Mitch Kupchak says Lakers don't see this as another rebuilding year: 'our expectations are to win a championsh
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ringfinger
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:41 pm    Post subject:

Rivershow wrote:
ringfinger wrote:
Rivershow wrote:
venturalakersfan wrote:
Staccatos wrote:
Odd that Kupchak on one hand says "our expectations are to win a championship" and then says this quote about Julius Randle:

"Julius is still 19 years old," Kupchak said. "You wouldn't know that by looking at him, because he's really a well-developed, big, strong, athletic kid. Over the years, I've never looked at a rookie and said, 'Hey, this guy's gonna bring us to the top.' It doesn't do any good to have high expectations."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/lakersnow/la-sp-ln-mitch-kupchak-julius-randle-20140926-story.html?track=rss

Kupchak seems to be throwing that word around a lot lately. Hope he knows what it means.


I agree with Mitch, we shouldn't have expectations that Randle will lead the team to the top this season.


I don't have expectations that Randle will lead us to the top but I do have expectations that Randle will contribute for what he was worth as a lottery pick and the potential he has shown in summer league. Basically I am not focusing on him particularly but his production as a part of the pie that the lakers team needs to be competitive this season. And that is what I expect from Randle.


So around 11/9 or so?


Depends on the minutes he gets. If he is around 25-28 minutes then around 13-15ppg/7-9rpg


That's better than Kevin Love rookie numbers.
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DJ Slik
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:46 pm    Post subject:

realistically this team can't contend for a chip as long as kobe counts against the cap--even if you add a max star to the roster. you need 2 or 3 prime or close to prime stars to win the finals. so unless someone turns into a star....randle, lin, clarkson, wes....and you get one more--it ain't happening.
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Rivershow
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:53 pm    Post subject:

ringfinger wrote:
Rivershow wrote:
ringfinger wrote:
Rivershow wrote:
venturalakersfan wrote:
Staccatos wrote:
Odd that Kupchak on one hand says "our expectations are to win a championship" and then says this quote about Julius Randle:

"Julius is still 19 years old," Kupchak said. "You wouldn't know that by looking at him, because he's really a well-developed, big, strong, athletic kid. Over the years, I've never looked at a rookie and said, 'Hey, this guy's gonna bring us to the top.' It doesn't do any good to have high expectations."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/lakersnow/la-sp-ln-mitch-kupchak-julius-randle-20140926-story.html?track=rss

Kupchak seems to be throwing that word around a lot lately. Hope he knows what it means.


I agree with Mitch, we shouldn't have expectations that Randle will lead the team to the top this season.


I don't have expectations that Randle will lead us to the top but I do have expectations that Randle will contribute for what he was worth as a lottery pick and the potential he has shown in summer league. Basically I am not focusing on him particularly but his production as a part of the pie that the lakers team needs to be competitive this season. And that is what I expect from Randle.


So around 11/9 or so?


Depends on the minutes he gets. If he is around 25-28 minutes then around 13-15ppg/7-9rpg


That's better than Kevin Love rookie numbers.


I really like Randle's potential that much and I also think Randle is a better foul threat than Kevin Love due to his quick first step and how already BScott says that he wants Randle to get rebounds to run fast breaks, and push tempo.
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ringfinger
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:57 pm    Post subject:

Would love it if he exceeded Kevin Love's numbers but I'm not expecting it.

BScott wants to push tempo? Weird. I don't think his teams have ever played at a pace higher than 23rd .... ever. And that's with a younger Kidd and a younger CP3 too.

I'm not sure I buy that.
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Rivershow
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 10:00 pm    Post subject:

ringfinger wrote:
Would love it if he exceeded Kevin Love's numbers but I'm not expecting it.

BScott wants to push tempo? Weird. I don't think his teams have ever played at a pace higher than 23rd .... ever. And that's with a younger Kidd and a younger CP3 too.

I'm not sure I buy that.


