Lakers Thread

If they have changed the rules then so be it but it just doesn't look right the way he was doing it

Lakers seem to love this type of defense, packing the paint and daring teams to shoot 3s. Well, it fucking burned them last night. I think the Hawks hit like 10 3s in the first quarter alone. What an embarrassing loss

Good race for the 8th spot. Sacto made a good move at the deadline. Can't imagine the playoffs happening without a LBJ team in it

Honestly, I'd much rather have the shot at Zion (what an addition that would be, even without AD or another free agent) than to get a mid first rounder and a sweep by GS/HOU

who doesn't want a chance at that beast. can't imagine a healthy lbj letting his team not make the playoffs and ownership passing up on the playoff revenue...

i know Q is wears kuzma's jock but Ingram vs Kuzma vs D'angelo Russel. who now is the best player??!!

Kuz, Ingram, Russell. Ingram is perhaps the most well-rounded of them all, but Kuz has a killer instinct and higher potential for a big game.

There was a lot of talk about how the Lakers traded Russell and blah blah but they got the best player of all in that trade: Cap Space. And that led to LeBron so I'm doing that trade 100x over again.

The thing about the Russell trade is the Lakers had no choice but to move him after the Nick Young filming crisis because Russell had lost his teammates in the locker room they didn't want him around and I think Magic being a former player didn't either

Agreed, it was pretty much necessary for them to part ways after that.

i thought russell was crap but once levert got injured, his numbers are quite impressive and Brooklyn is playing winning basketball and holding a playoff spot.

honestly don't see this killer instinct/infatuation with kuzma. he puts the ball in the basket but not in very efficient way, below average 3pt shot, and his defense is bleh. its nice he is a good value pick though

he's a forward zach lavine with appreciably less 3pt shooting

Same. I see nothing in Kuzma's game or production that tells me he's a potential all-star other than being able to link up with insta thots. Maybe at best he'd be a reliable player like Robert Horry.

Kuzma's numbers only look good because he plays for a lottery team sans LeBron.

The thing about the Russell trade is the Lakers had no choice but to move him after the Nick Young filming crisis because Russell had lost his teammates in the locker room they didn't want him around and I think Magic being a former player didn't either

That's a good point. It was a convenient way to dump him and the bad Mozgov contract. Plus they needed to open up the PG spot for Lonzo anyways.

True, Kuz could just become an Horry or Kevin Love type stretch 4, but it's too early to tell. What worries me about Ingram is that he's still wildly inconsistent and his FT & 3 point shooting sucks but as we said with Ben Simmons, he could eventually get better. Also on the current team he needs the ball so they get caught watching him play iso ball most of the time, which isn't a great fit on a LeBron James team

i understand the circumstances around the Russell trade- the question is who is the best player. oh forgot to add ball to the discussion

coincidentally lavine and kuzma are the same age yet the book is already closed on lavine's ability. and lavine came into the league after 1 yr of college and had a season ending injury

sounds like a no win situation for ingram. he needs the ball but there's LBJ and high usage kuzma taking shots from him.

The Lakers are a shit show, but I predict that they'll go on a long winning streak, get the 7 seed and beat Denver in round one. Hard to see them beating OKC though.

Certainly not unfeasible. They're going to need at least two teams ahead of them to completely falter, though. Again, not completely unfeasible, but not a position you want to be in.

Yeah assuming the teams ahead of them stay the course the Lakers will need to win at least 60% of their games including games against said teams. Not very likely they make it

The Kings and Spurs both lost tonight, but so did the Lakers, so the race remains as it was.

listened to the lakers preview on the dunc'd on podcast. very strange they were debating if lbj will "try"on defense or "buy in". really strange. i think 55 wins was one of their guesses for best case scenario

Good comment to look back on.

Those who have watched him over the last few years, had those questions coming into this season. And, while his effort was questioned and questionable on the defensive end before, this season it has been the worst it's ever been.

It's not just the little bits and clips you see on social media, it's been a lot bigger than that. You don't see the times that he doesn't get back on defense (happens all the time), and all these other times he just stands in the paint while his man gets a wide open look.

The Celtics have been losing games much of this season because of defensive issues, including questionable effort. The reason teams like the Pacers (without Dipo) and Clippers are overachieving with less of a roster on paper is because they are scrappy as hell, and don't take many plays off. They also have leaders on those teams who set the standard on defense and lead by example.

A lot of people had the same reaction as you when hearing any part of the media questioning LeBron on defense or effort on defense. Because all we are used to hearing is praise by ESPN, and other outlets. I'm guessing that's why you made that comment to begin with, and if that's the reason, I would have been surprised as well. The media usually just praises him up and down.

