Lakers Thread

[Patr1ck]

No more of that. Lakers discussion only.

[SoF'nAwesome]

Thank you. Please delete all of those posts.

[[Q]]

Lol I participated in a 400 comment facebook status update during the clippers Lakers game

[Jackal]

Shawne Williams is my terrible player getting minutes he shouldn't be getting of the year candidate so far.

[_Steve_]

Shawne Williams is my terrible player getting minutes he shouldn't be getting of the year candidate so far.

It's hard not to agree...

[Jackal]

He bricks pretty much anything he throws up there, also playing Wesley Johnson at the 4 is super suspect too, regular season I get but how would the rotations look if they were to make the playoffs?

I'm not sure whether Mike D just doesn't like Jordan Hill or they are still dealing with the hip surgery that he had last season. Whatever it is...give the guy some more minutes.

[NovU]

Do any of you suspect tanking? All these guards heavy rotation makes no sense while decent bigs like Kaman and Hill get scarce minutes. And all those guards are under average or mediocre players at best. Effort might be there as illusion but this gawd awful rotation which restricts none of the players to be consistent(other than Pau) only guarantees a disaster.

Same for the Celtics. Their rotation is just utter non sense. You have Green playing at 2 with Avery as a PG, lol. And Brad Stevens is a supposedly a stat coach? I think he's playing a fool.

[Jackal]

I don't think they are really going out for the tanking thing, I just think D'Antoni is a moron. "Ball will find energy."

Mike just wants guards on the floor in his offense, he doesn't really know how to use big men. Even Pau is just becoming a "stretch" big...which is just a nice way of saying tall perimeter guard.

This is the system they want run and expect to win? Come on Jim...

[SoF'nAwesome]

Good to see an actual discussion in this thread. No offense, but it actually feels a bit weird to me seeing IN HEAT post like that

I don't take Lakers to be a tanking team. No matter how poorly they are being coached. They will finish in the 7th-8th position.

But Celtics? HELL YEAH! Tank bitches.

[Stress Fracture]

also playing Wesley Johnson at the 4 is super suspect too

Wow, what is D' Antoni thinking?

[_Steve_]

also playing Wesley Johnson at the 4 is super suspect too

Wow, what is D' Antoni thinking?

He's thinking?
In all seriousness, I asked myself the same question: "Why does he not play Hill and Kaman more?"
Wasn't Kaman brought in as starting C? Wasn't Hill instant energy coming from the bench?
Lakers will have to admit that a) they're tanking, that b) D'Antoni is incompetent, that c) Jim Buss is incompetent or d) all together.

[[Q]]

Do any of you suspect tanking? All these guards heavy rotation makes no sense while decent bigs like Kaman and Hill get scarce minutes

you do realize this is the same guy that played boris diaw at center right

[NovU]

Diaw once was a capable player. Doesn't matter actually. What LAL have been doing is literally a tanking or very close to. Not just D'antoni but entire management decisions so far that led to this point.

As I said before in this thread, Nick Young & Wes Johnson are way under average players. Kaman is decent but hard to say he's an impact player now especially coming off an injury. These are tanking moves, rightfully so when you consider 2014 Lakers cap situation.

D'antoni may be a crap coach but I don't believe neither him and management are willing to win as many games as possible this season. It's just not in the best interest of the Lakers this season. Basically the Lakers have more reasons to lose than to win.

[shadowgrin]

So what if the Lakers tank or any other team for that matter.
It's not like they have a championship or deep playoff contending lineup.
It's not like tanking has only been discovered this season and fans going OMGTANK.
No one is stupid enough to admit you are tanking the season unless your name is Rick Pitino.

[NovU]

Tanking isn't bad, you just have to do it smart so fans don't get too upset about it. It is inevitable under current system anyways. Give equal draft chance/probability for all non-playoffs team, and tanking wouldn't happen but it isn't the case in reality. At the end of the day it's not a moral issue but more of business decision to make.

