2014-15 Lakers Season Thread (21-61) KAT

[MVP]

Yea I was speaking of another top 5 pick. Doubt we'd be able to seeing that. I've just never been that high on him going to last year.

 

[noblekane]

Nick young out there earning that paycheck

 

[pmatic]

Yea I was speaking of another top 5 pick. Doubt we'd be able to seeing that. I've just never been that high on him going to last year.

Same, but as trivial as it sounds he won me over in summer league and pre-season.

Nick young out there earning that paycheck

He owes D'Antoni some money.

Edit:

@ESPNSteinLine Your weekly @numberFire update: Sixers favored in ZERO of remaining 69 games. Best win odds are 44.6% on March 30 at home against ... Lakers

 

[bravelude]

You know people keep talking about Kobe hogging the ball, but watching that game lets be serious.  WHO ELSE would you have liked to see get the ball in crunch time?  It's not like they were doubling him, and Wilson Chandler aint DPOY.  The only reason we're cryin about it is because he missed one or two crucial jumpers in the final minute.  I don't see Nick Young being any better than Kobe, and JLin looked scared.  I understand the animosity, but we're all fooling ourselves if we think anybody else would have given us a better chance in the last few minutes off a half court set

But that‘s not how you play. Did you see the critical posessions down the end? No movement by anyone. Just inbound to Kobe away from the basket, let him take a few dribbles near the 3 and jack a deep shot.

Kobe is supposed to give his team mates opportunities and confidence, not play hero. Wouldn‘t it make more sense that way? CAN‘T expect anyone to succeed if they don‘t have a chance to FAIL. Not like there‘s anything on the line.

 

[MVP]

That's fine I'm just looking at it this way, we have needs at every position. We already have Ed Davis who may not that the same ceiling as Julius, has certainly had the effort and production in the time that he's been here. He's still young at 25. Will probably cost a little more than Randle's 3 mil to retain so we'd theoretically be set at that position at least for a starter. We get Okafor, Townes, or Mudiay and either go after a PG (Rondo, Dragic if we get a C with our pick or a C (Marc, DeAndre of we get a PG) and my hope would be to flip Randle and the Rockets pick for another wing either in the draft or FA.

We'd be rounding out the team rather quickly and in my opinion shorten the rebuild time by maybe a year. Instead of having another PF that'll be coming off injury again and may not be getting playing time anyway once Boozer gets the hell on.

 

[willzway26]

But that‘s not how you play. Did you see the critical posessions down the end? No movement by anyone. Just inbound to Kobe away from the basket, let him take a few dribbles near the 3 and jack a deep shot.

Kobe is supposed to give his team mates opportunities and confidence, not play hero. Wouldn‘t it make more sense that way? CAN‘T expect anyone to succeed if they don‘t have a chance to FAIL. Not like there‘s anything on the line.

The thing about it is most of his teammates have never been in that position and wouldn't be that much better, and its hard develop a player when you're trying to win.  It's like when Im playing pick up games, if someone on my teams sucks offensively, and its game point, Im not gonna pass it to him, because Im trying to WIN.  I get trying to build up teammates, but if they're not ready for that pressure they are gonna lose every time.  I used to pass it to bad players in crunch time, missed layups, turnovers, then after a while I started taking those shots and I won more pickup games.  I know the NBA is far more advanced than pickup ball but a lot of the same rules apply.

 

[cruzair13]

were not last in the west...

OKC is...

what is this

 

[CP1708]

That's fine I'm just looking at it this way, we have needs at every position. We already have Ed Davis who may not that the same ceiling as Julius, has certainly had the effort and production in the time that he's been here. He's still young at 25. Will probably cost a little more than Randle's 3 mil to retain so we'd theoretically be set at that position at least for a starter. We get Okafor, Townes, or Mudiay and either go after a PG (Rondo, Dragic if we get a C with our pick or a C (Marc, DeAndre of we get a PG) and my hope would be to flip Randle and the Rockets pick for another wing either in the draft or FA.

