Ohonsi's NBA Blog

Vs LAC 10/22 I know it's only game 1 but LeBron has really declined in his ability to beat defenders off the dribble. The Lakers have no chance at winning the west, let alone a title, if this doesn't change. So I don't understand why he didn't post up basically at all when he's a beast down there. Vs UTAH 10/25 No surprise that the Lakers offense was more effective in the 2nd half when AD moved to center. It makes no sense for him to do otherwise. He's so good as an alley-oop threat but that talent is very neutralized with a traditional center (McGee/Howard) in the way because those players offer little to no shooting so they make it hard for a player like Davis to have enough room to roll to the rim for an alley-oop pass. If he doesn't smarten up by realizing that he needs to play center ALL the time when he's on the floor, they're not winning the west let alone a title. Also, Bron's decline in his ability to beat defenders off the bounce ...

The Lakers should NOT give Cousins starters minutes. His lack of mobility is too much of a liability on defense and he's nowhere near the star he once was as the most offensively gifted big man to ever play (yeah I said it) so he can't make up for his defensive issues like LeBron, for example, can on offense. Their best lineup is LeBron, Davis, Kuzma, Green, and Caldwell-Pope because that offers the most balance between offensive and defense (because of their ability to switch on defense). However, it might be better to put Rondo in for Caldwell-Pope to give them another perimeter player that can create offense for others to lighten LeBron's load in that aspect. I had to say all of this because there's a lot of noise that Cousins should be starting.

The Warriors couldn't afford to lose KD for nothing so I understand getting an all-star in return but Russell poses a serious issue for Golden State. Their only 3 legit perimeter defenders (Durant, Klay and Iggy) are gone next season or won't play for most of the following year. Dray works best as a safety and a post defender on defense. And Steph is already a liability on defense. Even if they want to use Russell (who's not known for his defensive prowess) as a 6th man, he and curry are still gonna have to play significant minutes together if they want to win as much as possible because it's hard to win with only one star.

The Rockets should be targeting a guy like Tobias instead of Jimmy. Butler is a much lesser 3-point shooter (he's about average from beyond the arc) and a ball-dominant player. Harris is elite from that range, proved that he's a star on the Clippers (they were a playoff team in the much tougher western conference when he was there last season), and is a far more natural off-ball player than Jimmy. So Tobias is much better suited to play next to ball-dominant guards in CP3 and  Harden. The chemistry issues surrounding Jimmy aren't a concern despite what everyone else is saying. So Houston shouldn't not sign him because they're worried about a potential rift in the locker room and/or the court. Kobe and Shaq probably had the biggest beef of any star teammates in NBA history...and they 3-peated. LeBron and Kyrie (two ball-dominant perimeter players) didn't see eye to eye, but they made 3 straight finals and won a title by beating the Warriors who had the most ...

The Warriors shouldn't be concerned because they hung with the Raptors for long enough to prove that when they're healthy (or at least have Klay back), they have a very legit shot at winning the title. However, their defense in the 1st and 3rd quarters was absolutely horrendous so they gotta fix that no matter who's playing. Also it seemed like every Raptor that played significant minutes performed really good. That's highly unlikely to happen again. And the fact that that ne eded to happen to beat literally a one man team isn't encouraging. Side note: the Warriors need to retire their strength in #'s mantra and I've been meaning to say that for a while. The lack of talent outside of their big 3 (not including the overrated Draymond), even during the regular season, is glaring. In fact, the last time they had meaningful depth was before KD came.