**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins

[Dhizzle]

ANT playing at an elite level all year long and turned it up a notch against PHO. Thats scary. 3 bigs and even with just Naz playing, we could barely keep up. MINN is a scary deep team. I say 5 cuz Jamal aint hitting two game winners against them, but 6 is probably more realistic. Im calling it now, MINN getting the chip this year.

 

[pdino]

They got some good defenders too in Mcdaniels and Ant, Murray going to be tested

 

[Dhizzle]

And they have cohesiveness and most have been playing together for a while. Damn good coach too. Hopefully Conley gets a ring before he hangs it up.

 

[pmatic]

I'd feel 2% better if the Nuggets won the chip again.

But really, any team besides the Celtics.

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

Ima repeat this right now since guys like Ska, gritty, et al haven’t opened their eyes yet

BIGGER LINEUPS > SMALLER LINEUPS 24-7-365

 

[CP1708]

I'd feel 2% better if the Nuggets won the chip again.

But really, any team besides the Celtics.

Maybe not the Clippers tho.

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

I'd feel 2% better if the Nuggets won the chip again.

But really, any team besides the Celtics.

Very tough to repeat as champs.

Either way I can see MIN and/or DEN beating BOS in the Finals

 

[darthska]

I'd feel 2% better if the Nuggets won the chip again.

But really, any team besides the Celtics.

Or Clippers.

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

I’d rather have the Clippers win the chip than BOS.

I’ve always wondered what some Lakers fans have against the Clippers organization when there is absolutely ZERO rivalry there. The only “rivalry” is the fact both teams play for the same city.

Rivalries are born in the playoffs and the Lakers and Clippers have NEVER faced each other in the postseason so what makes a Laker fan dislike the Clips so much that it would break their heart if the Clippers ever won a chip? Lol

The Clippers can win a title all they want, at the end of the day Los Angeles is far and away still and always will be a Lakers town

In fact it would be GREAT if LAC won a title because it would put hella pressure on Jeanie to make all the right moves in order for LAL to get back over that proverbial hump in order to win back any sort of bragging rights

 

[darthska]

Nothing to do with rivalry.
Everything to do with "Oh, now the Clippers run LA!"
Tired of hearing that whenever they have a better season than us WITHOUT a Clipper championship.
Not trying to hear it WITH a Clipper championship.

 

[grittyman]

ANT playing at an elite level all year long and turned it up a notch against PHO. Thats scary. 3 bigs and even with just Naz playing, we could barely keep up. MINN is a scary deep team. I say 5 cuz Jamal aint hitting two game winners against them, but 6 is probably more realistic. Im calling it now, MINN getting the chip this year.

It’s not necessarily the bigs they have size and/or athleticism at just about every position besides Conley. Guys who can defend with arguably the best rim protector in the league that’s a difficult puzzle to solve.

I had just said the other day that I didn’t think the Lakers could beat them in a 7 game series. Having said that I think they’re a little too much reliant on Ant for my taste to believe they can go all the way, but I guess you never know.

 

[pmatic]

 

[lovehateself]

#myAR

FIBA summer and the long season def caught up to him and had his 3 ball in the mudd

 

[noblekane]

We had Drummond.

He didn't help.

because the trash *** coach at the time was trying to use him as the third scoring option.

he would be a great back up center

 

[noblekane]

hate to say it but it looks like the celtics are winning it all. the east is extremely weak and i cant see anyone in the west beating them.

if only these mother ****ers could have beaten the nuggets

 

[denni5themenace]

as much as i would have liked the lakers to beat the nuggets and advance, i think the wolves would have curb stomped the lakers. i don't think the nuggets are getting passed them either

 

[pmatic]

Ant-Man could always explode, but I felt that AD would've ate Gobert's lunch, KAT is always going to do something head-scratching and Bron was going to figure them out.

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

Austin Reaves is a stAR in the making, contrary to popular opinion

Put him in a winning system with a better coach and he will become an All-Star at some point in his career

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

Teams who will likely advance to the next round have a rotation with at least 2-3 impact bigs

DEN - Jokic, AG, MPJ
MIN - Rudy, KAT, Reid
DAL - Gafford, Lively, Kleber
LAC - Zubac, Plumlee, Theis
NYK - Robinson, Hartelstein > Embiid because Embiid has ZERO big man help
CLE - Allen, Mobley, Thompson
ORL - Banchero, Carter, Wagner
IND - Turner, Siakam, Toppin
MIL - if Giannis had played in this series they’d be up on the Pacers (Giannis, Lopez, Portis)
BOS - KP, Horford, Kornet, Queta

The only outlier is OKC, whose only true big is Holmgren, which is why I think OKC will lose in the 2nd round to either DAL or LAC

Meanwhile the Lakers’ only Big who gets more than 10 playoff minutes per game is AD lol

The championship formula is crystal clear - A 1-Big rotation will NEVER win a championship and this is proven. I don’t care if today’s Lakers had prime Shaq, if he had Rui next to him and if Hayes only plays 4 min per game, even Shaq wouldn’t win a chip with this Lakers lineup and coach

And what about the teams that are now going fishing? How many impact bigs those teams have? Not as much as the team that beat them to advance!

 

[pmatic]

I know you didn't list Tristan Thompson.

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

I know you didn't list Tristan Thompson.

If he is getting playoff minutes, then it means the coach TRUSTS his ability to make an impact because of his championship experience and size alone

This is something that cannot be quantified. There’s a reason TT gets minutes off the bench instead of Damian Jones, for example. And for this same reason is why the old and supposedly “washed” Kevin Love is still playing big time minutes at PF and C for the Miami Heat and putting up solid numbers at that!

Point is - CLE stacked their roster with plenty of bigs because they know the deal

 

[grittyman]

Ant-Man could always explode

 

[grittyman]

Sorry man I’ve been watching a lot of “It is what it is” lately… couldn’t help myself.

(Btw, AD eating Gobert’s lunch was kinda wild too)

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

Can’t wait til 100 years from now when a team other than the 2022 Warriors with a small ball center at 6’9” surrounded by four 6’2” - 6’7” guards and forwards finally three point shoot themselves to a championship

 

[sohi 23]

my hot take is that trading for Lauri (and keeping AR) would be smarter than trading for Trae.