2014-15 Official Lakers Season Thread, Vol: We Love Each Other

[sea manup]

 

"I've always been a Laker fan and it would be a tremendous honor to play there" - Julius Randle

Really they should just give the Lakers picks 1-5, and make all of those guys happy.

is this just the LA media or are these guys saying this when asked about boston too?

 

[essential1]

 

"I've always been a Laker fan and it would be a tremendous honor to play there" - Julius Randle

Really they should just give the Lakers picks 1-5, and make all of those guys happy.

is this just the LA media or are these guys saying this when asked about boston too?

:45 seconds in.


Let's be honest, if you ask every player in the top 5, you can be on one team from the lottery.. Pick... Every single one of them picks the Lakers.

 

[licensed to ball]

We're going to move up.
We're going to get Wiggins or Parker.
Then were going to wake up from our dream.

 

[freeze]

 

"I've always been a Laker fan and it would be a tremendous honor to play there" - Julius Randle

Really they should just give the Lakers picks 1-5, and make all of those guys happy.

is this just the LA media or are these guys saying this when asked about boston too?

:45 seconds in.


Let's be honest, if you ask every player in the top 5, you can be on one team from the lottery.. Pick... Every single one of them picks the Lakers.

well yea if they're icking from the lottery. you give a player a choice for any team right now, cats choosing mia

 

[sea manup]

acb pls, stop bothering the other season threads

 

[sea manup]

We're going to move up.
We're going to get Wiggins or Parker.
Then were going to wake up from our dream.

hes going to pick the lakers pingpong ball, a big red "basketball reasons" sign will start flashing and he will put it back in the pool

 

[MVP]

Has played for like 8 years, and now has 2 great games against a team that gave up 130 to us.

The other 600+ games he's played, just a nice player, not a NICE player.

LMA's Career Numbers:

19, 8, 2 on 49% shooting; 3 all star game appearances (regular season); Playoffs 20, 10, 2 on 47% shooting. 3 appearances.

Love's Career Numbers:

19, 12, 3 on 45% shooting; 3 all star game appearances; No playoff appearances

Not to mention the durabiltiy issue, Love has been very injury prone and has been in the league 6 years himself. Ain't like he's a spring chicken.

Not much difference outside of the age; always weary of guys that put up huge numbers on bad teams. Not saying that I don't want Love, I'd take him over LMA simply because he's younger, but LMA is legit and has been for a while.

 

[sea manup]

i mean.. its not like we are free to choose between these two great players

ill take any of those two dudes

 

[CP1708]

Mamba, I live in Oregon. The fanbase that STILL worships Brandon Roy, and they've wanted LMA to leave FOR YEARS.

They absolutely do not care about the guy. (They do now )

I have no idea why you postin 19 and 8's at me, thinkin that would impress me. I already posted his stats yesterday, side by side with Love, it ain't close dude.

Not. Close.

And as said, simple, Love is 3 years younger.

And injuries, come on. He broke a hand, not shred his knee or some ****.

 

[CP1708]

LMA
21 9-5 PER 17
22 18-7.2-1.5 PER 18.5
23 18-7.5-2 PER 19
24 18-8-2 PER 18
25 22-9-2 PER 21.5
26 22-8-2.5 PER 22.7
27 21-9-2.5 PER 20.4
28 23-11-2.5 PER 21.8

24 3’s for his career, 20%

Love
20 11-9-1 PER 18
21 14-11-2.5 PER 20.7
22 20-15-2.5 PER 24.3
23 26-13-2 PER 25.4
24 18-14-2.3 PER 17.9
25 26-12.5-4.5 PER 26.9

440 3’s, 36% including
41% his best year
37% this year


This year, they were a wash defensively. (which hurts LMA, given Love is considered a "poor" defender, yet LMA can't put distance between them)

LMA had an estimated win share of 7.5
Love was at 14.3

LMA has a higher usage rating (meaning he uses more possessions) yet had lesser numbers than the guy who used fewer possessions.

And Love is 3 years younger. So I mean.......

If they both want 90 mil, Love is the guy.

If Love wants 90, and LMA wants 70, then I think about it differently.

But still, the goal is to build this place back up, LONG TERM, LMA does not do that. He gives us 3 years, maybe 4 before he wears down. Love gives us 7+, health willing.


Oh, and one more thing. I live here in Portland. 8 months ago, the entire city wanted him traded because he'd never done a damn thing for them in 8 years. Now of course, everyone loves him. But he was "soft, a jumpshooting big, can't lead a team", and all the rest of the labels for guys who don't step up.

Unless he goes 2011 Dirk the next two months, there is zero reason to put him above Love in terms of our wish list. If Love rejects us, then yes, try to pull LMA, but you don't just take him before you reach out to Love.

