Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

https://www.silverscreenandroll.com...uka-doncic-lebron-james-kendrick-perkins-espn

since this was on page 2, i thought it was worth echoing the general sentiment of this piece, which is: if we were some other team, everyone would be talking about how we've been resilient and have overperformed instead of being terrible and embarrassing.

 

Based on the amount of injuries to our “big three” it’s quite amazing that we aren’t 9th or 10th in the West.
We obviously need help on defense, but our offensive performances, mixed with winning nearly all of our close games have been mostly surprising.

 

I don’t know what other people are complaining about, but my main issue always was/is that even amidst all the challenges, we could may be do better and not be dumb, like chucking nonstop or playing Gabe?

Aside from that, my main positive has been AR before the injury and Jake being on AR trajectory all season.

@abeer3 BTW, now that it has been some time, don’t you think we should revisit our #notapg disagreement?

 

or the Lebron is illuminati one. That was cool.

 

no. he neither defends pgs nor can he withstand the grind of bringing the ball up the floor every trip against pressure.

i never disputed that he could be a pick and roll ball handler in the halfcourt, and i still haven't seen evidence that you could just roll him out as the pg for 82 games and feel good about it.

 

Ah man. Cmon. Jokic is the PG for Nuggets. You can say it's whoever, but offense runs through him. Bringing up his ability, or lack thereof, to defend PGs is irrelevant, because by that logic, Magic wasn't a PG.

And BTW... I am pretty sure that Magic would have whilted if you threw Caruso and Dort at him every other game (or their equivalent on other teams, albeit probably worse).

Magic never had to do that (AFAIR) and one time he did that I do recall, with Bulls sending Pippen at him (while refs letting him get physical) -- for which we know the results.

 

it's been a long time, but i recall as a child watching magic handle pressure against smaller/quicker guards (e.g., derek harper) pretty regularly. reaves really struggles when he gets picked up early by quicker guys. there's no shame in it. but when both are in there, we have luka do this for a reason, imo.

further, to me, your position is defined mostly by who you defend. you can't have reaves as your POA defender (nor luka, of course). so neither is "point guard" to me. that's maybe just semantics, but the name is literally "point guard".

speaking of, this is funny on the etymology of basketball positions:

anyway, perhaps i'm an oddball, but to me, positions are all about who you defend (using traditional offensively defined positions in parentheses):

you need someone who defends POA (generally the pg on offense, but not always). someone who can defend scoring wings (often the sf, can be a big sg or quick pf). someone who can chase shooters (usually sg, can be speedy sf or strong pg). a rangy switchable defensive connector (usually pf can be tall sf), and a rim protector (usually the c).

so, on offense, reaves assumes both a pg and sg role, whereas luka assumes both a pg and pf role (same as lebron). none of these three can assume the POA role on defense, so we still need one, whether they're nominally a pg or not. this is why some of us like ellis--his main problem is that on offense, he's not a pg--he can't handle or shoot off the dribble or pass well enough to play that role. but on defense, he can definitely contain dribble penetration in space and disrupt ballhandlers and passing lanes.

the closest thing to POA we have on the current team are vando and gabe, and neither is very well-suited to it, imo (both can be chasers, and vando can be a wing stopper).

 

I don't know. May be. We always called the PG "the floor general" right? Which, granted, may refer to both an offensive or a defensive ... but PGs aren't in the position to direct defenses, normally, since it's the center who sees all the floor from behind and is the one normally tasked with that. May be a Draymond or a David Robinson.

So, yeah, semantics. One thing is clear, neither of us thought he'd be all that.

BTW, on Ellis, the last game against the Kings, which you'd assume would be an audition of sorts -- he stank up the joint so bad, @Cookie felt bad for him.

 

no, i didn't think the reaves that started this season was possible at all. but it is. so here we are.

yeah, neither the kings nor ellis are doing him any favors, value-wise. i'm still a buyer, though. especially with the price dropping, as opposed to someone like herb, who still seems quite expensive.

 

Losing to the Queens is a new low. We officially suck and changes need to be made.

 

That was optimistic

 

There is still time to pull ourselves together. We just need our glue guy Austin Reaves to come back healthy.

 

Dennis Johnson gave Magic fits.

(God, I’m old ).

 

I burst out laughing as soon as I saw it.

 

I was going to post it, but @LTLakerFan thinks I’m excessive.

 

Same as it ever was department with David Byrne revisited one more time. Because we have “markedly” improved THIS team in 3 ways at the deadline. Once again so MUCH actual anger and ridiculous talk about the Lakers under Mark Walter were going to actually PUNT this season “before seeing what actually happened”. People literally ramping it up getting madder and madder by the day. And already proclaimed this team has zero chance this year. Please give it a rest. And give it a rest on draft day and with what we’re going to do in the off season because you think Rob, while he’s still here, is a bumbling idiot.

The Luke Kennard trade was a massive upgrade and 2 birds with one stone with Gabe subtracted. Finally settling into some rationality about it after just one game seeing the GRAVITY he creates and oh wow who knew he could do other things well too, seems, besides the FO. While at least trying on D and being a smart player at least about it. Kobe Bufkin SIGNED was the 2nd great move. Young, athletic, big guard who seems decent at POA with room to get better and can score the hell out of the ball. And lastly the realization that Maxi is actually a hell of a bench player who can contribute on the front line.

As it always has it boils down to HEALTH this season. If we have it, including most importantly our Big 3, we can compete with anyone and see how the Ball Bounces. Center position this year compared to last is in a whole new zip code. With health we even have a good shot at running down the number 2 seed, like we had early in the year with LeBron not even playing, who is back in all star condition. Before all the other injuries started and players in and out of the lineup. That’s what I think.