Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

We've beat #2 Denver and #4 Pelicans in the West and #7 in the East, Brooklyn. All of those were prior to us picking it up the previous 6 games, notably AD. I think we have seen Walker and Reaves as well as Bryant, Brown, and even Gabriel all growing a bit. Reaves is just an anomaly, like he's been in this league 7-8 years and Walker is showing a game no one saw in SA, he was squirrelly and athletic as hell but he didn't score like this. Hats off to Rob or whoever scouted him. Clearly, Russ has settled into a useful and effective role for us and Lebron is showing he's getting his game back posting 39 & 11 with 7-12 3pt shooting with AD out and grabbing a win. That's Steph Curry on a mega-night right there. Big-time growing pains on the team first dozen games but at least we had a lot of room for growth. Still think this roster just does not have enough core player depth to pull off major accomplishments but again, we are waiting on that move Rob.

 

I have a cheap year subscription to The Athletic but an add showed up in my email a short time ago this afternoon saying, “Deal of the Year”. $1 a month for 1 year and ends today, if anyone’s interested. And if legit.

 

I actually think Hield could be made to play a little better D with a coach like Ham and I also don't think you need to cover his D so much in that unit because AD can come out on wings, especially big wings, with Turner taking care of the rim. Buddy could be a serviceable defender on guards @ 6'4" with a 6'9" wing span and Austin is almost 6'6" (6.5.75) and has fast hands and that's a huge frontcourt that is nimble and switchable as far as AD and LBJ. Just the thought of AD coming over as a secondary to help Turner with blocks. I don't want a piece of that, and I don't know who does.

 

Actually Austin is closer, measured at the combine, to 6’7” than 6’6” …. and looks it on the court. They had him 6’6.75”.

 

nbadraft.net lists him @
Austin Reaves - NBADraft.net
https://www.nbadraft.net › players › austin-reaves

Notes: Measured: 6'4.5” barefoot, 6'5.75” in shoes, 8'5.0” standing reach, 197.2 lbs, 6'6.25” wingspan …

 

A PG lineup of Beverly and Dennis just ain't gonna cut it period. This only means that Lebron goes back to being our primary facilitator. That is not a good look besides, Hield makes more than Turner (20 mil plus) and Myles wants a 20-25 million dollar contract next season. He and Buddy Hield is not going to work for us financially. Last season we had 3 pt shooters that couldn't defend, and Buddy is about as bad as Monk and Melo, we should focus on Turner. I don't think we need anymore "shooters ", especially one making 20 million plus. Turner is an almost perfect fit next to Anthony tho. He doesn't really require a lot of shots, even if he goes off on occasion, he'll go the next few games with only a handful of attempts. However he plays high level defense on most nights.

 

Austin isn't height challenged at all, honestly...I really haven't seen this lack of height thing being some kind of a big deal. Taller guys have problems keeping up with smaller players too. I saw a stat in our last game, saying that the Lakers have the 3rd tallest team in the NBA! Imagine that lol.

 

Yeah I went back looking and think I was mis-rembering. These were the measurements I saw and commented on that he was actually closer to 6’6” because everyone was calling him 6’5” last year. Definitely looks taller than that.

 

What's weirdest about him is his lack of wingspan, it's barely longer than his height yet he gets his damn hands into everything. Goes to show that it can also be more about positioning your feet and torso than just arms. Alex Caruso has exactly the same wing span, is 1/2" shorter assuming the 6'4" measurement is without shoes. Similar style defender, Reaves is a better offense player though, his ability to draw fouls alone puts him ahead of Caruso. The last 9 games Austin is averaging almost 4 FTA per game and making 92.2%

All NBA heights are supposed to be barefoot since the covid season per an NBA directive. Some were taken before hand though and have not been updated.

 

Now has played in a total of 44.5% of all possible regular season games in the last 6 seasons (counting this one).

I'm not 100% sure but I believe it is the worst 5-6 year span of any active player in the NBA. Generally, you just won't get picked up by anyone after that long. And no, Hordon Gayward played in a higher % of games the past 5-6 years, but for those still thinking of signing him, note that he has missed 10 games this year and will likely be out a looooong time (fractured shoulder).

 

isn't Hayward already done for the season?

 

shoulder fracture, so decent chance? though i thought i saw it as week-to-week?

anyway, he's injury prone but kawhi is a foundational piece.

 

Hornets list him as week to week but his wife said they (as in doctors) discovered a fracture which the Hornets had him play on and her point was that there was clearly something wrong with him when they did that. So who knows at this point, it's a fracture so it won't be a short period it just depends how much blood that section gets to it which I imagine is much more than a knee etc. But he is damaged goods and super injury prone so from a trade perspective, even later in the season and after a full recovery, absolutely not.


MJ says: "Get that white boy's a$$ out the there on the court".

 

Your best case scenario is beating the Blazers and going 4-2 on this road trip.

 

after the indy loss, you could knock me over with a feather if the lakers go 5-2 over their next 7. that game was important and sort of telling.

oh wait, i'm in the optimism thread.

umm...AD looks great again, and that's encouraging for the next couple of years.

 

I do think that's the key takeaway thus far this season. AD is looking great and I think guys will want to play with him.