Lucky for LMA, they landed Lilard. So he gets to the playoffs now.

We pull Love, maybe our #6 pick becomes a Lilard for him.

 

[sea manup]

while lamarcus cant miss from 18 feet these days, love can do that too

its just that he can also shoot 3s so he shoots 3s

 

[cash money 1999]

My personal favorite is Dookie, by Green Day.

when this discussion comes up, people always hate on Nirvana's Nevermind, but the main critique is that the album is played out... which isn't the album's fault at all. If it was put out and then played and played and played*, that's got nothing to do w/ Nevermind.







*and played, and played, and played...

anything grom green day before they got political is good .

 

[OrangeBlueGarden]

No doubt. Kobe + a solid first rounder + new coach + 2015 free agent star= potential West Finals appearance

And please don't pick Julius Randle or Parker.

I picked Marcus Smart just for the glory.

 

[had pants]

"He went to Jared's."

 

[sb]

i would rather have love than lma. agree with cp's breakdown.

 

[licensed to ball]

I have this really bad feeling that Pau is going to be resigned because we won't be able to land any other good free agent

If that happens I'll be full forced team tank. I won't be able to handle it

 

[pmatic]

'Fess up. Who keeps spamming the poll with Marcus Smart?

 

[frshstunna]

'Fess up. Who keeps spamming the poll with Marcus Smart?

might be the only name fans know in that poll.... Smart is the best choice outta those players tho

 

[darthska]

"Be wise; choose Smart."

 

[sb]

I have this really bad feeling that Pau is going to be resigned because we won't be able to land any other good free agent

If that happens I'll be full forced team tank. I won't be able to handle it

im on mobile but can someone link the article that pau says if he was to resign significant changes need to be made. thanks in advance.

 

[pmatic]

The next wave of head-coaching prospects

Job security is a touchy subject in a league where coaches and executives are hired to be fired and the average player’s career is less than five years. But the dismissal of nearly half the NBA's head coaches last season was enough to send a shock wave through the league. A luminary like George Karl or a 56-game winner like Lionel Hollins could be cut loose in exchange for a younger, less expensive option. And if guys like Karl and Hollins weren't safe, what did it mean for the future of the profession?

Denver and Memphis were just two of nine teams who started the 2013-14 season with first-time NBA head coaches. The composition of the Class of '13 was diverse. It included a lifer assistant, a player who’d been in uniform just weeks prior, another former player who had spent a couple of seasons as an assistant, the first big-name college coach to take an NBA gig in years, a winner of five minor league championships as a head coach, a couple of Spurs U. alums, a fiery defensive specialist and a Phil Jackson acolyte.

This season, the coaching search has already officially begun for three teams -- the New York Knicks, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Utah Jazz. That list probably includes the Detroit Pistons and will likely grow longer as we move closer to the summer.

Several themes surfaced in conversations with several team execs, coaches and league insiders about how teams size up a candidate who has never previously served as an NBA head coach:

Fewer obvious names
Those asked to reel off a few names who excited them struggled to come up with more than a couple. The same question last spring found no such hesitation. “The pond is a little bit fished out,” says one NBA general manager. “There aren't as many logical hires like there have been. Everybody’s more of a reach.”

Tell me who my owner is
League execs insist there is no consideration more important in hiring a head coach than whether he conforms to the sensibility of ownership -- not personal background, whiteboard skills, media relations, city or even pedigree. “If you’re asking me to put together a list [of candidates for head coach], first you have to tell me what the owner’s business philosophy is," a longtime NBA executive says. General managers have also come to realize that the only thing worse than not getting their preferred choice installed as head coach is spending the season apologizing to their owner for that choice.

Will salaries bounce back?
There's a fair amount of debate about whether the trend toward smaller paychecks for head coaches has real staying power. Some believe that, with a few notable exceptions, the $5 million per season deal is an endangered species. “If you’re not close to a title, why pay?" says one general manager. Others feel that the new breed of NBA owner is easily lured by celebrity. The thinking goes that nobody buys an NBA team so that he can hang out and share a bottle of wine with a low-cost alternative. He wants to be regaled with tales of the NBA by a name-brand legend -- and that costs money.

Spurs University
A call from Gregg Popovich to a team in the market for a head coach can be a decisive factor in a search. "Pop will reach out at the drop of a hat,” a league insider says. “But it’s not the call that does it. He speaks in a voice that a lot of people don’t always hear. He doesn't just praise them for their work, but who they are as people." The Spurs have always had credibility as an incubator of executive and sideline talent, but people around the league say the influence has grown even greater in the past year. “It’s gotten cult-like. ... Not that they don’t deserve it,” says a team executive.