We'd be rounding out the team rather quickly and in my opinion shorten the rebuild time by maybe a year. Instead of having another PF that'll be coming off injury again and may not be getting playing time anyway once Boozer gets the hell on.

That's not helping anything, at all, by dealing Randle and the Rockets pick.

And how does that round out the team when you could possibly deal Randle and the pick for yet another pick? FA I get, but you aren't speeding up anything flipping him for yet another rookie, how does that speed anything up?

And lastly, why are you trying to speed anything up? For what purpose? We're trying to build for the next decade, not next year, so why the rush?

 

[(*Fin)]

Randle better not go anywhere, Randle with Okafor or Townes IF we land a top 5 pick and a year under their belt with a blank check for 2015-2016 FA class, I'm down with that.

 

[bravelude]

 
The thing about it is most of his teammates have never been in that position and wouldn't be that much better, and its hard develop a player when you're trying to win.  It's like when Im playing pick up games, if someone on my teams sucks offensively, and its game point, Im not gonna pass it to him, because Im trying to WIN.  I get trying to build up teammates, but if they're not ready for that pressure they are gonna lose every time.  I used to pass it to bad players in crunch time, missed layups, turnovers, then after a while I started taking those shots and I won more pickup games.  I know the NBA is far more advanced than pickup ball but a lot of the same rules apply.

My philosophy is that if you want guys to succeed with you, you have to help them succeed as well.  The chances of them making those shots in those situations will worsen as time goes on because the trust is not even there to begin with.  The system is not there.  The system is Kobe taking shots.  THE WHOLE WORLD and the PLAYERS THEMSEVLES are thinking the same thing, every time they go up and down and Kobe goes 1/4.  They are thinking, WHY NOT CREATE or SWING.  I midas whale stand and look, cuz I won't even get to touch the ball.  Do you know how discouraging this is?

By your regards, the CAVS are locked in to win right?  I get what you trynna say tho.

Like to beat this to death.  Phil was right about the Kobe and MJ comparison.  Kobe always loved shooting his way out of a funk.  MJ on the other hand deferred to what works. His DAYS of SABATOGING and GAME and trying to come back to win are LONG GONE.

 

[jab step]

Why do you guys freak out each time one of these articles state the Lakers might trade their picks. These guys know as much as we do about the inner workings of the team.

Remember, so many articles kept popping up about the Lakers trading this year's draft pick. It never happened. Chill. They aren't stupid. Unless there's a deal that is a can't miss, I don't see the Lakers making it.

Are Okafor and Townes bigs with defensive potential. Isn't Okafor a poor defender? You need to pair Randle up with a defensive big.

 

[pmatic]

From the three or four games I've seen of Duke, Okafor is questionable on defense. But Towns looks pretty solid on that end of the floor.

 

[willzway26]

 
My philosophy is that if you want guys to succeed with you, you have to help them succeed as well.  The chances of them making those shots in those situations will worsen as time goes on because the trust is not even there to begin with.  The system is not there.  The system is Kobe taking shots.  THE WHOLE WORLD and the PLAYERS THEMSEVLES are thinking the same thing, every time they go up and down and Kobe goes 1/4.  They are thinking, WHY NOT CREATE or SWING.  I midas whale stand and look, cuz I won't even get to touch the ball.  Do you know how discouraging this is?

By your regards, the CAVS are locked in to win right?  I get what you trynna say tho.

Like to beat this to death.  Phil was right about the Kobe and MJ comparison.  Kobe always loved shooting his way out of a funk.  MJ on the other hand deferred to what works. His DAYS of SABATOGING and GAME and trying to come back to win are LONG GONE.

I dunno it just seems like everybody else had that deer in the headlights look.  The only one who looks like a good second option was Nick Young and he was like 2-11.  At that point of the game, the last 5 minutes, while I was watching, it just looked like Kobe was the only one playing to win while everyone else was playing not to lose.  The way everyone on the Lakers team looked, even I was yelling at the TV like "just give it to Kobe and yall get out the way!  Yall look like yall dont know what to do out there!"  A lot of games he'll shoot us out of, but this particular game you can just sense that Kobe was the only one willing to make that game winning play.

