Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

The young and surging Lakers are pushing through adversity

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-lakers-surging-confidence-winning-streak-nba

 

that's a BSPN link. Unable to click due to having moral fiber. (Ok, I go there for box scores, but had to act indignant that there is no summary or portion of the article posted)

 

Maybe I.T. was all we needed. The way they've been winning lately has me very pleased. Things are moving in the right direction.

 

t** for tat and then some.

Sent from my E6533 using Tapatalk

 

Can you say t** on LB? Me Too and all?

 

This possibly provides us a couple more million to figure out how to fit George/LaBron/Jules into.

I know this is the optimistic thread, but I just hope last night's tough loss reveals that we do need not 1, but 2 stars to become legitimate title contenders. Houston and GS are both sitting on 2+ stars and that should be the standard. I love our youth, but if you consider our recent 5 game winning streak, the only quality win was against the Heat (8th seed in the East) and supposedly Whiteside was dealing with some lingering injury issues (Bullyius probably exacerbated them).

Otherwise, we ate against lottery teams in the Mavs, Queens and Hawks and took advantage against an injury depleted Spurs team that we needed a ferocious comeback to dodge an L with. Before the 5 game winning streak, we lost to the Pels and Wolves who are both playoff teams.

I love that we were competitive last night with BI & Hart out, but we needed to stay practical and grounded...we're still a ways away from being legit. However bringing in 2 stars changes everything.

 

Too much made of the loss last night. Painful to get burned at the end but that's playing a close game with a team with a super star in his prime who is earning his pay.

In perspective, Blazers are 3rd in the West, arguably 3rd to 5th overall. 1-9 in their last 10. They had no one out of any significance and are on a roll. We played a G league guy in Wear (did ok too) and we played without 2 of our top 5 guys including our #1 guy based on recent play.

And it still required damn near legendary heroic 4th quarter play by Lillard for them to win in the final few minutes. We used to have a guy that did that too, for 20 years. Maybe Ingram, Kuz, Randle or even Ball will do that to people one day but for now that was a 27 year-old super star earning his pay and a good team on a roll. We don't even have that superstar yet but you still have to ask what would have happened with BI and Hart playing. Just the D they provide could have swung it.

But Jules and Isaiah need to pay attention, this is why you won't get close to max contracts. You want Lillard money you close out games like Lillard.

 

Lilliard saw he was guarded by IT, and said to himself.....BBQ chicken!

 

Don't put words in my mouth, I'm not down on Jules at all, All I said about Jules was he shouldn't get a max deal or 80% max or whatever because he's not Lillard or 80% Lillard especially at closing time. Are you saying he is? Then yes, we completely disagree. It's pretty easy to comprehend what I said. The majority of the post was about the whole team I only included Jules name in the last sentence concerning max deals and you ran with it claiming I put down his play in the game. Word is he want's the big bucks and I'm saying he isn't there yet. I do want him on this team come next October and I don't want a big battle of it turns out we can get only one FA.

 

I agreed with your previous post but you're not making much sense here.

If being a closer is what it takes to get a max deal, LLLLLebron is 20% of Lillard in the closing minutes, basically making him a MLE type player lol

 

80% of max for Jules next summer will be about 21 million. I don't think he should get that. Lillard is clearly more than just a closer, I wasn't making that the exclusive quality required, should be pretty clear. I'm a big fan of Jules but I don't think we should give him 21 mil, your very welcome to disagree. That's all my sentence was meant to convey. The stuff about me being down on him and his play was BS. Not at all what I said.

And btw - I am not equating Jules at all with Thomas, much rather have Jules. Only in that both will probably be after the kind of money we may not be able to pay, especially for IT (even if he only wants 9-10 mil)

 

The value of Julius is subjective and many folks think he's worth anywhere from $12M to the max.

That wasn't the argument though. You clearly stated TWICE that players need to close out games like Lillard if they expect to get paid like Lillard. Which is a false statement imo.

 

Yup they should step it up whether that is in defense or passing and/or scoring in order to put their team in position to win in clutch time IMO to earn max contracts. That's who I feel should get max contracts and that's my opinion. The fact that idiots have paid max for less doesn't matter and doesn't make me a liar and my opinion false as you say. It's my opinion.

 

Well that only weakens your argument because Julius has shown time and time again that he comes through in the clutch with big plays, more so than anyone else on the team.

As for IT, he led the league in 4th quarter points last year. He wasn't a max player then and he isn't one now either. Same goes for Derek Fisher, Robert Horry and other clutch players. Lillard having one good clutch game doesn't mean jack in regards to the contract a player receives imo. It has no relevance.

 

My quote wasn't Jules as compared to "any one else on the team" it says that nowhere, so that is you, making stuff up solely to perpetuate an argument, if that makes you feel good, go for it. I've said repeatedly now that I am a big fan of Jules, no matter how you perceived it initially, it has since been clarified. Dead issue that you are poking with a stick to perpetuate an argument. Lillard has had far more than one good clutch game I've watched him for years, and he does deserve big money, he's tied with LBJ and Currey in scoring and has his team 3rd it the West right now, comparing Jules is a bad comparison at this point. Besides, for the what, 3rd time? my post was about observing a star come through in the clutch which no one did for us last game and relating that to the star money Jules is going to want. Your grasping at straws, my intent is for Jules to be playing here next year and not for 21+ million. Anything else you read into it isn't there. I think I've cleared my point enough times now and you can disagree all you want, won't change my opinion on what I feel Jules should get from us.

I never said IT was a max player at all. I said he should observe a clutch player scoring if wants a good contract. If asked, I'd say good for him being over 10 mil. I don't really even want him here next year unless off the bench for low money. It's been reported that the guy is still delusional about what money he can still command. Hence including him in that last sentence of my initial post. I even posted a comparison of he and Lillard's play in the last 5 minutes of the last game in IT's thread. No where did I say he should get max or near it in any post.