points and five assists in only one half’s worth of minutes. (Davis only played in the first half, as well.) With a nice combo of inside/out play, his customary change of speed and so on, it was a reminder about what the Lakers appreciated about Russell after the trade last year.
Max Christie looked like an NBA rotation player, and seems to be building on his excellent SPL performance. He was aggressive and confident, but in control and within the asks of the offense and defense. There wasn’t any freelancing, and Christie seems to understand what he need to do to get the kind of playing time many are predicting.
There was some bad:
Christian Wood looked sluggish. Like stuck-in-a-mud, “sluggish like a wet sponge” type way. It’s not to say he wasn’t trying out there, because he was, it just seemed like his speed and burst (or lack there of) was noticeable.
Taurean Prince seemed like he was eager to get himself out of his debut in a Lakers uniform, picking up five fouls in like seven minutes, then finally fouling out after 12:53 of burn.
Cam Reddish looked very rough, and then hurt his ankle. Again, not an auspicious debut for a guy who will have to scrape and claw his way to playing time.
Some of that stuff probably qualifies as ugly, too, but hey it was the first day. No need to get too worked up.
So what’s coming on Monday against the Nets in Las Vegas? Depends a little on whether LeBron and Reaves suit up, but for starters it’ll be nice to see the guys who struggled bounce back, and to find out whether some chemistry between lineup combos that are highly anticipated (Wood with Davis, Wood with LeBron for example) show some promise.
HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky
SEGMENT 1: Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell shine in the preseason opener.
SEGMENT 2: Max Christie looked great, as well. Jaxson Hayes? Intriguing!
SEGMENT 3: Reddish, Prince and Wood struggle.
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12 Comments
When Reddish wasn't struggling? He's never been an NBA-level player consistently, ever. One of the biggest empty-hype players in the entire NBA.
I like you guys.
Bro when is the last time we won a preseason game? Feels like forever. 😂 I just hope they don't pull the same crap as they did in the Russ era and not have the starting 5 play together in any of the games.
Is Darvin up to the challenge , Russell looks to me to be a 2 trying to pass a little. This will force LeBron into point mold and we'll see the emballance we saw late last year.
There was no excuse for LA getting outrebounded by GS last year and there sure as heck is no excuse for last night now that LA is even bigger
But of course this was the NUMBER ONE problem with LA ALL of last season period and yet it got very little mention on any of these channels
I was actually impressed with JHS in spite of the numbers
But this might be due to the fact that I haven't liked the pick since the start so I came in with much lower expectations
Regardless I actually saw the potential
Reddish defense is elite, just need to know his role in the offense. He will need time to adjust but he will get there….. mark my words 😤😤😤😤 overrating a preseason game
Max would have been even better if his minutes weren't saddled with covering for JHS and Reddish, clearly two of the worst Laker rotation players. I'd love to seem him get some burn with the other actual good Lakers.
Jaxson did impress
Let's just hope the problem with Wood was that he and AD probably shouldn't play together against a team like GS
I'm surprised to hear so many people talking about how slow Wood looked …. considering that's one of the main criticisms I've heard about him for awhile now
Was he just even slower than usual?
About AD and his outside shooting I don’t know why nobody remembers HES NOT A CENTER. If he’s playing where he’s comfortable and not having to exert extra energy banging with centers and guarding pick and rolls he’s a great shooter. He’s able to get in a rhythm out there. So yes, AD take 5 threes a game. Why not?
Jaxson Hayes looked like the realization of the idea of Jaxson Hayes we were hoping for, and he showed good BB IQ and even guarded out to the perimeter. I was pleasantly surprised. I was surprised by Wood as well but not so pleasantly, I was expecting a 6'10, 220lb pogo stick of a big and he looked like Andre Drummond out there, optically anyway.
Vando hit a couple of wide open threes but he still just cannot hang on to the ball in traffic and he guarded down well but Kuminga toasted him, which was a little surprising. Rui started slow but he was fine, AD and DLo looked like All-Stars. Christie would have been so much better if Ham didn't staple him to the useless JHS. Vincent was fine. All in all can't complain.