 

[willzway26]

I dont get why everyone is pressed to get another big man.  We have a pretty good frontcourt we dont need anymore frontcourt players.  We just need a respectable point guard and a true small forward.  If they can play defense even better, but with Ed Davis, Jordan Hill and Randle coming back, I think our frontcourt is the least of our worries next year.

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

I don't see marc leaving the grizz after what he helped build in a city that is basically his hometown, definitely not to come join a lotto team.

DeAndre jordan is trash. Not a championship caliber player imo.

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Mike Bresnahan ‏@Mike_Bresnahan 2m2 minutes ago
Xavier Henry might have torn his left Achilles' tendon. Happened at practice today. MRI exam going on now.

 

[pmatic]

OF COURSE. :x

 

[krazyrodzilla]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bravelude]

I dunno it just seems like everybody else had that deer in the headlights look.  The only one who looks like a good second option was Nick Young and he was like 2-11.  At that point of the game, the last 5 minutes, while I was watching, it just looked like Kobe was the only one playing to win while everyone else was playing not to lose.  The way everyone on the Lakers team looked, even I was yelling at the TV like "just give it to Kobe and yall get out the way!  Yall look like yall dont know what to do out there!"  A lot of games he'll shoot us out of, but this particular game you can just sense that Kobe was the only one willing to make that game winning play.

game was too close to dip their heads low. it was definitely exciting for the players. this team too used to kobe shooting when they are down 34 or by 4.

young got that arthritis wrist thing going on. lol

Still think it was better to see Lin try something with ball

 

[pmatic]

Ding:

Steve Nash's Absence May Irk Lakers Fans Now but Leave Them Smiling Later

It's July 2016, and a smiling, comfortable and confident Kevin Durant appears at his introductory news conference. He holds up the purple-and-gold No. 35 jersey that he says would be an absolute honor someday to fall into the illustrious line of retired numbers after No. 32 Magic Johnson, No. 33 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and No. 34 Shaquille O'Neal.

Durant says, yes, he did consult with Kobe Bryant during the Los Angeles Lakers' free-agent recruiting pitch—and Bryant passionately delivered the company line that the Lakers treat their superstars in a special way.

But then Durant pauses and adds that he spoke to someone else who was even more persuasive to that end.

One of the absolute worst Lakers superstars of them all with regard to what he actually gave the organization, Steve Nash explained to his friend Durant how the Lakers treated him in a completely first-class way despite the crushing and repeated disappointments he brought to the franchise...and you can tell a lot more about how people treat you in tough times than in glorious ones.

There will be no happy ending to Nash's legendary career after he was ruled out for his 19th NBA season before the campaign could even begin.

Somewhere out there, though—even if it is somewhere over the rainbow given how it is such a dream scenario for the Lakers—it remains possible that a happier twist exists for Nash as a Laker.

Ulterior motives are not why the Lakers are trying to do the right thing and let Nash skip team activities this season after he was sidelined with ongoing back issues, but that attitude does dovetail with larger benefit.

Lakers president Jeanie Buss believes in positive energy and karmic turns, and maybe, just maybe, the franchise will reap some reward down the line for the respect being accorded Nash, one of the game's all-time greats.

Nash is, make no mistake, going to be around. The one positive for him from orchestrating his arrival to the Lakers is he did find his physical paradise: Nash is putting down roots here. He'll be a Manhattan Beach resident for the rest of his life, determined to raise his three children in the sand and sun. Nash also will be part of the Lakers' broader community.

He had a breakfast meeting with general manager Mitch Kupchak last week, according to team spokesman John Black. The upshot is that Nash will be around the team at some point this season.

"He's planning to come around when he's ready," Black said.

That has been the Lakers' hope, although it was a clear secondary priority to giving Nash the time and space to come to grips with the undesirable end to his season—and almost certainly his career.

Nash obviously has the sort of experiential knowledge that few coaches ever could, yet he's also possessor of a real wisdom. He has a healthy positivity about him despite limited ego, with the depth to understand it takes more than platitudes to live a rewarding life.

