OFFICIAL OPTIMISTIC POSITIVE ENERGY THREAD (Positive feelings Only)

Rivershow · Star Player Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Posts: 6731

Since there is a thread about tanking, and I don't believe in that especially with Kobe returning who also doesn't believe in that. I thought I should create
a positive regular season thread to look forward to the upcoming season.

Anyone who wants to be positive post here. Those who want to post negativity, can post in the tank thread or the meh thread.

PLATNUM · Star Player Joined: 17 Dec 2002 Posts: 7124 Location: L.A.

J/k

Here's hoping the injuries are kept to a minimum this year and the Lakers surprise us by actually playing like a TEAM. The're going to have to.
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Drifts · Retired Number Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 28374

things I am excited about this year...

-return of hero ball... and Kobe is 100% too...
-steve nash is 80%
-Julius Randle
-Jordan Clarkson
-Lin is an upgrade over Marshall
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Rivershow · Star Player Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Posts: 6731

mhan00 · Retired Number Joined: 13 Apr 2001 Posts: 32059

I want to see our rookies play and develop, root for Lin, and watch Kobe pad his career stats.

KeepItRealOrElse · Retired Number Joined: 11 Oct 2012 Posts: 32767

Randle can now flourish and grow his game very naturally -- with us not having to be a playoff team. and with not so much talent, he'll get his opportunities. i like potential star Rookies having a big role. he can see what it will take/how he needs to improve to be a legit offensive option. but still, with no pressure.
our offseason worked out best case scenario for Randle, imo.

driver · Star Player Joined: 21 Dec 2010 Posts: 6854

NYClakerguy · Starting Rotation Joined: 05 Jul 2014 Posts: 522

it's the lakers. I'll always watch, no matter how bad it hurts. It's an abusive relationship.

56 · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 7:49 pm Post subject:

Whether we slither into the playoffs or not, I think this offseason hasn't been too bad. Hopefully we get to see our rooks flourish and we'll have an exciting team.

I also like what Mitch has done. If we don't end up stretching Nash's contract, we can be players again in 2015/2016 for a star FA or 2. Young is on a very reasonable 4 year contract, even though Hill is overpaid at 9mil it's only for 2 years with a player option for the 2nd year and Lin is a huge expiring contract so he can be an asset if we end up not liking him, either way we screwed Morey out of a 1st round pick which is refreshing.

I think the last guy we pick up is maybe Okafor if he still has any juice. Hopefully for the minimum.

Rivershow · Star Player Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Posts: 6731

I think people also have to realize that we have a better team than last year no question. Lin is better than Marshall offensively and defensively. Young our off the bench scorer is staying. Randle is better than every player on our roster last year. And of course Kobe is back. If we can get some good bench scores off the summer league team then we can be watching an exciting team.

Vancouver Fan · Franchise Player Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Posts: 17740

I'm looking forward to seeing JunioR play mos def. What Kobe is going to look like. Hoping j. Lin plays above and beyond expectations and Nash plays over 65 games.

Oh, swaggy p gunning........And bricking.
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Drifts · Retired Number Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 28374

CrackerJax · Starting Rotation Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 482

i am IN 1000 percentage i mean come ON guys we just got LINSANITY the return of HILL and SWAGGY P ok we did not get LJB but who wants him he is on the wrong side of 30 plus we still have a chance at MELO but what I am really exstatic about is LINSANITY this guy went to HARVARD and is won of the top 5 smartest poing guarts in the league and where going to pair him with KOBE the greatest of all time???? we mind as we'll start planning the parade route or at least the WCF route cuz KOBE and LIN are going to lead this team to great things and possibly KOBE 6 tieing him with jordan and 17 tieing us with the celticks!

CHOO CHOOO!!!

RichD · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:02 pm Post subject:

Randle and Clarkson

RichD · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:02 pm Post subject:

Randle and Clarkson

DK · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:07 pm Post subject:

Could be a dark horse playoff team if a lot of things shake out and any of the west teams fall off. Excited to see our young guys get some real playing time.
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0.4

shnxx · Star Player Joined: 09 May 2013 Posts: 3402

well at least now fans who couldn't afford to go to Laker games before could go and the ones who couldn't afford good seats could afford better seats.

LoPro4u2c · Starting Rotation Joined: 09 Jul 2014 Posts: 291

We can make the playoffs with this squad.

Rivershow · Star Player Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Posts: 6731

LakersInFour · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:30 pm Post subject:

I expect tickets should be cheap, which means I'll have more opportunities to see Kobe (in-person) in the twilight of his career at Staples than I would have if they were contending for a title.
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abysmal · Starting Rotation Joined: 23 Dec 2011 Posts: 448

We have an all star back court, (Lin will get voted in you watch) and the rookie of the year!

meows a lot · Starting Rotation Joined: 11 Jul 2014 Posts: 294

big jlin fan here - looking forward to seeing him do more than he did on the rockets and play a little more 'free.'

man did he work hard to adjust to the rockets offense, hopefully he brings all the positive over and recapture a little bit of linsanity as well.

also hoping that this forum doesn't become mad toxic like the other lol

malicious_intent · Starting Rotation Joined: 10 Mar 2012 Posts: 602

Ok I hAd to think pretty hard about something other than the rolls to be excited about and then I thought about a randle hill front court. Those two are gonna gobble up some rebounds!!!! Especially with Lin, Kobe and swaggy on the team

Dave20 · Franchise Player Joined: 15 Jun 2013 Posts: 11333

1. Randle and Clarkson improving during the year
2. Hopefully top 5 pick so we can keep it
3. Rockets 1st round pick that could be much earlier then expected.

chubby_1_kenobi · Star Player Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 1450

I want to create a positivity thread but OP beat me to it.

