With the passage of time, the key operations of NBA teams have generally ended. Except for some strong teams, other teams that should have reinforcement operations have already got their favorite players. However, there is only one championship. So, which teams have the strength to challenge the championship in the new season?
Obviously, it is time to evaluate the management operation of some teams.
We won’t comment on the Eastern Division. Let’s just talk about the fiercely competitive Western Division. Apart from the defending champion Nuggets and the newly strong Suns, there is another team that has the strength to win the championship, that is, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Although the Lakers didn’t adjust their lineup too much after the opening of the trading market, they didn’t make heavy deals, and even the heat was taken away, but if you look closely at his current roster, you will find that they contain great strength and are not weak.
Perhaps LeBron James in the new season can still have the hope of hitting the championship.
The salary of the Los Angeles Lakers lineup is not low.
With Anthony Davis completing an exciting contract renewal with the team, the lineup of the Lakers has been basically completed.
According to Adrian Voynarovsky of ESPN, Davis will sign a three-year contract extension with the Lakers, with a total value of 186 million US dollars, so that his contract will continue until 2028.
Of course, Anthony Davis’ contract has no impact on the Lakers’ salary in the new season, but his news of renewal can stabilize the Lakers’ morale.
The total salary of the Lakers next season has reached the top ten in the league, which shows that the investment is not in vain.
LeBron James (39 years old, forward)-47.61 million;
There is no doubt that in the 23 rd season, he also played beyond the general all-star level. In the playoffs, he even went crazy to output and compete with his opponents. After so many years, his strength is still the same. No matter from which point of view, even the old LeBron James is worth the price.
Anthony Davis (31 years old, forward/center)-40.6 million;
Now that Jay Brown has signed a sky-high salary contract, do you still think Anthony Davis is not worth the price?
Objectively speaking, Anthony Davis has suffered many injuries in recent seasons, but his performance in the healthy period last season was quite satisfactory. In the playoffs, he is still the strongest pillar in the Lakers.
Many times, the Lakers rely on him to hold up the counter-offensive banner.
Dangelo Russell (28 years old, defender)-17.31 million;
Russell can be said to be the representative of "fragrant and smelly".
In the 23-season regular season, he can be said to be suddenly incompetent, and he is regarded as the genius of the Lakers’ transaction. His calm and calm style of play is in sharp contrast with Russell Westbrook before.
However, no one expected that Russell couldn’t play a high-end game, with many low-level mistakes+missed shots+average defense. He continued his performance in the playoffs when he played for the Nets and Timberwolves, and could not help the team, which made everyone question his worth of 36 million years.
Fortunately, the price for the Lakers to renew his contract is really not high. At present, they can’t find a better point guard candidate with this price. It can only be said that it is ok for Russell to call Duo more in the regular season to share the pressure.
Of course, if there is a chance to trade a star in the middle of the season, then Russell is simply the only person to trade.
Bacun base (26 years old, forward)-15.74 million;
In the 23 rd season, Hacun really made a name for himself in the Lakers. His slow defensive pace and slow attack, which were criticized in the Wizards, were all covered by the team’s configuration. Now we can fully see his advantages in playing in the Lakers, and his weight, size and strength are all online.
A steady middle distance, three-point ability, starting and substitution, this kind of offensive front line is what every team wants. It may be that the Lakers got Hacun at almost no cost at first because of Wei Shao’s trading.
Austin Reeves (26 years old, defender)-12.02 million;
Objectively speaking, Reeves may not have higher potential, and it will be a surprise if he can maintain his previous performance in the new season.
After all, in the new season, he is bound to be targeted by his opponents like Poole. However, the Lakers are obviously wise, and they are not carried away. They just give a tens of millions-level contract, and whether Reeves can maintain his status or not will not be too bad.
Gabe Vincent (27 years old, defender)-10.5 million;
On the one hand, Vincent’s contract is a bit of a gamble. Although he has played a wonderful performance in the Heat for 23 seasons, not only his offensive performance is outstanding, but also his basic defensive skills are online. But you know, he has only played well for one season, which is undoubtedly a hidden danger.
