i think all three of those guys will be fine and end up good solid players, but people were acting like we passed on generational talents when they were just replacement level or below for now and don't project as stars later. it doesn't make jhs less of a miss, but as you said, my point has always been that you miss in the draft sometimes. we missed last year. we hit this year. yeah, i looked ahead to christmas, and we'll be lucky if we go over .500 in those 13 games. the period after christmas gets a little lighter, with some more home games and winnable road games. but buckle up for some turbulence for the next few weeks...
Lebron, i kind of understand bc he has really never been a good FT shooter his whole career, so why would he change after 20 years… but he’s kind of really bad, no clue what his current season FT percentage is, but it feels like I’m spot on when I see him go to the stripe and it’s typically 1/2. Does he just never practice FTs? 3 ball is good, but FTs is pretty much inexcusable, esp for someone of his stature. Maybe he’s too big? AD….. loss is on you man. Idc if you were 9/9 before you crumbled. I hope you’re reading this. You are absolutely unclutch when it comes to FTs. I just dont understand. You do everything else so freaking well except the clutch gene. Schedule only gets more difficult, then an upcoming road trip. Really couldn’t afford this loss. Dont care how early we are in the season, you see year after year how difficult the west is and how effing tight the finish was from like seeds 5-10. Please don’t ever lose in this manner again. Eff this team.
That one stung. We had that game won and gave it away with the missed free throws and giving up that last three to Wagner. Tough loss.
This is not a good defensive team, we’ve just been playing some very injured teams and squeaking by, outscoring teams. Reality is we need moves to keep winning, so, we’ll see how that goes. Until then, this stuff will happen, schedule starts to get tougher now
We needed to win last night to have a shot at doing well in the next stretch of games. Hate that we let that one slip away
What sucks is LBJ and AD had to push the gas pedal to the floor and we still lost without Orlando's best player and other key pieces. I'm not discouraged by the loss; it's an 82-game season. For example, OKC lost to the Spurs without Wemby. That said, I've heard from multiple people "Lakers homers" that the Lakers have to keep putting pressure on the FO by winning games to motivate them to make a trade or improve the team. Windhorst flat-out said, "they're looking for a player to help them win the western conference" and that's the only way they'll utilize the first round picks. While I understand that, I'm hoping it doesn't mean they're reluctant to make any lateral moves that don't include the first-round draft picks. I'm hoping they can nail a trade that addresses needs and maybe includes second-round compensation. We need to keep winning at a high enough level, though. Otherwise, we're just waiting on waiting on Jared coming back and returning to form by the PO's and hope he doesn't suffer a setback; it isn't an ideal scenario.
A lot of talk about the missed FTs but the HUGE concern is we couldn't get a stop nor a defensive rebound against a terrible offensive team and an average offensive rebounding team ..
ORL won 6 in row before losing to the CLippers: they're a good team even without Banchero. Franz gets the greenlight which he doesn't have with Banchero so its almost like a wash for them. They remind me of the first few years of Boston with Tatum and Brown
bingo. the missed fts suck but sometimes happen. we consistently can't defend, and that team had no business scoring that easily.
These are the worst losses - Cleveland blew em out, Phoenix did a good job, this one hurts as a fan it really felt the Lakers gave it away more than Orlando won it Yeah their defense sucks but the formula of elite offense and your star power overwhelming the opponent, hitting the gas worked (the Lebron offensive rebound putback, defensive rebound full court pass should have sealed the game). These games make you want to stop being a fan of the game lol
Agreed. I feel like some moves involving the second rounders will emerge. Hopefully as soon as possible.
We've done OK given we have players out but last night's loss was to the point of aggravating given that WE had it.
Yah, I know Orlando won 6 in a row. I watch the whole league, too. LOL. I've been on Orlando as a team to watch for at least 3 seasons. I don't think it's considered a wash when your best player is out, IMO. Pablo's gravity, size/athleticism would have made a big difference & probably made the game easier for Franz. To say "it's just a wash" because Franz got those shots is oversimplifying it, IMO. Additionally, the Lakers struggle with these types of athletic teams; although, we were also missing Rui, who I think would have helped in a matchup like this one. It's something we need to address if we want to be taken seriously as contender, IMO.
Rob. Do you watch any of these games? Please make us a serious team again. We are so embarrassing. Same ish more/less over the past 5-6 years, minus the title run. Really really unacceptable and embarrassing for a franchise of this caliber. Or does Jeanie deserve some blame also bc she’s so stuck in the mom and pop shop ways? I can only imagine how a well-oiled machine we could be if we had OKC guys in the front office, or just look next door at the Dodger organization. Pick their brain, see how they are consistently excellent. I can’t stand watching this team. They are absolutely going nowhere this year, again. That’s just being realistic with the current personnel. Dlo needs to go, clearly we don’t want him, he doesn’t want to be here, but then again, maybe nobody wants him? We REQUIRE a legitimate back up 5 or starter 5, and point guard. Anything short of this is simply another waste of time.
I for one am just shocked, absolutely stunned, that the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last season beat us badly again. I mean we tried nothing and it didn’t work. Like we made no roster changes at all other than adding a rookie to the rotation and yet we still lost. It’s baffling, truly, like we tried nothing, why didn’t that work? I’m not sure what else we could have tried. Maybe something, but I dunno, that sounds kinda crazy when you say it out loud, what would something really do anyway. I just don’t know, we tried nothing and I’m all out of ideas