Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

Beating teams we either should be beating, or at least have a chance to beat is a must. Hawks, Kings, Mavs, Knicks are teams we can and should beat. Pacers was a toss up and quality win. Spurs was an unexpected surprise. I will take all of them. Won 5 of our last 7, 2 without Zo finally, I will take it. There is no tanking this year, January and February are not even close to as difficult as December, there are many winnable games, we must give the C Bags the worst pick possible.

 

I had some surprise tickets to come through and was able to go to the game today. Some observations:

1. Ennis is useless. A nice guy I'm sure but he has no idea how to be a point guard in this offense. It's revealing when Alex Caruso makes you look like you don't belong in the NBA.

2. Caruso looked solid. The last two games he's looked like he has a better feel of the game. Definitely looks like a 3rd string point guard. I hope he gets a full contract this season.

3. Kuzma looks like he could use some time off to heal up. He's just missing some of the spark he had early.

4. Lopez continues to be passable as a starter even if he's getting limited minutes. Id like to bring him back for cheap if we can.

5. Ingram looks better as a player at times but at other times fades away too much. A mixed bag. Reminded of Porzingis actually.

6. Clarkson is playing the best ball I've seen him play in a long time. He's still holding the ball too much, but he's scoring more effectively than I've seen in a long time. Towards the end of the game he was unstoppable.

7. Julius Randle. This guy does so many things that make you jump for joy and yet so many things that make you pull your hair out. He was openly fighting with Luke in the 3rd quarter after all the starters got pulled from that terrible start. Then he came back in and for the most part dominated. I would happy to keep him around and if we can't get a decent value for him, I see no reason to move him. A decent value being a guy who is as good as Julius but more consistent. Favors might maybe fit that bill but... I'd probably want a pick back for that. Still all in all he was once again integral to winning this game.

8. The Knicks were not impressive. They looked like a supremely average team with limited talent and even more limited chemistry. Porzingis didn't look like an All-star to me. He looked a lot like Russell for better or worse: very talented but not always focused. He didn't look ready to carry a team.

All together it was a great game for the Lakers. Very good defensive energy and the team is playing well without Lonzo for now. It's so nice to see the schedule easing up.

 

We have played really well recently.

With that said, this team is all Clarkson and Randle right now. Their surge has given us the Ws recently. You can see that they are ahead of the other guys (Ingram, Ball, Kuzma etc.) and after 3-4 years are starting to come into their own.

If we trade either or both of them, we will be back to being toast.

 

Sweet game! So nice to get a double digit win. All this without Lonzo and KCP and with at least two or three other guys with nagging injuries. Keep winning and screw the C Bags!