Chris Broussard on Lakers offseason moves after acquiring Carmelo Anthony | NBA | SPEAK FOR YOURSELF

take a look at the lakers offseason so far kyle kuzma kcp tres harrell alex caruso headband man they're all out westbrook ariza bazemore ellington howard are in for the purple one goals so i got to bring in two not one two fox nba analysts for this one chris broussard and slick rick the bucer so let's start with you slick how should we feel about the lakers right now uh i'm gonna go if i have to use one word i'm gonna say deja vu i feel as if what they are trying to do is recapture what they had two years ago in terms of the chemistry and the structure of the team first of all you're bringing back a bunch of guys that we've already seen in lakers uniforms before and trevor ariza and kent basemore and dwight howard but it's also that idea that veterans with something to prove may be a little bit better than last year's team and yes two years ago they were the second oldest team in the league and last year they were the oldest team in the league but they really relied on younger pieces last year more so than they did the year before particularly when it got to the playoffs so i understand what they're trying to do essentially what they're telling us is that even healthy they were not buying that last year's team was good enough in order to win it all otherwise they would have made a greater attempt to just run it back with what they had they're trying to get back to what they had two years ago as a last gasp let's see if we can get a bunch of veterans that have something to prove and want to win a ring get them together and get one more shot at it with lebron james and anthony davis before the clock really strikes midnight i just am not buying that this is ultimately going to work because the great distinction is with this older team you're not going to get three months off before the playoffs in order for everybody to regenerate and then start their engines up again so i get why they're doing what they're doing and i don't know that they had a better option to go to but if you're asking me whether it's deja vu in terms of it's going to work the same way it did two years ago i just believe that the circumstances are going to be too different for the same model to be successful well i'm looking at it like the lakers should feel resurrected um kind of with you slick but i'm not focusing in on the age because their leader is old and lebron james who's gonna be 37 next year so when you talk about age let's throw the birth certificates out the window it's about trust and lebron is like look since i'm old i know what i need to get it done because i've gotten it done four times before now if you want a number five if you want to complete this hand in terms of all fingers have a ring you gotta give me people i can trust people that i can activate when necessary don't forget that the lakers are still a damn good team i think we got lost last year and the injuries in the regular season they got lost because they lost to the up-and-coming phoenix suns who became the western conference champions who also were down 2-1 in a series to the same lakers but that injury bug came and struck again so if you look at this team right now before injury lakers 21-7 that's with a.d healthy after that 21 and 23 completely different team so lebron sits back in the lab and starts to draw up a different team he says okay we try to go with the youth we try to trust in kyle kuzma mr melrose he's gone we're going to now trust the people that i know can respond to these moments people that are champions and he went out there and got him some guys that he can trust in these moments the lakers are for real they got the mentality they know that they have the best big three in the west think about it all the teams in the west including my clippers if you had to say the top three stars on one team not even the golden state warriors because we don't know about klay thompson and returning from injury it has to be the lakers with that mentality that they were up on the phoenix suns western conference champions with the fact that their leader is still lebron james are they ready to go out there and get it done now that they trust each other well after yesterday's moves i feel the same way about the lakers that i felt when the russell westbrook trade was made known intrigued all right i said earlier last season that the brooklyn nets were one of the greatest chemistry spirit experiments in nba history well the la lakers they make the brooklyn nets big three look like a match made in heaven heck they make joel limbed and andre drummond look like a match made in heaven all right it all depends on how those big three pieces can work and fit together what they did yesterday though i mean i think that's what we all expected we didn't know exactly who the individual players would be but we figured this is the route that the lakers are going to go number one you know lebron go back all the way to miami whenever when lebron started putting together big threes he always wanted veterans who knew how to win right in miami had guys like mike miller ray allen saved the miami heat uh shane battier guys like that cleveland kyle korver and guys of that and ilk and then when they won it here he had danny green and reijan rondo and all that so this is more of the same lebron saying look i don't need the young guys that we have to teach how to win the kyle kuzmas we need veterans who are who are tunnel vision on a championship and are happy to play their role so they went out and got shooters all right those three guys basemore ellington trevor ariza kind of three and d guys good shooters they're not scary good all right i think the lakers three-point shooting will pretty much be what has been the last couple of years a little below average that's where they'll be i'd get it that bazemore and ellington shot well last year from three but you know we've seen wesley matthews and other guys that have really shot it well elsewhere get streaky when they're on the big stage with lebron and i think that's what we'll see with this group of guys as well and then to go get dwight howard they're saying we're gonna go big all right a lot of people want to go small we missed howard's muscle and athleticism i know andre drummond was big but he wasn't as mobile and athletic as dwight howard so they're going for that again so they did about what they could could if they could have gotten to paddy mills or somebody like that that would have been great he's in brooklyn so you know a so-so day for them but it really all is gonna depend on how well their big three meshes and how well ellington bazemore and