Yes, all of this. Initially when Wilbon was bashing Russ on PTI and defending B0ron I was very angered. He said he heard things about the kid’s work ethic and that he deserved to be benched by a no nonsense coach like B0ron, so naturally I was pissed. I figured everyone would have a fresh start when he was gone and all the issues would go away. But then when the same issues remained or cropped up again under Luke, I had to start wondering in the back of my mind, ok maybe this ONE player is not on B0ron, but it is the player. Then Magic came in and said the same stuff..and it was getting harder and harder to defend him. I was not happy the day he was traded, you can see that in my post history, I called it a bad move and was going off a bit, I have no problem admitting that. Now though, not too many people crying about not having Russ around or how we’re gonna her by without him, Ball is all about moving forward with a totally new attitude. Again, trying not to turn this into a Russ thread, but I cannot help but notice the difference in the air around the team. It’s similar to the difference we felt last season when Luke came in and changed the energy and had us at .500 through 20 games.
I'm with you guys...the second we drafted him, I wasn't stirred or excited in any way when compared to drafting Ball this summer. Its really hard to put a metric behind it, but I strongly feel DLo didn't have that "it" factor. He's going to be a nice volume scorer that will eventually be no different than a Swaggy P bouncing from team to team and then finally signing on for the min to get a title so that he can dip his iced veins into some bubbly. And that is not even considering the attitude/culture argument. Zo is head and shoulders above Dlow in that regard. I'm soooo happy his piss-poor complacent attitude is off this team. And it actually annoyed me when fans would side with SwaggyP and DLo when it came to B. Scott. Those 2 bozos were key contributors to the lowest abyss our franchise has ever experienced, while the other commanded respect by the Bean and was a key cog in our 80s title runs. They both can go kick rocks and be envious of ZoTime from afar.
Scott is a bad coach, anyway you twist, dlo didn't help but Scott is/was a failure as a laker HC, clev HC and at one point even got fired from taking nets to b2b finals, thats a sign that players got tired of his old school ways and abrassiveness
My loyalty and partiality has always been for those that have contributed to the Lakers. Those 2 haven't, while Scott has. Also I mentioned his playing contribution and not of the coaching variety. But lets be absolutely honest here....he did the Lakers a solid cause he agreed to a job that no legitimate head coach wanted. He had to usher in Kobe's twilight, while trying to force a no-BS culture to players that were immature. When it happened, I agreed that it was a bad hire, but then I looked at the coaching landscape at the time and realized the guy jumped on a sword for us. The FO was trying to win back the fan base with familiarity after they took MDA over Phil and lost Dwight for nothing in return. It was more a PR move, like the Kobe extension, than anything else.
Scott was an absolutely awful hire. The vast majority of us gave him more than a fair chance but he just stunk and the difference in the mentality of the young guys who played under him (Randle, Clarkson) and the guys who didn’t (Ingram, etc) is pretty plain to see IMO.
Agreed, but at least it's something to shoot for and I'm glad that's the stated goal even if it's incredibly optimistic and ambitious. Surprise us Lakers!
Yeah, there is no incentive to lose by any means. We don't have our pick anymore, so it'll be better incentive to make our pick as high as we can get it so that the C Bags get crap, and we aim for playoffs.
2 quick thoughts. Why have we not heard any vertical leap figure on Zo yet as it's apparent with his skinny little legs already in the past he can get way the f*** up there? (legs obviously to get stronger and thicker starting this year) Head's easily around the rim already on the max leaps. Lonzo's got that Been There Before attitude on the floor when he does great stuff. Not a chest thumping look at me primal screamer.
Oh like this doesn't sound like something special's going on this year with our top rotation players and Lonzo on the floor together. Showtime part deux.