[_Steve_]

Sure, the Draft class of 2014 is supposed to feature a lot of talent, but to get a lottery pick you have to be really, really bad. In fact you have to be nearly as bad as a team like PHX that literally threw away all that talent they could get rid of. And it's not just the Suns, that are in tanking/bebuilding through draft mode. You can add the Celtics, the Magic, the 76ers (they will lose) and the Cats (they got better, but have many ways to improve) to name just a few. Even the worst of all that teams just has a 25% chance of getting the #1 pick.
Chances of Lakers winning the lottery are slim. It's getting even worse with a half-assed tanking attempt like that.

[shadowgrin]

Tanking isn't bad, you just have to do it smart so fans don't get too upset about it. It is inevitable under current system anyways. Give equal draft chance/probability for all non-playoffs team, and tanking wouldn't happen but it isn't the case in reality. At the end of the day it's not a moral issue but more of business decision to make.

Cool story bro.
Does it still matter to find out if the Lakers are tanking?

[Andrew]

Chances of Lakers winning the lottery are slim.

Unless one is to buy into a conspiracy theory, of course.

[NovU]

According to most source, you don't have to be historically bad to hit a jack pot in 2014 draft which is known to be the best/deepest in a decade or so. All top 10 players allegedly have great upsides.

Quit being in denial. All I am suggesting is the Lakers have good reasons to tank this season and might be doing so rightfully. Stop acting like it can't be happening because it's the Lakers. Heck, even Heat's done it before. Why the fuck is it so bad to admit tanking exists.

TANKING IS NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY. Here, even a NBA GM admitted this season...
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball- ... ntentstory

[Andrew]

I was referring to conspiracy theories regarding the lottery being rigged, which I don't personally buy into it.

[NovU]

Yep, Andrew, don't worry, I was referring to other guys who are in absolute denial. Ofc I have no proof the Lakers are tanking intentionally. But neither they've shown enough in effort to make this a winning season. After losing Dwight, I sort of don't see no real good reason not to tank anyways. Kobe probably will come back and will try to beat Jordan in All Time scoring list. That's about it for the Lakers this season imo. D'antoni and management otherwise would be happy with every loss.

[Andrew]

I don't know. I guess there's always the possibility that they're tanking, but I feel that's probably giving D'Antoni too much credit.

[SoF'nAwesome]

Mamba be all time great greatest scorer. That's cool.

As the 76ers fan mentioned, even if they make it to the playoffs...another 4-0 anyways.

Andrew, I liked where you were going with that conspiracy theory

[shadowgrin]

Quit being in denial. All I am suggesting is the Lakers have good reasons to tank this season and might be doing so rightfully. Stop acting like it can't be happening because it's the Lakers. Heck, even Heat's done it before. Why the fuck is it so bad to admit tanking exists

Cool story again bro.

So what if the Lakers are tanking?
It's not like a conspiracy theory that you need to prove that the Lakers are tanking.

GMs don't admit tanking because it's bad for fan support unless your name is Rick Pitino and want to leave an emotional scar to your fanbase (like Sauru) when you miss out on the #1 pick.
Only guyS I see not sharing your opinion on tanking in this thread are two Heat fans.

[NovU]

I don't know. I guess there's always the possibility that they're tanking, but I feel that's probably giving D'Antoni too much credit.

Maybe but I don't believe D'antoni's under great pressure to win either. Right now, his rotation makes absolutely zero sense. I don't believe he's that dumb either.

For instance Kaman started every preseason game he's played and had deft chemistry with Pau Gasol. Mike D'Antoni has been complimentary of the Kaman/Gasol pairing and news was that Kaman had a substantial lead over Jordan Hill for a starting gig on opening night. All of that suddenly changed and neither saw expected playing time, lol. Look at Jordan Hill last night. He went berserk as soon as given minutes. Then D'antoni himself mentioned both Kaman and Jordan Hill as guys that he needs to get more time for. He obviously knows what the problem has been. What's stopping him from settling on a rotation then, this is just absurd.