So who’s ready to be a first-time coach?

We performed the exercise about a year ago, when Miami assistant David Fizdale and Memphis assistant Dave Joerger topped the list. Joeger is now coaching the Grizzlies in the first round of the 2014 postseason, while Fizdale continues to be mentioned as among the sharpest assistants in the league, one who will interview again this summer if he chooses to. TNT analyst Steve Kerr has been cited as a head coach in the making, possibly in New York. Though he was effectively ruled out by Flip Saunders on Wednesday for the Minnesota job, Iowa State coach and former Timberwolves player and executive Fred Hoiberg has become a popular name.

In addition to Fizdale, Hoiberg and Kerr -- each named frequently again this spring -- here are seven candidates who are viewed as capable successful NBA head coaches. These aren't necessarily those most likely to get an opportunity, just the guys who have the capacity to make it work if they do:

Ed Pinckney, Chicago Bulls assistant coach

Though they’d deign to admit it, some former players feel head coaches can farm out much of the grind that accompanies the position in the NBA. That wouldn't be the case for Pickney, who has quickly established a reputation as an inexhaustible worker bee.

As an assistant for Tom Thibodeau, Pinckney has flourished under a serious coach who feti****es preparation. At the same time, Pinckney has friends all over the game from a lifetime of building up goodwill in basketball as a pro's pro and a teacher.

“Guys would love to play for him,” an assistant NBA coach says. “Anyone who has been around him knows how hard he works and how much he cares. His players would go through walls for him and have a good time doing it.”

The Memphis Grizzlies brass were deeply impressed by Pinckney when they invited him in twice last summer during a search that ended with longtime assistant Joerger elevated to the first chair. With his fluency in Thibodeau's defense, pleasant disposition and intuitive understanding of what it means to be a big man in the NBA, Pinckney is a smart bet to see the inside of a conference room again this summer.

Quin Snyder, Atlanta Hawks assistant coach

It seems like eons ago, but there was a time when Snyder was basketball’s boy king. After appearing in two back-to-back Final Fours as Duke’s starting point guard, Snyder earned a JD/MBA from Duke, served as an NBA assistant to Larry Brown and was named associate head coach for the Blue Devils by Mike Krzyzewski -- all by the age of 31.

Snyder fell from grace after nearly seven tumultuous seasons at Missouri, marred by rumors, allegations and investigations. The experience humbled Snyder, who went from being the most impressive basketball mind of his generation to a cautionary tale. One year after Mizzou, Snyder landed with the Austin Toros before the D-League (then still the NBADL) had any cachet.

“He was basketball royalty on the fast track,” says a front office executive. “The next thing you know, he’s in the bus leagues.”

Snyder’s supporters and critics both speak of man with an incomparable general and basketball intellect. By all accounts, Snyder has applied his intelligence to rebuild himself as a coach over the past eight years. He stayed in Austin for three seasons, gaining exposure to the Spurs’ organizational culture. He accepted a role as a player development director in Philadelphia and found a mentor in Ettore Messina, who opened up new windows to the game in Europe. Alongside Mike Budenholzer in Atlanta, Snyder continues to expand his knowledge base with a coach who’s particularly good at conveying ideas to players.

The sense around the league is that if handed a roster of seasoned, cerebral ballplayers who could relate to his analytical instincts, Snyder could thrive as an NBA coach.

Adrian Griffin, Chicago Bulls assistant coach

Odd as it seems to pair a couple of Thibodeau bench assistants on a diverse list of seven prospective head coaches, Pinckney and Griffin both attracted heavy mention, usually independent of one another.

Griffin is not yet 40 -- 39 until July, he's more than 11 years younger than Pinckney -- which means there are a bunch of people in the game who have watched him grow up from youth camps to his stint now as a lead assistant to Thibodeau. Those who have say that, since high school, Griffin has displayed a polished maturity that screams NBA head coach.

Griffin had barely filed his retirement papers in 2008 when Scott Skiles and the Milwaukee Bucks offered him a job as an assistant. After two seasons with the Bucks, Griffin joined Thibodeau, with whom he’s developed a close relationship. After coaching the Bulls’ summer-league squad, Griffin stuck around Las Vegas to pitch in at Team USA’s minicamp.

“You combine that kind of professionalism with that kind of mentorship, and you’re going to have a good chance to succeed,” a general manager says.

The result is a coaching prospect who was characterized by one league insider simply as “a player-friendly Tom Thibodeau.”

Kevin Ollie, University of Connecticut head coach

With a few waivers granted for region or diploma, much of the NBA was rooting for UConn the night of the 2014 NCAA title game.

