Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

And bro I'm disappointed you dont see it yet.

Paula committed at midnight and ghosted us...
Boogie couldn't come back till the turn of the calendar...

There woulda been hell to pay if that bare max spot remained bare.

Bron with all his leverage to get whatever he wanted from us, didn't.

1+1 leverage he had over Gilbert on an yearly basis...3+1yr deal instead

Coaching leverage to get whoever he wanted...Luke remained instead

Throw all the kiddies at Kawhi...the kiddies remained instead

SA doesn't want to do a deal then get an Eastern team on the phone; what about a Klutch guy like Wall...the kiddies remained instead

What about my buddy Cp3 to take up that 2nd max spot...the max spot rolled over to next summer instead

Alright let's do this at the deadline to get a generational talent like AD cause f*** the kids....BI/Kuz continue to ball, Bron still gives them crazy compliments, wants Zo back from injury "alot" and his teammates still celebrate him instead...


(Check the reaction from the bench after his dunk)

Meanwhile, "allegedly" Bron's folks (not even Bron) want Luke out.

It's disingenuous to think Klutch/Bron run us when everything to this point has said otherwise. Otherwise, Melo woulda been here yesterday. Instead....

 

Wait, one of the kings servants expressed his opinion without permission? The dude doesn’t even have control of his own house?

 

Bol Bol

 

i filed my taxes on Saturday and i dont have to pay


that's all i got guys..


when is the draft again?

 

I'm single!

There was a time I would put dat in a difrent thread, but not today.

 

I'm optimistic that maybe now we won’t build this team in Lebron’s image with a few superstars and a bunch of scrubs on trash deals. Magic and Rob there is no quick fix. Sign a legit free agent (please Kawhi) this summer and invest in the youth. If Lebron doesn’t like it then ship his a** out.

 

Bucks fan here but they're overachieving a little in my oponion. Can't wait to see them play Toronto. Might be the best series during these playoffs... and the only one i will follow (except maybe a POR game here and there).

 

bucks are favored over GS to win the title at the moment. I was kind of surprised to see that, but they are playing outstanding.

in the playoffs, Giannis limited arsenal might get exposed a bit like Lebron, but they've loaded up on shooters to help clear the lane. Should be a competitive finals for sure this year

there's a reason GS is signing their old center. They are not overconfident at all.

 

Honestly, missing the playoffs will save us the embarrassment. We're not competing with GS or any of the Top 8 teams. Lebron's probably still hurt, Zo's still hurt, Hart's still hurt, shutdown mode now.

Now our 2019 pick might actually be valuable in an AD trade vs. if we had given them our pick and we ended up 4th or 5th with him, hell, if one ball bounces in our favor and we get the 1st? Imagine the Doomsday thread when all we have to give up is like Ingram + 1st for AD.

I still don't like the way we've played since the trade rumors, no heart left on this Suicide Squad. I'd still like to keep Rondo and Bullock around though, those guys earned my respect.

 

Reality is setting in. Objective should be to finish the season strong and healthy. Great offseason would be acquiring Davis without giving up Zo or BI (you build the future off these two + Davis IMO), acquiring two shooters, a backup point, and a defensive minded hustle/beast player in the post.

 

0-7 from 3 in a must have game.

Not very impressed

 

Imo you keep BI at all costs in an AD trade and you have to revisit that trade this summer. We gotta be aggressive but don't bid vs yourselves in the process. The leaks this year led to a Demps dump. He coulda been gone, but when the Lakers made a stink publicly about bad faith, they showed him the door real quick, didn't they?

Rondo as a player coach would be great and even if Zo is the one heading out for AD, it seems like he's tight with BI and Kuz.

Bullock would be nice to keep (just a horrid and untimely shooting exhibition last night) and when you consider his 4.5m cap hold partially replacing Zu's 1.9m cap hold, it seems that some of that was factored into the decision for the trade deadline deals we conducted.

The fact that we have options, an opportunity to make good on them and now the motivation to get busy with this disaster season behind us, I really have high hopes this summer. You just know we'll be aggressive. I just hope its done with due diligence. Don't be reactionary. Play this for the long game and for multiple title opportunities...not just a one & done.

 

To feed on the optimism, we actually have okay shooting now with Bullock and someone like Kuzma. What we really need is shooting at the PG position. That's why I'm not high on keeping Rondo anymore. Lonzo should have the summer to improve his shooting as well, but I'd really like us to bring in someone who can handle the ball and be a threat from the outside so that we can actually run some PnR. In fact, that's why you see us run so much Bullock-LeBron PnR, because the defense has to respect the shooting for both of those guys.

 

Not at all, and it's killing the spacing in our offense. Nowadays you pretty much NEED the point guard to be able to shoot. And not just shoot open 3s, but pull up off the dribble from outside. This year defenses have adopted a strategy of extreme sagging of non shooters to protect the paint in PnR situations. We actually did this exact thing to Draymond in the Christmas game to get that W, and other teams have been copying us.

Watch what happens to the Sixers down the stretch in close games. Ben Simmons' lack of shooting is f***ing them over and it reflects in the on/off court stats. They'd actually be better of sitting him in those situations.