It's easy and probably fair to wonder why Nash, when he is being paid $9.7 million this season, hasn't sucked it up and rejoined the team to share some of his advice.

In his locker at Staples Center on Sunday night were nine unused hangers and one other holding a team-issued jacket. There was nary a sign of life in there—while Jeremy Lin, the guy playing the position Nash mastered, was struggling two steps away to explain why the Lakers are 3-11.

Lin said his goal is to "create as many plays for my teammates and myself as possible"—and that's pretty much the title of the class that Nash would teach in graduate-level basketball coursework.

Of course, these Lakers could benefit from having Nash around as a mentor and advisor.

But is it really worth it to mandate that Nash clock in before he is ready?

"I've worked like a dog to not only overcome these setbacks but to find the form that could lift up and inspire the fans in L.A. as my last chapter," Nash wrote in his Nov. 7 Facebook post. "Obviously it's been a disaster on both fronts, but I've never worked harder, sacrificed more or faced such a difficult challenge mentally and emotionally. ... I wish desperately it was different. I want to play more than anything in the world."

The conclusion of the lengthy post was noteworthy for different reasons:

"Going forward I hope we all can refocus our energies on getting behind these Lakers," Nash wrote. "This team will be back and Staples will be rocking."

Nash also referred to trainer Gary Vitti as "a close friend." The whole thing was presented in the voice of someone who still feels like part of the Lakers family.

And as disliked as Nash might be by so many Lakers fans, he is revered by a lot of players around the league, some of whom grew up watching him. This is the kind of guy who could be awfully useful one day in the future making a phone call on the Lakers' behalf to a much-coveted free agent.

Naturally, the marquee talents the Lakers will be pursuing in the coming years will only come if they feel it's right in their own minds. But every little bit helps, especially when the free-agent basket is where the Lakers are putting all their eggs.

Maybe it will first be Goran Dragic next summer. Dragic is a dear Nash friend and was his pupil during a most fruitful apprenticeship with the Phoenix Suns from 2008-11.

Dragic can opt out of his contract for $7.5 million next season in Phoenix—where there is a logjam of ball-handlers with Dragic, Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas. If Dragic wants to be a free agent when the salary cap skyrockets in 2016 but collect a much bigger one-year deal for 2015-16 to showcase all those shifty, crafty moves that made him All-NBA third team last season, what better place to try out than the Lakers?

Dragic, 28, might also fit as a piece to the puzzle that draws bigger fish such as Durant. Yet if you consider the guys who joined Dragic on that All-NBA third team (Damian Lillard, Paul George, LaMarcus Aldridge and Al Jefferson), Dragic is a pretty great catch in his own right.

Durant, though, is the NBA MVP, part of an exclusive fraternity that Nash has joined twice. Durant and Nash are also both members of the very small 50-40-90 club (shooting percentages in a season on field goals, three-pointers and free throws, respectively). Only Larry Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller and Dirk Nowitzki also qualify.

Durant worked out with Nash at the Lakers' training facility in the offseason. Durant conducted a meaningful Vice Sports interview with Nash asking the questions—and Durant responding with telling, thoughtful answers conveying his complete respect for Nash.

It remains possible the Lakers could trade Nash's expiring contract for some youth or assets, presumably by taking on an unwanted future salary another club wants to jettison. But the Lakers' determination to keep cap space available limits those options—though maybe taking on a salary only until 2016 is possible.

For now, Nash and the Lakers sit, separately, in the same boat—tremendous success in the past, deeply disappointed by the present, uncertain how to build a different future.

All they ever really had together was hello.

It'd be pretty cool if they made magic with their goodbye.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ers-fans-now-but-may-leave-them-smiling-later

NASH GOD.

 

[kal-el-8]

Holy hell

2 season ending injuries before December.

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Ding:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ers-fans-now-but-may-leave-them-smiling-later

NASH GOD.

 

[freeze]

Bruh....Xavier Ruptured his achilles in practice this morning. Dude is donezo.

 

[bravelude]

fan fiction and hysteria. lol at articles

 

[krazyrodzilla]

Holy hell

2 season ending injuries before December.

3 Nash, Randle and now Henry.