WMC 24-25: Seasonal Highs And Lows!

Are you lost, FOJ22?

 

All I want for Christmas is for us to blowout a team at least once this season

 

Nah Rob could have just asked Kurt to have Linda put her foot down in his behalf. The real juice in the organization below Jeanie.

 

Yup- wrong section, indeed!

 

Barely get a win at home against a lowly Pistons team. Hey, we're lowly too, but just look at our payroll!

Avery, 'Melo, Ellington, Monk, and THT: a combined 2 for 18 from downtown.

It was a win but this team is still pug-fugly. Especially on D.

 

The big 3 really got nothing out of the supporting cast. DJ chipped in a couple buckets during the run, THT sprinkled in a little here and there but everyone else did NOTHING. I don't blame Melo, Vogel shouldn't have played him the entire game + 3 OTs less than 48 hours earlier.

The inability to put anyone away is maddening. I don't get it. Even bad teams put teams away once in awhile.

 

in fairness, they're usually putting us away.

pretty much my thoughts. i expected some schematic difficulties and some miscommunications on both ends that would lead to losses. i didn't expect our primary guys to simply not care about winning basketball games.

 

Yeah. Darius nailed it.

 

The entire league is average outside of Golden State and Phoenix right now IMO. A decent win streak and we are at least 3rd in the Conference. I want to win every game too, but I'm being realistic. Almost the entire team has flipped, and a lot of it has missed a big chunk of the season. I look around the NBA and see a bunch of playoff teams, returning most of their squads and they are struggling too. The positives that I'm seeing are 1. AD doesn't have any Achilles issues. That was my big concern, I expected him to be spotty out of the gate because I imagine that he didn't do much on court work during the off-season. He also has to adjust to a bunch of new teammates . 2. Lebron is still Lebron even if the stamina isn't what it used to be. I can live with that..we added another elite player. 3. Russ is starting to settle in and get comfortable. I said that it takes him a minute to get going, especially lately. He also has to adjust to a whole new group of teammates, and most of them have never played together.

More good on the horizon IMO, I won't even bother to bring up the role players. They will fit in as the big 3 develop their chemistry more, as they play more games together. We ain't great or good at the moment, but the ship is far from sinking IMO.

 

22 (of the easiest) games into the season and we've beaten one team by 10 points. Our victories feel like losses, and watching feels like a chore. I want to rip my hair our watching these guys play defense (see, lack thereof).

Help me Obi-Wan K'Ariza, you're my only hope.

 

@Slick2021 …. site must need a better trail map. You’re clearly lost too.

But yeah!! Just don’t push your luck Frank and have another hideous loss and get yourself fired before you guys go on a nice win streak and start looking like a g-damn contending NBA team.

 

Agh. Right...I should cut and paste...I'm still new around here.LOL..

 

So...Frank better tighten up and figure out how to manage the entire game. Or someone else is going to come in and reap the benefits of what I posted. It's bad enough to get fired, it's an even worse look, to see your team blow up, and be looking like a monster a couple of months later.

 

Got it Frank?

 

They refuse to box out- it’s as simple as that.

 

I hated the Westbrook trade and still don't like it but I get what they were trying to do both Lebron/AD and management. You needed a guy who can reduce the workload on those two particularly Lebron as he gets older. I can scream about terrible fit and even when he plays well his reverse gravity causes problems that you see more clearly on film than in live action but that wouldn't change the fact that last 2 years teams were statistically and record-wise very good when healthy was very much Lebron dependent.

The issue right now is that taking the trade into account; letting AC go and not going after another minimum guy to be a 3 point shooting big wing like Porter really sticks out.
THT is getting there as a 2 way guy but he's only 20 and then Monk/Nunn/Ellington are either bad on D or small on D or both. That left to an emergency signing of Bradley whose been bad and still no one with size.

Flipping Nunn and a couple of million in luxury tax for Caruso and signing Porter to a minimum would have done this team a world of good and fix a lot of the problems created by the Westbrook trade. May still workout but you have to hope Ariza stays healthy, THT continue to progress, and Reaves is able to take all of Bradley's: that's a lot of what if's there that have to fall the Lakers way.

 

It would be ideal if this was college and Frank could simply play the best players and not be hampered by the politics of every decision. As a for instance .... because of his size and his effectiveness and fundamentals on defense and offense and the fact he looks to be one of the best pure shooters on the team, a good ball handler and passer and playmaker and intelligent on the court .... starting the undrafted rookie Reaves (23 years old with 5 years of college experience) at the 2 guard over Ellington or THT and certainly over Bradley would seem to be the best possible choice. Doubtful that would happen. Hopefully as was happening prior to the hamstring issue, he does come back to giving him the most meaningful minutes through out games and in the 4th quarter in crunch time.