First of all, I am glad 2 things I dreaded the most this off season did not happen. They are:
1. Lakers aiming for mediocrity
2. Lakers committing long term towards unproven talents.

Mediocrity is the equivalent of purgatory in the NBA. You're not bad enough to get a good draft pick but yet you're not good enough to win it all. Basically, you're stuck where you are.
The Lakers pursuit of Carmelo Anthony was the very definition of trying to be mediocre. I do not doubt Carmelo or Kobe's ability to put up numbers but had Melo signed his max deal with the Lakers, we wouldn't have enough cap space to balance the roster out.
Who's going to be our 3 and D? Who's gonna be our rebounder? Shot blocker? Spark off the bench?

We all can argue that had Melo signed, Gasol would re-sign as well. That's probably true but let's review the kind of player Gasol is today.
He's a back to the basket big man whose defense was getting bad to worse every game. He's a liability on transition defense and pick and roll situation. He's also falling more in love with the mid range jumpers. So as a trio, Kobe, Melo and Gasol's characteristics are quite similar:
- half court offense (slow pace)
- mid range jumper
- back to the basket (all 3 are excellent at it)
- Shaky defenders
- Prone to holding the ball too long before making a move.

You may ask, well, what's wrong with having 3 players whose strength are quite similar to each other? Well, we're back to that balance thing again. A team which are very good at one thing are much easier to gameplan against a team which is fluid yet master of none.

Every team needs utility players to offset the aspect their star(s) lack.
The previous CBA had made much easier for teams above the cap to sign these utility players. They have MLE or sign and trades at their disposal.

The current CBA however, is a very different animal. GMs need to be able to find these utility players through the draft, vet minimum or mini MLE if their teams are over the cap.

Let's take a look at the most recent champion, the Spurs:
Duncan's strength is back to the basket, mid range jumper, rebounding and rim protection
Parker's strength is penetration, mid range jumper and playmaking
Ginobili is the jack of all trades and spark off the bench.

What they lack are: 3 point shootings, perimeter defense and athleticism.
So how do the Spurs surround their big 3?
They got Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Patty Mills and Boris Diaw to help them in those departments.
The key to their success is balance. They are good (not great) at almost every aspect of the game.

That is the real key to the Spurs model; Balance.

But in order to achieve that balance, there are some things that they need to sacrifice.
First, they need to be patience. Time is of the essence. They need to wait until they can draft or sign a great player for a bargain deal

Kawhi Leonard - rookie contract
Diaw - 4M
Mills - 1M
Green - 4M

These players fall into their laps because the Spurs were willing to wait for them to be available either through the draft or through free agency.

Secondly, they need to resist the temptation to sign the up and coming players who play their butt off during contract year. These players are usually not worth the long term investment. For every Gilbert Arenas, you'll find 10 Larry Hughes, Kevin Martin and Michael Redd.
Instead, use the majority of their capspace to sign or retain players with proven playoff track record. In Spurs's case they're lucky enough to have 3 of them. Remember how Ginobili performed in last year's final? Brutal. But players with his kind of credentials have a tendency to bounce back even when they're inching closer to retirement.

Let's all remember that the Spurs took 7 long years to get back to the mountaintop. That's right, they won in 2007 and then they kept getting worse and worse before they turned it around in the last 2 years. It was so bad that at one point they were swept by the Suns team whose 2 best players were an aging Steve Nash and hobbled Amare.

Through patience, smart signing and player development, they're able to become champions again this year. And they do it by balancing their roster out.

Were Spurs fans complaining and whining like how the Lakers fans are today? You bet they were. They were asking for Duncan's head, Pop's resignation, Parker getting traded. But a smart FO knows that what had worked in the past will work again in the future with enough patience.

So, in light of recent player movements, let's take a look at the Lakers situation in regards to the balance of their roster:

We have 1 player who has the winning credential in Kobe Bryant. His strength is in the half court offense. He lacks the athleticism and his defense has been suspect,

We have 1 player on a rookie contract who's projected to be a double-double machine in Randle. He's still unproven but he is a promising young talent who can be as good as his work ethic takes him.

We have a spark off the bench in Nick Young. Who is being paid similar to what the Spurs are paying Danny Green. He still lacks discipline but he's much more talented and athletic that Green is.

Clarkson, Kelly and Sacre are all under rookie contract so even if just one of them pans out, the Lakers are in a very good position.

Hill, Lin and Nash are pretty much cap fillers. They are with the team today because we need to fill the roster spots somehow. However, Lin and Hill still have sometimes to turn their career around. If they can make next season, their breakout year, the Lakers would have their hands on another asset.

Next off-season, the Lakers will be able to evaluate which players are worth keeping plus around $30 millions of cap space to work with. Oh, and a first round draft pick from the Rockets (whom at this point looking worse than last season).

My point is, the foundation to create a balanced team is there. We need time, patience and little bit of luck for things to pan out.

If we, as fans can be patience, the Lakers can get back on top again with a little bit of luck.

Apologize for the long essay

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