Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 8518 Location: Left coast
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2022 11:23 am Post subject: What will prevent next season from being as bad as this one?
Is there any realistic things you forsee that will prevent another disaster of a season next year? 3 stars are in place, the majority of the cap space is spent, there’s no 1st rd quality pick coming to save the day.
What reason do we have to believe next year won’t be a repeat of what we’re seeing right now? As Lebron gets older and f/a’s see that he can’t carry a team to glory the way he used to do, will any quality player sacrifice a decent salary to run this back next year?
team make up. We know Bron will be older, slower and less than. The hope is AD can mix in a full season at some point. I assume we will get younger pieces on the margins, Russ will be playing for a contract.
If AD/Lebron can play more than 60 games together, this team will already be better next season. Assuming the same roster and coach. But being title contenders thats another question.
I read somewhere that Lebron/AD/Russ only played 6 games together. Is that true?
It's not about Lebron or even Westbrook (who's not as horrendous as people think).
It's all about Anthony Davis. He's our 2nd star, and so his availability is absolutely crucial.
If he can stay healthy, then you can add in improved Monk and Reaves, you got Nunn playing to his potential, you got Melo playing the Jamal Crawford tole, and we get some young hustle types who do all the dirty work, mix that with a motivated Lebron going for the scoring title, and a Westbrook looking for vindication, we can be as competitive as any team out there.
But the catalyst to all this will be Anthony Davis. I really believe it all depends on him. Because if he's out on injury again, then you get Lebron pressing and possibly hurting himself, you get Vogel panicking and playing a bunch of different lineups, the role players playing out of their role, and Westbrook trying to do too much. Then it all goes to (bleep).
Joined: 17 Sep 2008 Posts: 21064 Location: In a white room, with black curtains near the station
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2022 12:47 pm Post subject:
Getting depth back with players who can defend, hustle on both sides of the court and play with some intelligence every minute they're on the court, and having 2 superstars who aren't stupid and can score from anywhere.
Not likely though, WB's going to be hard to unload and LBJ/Davis aren't getting any younger.
Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 8518 Location: Left coast
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2022 1:06 pm Post subject:
troy wrote:
…get some young hustle types who do all the dirty work,
The problem is the Lakers have to use a 2nd rd pick, undrafted players, and low(er) paid free agents to compete with teams that are adding 1st rd talent. Gabriel, Reaves, and Johnson don’t compare with the new young talent we see all around the league.
2020 will be a distant memory if the FO doesn't get it together. Everyone wants to hang on to the championship, but a few additional years of mediocrity is going to change that completely.
Tell Jeanie to sell the team to someone more competent. Fire the FO and bring in people that are more competent.
Do that and some positive changes might happen. But it'll never happen. Instead we're seeing Magic Johnson blatantly lie on live television stirring u more drama as per usual when it comes to Magic. For all the Magic he brought on the court the dude is horrible at reading a situation off it. One of the worst i've seen.
Change owners and none of this noise will happen. No more Magic going on live television. Rambis and Co talking in Jeanies ear. (bleep) Phil Jackson resurrecting .
And People say the buck stops with Klutch?
Conveniently forgetting how this ownership has operated for the longest time. Just toxic all around.
Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 8518 Location: Left coast
Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:38 pm Post subject:
Bring back Javale. Brook or Zubac would help but their teams won’t give up on them.
The Lakers need quality big bodies for rebounding and defense, but they don’t value that. That would make it easier to score inside. I don’t recall shooting logo shots being a popular thing during the championship season.
Actually having draft picks _________________
"Through the legs to the left, through the legs to the right, we don't run them Laker plays, we just Kobe fadeaway..."
There are some bad Laker teams that I've watched but at least they had the excuse of not having the horses to compete. This team on the other hand is probably one of the biggest disappointments in Laker history considering the "talent" that was on the roster and they never came close to fulfilling their potential. Lack of chemistry, certain players that didn't defer their games for the betterment of the team, injuries, and ill fitting roster created by the front office. This team never had a chance.
Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 8518 Location: Left coast
Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:26 pm Post subject:
dabask11 wrote:
Get rid of the FO
Doesn't matter picks/cap space the lakers have if these bozos are handling the decisions.
It’s like the philosophy that you could take money from rich people and give it to the poor. In a matter of time the rich would accumulate it after poor people blew it. The Lakers found success, didn’t act wisely, and blew it.
Coach, health and the right roster of role players to surround AD and Bron.
Consistent roles and lineups. Hopefully fewer covid outbreaks, injuries and other reasons to miss games leads to more consistent lineups, roles and cohesion on the court.
I don’t understand the responses because your first sentence said “realistic” and basically nothing anyone posted is realistic.
1) AD WONT be healthy for a full season. The guy never really has and that is not going to change as he gets older. Hell he just came back from injury and apparently is now having other issues hindering is playing according to Vogel tonging.
2). LBJ is clearly having the 20 years of play catch up health wise. He has not even played 58 games this season and w/o him playing, assume we lose 80% of those games (again AD has shown over and over he can not carry this team w/o LBJ).
3) RW is not getting traded for anything of value. Maybe we get lucky and get terrible contracts that add depth. But no real stars to carry team.
Realistic?
1) We trade THT for a vet that is better suited to help right now in what is likely LBJ final season (IE a Terrence Ross type). Will be a long wing for defense and can add a bit of scoring
2) Resign Melo
3) Likely sign two low $$$ type bigs hoping to avoid AD having to play C (Ideally guys like Dieng and Whiteside. But my guess is Tristan Thompson joins group). BUT WE NEED Two legitimate guys that can play center and clog up lanes and add some scoring.
4) Monk is gone
5) Nunn is back
6) We are struck with RW
We run something like
PG: RW
SG: Nunn
F: LBJ
F: AD
C: Whiteside?
This lineup plays less than half a season together and we end up fighting for a 7/8 seed or worse. LBJ doesn’t resign summer of 2023 and full rebuild begins.
Hearing Davis making injury excuses for this season certainly doesn’t bring optimism for the future. The Clippers had much more of an excuse than the Lakers and they still won half of their games.
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8288 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 10:37 pm Post subject:
1. Good health (AD can miss some games, but he needs to play about 70 RS games and the entire postseason)
2. Keep LeBron to about 32 minutes a game to preserve him
3. Reduce LeBron's workload in terms of handling the ball, pushing the pace, scoring and distributing. Kendrick Nunn can help with the first three.
4. Keep Malik Monk.
5. Fill out the team, especially the frontcourt, with young players who can defend, hit 3s and run in transition.
6. Hire the right head coach (no Doc Rivers!)
7. From Day 1 of training camp, whoever the head coach is, along with LeBron as the team leader, needs to instill a championship mindset. That means always having a sense of urgency, a clear identity (defense and rebounding first, fast-break basketball and unselfish halfcourt offense), accountability and not making excuses. I feel like this year's team didn't care enough at times, beginning with the preseason (LeBron and Melo, I'm looking at you!)
8. LeBron as the team leader needs to be all-in on next season, instead of just playing out the string and planning his exit strategy as he always seems to do in this situation going into the last season of his contract.
9. LeBron needs to do some recruiting (of the right players) and let them know that if they come here, he can get them a world championship ring.
It can definitely be done. Remember that things looked at least as bleak after the 2018-19 season, but they turned that around and won a chip the following year.
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