It's funny because when LeBron signed he said all the right things, as he and everyone they wouldn't be a title contender this year. The kids needed to grow.

But things changed as the season got closer and people got excited about LeBron and saying that they're guaranteed to make the playoffs, etc. Now everyone including LeBron seemed to be let down from the preseason hype

There was no way that making the Playoffs wasn't the minimum goal. They were in the mix at times last season, so when you go out and acquire a player like LeBron James, it becomes the expected next step.

With suspensions and injuries, it doesn't seem like they ever got off on the right foot. Not saying that they'd be in first place if Ball wasn't injured, but it does make me wonder "what if?"

It definitely hasn't helped matters, but they're losing some winnable games. When LeBron activated "Playoff Mode", he should've flipped the "Defense" switch as well.

LeBron has looked like such a bad teammate this season and iam kind of glad that all his self "goat" talk has backfired on him, there is nothing I dislike more that a blame pusher and well LeBron truely is the goat in that respect

With suspensions and injuries, it doesn't seem like they ever got off on the right foot. Not saying that they'd be in first place if Ball wasn't injured, but it does make me wonder "what if?"

They had one of the easiest schedules in the NBA for the first 30-35 games, and some obvious problems were already on the table pre-Lebron injury. They were in 4th place, but 1.5 games out of 10th. Thats with one of the easiest schedules to that point.

Up to this date, they have had the easiest schedule in the Western Conference all season. Last year, MEM, SAC and PHO had tougher schedules in the West than the Lakers.


https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/rankin ... h-by-other


Whether he or Ball got hurt or not, it's questionable if they would have been at or above .500, as the games kept getting tougher. Since LeBrons return, they are WAYYY below .500, and he looks as healthy as ever offensively, whether it is flying in for dunks and quickly rebounding afterwards, etc. If you watch healthy CLE LeBron side by side with post injury LeBron, they are moving identical. I literally see no difference.

Last year, the Lakers went 37-45, and were in a playoff fight at this point last season. Say they chose to not sign LeBron, and keep Randle and Lopez, and keep building on the chemistry that the team had last year, they may be in the 7th or 8th spot right now. Randle has continued his play from late last season, and is basically a 20 and 10 guy any night he gets the minutes, Lopez has obviously been balling with the Bucks. IMO, they would have had a 5-10 win improvement over last year if they had kept most of that group intact, not signed LeBron, and than they would have been able to attack free agency this offseason without all the drama, and the franchise would look more enticing to play for for the top free agents.

Anybody who thinks that all this drama, LeBrons play, and ownerships handling of the teams players/issues doesn't hurt the look of the team for potential suitors, they are lying to themselves.

Last year through injuries (more than this year, even), and trades, the Lakers won almost 40 games, and had momentum with that group. Nobody is saying that group was going to win a title this year, but the growth was obvious. Now that growth is stunted, and the future of every player on team not named LeBron is in question, and that's a damn shame.

And the crowd that says "it's easy to say these things now, nobody was saying that at the beginning of the season", that is complete BS. Myself, and others that have written about it, or talked about it on social media, who had watched LeBron over the last few years in CLE, as well as watched the Lakers last season, were saying that chemistry would possibly be destroyed, that the young guys development would be stunted, and the players and coach would be thrown under the bus all season. Players and coach, not LeBron. However, with the spotlight brighter than ever on LeBron because he is a Laker, and because of the all time greats the franchise had before him, the scrutiny has been the highest it's ever been, as more people seem angry and frustrated at the teams dysfunction.

Still disappointed about letting Randle go. I think Kyrie is really unhappy in Boston and could see him wanting to rejoin LeBron in LA in the summer. I wonder if getting Kyrie would basically end the Lakers pursuit of Davis since there wouldn't be much money left

Still disappointed about letting Randle go. I think Kyrie is really unhappy in Boston and could see him wanting to rejoin LeBron in LA in the summer. I wonder if getting Kyrie would basically end the Lakers pursuit of Davis since there wouldn't be much money left

Kyrie won't leave Boston IMO. He understands what that would do to his legacy. He left publicly stating he wanted to be the leader of his own team, that he wanted to get out of LBJ shadow, if he bolts after failing in the postseason with the Cs (if they fail), it would look terrible on his part. I think he stays in Boston, and if he leaves it would be to a team like NY (but again, I doubt it).

Remember, Kyrie left the Cavs because of pride, the dude wants to make his own path. Kyrie is more unhappy with the media, and the teams up and down season, than the organization, ownership coaches or players he is playing with.

In regards to Randle. I love his game now, and he showed how much he could dominate at the end of last season. He doesn't get enough credit for the player he has turned into.