I know depth means different things to different people.
Tldr; Are we really deep? Did you think we were deep and have now changed your mind? Are you still waiting on Vando or a larger sample size of games? What does “depth” mean to you?
I would argue we were never truly deep, as we don’t have a solidified starting 5 and an abundance of starter-level players. Deep teams don’t know who to start because everyone is so good-- not because they can’t figure out who is good enough.
(Recap below…)
Last season (22-23), after removing Russ and adding some role players, something a bit unexpected happened…
Although Lebron-led teams always have championship aspirations, and although LAL had won a title as recently as 2020 with Bron and AD at the helm, it wasn’t obvious that the Lakers would go on a huuuuuge run after shedding Westbrook.
Bron was out for most of these late season games, and yet LAL still found a winning formula with great team defense, great individual defense from AD, Reaves stepping up dramatically, and consistent scoring support from a variety of new additions to the team.
This magical run took them all the way to the WCF in a season that initially seemed lost.
Now:
Everyone prefers a nice balanced team over a star-studded one. And so the whole basketball universe may have overvalued the Lakers’ strategy of sticking with their core and not making any big swings for better talent.
But we’ve been humbled by an uneven start to the season. The only constants have been slow starts, narrow victories, rebounding struggles, defensive struggles, and a dearth of made 3-pt shots.
Maybe we’re not deep?
Interesting points