Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

I'm optimistic I'll take the bag off of my head after Lebron is gone.

 

You’re far enough away or does @KareemtheGreat33 wear one too?

 

Can’t have two Unknown Comic where I come from.

 

Lakers fans win either way. If the trade happens, there is a shot at a title. If it doesn't, we likely see the last of #6 after next year. Which I strongly favor lately.

 

I am optimistic about a few things that point to a much better season. First and most important to me is it appears the front office folks have learned that to coach effectively a coach needs to pick his own staff, have job security and know he will have support from the higher ups when he makes coaching decisions. Too bad Frank was a sacrificial lamb in this learning process but he did get a championship. Second is to limit the stars control of personnel. They will always have input but the disaster of RW and last season will resonate for some time. Third is to be getting younger more complete players. Having all these situational guys sounds good in theory but you never can get them in the game when you need and they have sat so long they aren't ready to play anyway. There are few things that drive home a lesson more than public ridicule, humiliation and embarrassment. We got plenty of all.

 

agree with all three of those subtle improvements. the last one is key for me and why i'm not into bringing in specialists (e.g., "add shooting").

for general optimism, i try to remind myself that as it stands, we have AD and a generally blank cap sheet next year. that combined with the brand/geographic advantage is something few teams can boast. so even if this season is more meh, as of now, there's no reason to believe that HAS to continue.

 

Bumped. .

Reaves is a baller.

 

Didn’t know where to put this but may be of help to some, regarding interaction just had with The Athletic. Email, “Your subscription is set to renew on September - -. Log in to see details”. OK log in. Your subscription of $37.99 Sept 2021 (was half price) is set to renew September 2022 for $75.98. Renew button or Cancel button? Me … Cancel button. (“You sure with all the great writing and articles blah blah you still want to cancel”)? Me … Yes button. New offer button, $19.99 for one year. Me …. boom, Renew button.

:THT Heart Hands:

^^^ THT was a great “heart this” guy. LMFAO …. don’t do it @sirronstuff out of spite with the new guy!!

 

i have no optimism at this moment unfortunately

 

Eurobasket is on
Slovenia vs. Lithuania game is sick... and Luka flops a lot

 

the image on ESPN makes him look "softer" than normal

 

You and me both
I'll take a flopper over dirty POS like Bev any day of the week though

 

i'll stand up on luka's side: i think he's so strong that he has to exaggerate contact to get the refs' attention. i'd argue he should probably shoot MORE fts than he does, tbh. i've thought that about lebron for good chunks of his career, too.

though both players should just take a page from giannis's book and just run guys down and make the refs call that, as it will make them also have to ask themselves whether guys are allowed to grab your arms and stuff.

as for his weight: i don't think luka's ever going to be cut. his body type just isn't that. larry bird wasn't impressive to behold, nor is jokic. the key is conditioning. luka came in out of shape the past two seasons (a la harden). will he do that every year (a la harden)? or will he get more serious about keeping his cardio up at the very least? a mavs fan would hope dirk would be in his ear about how to preserve yourself, and having to play yourself back into game shape for the first six weeks of every season probably isn't great.

oh, wait, optimism: the mavs' front office seems to be not that great, which heightens our chances of luring luka in FA. gotta have that max slot that year.

 

Gobert freakin sucks. I hope Minny never recovers from this BS trade.

 

i see why they're trying it, and i'm interested in the results. but i also think gobert's been super overrated for years. was dikembe mutombo ever a max guy/foundational piece in anyone's mind?

yeah, i'm scratching my head there. though if the reports are true that they basically offered the house earlier in the offseason, and ainge held out, it's not all their fault. but if things play out as i expect (brunson looks like an overpay, mitchell helps move cleveland up to top-4 status), there will be many, many questions for several years.

at least pretty much every deal we passed on i agree we should have passed on it.

 

Man, Giannis, Luka and Jokic are doing some crazy stuff at Eurobasket.
I never thought i would live long enough to say, that 3 best basketball players on the planet are from Europe.

 

was talking to my dad about that yesterday; definitely a first, but i agree those are the three best players in the world.

 

The game has certainly evolved. Those 3 you named work their tail off and are so talented.