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

He outplayed his contract during the regular season ($6 million), but I could care less if he's gone.

Maybe him and his buddy AR can be traded to the same team.

 

Can Jake LaRavia Become a Real Lakers Rotation Piece?

 

^He sucks. Thanks Austin for recruiting him. Appreciate that.

 

I think Jake's hate is unreasonable.

I don't understand why players like him or AR are disliked. They're true pros, work hard, play hard, accept their roles. Never complain. It's what you want in your team and locker room.

Another thing is everyone expects a finished product like these guys don't evolve. I'm 100% sure Jake will be a better player next year than last year.

He played 82 games (only 11 out of >500 did it). First time in a contender with a clear role. Always competed. Can shoot. Can dribble. Can pass. Has some IQ. Plays and defends hard. He knows exactly what is needed from him and where to improve, having the whole summer to just work on it.

He is in a low salary. If he's good, we have a rotation guy that we can get long term at his salary (like 3/20). If he doesn't, it's an expiring to trade at the deadline for an upgrade + more minutes for Carr/Adou.

I think our mistake with him was extending his role because of the injuries. He was playing 35mpg, that's insane. He needs to be kept at the low 20s with the same role and he will deliver. If we need more minutes, gotta do it by committee and extend Carr and Adou

 

I’m one of the few that believe he can be a rotation player and even develop into a 5th starter.

The problem was he kind of lost his shot in February and never found it again. He isn’t a good dribbler or creator. And during the playoffs he got such a bad case of stage fright, it looked like the monsters from space jam stole his talent.

He needs to find his shot and become consistent from the corners. Add his ability in transition and defense and he can be a nice piece.

But I also wouldn’t be against trading him too.

 

Yup. It’s literally him looking like he just came up from the G-League and those were his first ever NBA games that have me not interested in him anymore.
Now, if his shot was just off, but he was playing great D, making good passes, and rebounding well, then fine, I would give him a pass.
He will only become trade-able again if he gets his shot back. Man, we have TWO of those guys on our squad.

 

I have literally zero concerns about Jake going forward. Just watch him come back next season much improved and steady from 3. He'll be a very solid role player in this league, hopefully with us.

 

i hate these takes: i wanted AR starting for the time he was 1/2 way thru his rookie year. AR is my second favorite laker.

OTOH I can't stand Jake because after he missed 3 straight critical threes in game he went into a shell and sucked balls.
He couldn't shoot in the playoffs, he couldn't dribble - he was a turnover machine, and played like headless chicken for the most part.

same crap I took for years about pointing out how Vando just ends up being unplayable in the playoffs - oh you just don't appreciate all the things he does.. No, It's the freakin NBA you get paid millions of dollars: these participation tropy takes for grown a** men meeting the minimal standards of professionalism mean nothing till he produces on the court.

 

I hope he’s back unless traded for better value and agree he’s going to be better and a great value for the money. We bit** and bit** about the team having no patience and little development on promising players, and here some because he struggled got bad on offense last part of season, hit a wall with all the minutes and games, whatever reasons, and now **** him and throw him in the trash he’ll NEVER get better. Sorry you hate this take but you can’t have it both ways. He’s definitely got contributing rotation player, large athletic, strong defender upside. Definitely more offensive potential than Vando will ever have. And showed it earlier in the season.

 

Sorry but I'm definitely not the one trying to have it both ways. Laravia is 24 - he's theoretically entering his prime not being able to shoot, not knowing how to dribble or pass. The one trying to have it both ways are folks who are like we have this wonderful prospect and ignoring 1/2 the season, the playoffs, and the advanced and box score metrics smelling like turd sandwich.

 

Yeah I think you're overreacting. It's normal to feel the pressure, it's the first time he was in such position. Kobe made 3 airballs in his first playoffs.

He's young, he'll learn from this and get better. He seems to have the right mindset to do so.
If he doesn't, he's a nice expiring to get an upgrade at the deadline. I'm positive we'll want to keep him and he'll have a good season

 

I think Jake will take a jump this upcoming season. He played all 82 regular season games and hit a wall. As much as I complain about JJ not letting young players play through their mistakes, I really need Jake to prove my theory correct. That way maybe JJ will give the next young player a chance.

 

"We'll want to keep him..." you mean "you." LOL.

He was f**** horibble in the PO's. This is like Jovan trying to tell me Austin wasn't "that bad against OKC, and he was hurt.." or LB, when I watch Ajay torch his a**.

 

My God this revisionist history. He sucked for months before the playoffs. Everyone seems to think that on Minnesota game very early in the season was some bellwether.

I can't state it enough he was terrible . Starting in February he was barely playable

His advanced starts were bad throughout the year but even you can even his boxscore metrics go from meh to terrible when you look at the monthly splits

What's funny is I liked the LaRavia I have the receipt in this thread but reality is reality

 

Nobody said he was good.
He clearly hit a wall playing all those games with added pressure. What I said is that he is not a finished product. Plus, he is a quite versatile player that can do a bit of everything. But nothing at a very good level yet. But with his approach to the game and at 24 it's quite likely he will improve and may get there

He was not awful. He finished the season at neutral level (-0.1 in O vs D rating). 8/4/2 + 1.7 stocks at 25mpg and shooting splits of 46/32/76. That's not great but it's not awful. The stocks in particular are promising.

Btw, he scored the same points and had more rebs and assists + better O vs D rating than Rui coming off the bench with the same minutes.
Yep, read that again.

He clearly played too much minutes, with that going down, all the work he can put on the summer and going to the year knowing exactly what he needs to do, I'd bet he improves in all metrics

 

I like Jake. Hope he continues to improve.

 

This is Vando again - people want to like a player so will give them a leash that isn't close to reality
He played a lot of games so he must have got tired: the dude wasn't Luka or Lebron the minutes load was low

 

it's not great:



but we're freaking out over potentially losing:



so perspective is warranted on all sides.

 

? is this referring to me with Rui? I've been pretty clear that he has had a lot of deficits and where I think he stands (I think I just posted how he had several playoff clunkers along with some good series). I think the Lakers were dependent on him as a starter when he's more like a 7 or 8 on a title contender. Fact is he though he is big and shoot and it's just how it is in the NBA a shooter who gets hot has value. Pretty similar to a guy like Shamet who just was on an incredible hot streak and was basically just an average kind of dude for most of his career.

Jake otoh sorry he failed the eye and stats test for me

 

no you in particular, but statistically over time (and honestly to my eye) there's not a huge difference between rui and jake. it's just so hard to look past the playoff shooting. i feel the same way about shamet, too--i don't want to pay that guy coming off his playoff heater--have you watched the rest of his career?! apparently the knicks agree.