Flawed Lakers pump up the volume

As the Warriors stoke the NBA fires:

Taking a cue from Steve Kerr, new Lakers head coach Luke Walton has upbeat music blaring at practice, and the team’s young players are raving about Walton’s cool yet authoritative manner. It’s just a shame general manager Mitch Kupchak panicked and gave center Timofey Mozgov a four-year, $64 million deal about five minutes after the free-agency window opened. Between that and four years, $72 million for Luol Deng: What a colossal waste on a team that needs to build for the future.

Scathing analysis from realgm.com on Mozgov, so out of favor in Cleveland that he barely faced the Warriors in the Finals: “Standing in the lane with his arms up, converting every third alley-oop, mouth-breathing ... looks like he’s teetering on a cliff ’s edge when asked to defend outside six feet ... His default expression is agog.”

Kerr is a huge fan of Mike D’Antoni, noting that his “seven seconds or less” Phoenix offense changed the league several years ago, but D’Antoni won’t have a Steve Nash type in Houston. The newly appointed point guard is James Harden, who has excellent passing skills but would much rather dribble out the clock and shoot. Perhaps newly acquired Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon can get Harden to change his ways.

Noted loudmouth Jason Terry, Harden’s former teammate now with Milwaukee, claims that “when you put Klay Thompson up against Harden, there’s no comparison. If Klay’s not making shots, how effective is he?” Let’s start with defense, and being a winner. Seriously, how many teams would choose Harden?

From Dallas President Donnie Nelson (Don’s son) on Harrison Barnes, who essentially replaces Chandler Parsons in the Mavericks’ scheme: “I think we’ve got a really good, quality human being who will be able to express himself in ways that he hasn’t in the past. I think he’ll find his little niche.”

Not the same old Spurs: Tim Duncan and Boris Diaw out, Pau Gasol and David Lee in. Defensive mantra: “Little help!”