I just do not get how Orlando is this bad. They should be in the playoff hunt in the East. Heck, on paper they seem like they could be .500.
^The Magic have only won one game in their last 10 games. And that win was 4 games ago. They're tanking harder than Philly or us. I was hoping that they'd get a win against Detroit tonight, but no dice.
Lakers have a 3 game cushion on Orlando but they also have 11 games left to play while Orlando only has 8. It's going to be very, very close, especially with the Magic losing a very winnable game to Detroit last night. The Lakers have winnable games left against the Nets, Sixers, Wolves, Pelicans, and two against the Kings. It very well might come down to those last two games, which is scary. The Kings could very well sit Cousins and I don't think Byron would do what is necessary to lose. Ultimately, I think that if they are going to keep the pick the decision might need to be made to bench Lin, Hill, and Ed at the same time rather than the current "tag-team" strategy. EDIT: Oh and Thad Young is already out for the Nets game against the Lakers and DWill is questionable. Very dangerous game.
Yes there is...also, add bad shooting, players going through the motions, etc. All the things that contribute to a losing culture.
Deron being out probably helps the Nets; he doesn't contribute much of anything. Thad being out hurts, though...
Every game from here on out is a must-lose, and sadly that won't happen. Orlando suuuuuuucks, we have to lose every game just to keep pace with them in the loss column, and no we aren't catching Phily, never were. Looks to me like we end up 5th and the chances of keeping the pick go way down, making lottery night as nerve-racking as a game 7 in the playoffs.
Sam Decker for Wisoncon is having another phenomenial game against Arizona. Hitting some huge cluth 3's
Orlando is very, very dangerous. I don't know if they can win even two games. They will probably win against NY. We need to sit players down, and if someone gets really hot, take them out as well. I feel really bad for saying that, but... we don't have a choice, and it's for ~10 games only. Then we can forget all about this season.
I've never been on the outright root for losses bandwagon, but with 11 games left and the real threat of losing a huge asset in that pick, I fully agree with you. If we lose the pick at 3 or 4, that is just terrible luck. If we lose the pick at 5, that's on the FO and Byron for allowing us to drop my doing the "right" thing. If they aren't planning on bringing back Lin, why play him at all? If they are planning on bringing back Lin isn't 70 games enough to know what he has to offer? Same goes with Boozer and Hill. Doing the "right" thing is going to cost the FO and Byron their jobs down the road, by essentially choosing pride over asset. Fans aren't going to take 1-2 more seasons of this tanking business before the pitchforks come out. FA is going to be strange this year for two reasons. 1.) the cap is going to spike, so teams can overpay this offseason due to the drastic increase in salary cap will offset the initial inflated purchase. 2.) potential lockout in 2017 is going to make some players want to cash in now and then again afterwards. We need that pick for the cheap/longevity of the deal, to entice FA to come here and have a big piece to the puzzle in case we strike out in FA. No one is going to remember tanking 11 games at the end of a horrid season, but they will remember the lost pick and the setback it causes in rebuilding. There will be no Kobe after next season, it's in the FO best interest to treat every asset in the upmost importance. No more crutch to fall back on.
Here is a short piece I wrote up on the tank, and what the Lakers need to do over the final 11 games: The rest you can read here, but the tldr version basically comes down to benching Boozer, Lin, Ed, and Hill down the stretch. At this point there just isn't any reason not to.
Quick update: Minny is playing against the Pelicans today. That's a loss, obviously. The situation is pretty hopeless right now. We are playing and early game against the Nets. Should be close, but ultimately, I hope we can pull a L in that one. Orlando is breathing down our neck.
We're not touchin' Minnesota. They tanked at the next level. They're sitting players that are more or less healthy. I think they're directly responsible for US sitting our healthy players actually. I still think we're right here at the 4 spot and that's not likely to change. We've won only 19 games all year and I can't imagine we're going to rattle off four wins to let Orlando pass us. That'd be quite surprising. For us to go 4-7 these last few games... You guys think that's possible?
We are the Lakers, so anything is possible. BS might have the bright idea to be the winningest tanking coach in the league.
real Yes, with as unpossibl1 says the possibility of the F.O. and/or Byron "pulling their punches" in the unseemly to them tank battle.
So despite the Lakers going 19-52 all season, aka winning only 26.8% of their games... You think they'll jump ten percent up to 36.4%? I don't. I don't think they'll win more than three more games this season. Three games leaves us tied with Orlando which isn't great for us, but could be worse too.
