We aren't making the playoffs SO lets try and salvage the season by AT LEAST having a CHANCE to get a top 3 pick. Whats the point of winning 30-35 games and then getting NOTHING at the end of the season? What's the endgame here? To attract an ELITE FA? Cause we've been so great at doing that? We'll just get some decent guys like Lou, Bass and Hibbert and repeat the same s***. At least with a top pick there's a chance that guys gonna be a star and get the Lakers out of the hole. All the "anti-tank" people need to just realize that we suck and any win at this point isn't helping our future. All the top free agents went to Playoff teams, we're not even close so please stop the argument that we need to win 35 games to show Durant we can be good
Have you been ignoring the percentages or the argument against tanking? Do you realize we're not the Sixers? We don't control our own pick. How many times do I have to point out that we have only AT BEST less than a 70% chance at keeping the pick and more likely than that we'll be around 40-50%. I think you're the one that doesn't "get it". The endgame here is to develop the young players and say what you will, but that's happening. No one expected the playoffs although some hoped. Clearly now we're on pace to do no better than last year but tanking is still irrelevant. Our odds of keeping the pick are low. Tanking makes no sense. Try to win as many games as you can otherwise the only thing you're really doing is giving the Sixers a great shot at two Top 10 picks this summer.
You're correct. 35.7% odds of ending up 4th. I could have sworn it was top 3. Oh well. Damn, now I want to win as many games as possible to give Philly the worst pick possible, yet lose enough to ensure Byron gets canned in the summer.
zero sense in tanking this year, though sadly, the lakers are doing a better job of it than they did the previous two years. *sigh* the weird part is that for real tankers like philly, this year is awesome. right now, nobody else is actively tanking. some teams (I'm looking your way sac, Denver, and Portland) may come to it later in the season, but by then, they may have a huge deficit to make up. philly's getting two top five picks this year, one of which will be la's. I'm sort of sick about it, but no amount of losing can save the pick for sure (as opposed to last year). best hope is the lakers pull off a deadline deal that keeps the youth intact, max cap space intact, and adds veteran talent at the sf or backup big slot. then maybe they win some games when a couple of the late tankers get with the program. but even that's far-fetched given the cushion they're creating. ugh.
I mean best hope is Kobe realizes he can't do this and retires around the All-Star break or something. Trade Bass/Kelly/Huertas away (for their sake and ours) and hopefully get back a late first or an early second rounder. Then hope the balls bounce our way when the time comes... Barring that, you just go out every night and try to win a game. Byron isn't going to be doing anyone any favors here, but go out and improve yourself every single day. That's all we can hope for from our young guys. Russell and Randle are improving under Scott whether we want to admit it or not (and despite him or not we just don't know) and that's about all we can hope for.
tbh, if the lakers DID manage a top three pick this year, I'd be wanting to trade it. you can't develop too many young players at once. it was part of why I thought this year's team might be better than last year's: good mix of vets and youth. I was wrong. though I'm still not entirely sure why. this should be a 30-35 win team.
Okay how about this for a dream scenario: The Lakers luck into the #1 overall pick. After missing the playoffs, Paul George demands a trade... The #1 pick (and maybe a little more) for George?
I always did like Paul George. Now let's pretend we get Harrison Barnes which everyone seems to be on board with. Let's try it on for size... Russell / PG / H.Barnes / Randle / Hibbert Yum.
*sigh* Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green were all drafted within 4 years of each other. But you're right, they're not breaking records or winning anything.
Dating back to '94 (so that's over 20 years) the Warriors were: 14th in the conference twice 13th in the conference three times (as recently as 2012) 12th in the conference four times (as recently as 2011) 11th in the conference three times 9th-10th in the conference four times Made the playoffs once before 2013 (a gap from 94-07 and again from 08-13 Curry was drafted in 2009 so since his draft: 2010: 13th 2011: 12th 2012: 13th 2013: 6th 2014: 6th 2015: 1st Is that how long you're willing to wait? Right now will likely be our third 20 win season and do you think we're likely to jump to 6th next summer? In the 2010 NBA Draft the Warriors had the 6th pick and ended up with Ekpe Udoh so things didn't even go smoothly on the tank front. They missed out on Greg Monroe, Gordon Hayward, Paul George... Long term tanking has never been our way. Even now we're unlikely to reap the benefits of tanking this season. We could end up with the 2nd worst record and give the Sixers the 4th pick. It all depends on who we draft and what spot we draft in, I know that. I'm just saying don't be so quick to point out the success of the Warriors and Thunder before looking at the hell they went through to get there. The Lakers are not known for the patience it took to make those franchises great.
Damn straight! His 26 point game highlights youtube from 11/15/15 at over 4 months shy of being even 20 years old yet. 6'10" 235lbs with skills like that already...... gives one a "bonis" for Sabonis.
The kid is NBA ready right now. Very athletic, great passing ability. He's probably best as a big SF in the NBA though because he's not physical enough to play the four. If the Lakers somehow lucked into the #1 or #2 pick and got him, things would get pretty interesting. Russell/Clarkson/Simmons/Randle/Hibbert is a hell of a team to build around. Both Simmons and Randle would need round-the-clock shooting tutorials, but that'd be a heck of a dynamic team.
I'm trying not to watch Simmons, because it's going to suck when we miss out on him by a couple games or bad bounce of the lottery balls, and Philly gets him and then somebody else great with the pick from us.
Agreed, I think he could play pro ball today. Wilbon said he's a guy worth tanking for (they had a segment on whether he's too passive since he passed up two looks in the final 15 seconds in the loss). Yeah, he's definitely a 3 moving forward. He'd have a great chance of being the biggest matchup advantage at that position outside of KD and Bron with his size. The versatility and handles of that team would be NASTY! 4 players who can take the ball up the court and create for others.
