easy to dismiss as the late summer doldrums puff piece on the young guys, but there were some good things in there. it doesn't surprise me that randle is (quietly) the one who seems to be putting in the most work. it does surprise me that they didn't hang out much together off the court last year. i wonder what the real story is there. it can't all be byron, and it can't all be the young/russell incident. if you read between the lines on these quotes, it just seems like people felt a black cloud over them all the time last year. let's hope that's fixed. i don't think luke will allow that kind of atmosphere, and i think he'll monitor it. i know he's trying to say the opposite, but i think he's actually confirming that russell's work ethic was questionable last year. again, let's hope that problem is also fixed.
What I got from it is that Russell didn't even understand how hard you have to work in the NBA. As in there was nobody around to encourage him to work harder instead of just berating him for not working hard. As in Byron had absolutely no idea how to connect with this player and get him to understand the amount of effort you need to put in to be successful. For what it's worth it seems that he's turned a corner of sorts, but yeah he probably wasn't as focused last year as he needed to be. I'm also not shocked at all that Randle and Clarkson have been working the hardest AND the quietest. Hopefully that translates for Randle. He seems to take the longest picking up on things in the games, but once he figures it out he shows flashes of great stuff. I still vividly remember him taking Aaron Gordon to task in a game against Orlando here in LA.
I think it was the losing along with Byron personally. I think it's hard to lose that much while also having the one guy that's supposed to be your team's leader off the court coming down on you, and not at all positive. I wouldn't want to hang out with the guys I just lost 5 straight with. I'd probably just want to get my mind off work problems, and you can't do that hanging out with coworkers.That won't be a problem this year. I don't know for sure how Luke will do in total this year, but if there's one thing I get from him it's that he will be positive and encouraging. I thought that quote was confusing in general.
i think this is entirely possible, and it sort of matches with the bit of his personality we've seen: confidence is good, overconfidence is dangerous.
Agreed and I think he certainly stepped over the line at times last year. But hey he's a year older and hopefully a year maturer. It's definitely nice to see an exponentially more positive work environment this time around.
It's strange to think that this is going to be Randle and Clarkson's third year with us. Seems like we just drafted them.
And we're always going to have to put an asterisk next to Randle's NBA playing experience for the rest of his career. One less than what it actually says.
So does Blake Griffin and a few other players. Top picks generally don't have to deal with an aging franchise player like Kobe still being on the team. It's just an odd situation.The one thing I think we really have to get used to is that this year is REALLY the first year we get to see freedom from the young players. As much we all love Kobe and his mentorship of the guys was invaluable, the growth was stunted because old Kobe was on the floor with Byron at the helm.
It feels good to read that article. Even if we have ups and downs, the players will always have each others back.
At some point, you're a vet and we - even the most die hard fans - get over it. He had a full camp and preseason; then he lost the rest of the season. Ten years in, it would be foolhardy to say, "Well, it's only 9 years..." He'll be a vet.
