Looked dominant early on, then rode the bench for a long a** time. Guess Byron doesn't like winning basketball games.
I thought Jordan played a very good game tonight. Should have been back in earlier to stem the tide when Minny went on their run.
He did play well. Unfortunately Byron subs 5 guys at a time. I guess bench guys can't mix with starters, which is ridiculous. You can stagger substitutions, these aren't hockey line changes.
Yeah. He was left on the bench too long in the third. Overall a good game from him. He should have gotten way more looks.
I tried to convince myself he wouldn't do that stupid platoon crap once the season started, but there it was tonight.
He's our best player. No question. Yet Byron benches him for a weird stretch and allows Kobe to hoist up 24 shots in 29 minutes. It's really unfortunate because a lot of fans (myself included) are going to be left with awful tastes in our mouths from two Laker greats. Byron was always one of my favorite players. Kobe brought us 5 rings. But right now I want both of them 2,000 miles away from this team.
I don't think he's no question our best player. I think right now it's between he and Randle for players that can change the tide (not named Kobe). The only difference I see between the two: Clarkson has half a year of experience in knowing when/where/how to pick his spots. Randle is still working on that.
That's why I said no question. I do think Randle could catch up and pass him quickly, but until Randle plays a bit more under control, Clarkson is our best player. By the end of the season, barring injury, I expect Randle to be as good or better than Clarkson. Not a knock on Clarkson, I just think Randle has that much potential.
No reason for him to be sitting when Minny was clawing back into the game. Clarkson can get his shot almost automatically where he wants it, a couple timely baskets from him in the third and we would have won.
I also don't think Clarkson is better than Kobe either by the way. I think LAST NIGHT Clarkson was our best, but I still think Kobe and Randle are better and will be better moving forward. Clarkson is perfect in the role he's in though. Never accounted for because of the imposing nature of Randle/Kobe/eventually Russell.
I think Clarkson IS our best player, in that he is the guy I want with the ball and that he is best for the team. Can Kobe still score, sure, 24 points on 24 shots, real impressive. That doesn't make Kobe our best, because of what he may do or used to do. What Clarkson is doing and will do is play with the balance Kobe won't. Clarkson is our best player right now for those reasons. I honestly wouldn't care if Kobe retired tomorrow, because the TEAM plays better without him and can develop. I love Kobe, but this is not a 1 game reaction, I'm so over the chucking. If he stuck closer to how he played in preseason, he's a valuable player, but to come out game 1 and revert that much is unacceptable. I'm not interested in watching Kobe gun his way off into the sunset. Also, Clarkson is good whether accounted for or not. Last season he was our best player at the end and teams keyed in on him and still couldn't stop him.
Looked great in the first half. Was easily our best player out there and will be for a lot of games this year. The year advantage he has over Russell and Randle will be big for him and his place in the pecking order. Looks smooth and ready to ball.
We'll see. I'm going to go ahead and not count Kobe out because he got trigger happy in the 3rd quarter. Clarkson's a very good player, but I don't think he's the best player on our team and if he is, this rebuild is going to take longer than we think. Randle is already more imposing, forces defensive adjustments more, and has the higher ceiling by far. The only thing Randle doesn't have is the half a year of experience. A month into this season and it'll be abundantly clear that Randle is a force and the rest of our young guys are here to support him, including Clarkson. Playing smart and within your limits is great and extraordinarily useful, but still not better than what Kobe or Randle does. This one game isn't going to make me throw Kobe under the buss just yet.
If Clarkson isn't our best player, he's our most consistent, maybe that's how I should put it. And I'm not throwing Kobe under the bus, he's diving under all those wheels himself. Fooled us with his preseason play and then reverted to chucking his first game back. I'm not here to watch Kobe chuck on a farewell too, I'm here to watch our future develop. If Kobe isn't going to help that or be a part of it, he's gonna take crap from me. 20 years in he should know better. We aren't winning a title and this season isn't all about him. I'm more disappointed than anything, because it took Kobe one game to make all the a**hole sportswriters out there look right about him hurting our team's development.
That's exactly how I feel. Kobe fluctuates so much between being a net positive or net negative for us on any given night. Last night? A big net negative.
Well I would beg to differ if you look at how much effort the Lakers are putting into this being his final tour. I'd say it's 50/50 right now that and the kids. The first game back I expect there to be some problems finding the balance. Despite Kobe's chucking in the 3rd though, Clarkson and Randle looked great out there. Russell showed he's got a lot of growing to do, but those two looked fine with Kobe doing his thing. I like it more that Clarkson is able to navigate through the game at a slower pace with Kobe and Randle out there. It feels like we've got two big cannons that can fire and blow up the game, but Clarkson is out there with a sniper rifle ready to turn the tide with key attacks. He's definitely going to be the guy we look at every night and say "yup did his job". Reminds me a little of how I regarded Odom in that second run. He'll come in, make his impact, and the game will be smoother for it. Yet when things go badly, it won't necessarily be on him unless it's an obvious mistake.
Clarkson plays under control and knows how to pick his spots. With 24, Randle, Williams and Young not shy about taking shots, his touches will be limited somewhat. He is patient though, sure of what he is and will take his opportunities when they present themselves. I hope he does not get frustrated then let it affect his play.
I'm with @Weezy here. I am not interested in watching Kobe gun his way into the sunset either. Love the guy and only Magic is ahead of him on my favorite Laker list. But There is no reason for him to gun away and Clarkson is a big part of our future. I would like to see him get more shots.