Many players may be forgotten after the outbreak of a season, especially those from the Heat. Because of the system, they have more performance opportunities than role players from other teams. Therefore, it is still unknown what effect Vincent can play after changing teams in the new season.
There are not many 3D players in the Lakers now, and the expectations for him should be great.
Jared Vanderbilt (25 years old, forward)-4.7 million;
Fan Debiao’s contract is really high quality. Although he sometimes causes opponents to attack Anthony Davis on the court, you can’t expect him to be a player with both offensive and defensive skills at his salary level.
In the new season, as long as he can continue to do a good job in defense, it is already worth it.
Looking at the Lakers’ lineup, it is not full of stars, but it is still remarkable. The main reason is that their configurations are complementary. For example, Fan Debiao and Hacun are in a state of complementary defense. One of them is good at defending small people, and the other is good at defending large-size front lines, which gives the team more possibilities for adjustment.
LeBron James swept the perimeter and Anthony Davis swept the perimeter at any time, and such a system was perfectly formed.
Toerien Prince (29 years old, striker)-4.52 million;
Prince should be regarded as the "missing" of the Lakers. His price is still very cost-effective. Prince has a chance to play in this lineup of the Lakers in the new season.
It is worth mentioning that the Lakers also have a fast-growing Cristino, who may become a "surprise soldier" of the Lakers.
The remaining 2.17 million Hayes; 3.7 million Hood; With 2.17 million Reddish, whether the three of them can play depends on the performance of the game at that time, which can be regarded as the Lakers’ personnel reserve.
The only problem with the Lakers is that they can’t dictate.
In the 23rd season, the Lakers entered the playoffs as the 7th in the Western Conference, defeated the Grizzlies in the first round, eliminated the Warriors in the second round, and finally lost to the Nuggets in the Western Conference finals.
Obviously, being eliminated by the Nuggets has become the team’s "nightmare", and they will definitely try to make some moves against the Nuggets in the new season.
The Lakers have had successful experiences, such as their "Twin Towers" tactics in defeating the Nuggets in 20 seasons, and Howard’s marking and defense against Jokic is excellent.
The Lakers have always wanted to copy this style of play, such as arranging another big man beside the thick eyebrows. From the beginning of Jordan to Thomas, the Lakers never gave up this attempt, and finally gave up this style of play after a lot of attempts in the 23 rd season.
But unexpectedly, in the playoffs, facing the Nuggets’ easy failure revived their dead memories.
At present, there is only one center worthy of promotion in the Lakers team, that is Hayes with an annual salary of 2.17 million. In the regular season last season, Hayes played 47 games and averaged 5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.
According to Jaxson Hayes, it is reported that the Lakers are confident to let new signing jaxson Hayes start and play a role in the Twin Towers lineup with Davis.
Hayes, a player that the Lakers have been praising publicly, believes that Hayes has the potential to make progress in the new environment, but whether he can reach the level of McKee or Howard in the 2019-20 season is really a huge doubt.
He may have similar highlights and amazing dunks, but his defensive performance once made us believe that he could bring continuous defensive oppression.
Last season, he could only be the third or fourth center in the Pelican team. The main reason is that he has a big weakness, and his size makes him unable to deal with the giant inside.
Moreover, his golfer is average, and from his personal characteristics, he seems to be only a "low-profile young McKee".
So, can we expect him to quickly grow into an experienced defender like Howard who can keep an eye on the big center?
Perhaps the Lakers will target the free agent market.
But among free agents, can the Lakers really find a pillar player with super defensive influence?
The Lakers seem to think that the low-cost signing of McKee and Howard signed in the first 20 seasons can be copied.
But now, the two most cost-effective insiders in the free agent market, Bi Yongbo and Wood, cannot be compared with the above two.
For the Lakers, it is difficult to choose a candidate to fill the last lineup of the Lakers between Wood and Bi Yongbo.
Because both of them have obvious advantages, but they also have their own shortcomings.
