The NBA regular season has reached this stage, and the performance of players signed in this offseason is in everyone's eyes. The Lakers management made a lot of decisions in the offseason, and as far as the players who let go, there was one person who was quite a pity, that is, Caruso. The current situation of the Lakers, compared with Caruso's performance in the Bulls, can be said to be a huge gap.
This time we will explore the significance of Caruso from different perspectives, and why the decisions made by the Lakers management are wrong, as well as warnings to other teams. Do the Lakers regret it? Tucker is of little use, it's a shame to let Caruso go, and James misses him too!
First, it is a pity to let Go of Caruso, and it is of little use to leave Tucker
Los Angeles, where the Lakers are located, is indeed a big market team, and the team's market value has always been at the forefront of the league, but the Lakers have been stretched in the past two offseasons. First, because the team's salary structure is not very reasonable, the team giants blocked the salary space, and second, they did not want to spend too much money, after all, they had tasted the sweetness of not paying luxury taxes before. In this case, nature can only make small repairs in operation.
The Lakers let Caruso go during the offseason, was this a helpless move? In fact, this is not the case, to put it bluntly, it is still to save money, and then use the veteran's basic salary to sign people. From the information disclosed at that time, Caruso still discussed with the Lakers after receiving the contract of the Bulls, and the price asked was also within a reasonable range, and finally the Lakers still did not give the contract, and finally Caruso joined the Bulls and officially left Los Angeles.
From the operating logic of the Lakers management, Caruso is replaceable, and also tries to find the next Caruso. On the other hand, the Lakers also have to come up with money to renew Tucker's contract. In fact, the Lakers' calculation is wrong, and their goal at this stage is to rush the championship, not to cultivate the future core. Tucker is a talented player, but the ceiling is also more obvious, and Alexander of the Thunder is even better, to put it bluntly, Tucker can only act as a rotating player.
We can see what Tucker has done with the Lakers this season, without three-point shooting that has left them confused. The crux of the Lakers' lineup is the lack of three-point support, and Tucker is bleak in this regard. From a lineup point of view, it is really useless to keep Tucker, and even hurt the rotation of the team and the combination of the lineup. It's clear that the Lakers made the wrong decision, and it would be better to trade it or keep Caruso with the money to renew his contract.
Second, the Lakers' outside defense is too poor, and Caruso is thriving in the Bulls
If you want to talk about the Lakers' problem this season, it is that offense is not good, nor is defense. The offensive side is not listed for the time being, as far as the defensive end is concerned, the team has been beaten into a sieve. We can look at the Situation of the Lakers' gang of players, either veterans or defenses are not on the line. So what we have seen this season is that the Lakers' peripheral flank defense is too poor, which is also the root cause of frequent assaults on the inside, and Vogel can only point to Bradley alone.
If Caruso is there, Caruso can do a lot of defensive things, after all, this is the root of his foothold in the league. We can look at Caruso's defensive stats at the Bulls, which is still pretty good. As an outside defender, when defending the opponent's three-point shot, you can limit its shooting rate to 28.4%, down 6.8 percentage points from usual. When defending from 15 feet away, the opponent's shooting percentage drops by 5.4 percentage points.
There is no doubt that Caruso is the Bulls' outside gate, and the manager often arranges for him to defend the opposing offensive arrows in order to relieve the pressure on other teammates. Of course, in addition to the defensive end, Caruso's offensive end is also good. This season, Caruso averaged 8.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4 assists per game, of which assists are career highs or quite interesting. The overall shooting percentage is 44.8%, and the three-point shooting rate is 36.4%.
Caruso can defend and pass the ball, and can also throw three points, which is a huge loss for the Lakers to let him go. On the other hand, Caruso can also play a lot of positions and is a good forward guard swinger. No matter where he is, it will bring great benefits to the bulls. Caruso played guard 68.7 percent of the time, scoring 188 points himself and 973 points. In addition, 27.5% of the frequency played forward, and they scored 110 points, while the team scored 458 points.
James misses him too, and Reeves can't replace Caruso
After the Lakers and Bulls game, James posted an intriguing update on social media after the game, that is, he forwarded the counterpoint photo with Caruso, and wrote the text "Better than a brother" for this purpose. James's implication of this move is also very clear, but it is expressed in a subtle way. To put it bluntly, it is dissatisfaction with the Lakers' current outside defense, there is no player like Caruso, and the team has not dug out such a player.
James missed Caruso a lot, and it was inevitable. The value of Caruso as a player is not reflected in the data, and the Bulls still have a great role in the case of a large number of elite outside lines, which is enough to illustrate this. We can look at the Bulls this season, Kobe White is a quality young man who has focused on cultivating in the first two years, but the team's status is not as good as Caruso's. In fact, the Bulls management also understands that in order to achieve results, it is necessary to use high-quality combat power such as Caruso.
The Lakers management thought they could find a replacement for Caruso, but the idea was naïve. As far as the current Lakers lineup is concerned, among the young people who have hard work, Reeves is one of them, but Reeves can't replace Caruso. There is not much Reeves can do on the offensive end, only operations such as receiving the ball and throwing, and the organizational offensive aspect can be ignored. Reeves has averaged just 5.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game this season, a classic bench puzzle.
As for Reeves on the defensive end, he does have the momentum of Caruso, but the physical talent is too dragging his legs, and the intensity of the confrontation to the opponent will not be very large. Happily, the players who are in the opposite position with Reeves do not take much advantage. When Reeves defended the opposing three-point shot, the opponent's shooting rate dropped by 11.7 percentage points; when defending from 15 feet away, the opponent's shooting percentage dropped by 10.3 percentage points. However, given that Reeves played in the rotation stage and had limited time to play, these data samples did not prove that he was an elite defender who could match Caruso.
Fourth, the Lakers made the wrong choice, other teams should pay attention
The Lakers have struggled quite hard this season, which has a lot to do with offseason operations. In fact, the operation of the Lakers in these two seasons has always been puzzling, and they have tried to grasp with both hands. Letting go of a premium 3D wing like Green in the 20-year offseason directly dismantled the championship lineup. After this year's offseason, it is not necessary to trade Wei Shao with Pop and others, after all, this is a grand strategy. But it was a pity to let Caruso go, it was a wrong choice.
The reason why the Lakers management wants to grasp both hands is because they want the present and the future. For a team that has proven itself, the operation cannot be too aggressive. We can look at the Warriors, who have been silent for two years after winning 3 championships, but the operation is not as wide open as the Lakers. The current situation of the Lakers is that they have neither grasped the present nor the future, and even the only Tucker with trading value has lost his value.
For other teams, the Lakers' post-championship operation is a false demonstration. In fact, in the history of the NBA, there are also operations like the Lakers, such as the lone ranger after winning the championship in 11 years, so that they have never touched the championship again. The Lakers did not take lineup stability as the first element, but wanted to let young people grow up while winning the championship, which is a paradox in itself, and not every team is the spurs before.
Everyone is running to the championship, then single-mindedly to get the championship, the lineup building will not have other distractions, looking at the bowl and thinking about the pot, in the end it is empty-handed. Of course, the current Lakers are not the end of the world, just see how they perform in the next game, and when the mid-season trade, the Lakers can make changes.
summary
When you let go of a person, you naturally have to bear the price of not having him, which is the cruelty of competitive sports. Caruso and the Lakers are in different situations, don't know if the Lakers regret it now? As for how each of them will behave next, let's wait and see!