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The Los Angeles Lakers have played two preseason games and, as was to be expected, sweeping judgments have been made about what this team might be capable of. Because if there’s anything we should analyze seriously, it’s the results of a team having practiced for a week together without starting point guard Lonzo Ball and playing in exhibition games.
Look, there are legitimate questions about this roster. For starters, JaVale McGee is the only NBA-caliber center on the roster. Kyle Kuzma is very obviously still not ready to guard bigger power forwards, let alone centers. Ivica Zubac is, well, not an NBA player. Some of the issues raised by the last two games need legitimate resolutions. But rebuilding the Lakers is a multi-year project, so maybe we should give it more than a couple weeks.
To discuss this and other topics regarding this preseason, I welcomed Aaron Larsuel of The Official Lakers Podcast. He’s smarter than I am, so when we agree, you have to agree. Those are the rules.
We start by talking about Ball and Rajon Rondo. While Ball remains out, this is a nonstarter (see what I did there?). But given the various variables at work within this Lakers roster, Aaron seems to think we might he heading towards Rondo being the starting point guard. This is interesting and well worth keeping an eye on.
From there, we move to the center situation. The Lakers seem okay with JaVale McGee as the lone NBA-caliber five on the roster, but is this the best way forward? Well, finding out is going to be a process. I ask Aaron whether this process is one worth pursuing.
The final segment of the show covers whether Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Josh Hart fits better with the starting lineup. Turns out, this ties back to the starting point guard discussion from earlier. We’ll see, I guess.
As always, this is just a tidbit of the full context given in the show. Listen to the full discussion below and please check out old episodes, or guarantee you won’t miss any ever again by subscribing on iTunes.