Siakam and Barnes guarded by the likes Monk and THT all game long ... all you need to know about the B-ball knowledge of the Lakers FO
After TOR jumped out to a 19-2 lead in LA, another Lakers dismal performance. I gotta go to "confession": Hey y'all, olde-timer Laker fan here. (Since 1970). Sooo...I've had it. And it takes a lot for me to get there. You have to really go the extra mile. But I've had it. This is easily the most disappointing Laker team I've ever had the displeasure to watch. This has never happened to me before, because when the Lakers were bad, I understood why they got that way. When they lost in the playoffs or the Finals, I still felt like I got a good ride. When it was only Kareem (before Magic) and a bunch of stiffs, I weathered it. When it was Kobe and guys like Smush, I understood what was going on. They still competed. Most of the guys you'd never heard of. This '21-'22 team has FIVE future HoFers. And they effing BLOW. (Not that 37 year old force of Nature. But this mess is largely his fault.) And, as I've gotten older, my greatest pleasure in watching NBA games is good defense. So: I hate (HATE) this team. I watched them look like a steaming pile during pre-season and hated them then, thinking they will come around by December. By December I didn't believe a word of "we're still learning to play together, give us time," and my hatred for the team only grew. Hey: I have eyes. I've watched and studied basketball for 50 damned years. This team wasn't going to flip a switch and suddenly play D. By early January I couldn't convince myself this team was even going to make the top 8. Now? I don't care. They don't deserve to be playing any playoffs. The format's too watered-down. They suck. They...effing...SUCK! I mentioned hatred. Not hatred for any one player (not even Russ); it's the team I hate. A team that refuses and/or can't play defense. (Are you still "laughing" at cracks about the team's age, LeBron?) They are a nightmare. A vivid, rotten embarrassment. Do they not feel a sense of honor or pride every time they approach the arena? Apparently not. Just look at them "play." This also has never happened to me before: this putrid team is so dispiriting, I will not watch another minute until AD comes back, and even then I don't think he'll make much of a difference. Hell: I'll bet on it. (AD, if he comes back, will make a little bit of a difference.) Not in getting into the 1st round and beating PHO. If you believe they'll come out of the play-in and beat anyone like PHO, GSW, MEM in a series?...you're quite naive, my friend. Apologies for my bluntness. So: with AD maybe they'll at least look like they're competing for 40 minutes. Asking for them to play a tight 48 is out of the question, I now realize. Bank on at least 8 minutes of clueless, humiliatingly bad play every game. The way I see it, it's good if they don't make the play-in. The sooner their season's over, the more time they have to dismantle this POS team. And when they start to build back, they'd BETTER start practicing together, ASAP. Give me a team that's Top 5 in Defense. That's all I ask. Until then, burn it all down. Do whatever you have to: buy out Russ, trade ANYONE, whatever. I've never been traditionally religious, but I've read a lot about religious guilt, and going against your Faith, or "sinning". In writing the above I feel sort of like I'm blaspheming. I've been a Lakers fan (short for "fanatic") since I was 9. My beloved team disgusts me, and I just...can't.
Ya they suck, but this was beyond crystal clear months ago. At this point I can just chuckle at a failure of epic proportions...we are absolutely the laughing stock in the NBA. I don't think there is a more underachieving team since...well the Lakers with Nash and Howard....the team with Malone and Payton at least made the Finals but then Malone got hurt and the Lakers were toast. But the last 2 absolutely most embarassing teams have come from the Lakers, which is a pitty. Amazing...a team of 15 players...and like 13 of em absolutely blow balls...
the team has sucked since before the season started because the roster is just that poorly constructed no one realized this though because 1. it looks good on paper and 2. people figured bron/AD/westbrick would be enough to win games. #2 just isn't the case anymore in today's NBA. you need depth and more importantly, you need defense which they traded away to bring in westbrick and bunch of old shooters.
roles plays into it as well, outside of ad/bron doesnt seem like our guys have any special roles, on offense its mostly go stand at 3pt line if you not Bron, on def there doesn't seem ti be any effort to cover for bron or brick lack of defensive awareness and of course no one box out
Well said and many of us feel the exact same way. It’s been 36 years of Laker Fandom for me. I too am a defense first guy. Always have been, always will be. With chucking from anywhere on the floor becoming a totally acceptable thing over the past ten years or so, my appreciation for guys who defend at a high level has significantly grown. I stopped mostly watching after AD went down, again. I only view a recorded game if they happen to win. I just want to fast forward to the first day LeBron is no longer a Laker.
Okay how the F did we start the game down 6 to 30? 30!!! Is that a Laker record? Or maybe even an NBA record??? Okay I know HOW, but holy damn that’s a new low. I’m never one to boo my own team ever, but I probably would have been loudly complaining in my seat.
I literally watch one thing and one thing only on Spectrum and it's the Lakers. All that monthly cost goes towards watching Westbrook take us down. In the past few days I've seriously considered calling and canceling on this season and just keeping internet which is great (500gb). The only tv shows I watch are Netflix/Disney anyways
Yeah, I get it completely. I won’t have cable next season, I only watch the Lakers as well, and it’s just not worth it. I pretty much just stick to 7 or so streaming services and I’m covered and it’s a fraction of the cost of cable, YouTube being a big one, which is free. I don’t know how I’ll watch the Lakers next season, but it’ll have to be a free stream or something, I’ll only pay if the team is entertaining.
I still remember being so excited about Howard and Nash coming and saying how I was gonna watch every game like it was a playoff game. Boy, did that hit the crapper.
I only pay for it to watch the Lakers and the EPL(I don’t get all the games with just DirecTV). I don’t know if I want to pay to see this for the second season in a row.
Cable/satellite is quickly dying now and the laker deal originally with Time Warner (now Charter Communications) runs until 2039. They had better get on the bandwagon and acquire a streaming service or create one. Any fool can see where this is going and in a hurry. Lakers get their 8+ billion either way but it affects their endorsements and advertisers etc and one would think they would like to keep those. I think a lot of people this upcoming season are going to be of the mindset that it's not worth paying for cable for a team that can't make the play in.
On the rest of this f***ing season. Can we auto Sim to the off-season? Is that an option. Call up the D-league squad to finish this thing out? We are the worst team in basketball and it's not really close. You shouldn't be down by 20+ every single game. That's not normal.
