“LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook can be productive without the ball”: Kenny Smith questions whether Kevin Durant’s Nets Big 3 can mesh as well as the Lakers’ Big 3

Kenny Smith says that whereas LeBron James and Anthony Davis can thrive off the ball, James Harden, Kyrie and Kevin Durant want the ball to be nice.

The Los Angeles Lakers have put collectively one other Massive 3 harking back to their Showtime and 70s groups. Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain fashioned the primary superteam in league historical past by way of unrestricted free company.

Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy continued this custom all via the 80s. The Lakers then confronted a lull in signing free brokers earlier than buying Shaquille O’Neal in free company in 1996.

The Shaq and Kobe groups gained’t be remembered as superteams as a result of they solely had 2 All-Stars. Nor will Kobe’s groups within the latter half of his profession, for that matter.

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Now that Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis and LeBron James are collectively on the identical group, it’s the primary time in a very long time that the Lakers have 3 gamers able to making the All-NBA First Staff and MVP noise when match and firing.

“LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook will be productive with out the ball”: Kenny Smith

Kenny Smith was questioned by Mike Greenberg in his latest radio appearance concerning how the Lakers’ latest Massive 3 contrasts with that of the Brooklyn Nets Massive 3.

Kenny took a somewhat conservative method to reply the query. Nonetheless, he could have angered a number of Brooklyn Nets followers with the wording of his reply:

“Nicely, neither certainly one of them (trios) we’ve seen play. To be actually honest about it, when Brooklyn performed their finest basketball, a type of guys was all the time out final 12 months. And after they had been all collectively, we by no means actually bought an opportunity to see it.”

“The one factor that I might in all probability say is that the Lakers would in all probability simply naturally play higher simply. As a result of Anthony Davis doesn’t have to deal with the basketball to be productive.”

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“Russell Westbrook can go and help and rebound to be productive. LeBron doesn’t want the basketball to be productive. I feel that when the Nets are at their finest, their finest gamers rating.”

“So with one basketball, I might say it could be simpler for the Lakers to regulate, to play higher collectively. Will they? I don’t know, as a result of we haven’t seen it. However I might say it’s simpler for the Lakers.”