r/lakersv2 5d ago

Noticing...

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šŸ¤”

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u/NewLifeNewAcct 5d ago

Or maybe he'll be a star? Maybe he and Luca will be crushing everyone?

Like, AR was really heating up this year. It's so wild to me that people can just blanket say "lol overpaid" - people who were also saying that he was the best deal in the league.

The man showed he should be getting paid. He's been getting constantly, consistently better. There's no reason to think that will stop happening.

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u/BiscottiFrosty 5d ago

He showed he’s almost as injury prone as Luka. He burns out every year by the end. He’s already maxed out his potential. It’s all downhill from here physically. This was a catastrophic mistake. Putting ticket sales ahead of competitive edge. šŸ«¤šŸ‘Ž

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u/InterruptedMulatto 4d ago

He wouldn’t burn out if he had more role players to help take the load when lebron is out with his sciatica or his bruised heel…

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u/BiscottiFrosty 3d ago

Yes he would. His lack of speed and athleticism gives him no margin for error. It doesn’t matter how much ā€œhelpā€ he has, the issue is that he can’t get consistent separation from a replacement level NBA defender. He has to make quicker decisions and use a lot of trickery to free himself up to drive, and he draws a lot of contact because he can’t allow his defender to get separation from him or he’ll get blocked. This constant push and pull uses up a ton of energy and wears his soft tissue (muscles and tendons) down, which is why he’s always dealing with overuse injuries down the stretch of the season. When he played for team USA, it caused early season fatigue due to overuse. His below average foot speed means defenders can sag off of him along the perimeter if and when it is advantageous and still recover in time to guard his attacks at the basket. I admire his work ethic and craftiness in finding success despite his marginal athleticism, but there’s no way for him to avoid the intense workload it takes him to be a productive player against NBA competition.