i'll let giff know. what times good? i'm out at 430 giff is flexible. so really anytime between 5-8 we can start.
it's a go. start with the alex smith cousins thing than pretty much go through every inch of the roster and what needs to be done in the draft/offseason.
The Lakers are starting to turn the corner of not being trash for sure. Kuzma is a very talented scorer, but struggles on defence, and I like Randle's skillset, especially on defence. Lonzo has been out with injury, and although he's very much struggling to score effectively; he needs a lot of development in that area, he's a really good rebounder, defender, and passer already, which makes him a net positive for the Lakers. Ingram has made a major leap from rookie to sophomore and while he still has a ways to go still, his potential at only 20 years old is still quite tantalizing if he can take more threes while maintaining his efficiency, not fall asleep as often on off-ball defence, and make the right reads when driving. Hart is the perfect role player. Lonzo, Kuzma, Ingram, Hart, and maybe Randle are the Lakers' future, and it is brighter than it has probably been in a long time. I give Luke Walton a ton of credit for keeping this team focused on defence, too. The Lakers were a totally trash defence before this year for four or so years straight, and Walton emphasized it and got everyone to buy in. There's still a fair few clankers where the Lakers defence completely falls apart and lets teams like the Magic shoot 50+% from three, but overall, it is substantially improved, from, like 30th last year, to 14th or so this year. Magic Johnson has stated his intention is to lure big free agents with the prospect of surrounding them with the Lakers' young talents, though, and I really don't like this strategy. The Lakers have drafted well, and we should still be in the process of collecting value on mid-tier FAs and taking on bad contracts for more draft picks IMO. Star FAs are still not really going to be impressed yet with the team, which despite taking massive steps forward is still not even average. Lakers are one of very few teams with a lot of cap space this offseason while everyone else is still on a hangover from that array of garbage contracts the NBA collectively signed in 2016, and we should be looking to use it to bolster our team and bolster our number of tradable players or draft picks to use in a potential trade for a big-time star if the opportunity arises. Not to mention we should be re-signing Randle, who has probably been our best player. Magic is targeting getting a couple of major free agents in either this offseason or the next, when really we should be looking at 2020, when the terrible albatross Deng contract comes off the books, and our young core is still on their rookie deals and more ready to compete after a few years of growth. In other words, the Lakers are in a fantastic position for the future IMO with a unique opportunity to use their cap space in effective ways to sign the likes of Gary Harris or Rodney Hood to great deals in the offseason and acquire more draft picks for their outstanding scouting department to hit on while remaining patient the big fish will come. But I hope we don't squander it chasing LeBron James and thinking very short-term about how they could take shotcuts to contention.
Great discussion @Mengão86 and @Emperor Adriano, just good stuff. I caught most of it. Your criticism of the Patricia hire is sound. He and Belichick got caught with their pants down in that Super Bowl, and while I will say that the Patriots defence lacked significantly in talent and I do think the Belichick/Patricia duo did good work patching and holding it together before that point, it's a serious concern. I would also say that from what I've heard, Patricia is flexible and I don't think he'll be ideological about needing to run the Patriots' hybrid looks. He'd be kind of stupid to ask that of the Lions' current personnel. The Belichick tree is trash, though, and it's probably my major concern with this hire. I like the staff he's put together on paper, seems like an experienced group with some track records of success, but who knows until we start seeing the Lions play games.
There’s a reason the Belichick tree doesn’t do well (although I like Bill O’Brien as an offensive mind). They have Tom at quarterback on the offense and Bill has significant input defensively as far as scheme. Bill doesn’t keep players that don’t buy into his scheme no matter how talented they are. When their contract is up and they are due a big payday, he normally lets them walk. And the Patriots offense also covers holes and makes opposing offenses one dimensional catching up. Patricia is going to need some talent on defense and as it stands, I don’t like anything on Detroit’s d-line. From what I’ve heard Patricia has an idea of what he likes to run. He doesn’t need to be flexible because Bill isn’t there to demand things. I think if Patricia was inheriting the Giants D, he’d probably have more success. I guess we will see what direction Detroit goes in FA and the draft.
Right now I'm kind of hung up on trading up for someone like Vea or Edmunds, because man, listening to you guys go through the wringer on defensive front 7 talent on that podcast was really rough. If someone isn't into Poe and Bradham and Lawrence gets tagged, it's a cruel world out there in FA. Lions have money to spend of around 50 mil, but it's not anything even close to Cleveland or New York. And I really just got tired of watching Ansah, who hasn't been good in two years, spend craptons of time on the sidelines, getting a few sacks against the likes of Flowers, and coast the rest of the time in a Lions jersey, but with the state of this EDGE FA class, I might have to just eat the idea of tagging him, try to choke it down like it's an Omlette with cheese.
Bradham has only played well under Schwartz (a year in Buffalo and Philly). He's a system dependent player who thrived behind a pretty good d-line. If you are not giving him a similar setup and paying him decent LB money, I doubt you get good production from him. Lawrence probably gets tagged from what I've heard, so I've never really considered him as a possibility.
I think Free Agency could be interesting with the lions, even the draft. Do they finally venture away from the High character, good guy rating system and actually take some risk?
Here's a comment from the video, i'm not buying it.... Josh Norman play declined after his Rib injury in that Game against Kansas City. He missed two games and rushed back. Before that injury Josh Norman was on pace to have a shutdown year. Teams wasn’t throwing his way. I agree with you guys on the drop interceptions but josh still forces fumbles and tackles. The Redskins didn’t have a good second string safety after Monte Nicholson went down for the year.
Yeah, a lot of people blamed injury for his decline but I don’t completely buy it. He didn’t force hardly any fumbles last season. He had a decent amount his first year with us. Redskins defensive staff also doesn’t move him around on the number 1 receiver. I hate when people want to blame an injury for all of the poor play. It’s like when Moss burned Revis and people believes he pulled his hammy on the play.
We'll see. Quinn just got a massive extension and his guy at HC. Their jobs are both as secure as could reasonably be. If there ever was a time for them to make a big move and try to break through from just being slightly above average, you get the sense this is the moment.
Norman is who he is IMO. He's a physical dude with size and playmaking ability in zone but not a guy who can realistically do much for you covering number one receivers in man coverage. Just lacks the hips and not a great athlete to recover when he gets beat. He had one great year with the Panthers when that front 7 was in its heyday and Rivera was dialing up neat zone coverages that worked to Norman's strengths and let him pile up INTs. And that got him PAID and his weaknesses have been getting exposed ever since. Norman's a useful player in the right situation, but he just can't be your number one corner when you go to man because he'll get wrecked in man coverage against top receivers.
There's nothing on the DE market right now. Scarce as water in the desert. We didn't have much choice IMO.