The tweets are out there. He said specifically that he wants the 2nd unit to really be an uptempo unit and recently he said he wanted randle to get those rebounds so that he can handle the ball to create havoc for defenses I'm assuming.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:50 am    Post subject:

venturalakersfan wrote:
Voices wrote:
MJST wrote:
LakerLanny wrote:
Just making the playoffs would be a huge unexpected victory for this roster.

I like Mitch's bravado but fear he may be eating his words if (when?) this team doesn't make the playoffs, much less win a championship. But I would love to see his prediction come true.


Mitch pretty much said the team's health is going to be a major factor in making that prediction come true.

And honestly Mitch is right.


If the team remained healthy(Kobe, Nash, Boozer, Young, Lin, Randle, Hill etc) then there's really no reason why we wouldn't make the playoffs.

They have an extremely deep bench, and a healthy Kobe, Boozer, and Lin can handle about 69 points between them.

If I was going by minimum starting lineup scoring projections it'd look like this

Lin 15
Kobe 22
Wes 7
Boozer 15
Hill 10

That's 69 points

That would leave

Nash, Young, Randle, Kelly, Davis, Sacre, Ellington, Clarkson, Henry

to score at "most" 33 points a game. Could they? Yeah they probably could.

If Nick Young scored 17 again and Randle in his rookie minutes put up 13.. that's 30. Davis, Kelly, Nash etc I'm sure would and could handle 3 points.


If anything our offense should be top 15 in the league. If Scott does what we've hired him to do then our pace should be slower and our defense could improve on that alone. The distance between the 15th defensive ranked team in the league and the 29th was 3 points. Can the Lakers prevent at least 3 points per game this season now that they won't be 3rd in pace and will be closer to 18th? Probably.


So yes, Mitch is very correct when he says if the Lakers are healthy. Healthy is the main thing. But if you look at the Lakers roster and ask yourself if they all remained healthy how they would do this season, making the playoffs isn't far'fetched at all.

What a healthy Kobe does for the starting lineup is key enough.

But imagine what a healthy Nash does with a bench of

Steve Nash / Clarkson
Ellington/Henry
Nick Young
Julius Randle / Ryan Kelly
Ed Davis / Robert Sacre

that bench would probably be one of the biggest problems for other teams in the league.

So Mitch is very on point when he says health will decide how successful we are.


Health is a concern for all teams, always has been, and making the playoffs is something that happens for more than half of the teams in the league, hopefully the Lakers are better than half the teams in the league, if not, it will be another horrible year.


With the East and West, the Lakers can be better than half the teams and not make the playoffs.



The goal is to win every game, of course winning every game is not realistic, never the less it should be the goal. Lakers being average is not the goal, nor is being better than 1/2 the teams, average in this case is just making the playoffs. So being in the East or West does not matter, what matters is being a ligament contender. Are the Lakers a ligament contender if healthy?
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yinoma2001
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:55 am    Post subject:

Real question: has there ever been a year where Mitch hasn't said that the team has championship expectations?
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 10:20 am    Post subject:

24 wrote:
I have to admit being torn. Part of me wants Nash and Boozer to regain some ofteir old form and the team to win a lot more than predicted. But another part of me wants Randle, Clarkson, Kelly, Davis, Hill, and Lin to get the most opportunity. Even at the cost of wins.


Does part of you want to see Randle play at the SF, Mitch talked about Randle would not be a liability defensively at the 3 because he has ball handling ability and quick feet.

Personally I would love to see Randle, Boozer, Hill, Kobe and Lin/Nash Lineup.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 12:57 pm    Post subject:

"Cocaine's a helluva drug...."

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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 2:51 pm    Post subject:

dabask11 wrote:
MJST wrote:
Alright let's look at these teams that are supposed to be so much better than the Lakers at the 7th and 8th spot


Let's match the Lakers up with the Pelicans, Kings, Grizzlies, Suns.
Bolded means advantage, Non bolded means they're pretty much even.



