Caruso is getting MVP chants and leading the league in steals off the bench. And, oh, he's not playing for us.
I didn’t see the game. I kind of expected a loss though (but not a blowout) with us being short handed a land coming off two overtime games. Still stinks though because this is another loss to a bad team that will haunt us later. team desperately needs to get healthy.
Actually I just answered my own question, 12 points ties a Lakers franchise record for fewest points in a quarter.
who thinks we would've been the same or have a better record this year if we kept the same core rotation pieces from last year? I saw dennis scoring 38 on the bucks yesterday.
we'd definitely have a better record today. the whole theory was that we'd be better able to contend with a third star than with three competent role players. we've got sixty-something games to reverse the trend.
AD/Lebron plus smart basketball players who go out all on defense gets you a title and gives the coach you have the pieces he's comfortable with. Honestly, logically shouldn't take too much from last night embarrassment. The team is shorthanded and coming off 2 OT games including the best win of the season was a clear trap game. But just throwing away a successful formula away and seeing the players you wanted to keep thrive on other winning teams is painful. I'm a big fan of THT and Lebron so I haven't lost hope but this is just an unpleasant team to watch
right; the manner in which some things have happened has been especially painful, but most of us were expecting something close to a break-even first 20 games, and that was before we knew lebron and our only two non-min, non-max players would be out for the entirety. no sense jumping to conclusions about how things will be, but since this is the wmc thread, yes, it's been pretty rough.
I’m sorry, but this is what you get when you sell out solid role players who play good defense for the flashy player who is overpaid, over hyped, doesn’t care about defense, seems to play brainless basketball for half a season, and never has learned to lead well. Injuries haven’t helped, but he was supposed to be the stop gap for when LeBron inevitably had to sit. Anyway, maybe hamster brain will figure it out by January. All I know is he gets paid waaaaay too much money and has been doing this for too many seasons now to not already have.
Blaming Westbrook for all the issues is ridiculous. Those same role players played like a lottery team on their own for long stretches last season. They ain't coming back. The Lakers will have a better record than the teams they all went to by the end of the season. Russ needs to make all the shots, have all the assists, grab most of the boards, have zero turnovers, make all the guys hit their open shots, play defense on all 5 positions, and call all the plays for Vogel...damn.
Hard to say...they stunk it up without Lebron too. Dennis didn't like how Vogel ran the offense, doubt he put up 38 points here. He had ample opportunities to do it last season.
This is what happens when Lebron comes to your team. He will get you a ring in the beginning because he knows how to get the initial player with him to put the team over the top (Bosh, Love, AD), but when it comes time to tinker around the edges after he wins, it falls apart and the team dies. This is our team for the next 2 years. There is nothing we can do to improve it. As Laker fans we like to think the minimum guys we sign aren't really minimum guys. They're really good players who want to play for the Lakers! Yeah. No. We won a ring with two stars. Brooklyn has 3 stars so we freak out and think we need to get a third to compete, and we trade (and let walk) virtually all our depth to get the poor fitting star (and calling Smushbrook a star is questionable). Our last 6 rings were won with two stars and great role players. When one of your stars is the best player in the game (Kobe, Shaq, Lebron), you only need 2.
Yeah BUT Lebron James has been to the Finals 9 straight times when he has been healthy going into the Playoffs. 9 straight...I can live with all the tinkering this dude feels needs to be done. Maybe he knows what it takes? I'm pretty convinced that he isn't tinkering with the idea the HE., is going to be the key factor in the equation. This season is no different, I'll wait until the playoffs to judge whether he got it right or wrong.
he only put up 38 because the C Bags are without brown. he hasn't been that great this season anyways i don't think last year's team would be doing any better so far this season. they couldn't win without lebron either, and guys like kuzma and harrell wouldn't be playing the way they are right now if they were still lakers
No, he just needs to do his job and lead the team to wins against bad teams while LeBron is out. That what happens when you get paid huge money- you are expected to perform.