Compared with Yong Bo, his style is obviously closer to the roles of Howard and McKee, but he has neither the dominance of Howard nor the physical quality and athletic ability of McKee.
As a result, his defensive performance can’t continue, and he can only occasionally play high-light moments.
Wood’s value comes from his shooting ability. Last season, he shot 37.6% from three points and averaged 4.2 shots per game. He has reason to be the third best frontcourt scorer of the Lakers besides James and Davis.
But his defense is mostly a negative factor in his career, which is why he has played for seven different teams in the past seven seasons.
Therefore, even if they sign Beyonbo or Wood, they can’t rely too much. Their wisest thing is to let Davis start at the center position and then use Hayes, Wood or Beyonbo as a substitute.
After all, these people’s defensive influence is really not good.
Of course, the Lakers can also force Davis to start with Hayes or another center, which may have some effect at a certain moment, but if it is used frequently, the disadvantages are too great.
Two disadvantages of the twin towers.
First, this will cause the Lakers’ power forward to slide, which will seriously affect James.
Fan Debiao and hachimura can be used whenever they want, but for James, who is about to turn 39, it will force him to spend more time defending his opponent’s scoring arrow.
In the 20th season, the Lakers used a two-tower lineup, and the reason why James was still able to breathe was that when they had many large-size guards with top defensive consciousness, especially Popper, caruso, Green and Bradley, these people were fearless even when facing some large-size attackers.
Therefore, the Lakers can ensure that he doesn’t have to face sharp attacks for a long time, so as to save his strength.
But after entering the 24th season, the Lakers’ defensive talent in the backcourt has begun to decline-the overall defense of Reeves, Russell, Vincent, Christie and Hood can’t be compared with the championship lineup.
The decline in the quality of defensive line will lead to more people in the Lakers who need to be hidden to play on the defensive end, so LeBron James, who used to have a relaxed defensive task, may often face the oppression of the enemy’s offensive arrows, which is unacceptable to James, who is older.
Even if only a few teams have dominant scorers like Durant, Tatum, Leonard and Ingram, it is enough to make the Lakers feel uncomfortable in the schedule.
What’s more, in the playoffs, most of the teams they have to face have stars of this level.
Therefore, forcibly hitting the Twin Towers will make the Lakers have some irreparable influence.
Second, the Lakers’ Anthony Davis is no longer a power forward.
One of the main reasons why Davis used him as a power forward in his early career in Los Angeles is that he has always been skeptical about playing a pure center position.
Secondly, his style of play is really more suitable for the position of power forward.
However, Davis is different now.
After winning the championship season, he played with many centers, such as Gasol Jr., drummond, Jordan Jr., Jones and Thomas, etc., but the effect was very average.
Therefore, in the past two seasons, in fact, Davis spent most of his time in the center position, and he has adapted to the center’s play to a certain extent. Now, since he can’t be as flexible as he was in the championship season, he can’t shoot as accurately as he was at the beginning, which limits his offensive and defensive threat in the power forward position.
It may not be a good thing to force him back to the position of power forward.
Therefore, it is best for the Lakers not to use the Twin Towers tactics easily. If they can’t find a suitable insider, they need to find another way to deal with the Nuggets.
Pelinka talked about the word "Twin Towers" more than once in an interview, and it seems that Ham doesn’t object to it, which gives people a very wrong signal.
James’s chance of winning the fifth championship is rare.
In the past two seasons, the Lakers have been in a bad state, and almost every offseason will see James’s "forced news" to the management.
Obviously, the mid-term management deal last season made the Lakers shine, and the team’s successful entry into the Western Conference made many people see the dawn of revival. LeBron James was also very satisfied, because he saw the possibility of hitting the fifth championship again.
The operation of the Lakers during this period of time has made people feel sincere. Their team-building plan looks really remarkable, but it is not enough to build a strong team. In the regular season, coach Hamm needs to be cautious in arranging troops and trying to establish a reliable winning system.
Otherwise, once this kind of "playing with the Twin Towers" is forced again, James’ hard-won fifth chance will be ruined again.
How far the Lakers can go, we look forward to their performance in the new season.