You forgot denver in the mix:

Nuggets/Lakers

Starters:
Point Guard: Ty Lawson/ Jeremy Lin
Shooting Guard: Aaron Afflalo/ Kobe Bryant
Small Forward: Danillo Gallinari / Wes Johnson
Power Forward: Kenneth faried / Carlos Boozer
Center: Javale McGee/ Jordan Hill

Starting Lineup: Tie 2-2, 1 even

Bench:

Point Guard: Nate Robinson/Steve Nash
Shooting Guard: Gary harris/ Nick Young
Small Forward: Wilson Chandler / Julius Randle
Power Forward: JJ Hickson/ Ryan Kelly
Center: Timofey Mozgov / Ed Davis

Bench: Advantage Denver 3-1, 1 even

Guess that mean we're competing for 1 less spot. But that's besides the point: such a method is too simplistic to make any definitive statements. Regular season is about the grind more than the matchups.



Actually Mozgov is not better than Ed Davis. They'd be about even in terms of impact.

It would look like this because Wilson Chandler is in front of Gallinari on the depth chart because Gallinari hasn't played for 1 year because of his injuries. And Nate Robinson hasn't even been cleared for 5 on 5 practice yet and is still recovering from his knee injury.

Starters:
Point Guard: Ty Lawson/ Jeremy Lin
Shooting Guard: Aaron Afflalo/ Kobe Bryant
Small Forward: Wilson Chandler / Wes Johnson
Power Forward: Kenneth Faried / Carlos Boozer
Center: Javale McGee/ Jordan Hill

Starting Lineup: Tie 2-2, 1 even

Bench:

Point Guard: Nate Robinson/Steve Nash
Shooting Guard: Gary harris/ Nick Young
Small Forward: Gallinari / Julius Randle
Power Forward: JJ Hickson/ Ryan Kelly
Center: Timofey Mozgov / Ed Davis

Bench: Tie 2-2, 1 even

Seems pretty even to me honestly. Nate Robinson isn't even with Steve Nash who is a better shooter, point guard, and passer than Nate will ever be currently and Mozgov's impact would be about the same as Davis's.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 2:59 pm    Post subject:

scottpot29 wrote:
"Cocaine's a helluva drug...."

- Rick James


Wow you really think a 5th to 6th seed is unreasonable eh? Sorry to bust your bubble but if everyone stays healthy the team will be in the post season.
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ringfinger
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 3:08 pm    Post subject:

Jeggs wrote:
scottpot29 wrote:
"Cocaine's a helluva drug...."

- Rick James


Wow you really think a 5th to 6th seed is unreasonable eh? Sorry to bust your bubble but if everyone stays healthy the team will be in the post season.


Everyone won't stay healthy and you know that so you're building your excuse.

"Oh ya guys, if everyone stays healthy we will win the chip"

6-7 months later....

"We came in as the 10th seed in the West dude"

"Ya Jeremy Lin turned an ankle in December. Did you not read my post? I said ... if everyone stays healthy!"
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:53 pm    Post subject:

Voices wrote:
24 wrote:
I have to admit being torn. Part of me wants Nash and Boozer to regain some ofteir old form and the team to win a lot more than predicted. But another part of me wants Randle, Clarkson, Kelly, Davis, Hill, and Lin to get the most opportunity. Even at the cost of wins.


Does part of you want to see Randle play at the SF, Mitch talked about Randle would not be a liability defensively at the 3 because he has ball handling ability and quick feet.

Personally I would love to see Randle, Boozer, Hill, Kobe and Lin/Nash Lineup.


Yeah, i'd like to see them give that a whirl. Not all the time. I think Wes will be a good partner for Kobe, but at least a rotation or two.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:10 am    Post subject:

I believe mitch will trade for Klay and Sign Marc Gasol in the off season
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ringfinger
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:38 am    Post subject:

King Nupe wrote:
I believe mitch will trade for Klay and Sign Marc Gasol in the off season


Ok, ok. We get it. You started a thread on this already. LOL.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 6:25 pm    Post subject:

Here is the thing guys (and gals):

To say, "we can make the playoffs if everyone stays healthy" is a convenient out for Mitch but the reality is no team has "everyone stay healthy" over the course of the marathon NBA season.

