Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill and senior NBA writer Dan Devine discuss Los Angeles’ 0-3 start to the season — behind statistically, the worst shooting in the league — and explain why the time is now for the Lakers to start over.
Video Transcript
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VINCENT GOODWILL: Welcome to “Yahoo Sports.” I’m Vince Goodwill, here alongside Dan Devine. Dan, let’s get into it.
The Lakers, 0 and 3. 3 bad losses. 21% shooting. That’s like you in the club trying to get on women at this point. 21% FG.
I think they should just say, you know what? From an extreme case, trade AD, trade LeBron, trade Russ if you can. Start all over.
Because what you have is not sustainable, even in this season. By “sustainable” I mean, Dan, even if you get Buddy Hield and Myles Turner that makes you, what, a sixth seed in the Western Conference?
That’s not Laker expectations. That’s not LeBron James expectations. There’s no path to get better. So why not just tear it down?
DAN DEVINE: Well, first off, the idea that you would trade LeBron after just paying him this summer and saying you’re going to hitch your wagon to him for two more years–
VINCENT GOODWILL: I said it’s extreme. I said it’s extreme.
DAN DEVINE: It’s extremely extreme, Vincent. I can’t abide by this. I do believe, though, that you’re right in the idea of, like, you have now– you’ve got to burn every boat, every bridge you’ve got. You’ve got to burn every asset in the quiver to improve the team around LeBron and AD.
You made the choice when you brought AD to town that this is– everything else doesn’t matter. Especially when you got rid of a championship-level defense around those two guys. You said, we’re going to build a different kind of team. But LeBron and AD are what count.
The picks– whatever has to get attached to Russ to get him out the door. You can’t have people like Jusuf Nurkic pump fake it like he’s going to contest a shot and then run it away from the dude. You can’t have that be–
VINCENT GOODWILL: The disrespect. The disrespect.
DAN DEVINE: The disrespect. It’s like taking that Timberwolves game from last season, but it’s every night now. You can’t have this.
So the two first-round picks, 27, 29, get them out the door. Whatever you can get. If it’s Terry Rozier and something else from Charlotte. If it’s the Myles Turner-Buddy Hield combo in Indiana. Whatever you can get.
You have made an oblig– you have an obligation to the rest of LeBron James’s career to try to be as competitive as possible. Because I’ll tell you what, Vince. You’re not wrong that the six seed might be the high side on it. But you give me LeBron and AD healthy in a playoff series against all those– whoever you put up there in the West in the top, I’m taking my chances with it.
VINCENT GOODWILL: Have you seen Anthony Davis’s movies? I know it looks good. I know it sounds good. He is protecting the rim. He is finishing around the rim.
But there’s a reason that Jusuf Nurkic literally turned his back to him and said, I don’t trust you shooting a jumper. Because outside of an empty gym in Orlando, Anthony Davis might be the worst outside of 16-foot jump shooter in the league. And he insists on taking it.
So if we’re talking about making the best of the rest of LeBron James’s career, how about we start with his partner in crime, the dude who cannot be the focal point of offense because he can’t shoot and can’t pass? Right? But I think there’s a path, and it’s– and a more prudent path.
How about this? Trade Russell Westbrook right now to save himself and to save you further embarrassment. Because this is bad. And they ain’t getting no better.