He definitely has a joy and excitement out there, but it seems organic and a byproduct of his play and the team's play. Old Dwight was a fun seeker... that's all he cared about (one reason Kobe hated him) , even to the detriment of his play or the team's play. He's having fun now without being a silly, goofy clown.
It's sad that I am scared he is having success. If he plays like this for another 10 games or so, can he keep his brain in check and not start wanting his "touches" or more minutes? That being said, this Dwight is amazing. I agree with JSM that he should continue to come off the bench despite him being better than McGee. Him and Kuz coming off the bench is going to be huge. If Caruso keeps up his play from the last two games, we'll have one of the best bench mobs in the league.
lol, when he banked in that jump hook, i was like...great...?! but yeah, really strong game. he and caruso made important impacts at important points.
It seems he finally realized you can have fun and be a great teammate at the same time. It took a while. I love seeing him out there blocking shots or getting a nice alley-oop then high-fiving Daniels or Caruso.
you can when those 3 all have some sort of deficiency, Mcgee can't play big mins, Howard/Boggie are both injury prone and ALL 3 wont be garnering any big pay day next season either, Howard has the best chance since he might try to parlay this resurgence into one last big payday
Part of me wants to call out all those "Lakers fans" on Reddit and other media outlets for saying Noah is a better option. I don't know how anyone can come to that conclusion. Short sample size and I don't expect Dwight to keep this pace up in terms of blocking shots and defending but he's far exceeded any expectations that most Lakers fans hoped for. If Dwight keeps this up and Lakers stay healthy, he will win a ring and then be resigned for a chance to go back-to-back. Will be a perfect way for him to redeem himself.
Dwight "says" he is still getting his legs back and into form again per some quote in a tweet the other day. Meaning he feels he has higher performance still to offer. He's so obviously enjoying this team and being cheered again and being part of a group effort to win his first ring that it seems that his individual effort will definitely stay. Just keep fingers crossed for continued no new injuries health.
I feel it’s more the soul stone. He sacrificed the thing he loved most: his ego! Once he got rid of it, redemption szn was here to stay. How would you feel about the fan base that wanted both of them? For example Dudz is out and Noah takes his place. Now you got a 4/5 that is older than AD so he doesn’t have to take big minutes at the back up 4 from a 26y/o, but is mobile enough and has the motor to chase perimeter players around on low minutes as a 5 so that AD truly only has to play spot minutes there in the regular season if the matchups demand it. Meanwhile Kuz gets a bulk of his minutes playing backup 3 for Bron, who is about to turn 35y/o and that allows Bron to save his legs for May.
This all makes me happy. He left us, so what? Was it expected he'd stick around with Kobe coming off the scarlet letter of injuries? Players leave all the time. He's now back, and I don't hold a grudge. Get those boards, slam on a dude twice a month, and bring energy. This was an elite signing.
I'm really loving what i'm seeing. Guy plays hard, sets picks, rebounds, blocks, catches lobs, perfect addition. On top of all that... he's the biggest cheerleader i have ever seen in a Lakers uni (yep, bigger than Sacre). He gets up and celebrates on EVERY freakin basket. Watch those knees and your back big guy
Yeah I won't lie, he's winning me over on a mych faster pace than I could have imagined. You could argue he's the third best player on our team, so far at least.
love the energy and force. his hands have gotten worse and worse over the years, but i can overlook this when he's a vet min backup who's performing like a 15m per starter.