Is Lonzo Ball a 6'5 Rajon Rondo? If so, is that good? He's off to a decent start at 10/7/7 per game but the 10 ppg in 35 minutes (on 31% shooting) is probably concerning to the Lakers "faithful." I think at this point I'd rather have Ben Simmons - who is taller, longer, and shown a better ability to finish at the hoop.
The point is, if Lonzo is going to struggle to score, this Lakers team is as well. Russell is gone and playing well in Brooklyn - shoutout to front-office wizard Magic Johnson. Nick Young is gone. They're just depending a whole lot on Lonzo to create offense and if he can't score himself and draw multiple defenders than...that's not a very good basketball strategy.
All that being said, I'm picking the Lakers straight-up over the Pistons tonight. Detroit and Stan the Man are coming off two of the best road wins you can get - at GSW and at LAC. They're at the end of a long west coast trip and this has trap game written all over it. Add in the fact that Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson and Luke Kennard were seen out at 1OAK in Hollywood until 2 a.m. last night (unconfirmed rumor / made-up by me) and the Lakers - who haven't played since Saturday - steal one based solely on energy/hustle/the Pistons regressing back to the mean.
Pick: Lakers ML