Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

People do not realize that we just went 5-5 during AD's absence. 7 of those 10 were roadies. In that period Lebron has played 9 games, scoring 30+ in 7 of them. We seem pretty bad still because we have not made up for that initial 2-10 start yet which was a deep hole to climb out of.

We're 14-11 since that start, a period in which Lebron missed 6 games and AD has missed 10 so far. That's .560 ball with those injuries to our big 2. .560 ball would put us at 4th in the West if we'd come out of the gate like that. Obviously, if we'd been full strength we'd be doing better, I believe we would of hit my target of .500 by New Years had AD not gone down and we'd be playing the playoff seeding game already.

If we can maintain health after this AD episode we will be more than fine, we'll be a threat in the playoffs. Our success is contingent upon the health of AD and Lebron, it always has been and we go nowhere without it. 2 years left on AD's deal I hope he recovers and can be a stable force from now on. Sometimes players go through a period of a few years with injury (Steph Currey) and then stablize. I hope that's the case with AD. If AD had been playing like he has recently for the past 2 seasons the number of complaints about our roster and roster building would be far, far lower than it is because a guy playing like that requires another team's full attention and when you have a Lebron as well it's a big problem for teams and our role players flourish. Put our role players in primary positions of the greatest importance and we will suck, badly, and the complaints about our roster building will be loud, as they have been.

 

i said in another thread that i think our current record is actually a good measure of our status, but i like the positive takes on it.

i'll just say that with denver, memphis, and NO being the class of the west, we should make sure we can get a play-in berth at least. because no wc team scares me in the least.

 

If we had that team after the bubble with Marc Gasol and AD is healthy, we would ran roughshod over the West right now

 

Zion is out for 3 weeks with a hammy. Lakers may get lucky and have the Pelicans drop a little the next month.

 

I’m hoping a Suns like drop from them

 

What a thrilling, totally unexpected win! Dennis stepped up, and TB was solid. Russ had what? 7 TOs in the first half, but zero in the 2nd? He was good. Props.

Wenyan had a good game. He had a block late in the 1st/early 2nd Q that rawked! Reaves had his usual solid game.

I kept expecting them to make a couple of stupid plays (coughRusscough) in the last 3 mins and lose, but they didn't, though I gotta admit it: I thought Butler's shot would go in to force OT, in which I expected us to lose...'cuz it's this season.

 

Most surprising win since like forever. Very happy for our role players, who must also be affected by the constant whining about our supporting cast (not saying it's unwarranted).

There are some nice pieces on this squad, we just need more health and 1 -2 good moves by the FO in order to compete with the best teams in the West.

 

Yeah. That was definitely an unexpected victory.

 

Marvelous win, comes really handy. Wow

 

Wire to f****** wire baby! When was the last time we had one of those?

 

They've found a legit starting C and PG seemingly out of nowhere? Weird twist to the season as this if healthy suddenly looks dangerous.

Best 1-2 center combo in the league
Lebron is still an MVP caliber insane. And hes only the second best player on the team.
Reaves is a great sixth man.
They found a starting quality PG?

 

Kendrick Nunn scores 23 for us in a win: WTF? Are these guys gonna make me start thinking they could make the playoffs...again? The last time I "believed" was the road win in MIL, but they quashed that pretty soon.

Man, Thomas Bryant has surprised me in the most delightful way. I love any Laker win, but Imma need a few more good games to become a Believer again.

To sum up: I declared here a couple weeks ago: we're going nowhere. I'm not a hater. I just want to be proven wrong. I do like the new trajectory I see, though.

 

Re: my previous "Doubting Thomas" (not TB!) comments: I don't wanna harsh anyone's buzz after another good win and we're now within 3 games of .500. But we're 6-19 so far against teams over .500

We play the next 4 against teams over .500 and 3 of those 4 are against West teams: @Sac, @Den, DAL, PHI: I'm gonna need us to go at least 2-2 over this next 4 in order to become a Believer. Just where I'm at mentally with this team.

 

4 game win streak. I will definitely take it.

 

^^^^ …. this from the Trades and Rumors thread before the Atlanta game but after the Miami game

and just a “perhaps” with similar regard to @sirronstuff ’s deep love always for LeBron leaving NO room for any enjoyment for rest of the team ….

Am thinking if you both watched these wins against Miami and Atlanta, considering the players who were unavailable for each game, maybe the horizons on that kind of sentiment could now be up for a bit of re-evaluation?

There’s a lot more to like with what’s been happening as more of the guys are finding their games and the team’s even starting to gel a bit in the midst of all the injuries?