Lakers picked to finish last in West by ESPN

Yong · Star Player Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 9024

Salivating at the thought of Tatum and Josh Jackson

dont_be_a_wuss · Franchise Player Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 21509

25 games would be a 7 game improvement. Not too shabby. We finally have a coach most people seem to like, we have a young core that looks promising. Let's not put too high of expectations on these guys. High hopes, absolutely, but high expectations for a 17 win team are likely to lead to a bad outcome. If we win 28 games it is because we improved, we made solid strides during the season, and because things are looking up. It is not because Luke Walton failed, d-lo and Clarkson underachieved and because player X, Y, Z needs to go. I would satisfied with 28 games and anything more is gravy. 25 would be close enough. But who knows, maybe Luke can make some magic happen.

Jim99187 · Franchise Player Joined: 03 Jan 2014 Posts: 22138

frenchbullcho · Star Player Joined: 21 Apr 2011 Posts: 5122

dcarter4kobe · Franchise Player Joined: 30 Jul 2005 Posts: 17687

The only teams in the West we will be competing with are the Suns, Nuggets, and possibly Kings.

Denver
Jokic/Nurkic
Faried/Chandler
Gallo/W.Barton
G.Harris/J.Murrary
Mudiay/Nelson
*Will be getting back a healty Gallo and Chandler+improvement from young guys

Suns
Len/Chandler
Warren/Bender
Dudley/Tucker
Booker/Knight
Bledsoe/Ulis
*Will be getting back a healthy Bledsoe and Knight (and Warren)+improvement from young guys

Kings
WCS/Koufos
Cousins/Casspi
Gay/Barnes
Affalo/McLemore
Collison/Temple
*Cousins is still the best player out of the teams on the bottom

Unlike pass years, I dont think many, if any teams will be going into the season with the idea of tanking. There isnt much parity at the top of the league but there is at the bottom
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Inspector Gadget · Retired Number Joined: 18 Apr 2016 Posts: 46715

tox · Franchise Player Joined: 16 Nov 2015 Posts: 17880

Reasonable

matrixskillz · Star Player Joined: 22 Jun 2008 Posts: 7502

And the tank continues...
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kikanga · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 8:46 pm Post subject:

Past few years, LG always complains about ESPNs win total projections for us.
In retrospect, I think they've called our win totals pretty well.

Yinoma, what do you think about the projection? Is 25 wins fair?

I can remember you posting in the past that ESPN has actually been generous with our win projections in past years. I think you said they overestimated our win total a couple times.
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dcastillo · Star Player Joined: 20 May 2009 Posts: 2172

kikanga · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 9:02 pm Post subject:

Das · Starting Rotation Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Posts: 887

Shaber · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 9:19 pm Post subject:

Based on our record of last seasons, what else could anyone predict?
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Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

Cochese · Starting Rotation Joined: 23 Apr 2016 Posts: 957

I have us at 30 wins, which isn't far off from ESPN's prediction. We'll be better than last year and hopefully play a more entertaining style of basketball.

dont_be_a_wuss · Franchise Player Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 21509

dcastillo · Star Player Joined: 20 May 2009 Posts: 2172

Goldenwest · Star Player Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 2804

25 wins and last place?

Byron could've done that without really trying

I'm going to resurrect this thread when we're fighting for a playoff spot.

Vin · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 9:44 pm Post subject:

dont_be_a_wuss · Franchise Player Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 21509

Vin · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 9:49 pm Post subject:

Inspector Gadget · Retired Number Joined: 18 Apr 2016 Posts: 46715

Goldenwest · Star Player Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 2804

Gomur · Starting Rotation Joined: 03 Jul 2016 Posts: 165

GreekTrojan · Starting Rotation Joined: 10 Jul 2013 Posts: 336

I agree with ESPN. I've also been right in calling the straight bad seasons of the past few seasons (Bottom 5 roster and bottom 5 coaching will do that). The Lakers have a new coaching staff and still have a bottom 5 roster when you factor out 'upside.' Right now the only teams in the NBA that have objectively worse rosters than the Lakers are The 76ers and the Nets (both in the East and if you really argued for them, you could rank the Nets above the Lakers and I wouldn't think you were insane).

Like all young teams, there is always a chance that players take a leap but its rare for all of the players to do it at the same time (players regress, get injuries, don't improve etc...). The Suns and Nuggets are both just as young and you could argue that their youngsters have shown even more potential than ours (Mudiay, Jokic, Booker etc...). Dallas is on the decline but Carlisle could coach five random posters in this thread to a competitive team. Kings certainly have some combustion potential but they still have Cousins and Gay. Just got to hope we look better (and land a top 3 pick again if were lucky).

Vic5150 · Star Player Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 1853