Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

We’re starting to gel plus play better defense, with LeBron playing like we need, and everyone’s healthy …. we can get it hopefully whether he plays or not. And Luka back in MVP mode.

 

where's this defense been? i've pissed and moaned all year about the fact that not only do we have bad defensive personnel, we also seemed to just...not are about it. they're telling on themselves. which, i guess, better late than never, but had we done this all year, we'd have the three seed locked up right now and not be a sprained ankle away from play-in fears.

oh wait...optimism...i didn't think we'd get 2 of the 3 games with den/hou, and we already got them!

 

^^^
https://twitter.com/purpgolded/status/2033771124388204934?s=46&t=VpASWooOp-c0BfbMzXjnIw

 

Yes we are

High expectations always

It's the Lakers way...

 

I actually think it might be by design

Like maybe this team knew they could close out the season strong and just played good enough to preserve themselves. Lakers are 3rd in the seeding right now. If they played great defense with maximum effort all season long, maybe they're the 2nd seed? Probably, or probably not, but 3rd seed is more than what anyone could expect considering the injuries without risking a significant toll on their body all season long.

playoffs, everyone is 0-0. they can put maximum effort there instead of getting an extra 5-10 wins that won't do much for them at this moment.

 

Maybe because this team isn’t deep enough to sustain this type of effort over a full season. I don’t think they’ll be able to sustain this effort for even half a season which is what they have left including playoffs.Just not deep enough IMO

 

yeah...i sorta see it, but why not just play harder for fewer minutes? the defense is clearly an effort issue, imo. we didn't get new players or dramatically alter strategy. it's just...caring.

i'm also a big believer in habit development. i think that that one shaq/kobe team somehow created this idea that you can just sort of turn it on in the playoffs, and i feel like there are very few examples of this. the teams with the best records in the regular season tend to win the ring for a reason. people point to teams with the very best not always winning, but this isn't a convincing argument to me. average number of regular season wins for nba champions is 61.

 

Of course there is always the 1978 Washington Bullets who went 44-38 in the regular season. Undersized center in Wes Unseld. They did have Bob Dandridge and Elvin Hayes. But dang, crappy record and still won a ring.

 

Good pull

 

Will take your word for it thanks for the number. Would "imagine" in most cases those teams had at least decent health getting there, with no long absences 3 weeks or longer of key/best players. Health ALWAYS being a crap shoot in the NBA with s*** happens injuries. Compared to the first 2/3 of the Lakers' season this year. I still maintain, not addressed to you, that this isn't the mismatched, cluster bleep of a roster put together, in a vacuum no less, by inept Rob Pelinka (for his haters everywhere on line) ..... when everyone is healthy and had a chance to finally get to play together for an extended period of time.

 

we were never as bad as the rob haters insisted, and we're not as good as the current win streak suggests.

the roster is good but has flaws (not enough two-way guys around the stars is a big part of it). we can beat any of den/hou/min (could also lose to them), but it would take some luck to beat okc or SAS. we can beat any eastern team. that's a pretty solid team, right? we're just not the presumptive favorite like most laker fans would prefer.

 

Wow that’s strange, I didn’t know we had a realism thread?

OKC, KFC, KGB… Lakers in 5. Wembenyama, AI Llama, Benihana’s… Lakers in 5.

 

s***...i forgot where i was.

lebron's the GOAT; luka's had as strong a star to his career as lebron; reaves would be the best third fiddle in nba history by the numbers.

EVERYONE ELSE IS THE UNDERDOG!

 

They only had Elvin Hayes. hahahahha. And Wes Unseld whom is the only ROY & MVP in the same year with Wilt.

 

There we go! Lakers in 5!

 

I don't think the Lakers are the favorites but I can bet OKC/Spurs do NOT want to face the Lakers or Nuggets.

Everyone else, I think OKC/Spurs would face gladly.

Another thing about OKC is they're a great team but I have difficulty seeing how the Pacers were able to take them to 7 games and Haliburton was injured. They're not some unbeatable team that is way above everyone else, IMO. Denver also took them to 7 games last season.

Lakers last year just didn't have a quality center, no defensive glue guy like Smart with exceptional playoffs experience and grit, and a very thin playoffs rotation. I mean, for the entire series against the Wolves, their only center, Hayes, played 32 minutes. The rest was LeBron/Rui. Zero chance LeBron/Rui can guard Randle, Naz, and Gobert in the series.

This season, you have Ayton, Smart, Kennard, and LaRavia as role players.

Last year, it was just DFS who could give you decent minutes.

Much deeper roster.

 

Hayes too. Much improved player with the extra 10-15lbs and effort every game.