Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

didn't you hear though? Portland has Carmelo, so that's really iffy too.



I'm ok taking this a game at a time. We'll have to deal with everyone's health along the way, and I have no reason to think we'll have a complete roster during that stretch.

 

Man I hope we cram it down Denver's throat. Of course Flop City has to get it on Christmas day.

Back in the '08 - '09 season, we had a stretch where we played 6 games in a road trip, one of which was against the evil empire and another one was against Lebron's Cavs. We went 6 - 0 on that trip. At that point we knew we had a championship team. Let's see if December can be that way for this team.

 

That road win in Boston, oof. Statement game if there ever was one.

 

I think Dallas will be a good test. Yeah, it's at home, but it will be the first winning/playoff team we'll be playing in a long stretch (last one was Phoenix Nov. 12), we didn't have an answer for Luka the last time around, and he's seemingly gotten better in the interim. If we look strong on Sunday, I'll feel pretty confident going into the rest of December.

 

Bradley was able to pester him a little. Green might be a little too slow. Maybe throw Lebron or AD on him down the stretch. KCP and Caruso don’t have a chance at all. Mavs also have the bigs to pull ours out of the paint...

 

I think our current team is deeper, this team had Kobe. Pau and Bynum were better than McGee and Howard. Lamar was great, but not as great as Lebron and Davis is better than anyone not named Kobe on that team. Kobe is the difference maker but Lebron is not far behind. Our current team, especially with more experience under their belts would compete against this older team.

 

Hard to say, but you have to get pretty far down the list on that 2009 team before the bums start popping up. Kobe, Pau, Odom, Fisher, Bynum, Ariza... even Shannon and Farmar were solid in limited stretches. LeBron and AD are superstars, but the list of dependable players on this current squad is much shorter IMO.

 

And aside from defense which is of course very important IMO AD is not as good yet as prime Pau Gasol.

 

I’m not going to get too excited yet.

we have L’s against the two top contender teams we faced in the Clippers and Raptors. Their coaching knew how to expose our flaws.

We have lots of room to grow, but thAnkfully we have beaten the teams we were supposed to.

 

I’d love to watch that match up. Think both squads would match up well.

 

pau was underrated as a defender/rebounder, AD is underrated as an offensive player. AD now is better than pau ever was, all told, though.

 

I'm actually super appreciative of Pau's post game right now. AD basically doesn't have one.

both are soft as Charmin

Pau squeals, and AD falls. Both will probably be in the Hall of Fame, but two very different players.

Both are white swans, and dammit, we want a skilled black swan big man for once. Too much to ask? Or was that Boogie, and we only got to enjoy the Summer thinking about it?

 

hows ad O underrated? so far i see 2 things on O, post to do a fade away or shoot 3s

 

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Cant forget Phil either!

 

And some drives for dunks after fancy dribbling or being fed.

 

lobs and put backs as well

I suppose we have to give him credit for that too

 

I don't know. Agree with you on Pau being underrated as a defender and rebounder in his prime while AD is a stud in that regard. But AD can't carry prime Pau's jock on offense yet. In my never to be humble opinion. Probably not as good a passer either. He has a ways to go and hopefully keeps expanding his game.

 

I guess scoring 25 points a game and hitting 85% from the line isnt what it used to be. Maybe AD will score 35 a game and make every free throw the rest of the year. Maybe then he will be worthy of being a good offensive player. Whatta bum.

 

I'm not complaining about his output but rather comparing his all around offensive skills to what Pau could do in his prime. Just imagine if he were to spend serious time working on back to the basket footwork and counter moves off of it. These Laker players ought to tap into Kobe for one on one training. Not just dinners like Kuz. Seems other teams' players instead seek him out for that.