Analytical Breakdown Of Wins For Next Season

Chris Broussard will break the story of the Lakers fan rampaging at the mall

 

Now that's a win-win.

 

Fair and reasonable assessment.

If the season started in March we would be a 40 win team maybe. It will take that long to see what we have in the youngsters.

Kobe has done some things thought nearly impossible before. Father time is undefeated but he hasn't met Kobe yet. Seriously, If Kobe can stay healthy and play within himself he could have a pretty good year and we could get into the mid 30's in wins. If he gets injured early and misses significant time it could get ugly quick again.

 

Rarely mentioned (of course acknowledged) in that assessment is that all of our talented back court players (mainly guards) if they are hungry, have the one of a kind in the history of the NBA...... "Mind Meld of Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash" hands on teaching them. I believe Russell when he talks. He will be a sponge. He will be amazing sooner than many project, IMO. Clarkson, I learned from that last article, which was really good, that I happened to post ..... is driven in that same way as the great ones. It seems! Jabari? This guy is on the ride of his life playing with his collegiate running mate for the Los Angeles Lakers. Others here have to be excited about Bryant and Nash teaching even with Byron's low expectations.

Any other back court players..... come on in.... if you're interested.

 

Kobe is and has been a lot of things but a patient teacher of NBA youth isn't one of them. He's a "follow me or out of my way" leader and not much for anyone who doesn't leave it all on the court. Just ask Howard.

Talking a good game is one thing but if you've watched Kobe over the years he's not talked as much in 20 years as Russell and Randle have since July 1st. They have a lot of learning to do and both have a ton of pressure on them that even Kobe didn't have. So color me skeptical until proven otherwise with them. Not to say they won't be good/great players but to say that expecting it this year is right up there with the 50 Win prediction.

 

By "young" I wasn't really throwing Jordan into that group we all saw him last year. I know 23 is "young" but not that young in the NBA especially when you've actually started in the NBA. NBA young is 19-22 in this case is never had much NBA PT or started. But yes I am mostly tagging Russell here as he's expected to carry some responsibility.

 

Bonk
Well it's a fact Kobe has been helpful to Clarkson already, and Randle, likely pre-injury and certainly post injury, mind set and rehab. Nash working with Clarkson last year and pre-Summer league this year is documented, with more sessions planned. Most assuredly Russell too, plus Russell virtually said he hoped for on the job training from Kobe in the most sincere way he could say it. Howard wasn't near worthy of "the Torch". Among these 3 there are worthy possibilities. I fully expect Kobe to recognize the opportunity. I think he will embrace it if he feels it is deserved from one or more of them.

 

This will be a season of adjustment for Russell. He will start off weak and I see his game coming on after the all-star break. Boards will be filled with comments about picking Russell instead of Oakfor. We should make a sold run and build some wins after the break. A 30 - 35 win season with the development of chemistry and team play will be considered a great success.

 

I think we were considering Ty Lawson for a reason. We'd prefer him not to start and carry the burden of running the team at such a young age. Keep him strong, rested, hungry, and most of the responsibility off of him til he could handle it. He's not ready to compete with fully grown men for 4 games in 5 nights yet. We all know this.

while Ty wasn't necessarily a great fit, he had talent and would make it justifiable to keep Russell number two on the depth chart for awhile to develop. He doesn't need the spotlight on him right now, or responsibility for wins and losses.

Mitch will probably be bringing in another backcourt player yet. Either a one or a three since Clarkson can float from 1-2, and Kobe can go from 2-3.

 

Interestingly enough, Lawson only has 2 years left on his deal; so presumably, Russell would have had 2 years of learning, getting stronger, and mentally adapting to the game by his 3rd year; all the while with Lawson, you can win games right now without putting too much pressure on the young core that we're developing.

While that didn't happen, I'd still expect Mitch to be at work this season trying to improve this team. This team is currently constructed as at a mid-30's squad. I think we need one more impact player to push that needle to make 40 wins or more; it might even be 2 moves that get us there. While I would be happy with 34-37 wins, I'm spoiled. I want 40-45 so that free agents look at us as a team on the rise again.

A star player can see himself taking a 40-45 win team to a 50-win team, IMO. That's when we start to turn the corner w/free agents; when they see us getting back to a level of competitiveness and the appeal of living in Los Angeles, the brand of the Lakers, Hollywood, all start to come together. One can't be apart from one another; there's nothing like winning in Los Angeles.

 

Next year everyone is going to have money. Teams winning 55 will have money. If a guy is truly looking to move to win then he won't come here unless he gets shut out elsewhere.

I think our rebuilding will go on for 3 to 5 more years unfortunately. We are starting from basically zero. We have some good prospects but there is a real possibility that when Kobe retires we take a step back as we will have lost the one true "alpa" on this team. All the youngsters need to be at the top of even the most optimistic expectations to keep this moving forward.

Broken record here, but I just don't see the management building with nice middle level acquisitions on 3 to 5 year deals until they have a new "face of the franchise" in place. Based on the last few years of trying that seems nearly impossible without being "relevant" on the court and that is at least a couple years away unless there is some huge leaps by the youngsters and a team that has never played together plays at a very high level.