the like can hit three-point shots so i guess we all agree in one sense that we understand why they did what they did the distinction is do we think it's going to work or how well it's going to work and again i'm going to go back to comparing to two years ago which uh the and the great difference being and chris points this out is that that big three and how well they work together uh with rajon rondo as the second playmaker he was playing at a tempo that fit with an older team with the dwight howards and the jared dudleys and the danny greens and now you have a russ westbrook who does not play well that way he plays better when he plays fast and when you had while you had an older team that you could rely on and that were experienced two years ago during the regular season the top minutes played the guys that were higher in the rotation were the younger guys they got them to the finish line and then in the playoffs you saw the rondos and the danny greens step up and play more minutes they really don't have that equation this time around so that's where i see the distinction and yes lebron james has guys that he can trust but are they going to be so much better offensively with this crew that it makes up for the fact that they lost so much defensive talent the three guys that received all defensive team votes alex caruso uh schroeder and kcp are all out the door and they're not being replaced by guys that are capable of playing that kind of defense this is where i think that yes lebron has guys that he can orchestrate and that he and he knows they're going to give him a certain something on a consistent basis but lebron james is at a point in his career now where he needs more than that he needs guys that aren't just going to fill roles but they are going to contribute energy and finite things in a different way and unless anthony davis is staying healthy all year long and again this is where there's going to be more on anthony davis to do more energy wise effort wise does that compromise his ability to stay healthy i just i i understand the formula i'm just not convinced that it's going to work man i got to earn my money today because i'm up here defending the lakers harder than both of you guys combined slick rick i love you so much but i don't trust you at all in this moment we asked for one word and then my boy chris brassard said intrigued i said resurrected you said deja vu that ain't one word that's two words so already i'm off on your take but then we're going to be sure about that yeah i don't know it might be one word too you know i always wondered is that wonderful there's a space in it but i think it's considered one word it could be he went to that i believe i think french who knows yeah but you know what i don't trust whether deja vu is one word or two words is that you want to put russell westbrook and the mindset in the frame that is not consistent with the evidence here's the thing about russell westbrook everyone says well he can't shoot okay i understand that but you know where he shot his highest field goal percentage in houston in houston what off ball okay russell westbrook off ball actually is more efficient than old ball interesting because lebron james is in the building could russell westbrook be efficient once again off ball maybe his rebound suffered in houston his assist suffered in houston well we actually want his assist to suffer in l.a cause lebron james is in the building let's talk about the three-point percentage because a lot of times we talk about that and you made some great points in terms of well they've had shooters come in before and weren't as effective well you bring in wayne ellington who shot 42 percent you bring in baseball show 40 and that was the issue for the lakers last year look at the lakers 21st in the league and three-point percentage last year 24th in attempts in a world where everyone's trying to shoot the three-pointer so i don't know how many minutes you're talking about for ellenton and baseboard but in terms of efficiency we see a more efficient russell westbrook off ball we see ellenton and basemore as shooters all that adds up to me in terms of impact they're going to have impact where lebron james wants to fit them on this squad westbrook off ball be efficient baseball elton shoot this ball win pass the ball all that adds up to a lakers team that was already better in one series than the western conference champion phoenix suns before injury maybe they could return to that place resurrect and be even better uh marcellus and i think rick knows this by the look on his face you are paying playing fast and loose with some facts all right my man a little bit first of all just because they were up 2-1 doesn't mean they were better than the phoenix suns and i picked them i i thought they would have won two if they were healthy but that's not fair because brooklyn or uh milwaukee was down 2-0 in two of the series that they came back to win so were your clippers so you know better than that and then to talk about westbrook being better off the ball in houston shooting a higher percentage that is because houston of course spread the floor with a bunch of shooters they got rid of clint capela and so that's that lane was wide open and westbrook they begged him instead of shooting the three rust when you get the pass from hardin drive all right so if he does that i'm with you that's what he's got to do when lebron james draws the double team and feeds westbrook he's got to drive the difference is as i said that lane was wide open in houston it won't be with the lakers especially now they got dwight howard in addition to anthony davis so it's gonna be a little bit different for westbrook with the lakers but look i'm not down on them i mean i'm intrigued i really am i've said i'm giving them a puncher's chance and i'm giving them a little bit better than a puncher's chance and here's why excuse me the western conference this benefits the lakers there is no world beater in the west right okay the clippers i'll be i don't expect to see kawhi leonard next year all right he's going even if he comes back late who knows how he'll play initially so let's move the clippers out phoenix utah dallas denver i'll throw golden state in that batch coming up at the rear as portland they're good right they're not scary none of them are frightening anybody and so the west is not what it has historically been and so if the lakers can work it out with these three if then sure they can get they can get to the finals and meet probably brooklyn or milwaukee but uh it's going to be intriguing i want to see rest not only russ not only not selling for the three but i want to get him moving off the ball