Ever since the 2020 championship, the Lakers have gone away from AD. I remember so clearly, during our championship run the team (Specifically LeBron and Rondo) made an effort to get AD going and get him the ball to run the offense through him and getting him easy buckets in the paint.
Since then our guards have been more score first and playmake second. Bron looks to create his own shot as well most of the times and simply makes the right play. He does not necessarily try and get AD the ball in his comfort spots. We don’t run any sorts of plays for AD (At least none that I’ve been able to see). Even AR is always looking to score (granted he’s no Point Guard but still) and at times I feel he even ignores Bron when going for a bucket.
Ironically D’Lo has been the one to get AD the ball more than anyone. I think the coaches should ensure that our guards make it a point to get AD easy shots from his comfort spots and run plays for that. I feel it’s more on the coaching staff than anyone on the team. On our 2020 coaching staff we had J. Kidd and Lionel Hollins which definitely helped with the over-all identity and playing style of the team.
AD as a big needs to have his guards and coaching staff play through him. We can blame him all we want for not being more aggressive on the offensive end but it should be a big responsibility of the team and coaching staff to get your Big Dog good looks and plays for him.
TL:DR - Our guards and coaching staff should make it a point to run plays for AD and get him some easy looks.
Do you really believe that? I’m genuinely asking. I believe that we just don’t run our offense through him enough to simply write him off. He’s better than JJJ and he gets more looks and plays than AD does. Jokic and Embiid are the focal point of the offense and it runs through them. AD could at least be 60% of those two on offense if we actually made a line up according to his strengths. Which is better than what he’s doing right now on the offensive end.