Ollie was one of the league’s citizen leaders during his 13 seasons as a player, a remarkable length of time for a player with such marginal talent. He was the guy a team keeps around as a graduate assistant and a calming force in the locker room. Now Ollie is a head basketball coach with an NCAA championship to his credit, and a legitimate candidate for openings this spring and summer.

In a league populated by some real sourpusses, there's surprisingly little debate over Ollie's readiness. To the extent there is skepticism of Ollie, it resides in a predisposition against college basketball as good terroir for NBA head coaches.

“He’s gotten along with guys at every level -- college, pro, players, coaches,” says an NBA general manager. “He has high character, knows his stuff and he’s actually won. Does that mean he’ll succeed in the league? Maybe, maybe not. But what more do you need to see?”

A page at Basketball-Reference may not have as much currency as it use to for head-coaching candidates, but a playing career and a proven track record as a coach is a pretty potent combination.

Tony Bennett, University of Virginia head coach

Brad Stevens maintains a high approval rating around the NBA, but the league wants to see a few more case studies before it designates college basketball as safe for fishing. Wherever one may fall on the question of how translatable college coaching is to the pro game, there’s near unanimity that part of the problem has been the NBA’s attraction to NCAA cults of personalities.

“We’re not going to see the sociopathic, I’m-in-charge control freaks,” a team executive says of the next wave of NCAA coaches in the NBA. “It’s going to be the guy who doesn't make it about him, understands basketball philosophy and understands how to build a basketball culture.”

A profile of Bennett fits this general description. At Virginia, Bennett has built a defensive-oriented program that wins with less superstar talent than its counterparts in the ACC. He’s a composed sideline presence who looks the part and during the '90s had a sufficient-sized cup of coffee in the NBA. Though some worry that Bennett's half-court style defies current trends in the NBA, there's little doubt he has the acumen to pull it off.

“He loves the craft of coaching as a discipline,” the exec says. “And like Brad, he knows it’s about the players.”

Many around the league like Billy Donovan and Hoiberg as the next two NCAA coaches off the board. And If the next college hire goes well and Stevens maintains a positive culture in Boston, then expect to start hearing more about Bennett.

David Vanterpool, Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach

It’s rare in the NBA for someone on the fast track toward management get off and into a much longer line to become an NBA coach. Yet that’s what Vanterpool did when he left the Thunder front office to join Terry Stotts’ staff in Portland.

Vanterpool was a quick study and likely a future executive in the league, but it tormented him to know there was high-grade basketball development going on in his midst, only it wasn't happening in his department.

“He has a way with players,” a front-office executive says. “He was a tough overseas player who worked at his game.”

Vanterpool both played and coached for Messina in Moscow, an affiliation that means something in an increasingly international league. The two-year stint in the Oklahoma City front office is also the kind of interdisciplinary experience valued by shops like San Antonio. Add to all that a penchant for independent thought, a willingness to admit to what you don’t know and a reputation as a solid, agreeable person, and a young team could have a head coach to grow up with.

Jim Boylen, San Antonio Spurs assistant coach

Thanks to the success of Steve Clifford in Charlotte, the nomadic, 50-ish, affable, well-respected grinder has come into fashion. And if you’re looking for a prototype, Boylen might be it.

Boylen sat alongside Rudy Tomjanovich for over a decade and was a lead assistant to Tom Izzo. After four rough seasons at the University of Utah -- “The guy hates recruiting, what can you say?” says a Boylen sympathizer -- he landed with Frank Vogel in Indiana, where he restored his rep as a guy who truly loves to get on the floor and work with players and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty with game preparation.

“He’s been the best guy on almost every staff he’s ever been on,” an NBA general manager says last week prior to Ty Corbin’s departure from Utah. “And the fact that Pop hired him gives him the ultimate stamp of approval.”

An owner looking for sex appeal won’t want to see a glossy image of Boylen on the cover of a season ticket appeal packet. But there’s a strong consensus that Boylen is an extremely capable lifer who rarely has trouble connecting with players or peers.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/67711/the-next-wave-of-head-coaching-prospects

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN 5m

Mike D'Antoni's brother, Dan, is expected to be hired as head coach at Marshall University, his alma mater, sources told ESPN.

 

[darthska]

Marshall is such a terrible school. 

Huntington, WV is such a terrible city. 

WV is such a terrible state. 

And yet my son was born in the state, and my girl is from there. *le sigh*

They're awesome; the state is not.

Thundering Herd 

 What the... ?

 

[senorroboto2k5]

I think that was the job Mike was linked to. Maybe his current job is safe?

 

[WAKKO!]

I think that was the job Mike was linked to. Maybe his current job is safe?

Maybe mike is going to be his assistant