I am not trying to be negative, but after watching the defensive no show that was last season I am going to have to see some effort on the defensive end of the floor before I can have any thought at all of this team making the playoffs.

The defensive "effort" we saw last season was simply disgusting and unacceptable. You can blame D'Antoni if you want, but scheme has nothing to do with playing hard or having pride....last year's Lakers team quit, didn't play hard and had no pride.

Hopefully this season is different. To me, making the playoffs would be nice but if they play hard and with effort and don't make the playoffs I can certainly be OK with that. But if they just use the injury excuse and quit again the first time a guy turns an ankle, it is going to be another long (bleep) season.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 6:40 pm    Post subject:

The Lakers were actually playing d for that first stretch of .500 ball. But Kobe going down, Nash not making it back, and Pau mailing it in pretty much left the team running out the string. And to be fair, at some point everyone knew LA had nothing but a draft pick to play for.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 7:45 pm    Post subject:

LakerLanny wrote:
Here is the thing guys (and gals):

To say, "we can make the playoffs if everyone stays healthy" is a convenient out for Mitch but the reality is no team has "everyone stay healthy" over the course of the marathon NBA season.

I am not trying to be negative, but after watching the defensive no show that was last season I am going to have to see some effort on the defensive end of the floor before I can have any thought at all of this team making the playoffs.

The defensive "effort" we saw last season was simply disgusting and unacceptable. You can blame D'Antoni if you want, but scheme has nothing to do with playing hard or having pride....last year's Lakers team quit, didn't play hard and had no pride.

Hopefully this season is different. To me, making the playoffs would be nice but if they play hard and with effort and don't make the playoffs I can certainly be OK with that. But if they just use the injury excuse and quit again the first time a guy turns an ankle, it is going to be another long (bleep) season.


Agree with your post and have posted similar thoughts.

Lack of defense was very frustrating to watch for sure, yes playing hard and with effort will be a step in the right direction.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 5:06 am    Post subject:

This is talk so when midseason this team is in a struggle to make the playoffs at 25-25 (or something like that) Kobe doesn't blow up at them for putting together another re-build/tank team.

There are some pieces on this team that could be part of a future, post-Kobe retirement championship team. I just don't see it with this team. Maybe 2-3 years down the road. Randle is a key piece for them who could develop into a core player for a contender. I'm looking forward to see what he can do.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 7:34 am    Post subject:

wolfpaclaker wrote:
This is talk so when midseason this team is in a struggle to make the playoffs at 25-25 (or something like that) Kobe doesn't blow up at them for putting together another re-build/tank team.



Come on. Kobe's smarter than that. A few hopeful platitudes by Mitch in the offseason aren't going to sway Kobe's thoughts on the situation one way or the other.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 3:07 pm    Post subject:

DaMuleRules wrote:
wolfpaclaker wrote:
This is talk so when midseason this team is in a struggle to make the playoffs at 25-25 (or something like that) Kobe doesn't blow up at them for putting together another re-build/tank team.



Come on. Kobe's smarter than that. A few hopeful platitudes by Mitch in the offseason aren't going to sway Kobe's thoughts on the situation one way or the other.

Kobe has hated it every time Lakers FO preached patience to him. If they preach it now and admit they are rebuilding he won't take it well.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 3:51 pm    Post subject:

wolfpaclaker wrote:
DaMuleRules wrote:
wolfpaclaker wrote:
This is talk so when midseason this team is in a struggle to make the playoffs at 25-25 (or something like that) Kobe doesn't blow up at them for putting together another re-build/tank team.



Come on. Kobe's smarter than that. A few hopeful platitudes by Mitch in the offseason aren't going to sway Kobe's thoughts on the situation one way or the other.

Kobe has hated it every time Lakers FO preached patience to him. If they preach it now and admit they are rebuilding he won't take it well.


I would bet a lot of money Kobe knows most of the plan. Even if he doesn't, they aren't secretly rebuilding while telling him they aren't. We can all see that they are rebuilding.
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