he could be great cutting to the basket with a guy like lebron who will find him for layups and back door cuts if he'll do it let's see if russ will do it okay well let's move off russell westbrook and his efficiency with the lakers based off of his houston experience and talk about the future with the lakers because there's breaking news right now that carmelo anthony is now a los angeles laker carmelo anthony who shot from the three-point line 41 last year so i asked you two right now is carmelo anthony a good fit for the lakers well thank goodness they got some young legs in there i mean finally they've switched direction and they're adding what they're building the 2015 all-star team and the i don't what are we doing look again it's a nice piece and i love how uh carmelo has resurrected his career and is appreciated for what he's doing but the big thing here is uh and and to chris's point about the west yes there's no team to beat there there's nobody that the lakers look at and go well we can't match up with them but there's also a a half a dozen teams that are more likely to get to the finish line intact than the lakers are again simply because of the age and the speed with which the game is played today lebron and a.d couldn't get to the finish line last year in a 72 game season and yes i know we had a short and off season but they added a lot of pieces that didn't play all the way to the end in the bubble so that that argument quite doesn't doesn't work i just it's it's not if if you were telling me this was a 25 game season and now we're going to go into a best-of-five tournament i'd say you know what i like the lakers chances but to go 82 games and then to play 20 more 25 more in the postseason i just don't see the lasting power with this lakers team to get there to the finish line yeah look i like carmelo i mean rick's right he he really has you know improved his three-point shot and even worked his game around shooting that shot that's what they had him doing in portland so that's a nice addition for what this team is but earlier rick talked about the pace that westbrook wants to play at i'm concerned about his fit with lebron because lebron likes to play slow and deliberate and westbrook wants to play fast and hectic even in the half court now who on that team is running with russell westbrook i mean seriously nobody on that squad is running with russell westbrook so that is going to be interesting to see how these how he adjusts his game and they adjust their game to him so look the lakers i mean as i said nobody in the west is scary good so they have to feel good about their chances you would in theory at least westbrook can take some of the physical toll off of lebron and a.d you know so you hope they can get to the playoffs intact but look and i've talked about father time tapping lebron on the shoulder it's not so much in his game yeah you see a little bit of the athleticism gone but his game is still top-notch but it's the injuries two of his three years in la he's he's gotten hurt with season in the injuries and the one year that he didn't he had a four-month layoff and a.d we know he's been injury-prone throughout his career so the biggest challenge in addition to fitting the pieces together is going to be can these guys stay healthy and i think the best way for them to play i know when westbrook and a.d and lebron met at lebron's house they talked about lebron playing the power forward ads center i like a.d at center but i like lebron at the point i think the lebron's mentality this year with this group should be i'm going to be the magic johnson of the crew i think he needs to try to make sure a.d and russell westbrook get theirs because lebron will get his 20 plus points just by being on the floor for 30 some odd minutes in the half court he is the smartest decision maker westbrook can push it in transition if anybody runs with him and westbrook can have that second unit with the ball in his hands but when lebron is on the floor i want him as the primary decision maker and westbrook cutting and moving off the ball what's up so what are we doing at the defensive end because i could see putting carmelo at the four and playing lebron at the one now that you have mellow but defensively you're asking lebron to guard ones you're asking russ who has lost a lot of lateral ability with all those knee surgeries and has never been that focused defensively that that to me is the great issue i see where you can make it work offensively and i like the idea of lebron initiating things but you're gonna have people for every missed shot they're gonna be running down your throat who's who's who's getting back to stop those fast breaks that's where i see the lakers being taken advantage of oh come on y'all let's evolve as a people come on society uh let's stop talking about defense in the nba it's a make or miss league and slick tried to run this out last year against the brooklyn x who's going to play defense well nobody had played defense until they got injured because before that they were making all their shots the lakers could be in a percentage where right now look at their shooters ellerton baseball carmelo the worst shoot 41 from three maybe they'll be making these shots this year i'm not certain but i know as an opponent i would never get into any race and use as confidence that they won't finish the race like i'mma win why are you gonna win martials oh cause they won't finish the race nah you always have to assume that the other team is gonna come fully ready and if the lakers come fully ready at 21-7 last year when they were fully healthy you add westbrook with energy y'all are fathers we all are fathers up here you know about the kids go get that remote for me because i ain't getting up off the couch that's westbrook to do all the little dirty work that no one else wants to do you got your shooters you got ariza at three and d and support coming off the bench averaging 10 points a game last year and dwight howard sitting there boulder shoulders and boards that's all we need add all that up look like the lakers gonna be something to reckon with second place in the west right behind my clippers [Music] you

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Keywords: fox, fox sports, fs1, fox sports 1, speak for yourself, sfy, sports, news, Marcellus Wiley, Marcellus, Wiley, Emmanuel Acho, nba, basketball, los angeles lakers, lakers, lebron james, anthony davis, carmelo anthony, offseason, trade, Carmelo Anthony Lakers, National Basketball Association, NBA, NBA Lakers

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Length: 21min 48sec (1308 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 03 2021