Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

I actually did keep reading the article and enjoyed it, I just can't resist hating on Deng.

 

Yes, his production has been underwhelming. There is no superstar or go-to player that Deng can hide behind to chip in. He had Butler in Chicago and Wade in Miami.

 

He also said Lou was a good defender and that Randle put in good effort on D. This guy obviously doesn't watch our games.

 

Agree with you and Weez... The article was on point on basic generalities. We are terrible as a whole defensively. Randle is clueless and Williams is teeny by guard standards to defend. My question is what happened to the up-tempo attack we had initially that hid our deficiency there? The injuries? Russell, Young and Nance missing games disrupted the continuity and rotations. Why haven't they resuscitated that again now that everyone seems to be back?

...and with the second pick in the NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers select ________.

 

I thought last night's game was a source of optimism as well as frustration. How many games against good teams have we been this close? The difference between the Wizards and the Lakers yesterday was John Wall. How frustrating is that? We simply don't have a player that can take over a game and win it down the stretch and it turns out that's important. Who knew?

Still, it's got to be an encouraging sign to realize that we really are that close. Despite being awful defensively, despite having all our kids at 20-23 years old still figuring things out, and despite what's going on in the front office, we're closer than we should be.

 

Gordon Hayward is out there. I'm not sure he's a "take the ball and go win it" guy but he's close. I think he even made the All-Star game this year.

The really, really sad part is that the new CBA is built so that we have very little chance at these FAs. They can get staggeringly more money staying where they are...

And yes I agree we're maybe one player away from the playoffs and probably 2-3 years of development away from being actual threats. I don't know that there's a kid on the team that is a "take the ball and go win it" guy which honestly tells me that every kid is available for a guy who can be that player. I'd move any combination of 2 young kids (besides a Russell/Ingram combo) for a guy who could win us games. Interestingly enough, Magic said the same thing last night.

 

@therealdeal @RandleROFY - We have had a cluster of games this season where the young core built large leads then lost it as the game wore on. This team needs a "closer" in the worse way. Russell and Ingram are just way to green. Randle can't go right.

 

Huertas has the good hair...but it should be Calderon.

 

I think the guy likely comes in a trade honestly. We've got a handful of these great kids and a developing culture again. I think what happens is one of those guys asks to be traded and we end up throwing a bunch of our youngsters at that team. The guy I'm looking at particularly is Paul George who has made his discomfort in Indiana pretty well known. Indiana is stuck in a weird spot where they've got a lot of commitments, but not a lot of success. If George wants out this summer, I think the Lakers go all out for him maybe even including 3 of our young guys in order to get something done. Indiana then goes into a rebuild with our young guys and Myles Turner and in about 4 years they end up being a real threat in the East.

 

and if I'm LA I counter with something like Randle, Williams, Clarkson. If we keep our Top 3 pick, I'd get on the phone immediately with the Pacers and offer it with one other kid of their choice.