Until they go back to what truly worked when Dwight Howard and Javale McGee were on the team, they aren’t going to succeed come playoff time. It’s far too clear AD cannot be the inside defensive anchor. He needs that energy on defense to help motivate him on offense. That energy comes from roaming and being disruptive, not standing around trying to always guard the biggest guy on the court, getting beaten and bruised. They can use him there but it needs to be limited and against smaller guys he can bully around.
We’ve seen it work before, we can see it work again.
AD at the 5 works but he can’t do it all game especially if the opposing 5 is a major offensive threat of which there are only a few (& Joker is the extreme example). What worked great in 2020 was AD closing games at the 5 and having to bang & defend inside for the 1st 3 quarters & he was a God tier help defender coming from the weakside… would love to see them have more of this type of balance.
Which is why I don’t understand why we signed Hayes and Wood TO NOT START EITHER
Did you forget we made the WCF? Not competitive in a playoff setting lol fuck outa here
AD doesn’t want to play the 5, he’s not built for it and playing him out of position leads to him breaking mentally and physically. Still that is the game plan, which is dumb. If they allowed him to play the 4 most of the year, he could possibly power thru some of the playoffs at the 5. They pay him, say he’s the leader, then play him out of position with no end in sight and wonder why he performs inconsistently, smh.
The blueprint is flawed, they not winning like this, and their burning out AD and the fan base.
Idk bro the lakers made the Wcf and AD had a great playoff run… what are you watching bro?
We don’t even have an option for him to be a 4.u want Hayes or wood starting and guarding joking, embid, sabonis, etc. Even mid centers, I don’t trust them.
We need a center that’s actually big tough and can defend.