Dan is joined by Jabari Ali Davis (@JabariDavisNBA) from the Never Meet Your Heroes and The Baseline podcasts for a deeeeep dive into the Los Angeles Lakers ahead of the 2021-22 NBA season. They discuss the LeBron James-Russell Westbrook fit, Anthony Davis-at-the-5, the potential for a defensive drop-off, rounding out the rest of the rotation, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan, floor spacing, lineup possibilities and much, much, MUCH more. TIMESTAMPS⬇️
0:33 – Intro 4:54 – The Russell Westbrook Fit 9:40 – Predicting the most impactful new additions (non-Westbrook division) 13:50 – Frank Vogel 17:08 – Anthony Davis-at-the-5 18:47 – Is AD a sleeper MVP candidate? 22:19 – Are floor-spacing concerns overblown? 25:57 – Who gets squeezed in the rotation? 30:12 – Carmelo Anthony’s fit/value 34:42 – Talen Horton-Tucker’s role/importance 43:01 – Predicting where LA ranks on defense 44:46 – LeBron James’ playing time 46:48 – Biggest weakness of the roster 47:45 – Trade candidates/Trade targets 51:05 – Best crunch-time lineup 53:22 – Quirk lineups we want to see 55:17 – Win-total prediction
57:30 – Western Conference landscape