Jake LaRavia Discussion: Lah-Rave-E-Ya!

I don't know what's going on with him as his play has been rough for a while.

 

when the shot stopped falling, he got yippy in other areas, too. looks really unsteady handling the ball. in fairness, jj put a weird lineup on the floor in the first half that led to him having too much of a playmaking role against a defense like this. it was pretty disastrous, as would be expected.

 

Please just bench him - I just can't stand watching this dude anymore

 

He's giving us nothing at the moment. We need more Adou minutes.

 

Sorry to say that and I still believe in him long term, but at least some of his minutes need to go to other players who also could use the PO experience. He'll be fine, just not this year.

 

Thought he at least started out well defensively with some physicality and hustle. That lasted two plays.

Offense was bad, processing speed isn't up to snuff, made some dumb defensive mistakes including the 4 point play.

I'm not ready to give up on him as a player, but I'm fine if he doesn't see another playoff minute. He's not ready. He has the experience now and knows what he needs to work on this summer.

Availability is an important ability, especially with this dollar general medical team we have. He was available every game this season. He just needs to slot down two seats on the bench. But if that salary is needed for a significant upgrade, that's fine too.

 

He's been bad, no way around it. But he's young, cheap, and can improve.

I just don't think he deserves the minutes this series so might be best to give those minutes to someone else and hope they can step up.

 

Young, cheap players are a dime a dozen. Bufkin, JHS, Lewis, Oilivari, Koloko, Knecht, etc. are examples of young players who we gave up on. I don't see why LaRavia should be treated any differently. Someone please explain.

 

Those young players are a level or two below Jake. They’re G league or 14-15th bench players. Jake is a 10th guy off the bench who has size, stamina, speed. You can’t teach size and athleticism. Plus he is always healthy.

Jake’s shot looks good, if he can get it consistently falling - which other wings with similar mechanics have been able to do - he is a 7-8th guy off the bench. Mix that with his youth and low salary and he isn’t someone you just give up on. His ceiling is a 5th starter as a 3&D wing. At 23, I think he can make it there by 25 and you have 7-8 years of high production.

 

Like this is a trick question? Because for the most part all season long until the pressure plus playoff yips got to him he has been better than all those guys. Plus being a big strong dude than can defend several positions on the perimeter replacing DFS, and has been an iron man as far as availability. Why do you think JJ started him for over 40 games, over Rui even? He will be better next year either here or somewhere else.

 

I posted before reading yours. Agree with all of it. The impatience with talent already in house and always grass is greener thinking just goes nuts around here when we come up short in the playoffs or someone like AR has a crappy game, injured or not, on the shelf for a month or not.

 

I'd agree except now Vando is out and just saw a news blip on my phone that JJ said he plans to go to a 9 person rotation with more guys having to fill the gap. So Jake will still play for the size needed but I bet we see more of Thierro now too, which is great.

 

Jake LaRavia Reflects On Tough Lakers Season

 

I like him. And agree with a lot of comments above. He is young, good personality, good base in terms of skills and IQ, just need to continue to improve his game.

He went through a whole season in a competitive setting playing with HoF and playing a specific role. That's so valuable. He will know where he struggled the most and what he needs to work on so he can spend the whole summer addressing it.

Ideally by the end of July he is the 11th guy on the roster behind an open slot, Bronny, 3rd string center and some rookie/vet min. I'd plan for Thiero ahead of him for minutes and hopefully we are able to get 1 other addition to the rotation using Vando/Knecht, which slots down Jake properly

 

I like Jake, good young player and can continue to develop. If he becomes a knock down shooter, he could be a 5th starter. If he improves moderately, he is a 8th-10th guy. Happy to keep him.

But if we can go for someone like Hart with Ayton + Jake, or Claxton for Vando + Jake, I'm doing it and wishing him well.

 

Get Dean Wade and relegate him and Vando to the cheerleading section

 

I don’t like the last name, but I like his length and defensive ability.

 

yeah, i think if wade is available, he would do a lot of what jake does, but better. that said, jake does have room to grow, so having him learn behind wade for a year or two could be beneficial.

big issue with a wade pursuit is that i'm not sure we truly need his exact play style here. like, if lebron were gone, i'd be all-in on pursuing him as a 20-25mpg pf option, but i'm still stuck on getting some speed in our lineup, and wade doesn't bring that. lebron, luka, and reaves are all slower than average at their position. then our next three best players last year were probably ayton, smart, and rui (then kennard later!). all slower than their counterparts most nights. in the playoffs, the game slowed down a bit, so it wasn't as huge an issue, but some of those nasty blowouts to average teams during the season were definitely about speed (and effort, but also speed...).

tl;dr: wade is probably a better laravia. the question is whether we need a laravia in the regular rotation at all.

 

I don't like how he is being perceived by a lot of folks. Talks about waive and stretching are wild to me.

How far is Jake from turning into Champagnie?
He didn't ended the season well but he played the whole 82 games, heavy minutes in many of them, that takes a toll.
He has a good stroke and good hustle on defense, that's a good prototype on a young player.

I'm warming up writing this having Jake as a 8th guy and betting on his development. This would mean going all in on a center and a wing to add to the rotation, costing Rui and Kennard. I don't hate it, it can be smart to bet on Jake becoming a bench player, that he isn't far off, at a low salary

Something like:

Stars: Luka, AR, Bron
Key rotation: Watson/Ayo, Turner, Smart
Rotation players: Ellis, Jake, Thiero, Hayes
End of bench: Trent Jr, Nance Jr, Kyle Anderson
Development: Bronny, undrafted C project

This is pretty doable and we probably still have a pick left to use after Bron leaves.

We will be the favorite vet min destination. Great location, great club, new loaded ownership, playing for a title with Luka. You can be the next Rui that breaks at the right time and gets a payday off of that. Those 3 end of bench can be whoever, there's a bunch of options, including a rookie

I think the best way forward is going top 6 heavy and betting on the development of 3/4 guys with a couple vets that can still play picking up the scraps.
With how our roster is setup and the assets we have available, it might be the best option