Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

When did the optimism thread turn into the delusions thread?

Optimism: I love the KCP signing. I think it improves our team a good 3-4 wins. I think we are going to be fun to watch and upset some teams. I think we will be well on our way to showing PG-13 and Lord Lebroldemort we can contend with their help. We may win as many as 35 games this season.

Delusional: We will get into 40 win territory and make the playoffs.

 

We flew high there for a second

I don't believe we're going to jump 20 wins... That's a hell of a long way to go.

However, I do believe we're a better team (potentially much better) than we were last year. The big addition is Lopez who gives us a 20 ppg scoring option that we can rely on when the offense stagnates. I think people are underestimating Brook's impact and ability. We've skated by for four years with players who had the potential to score as efficiently as Brook. Think about the days when Russell or Randle would get hot, they were few and far between. Lopez is the best scorer we've had since Kobe in 2013 and it's not close. Losing D'Angelo may have cost a win or two, but I think Lopez brings all that back and then some.

Pope brings defense and explosiveness that we didn't have at all. He may not be as offensively gifted or diverse as Clarkson, but he's thrice the defender and Pope is a hell of a competitor. I honestly think if we strike out on guys in the summer, Pope could be a great re-sign. I think he adds a win or two.

Finally I believe our chemistry is already improving. I believe Ball and Ingram are going to have moments of genius out there. It's far too early to predict a giant leap for Ingram, but I do believe he takes a strong step forward. Just seeing him in Summer League score easily on these wannabe NBA players was nice, but it's actually the way he carried himself out there that impressed me. He was steely confident in everything he was doing. Last season even when he did something well, Brandon would often put his head down and just run back. He looked uncomfortable and young. Now, even though he's just 19, he seems like he's got a bead on where he wants to go and how to get there. I saw fire in him that we only got flashes of. Remember last season we were tanking. We would often sit guys who could win us games. We gave up on our veterans who probably honestly could have won a game or two just by steadying the kids through tough times. We at some points were starting guys like Ennis and Nwaba which should never happen on an NBA team. Add in Randle who I think is gearing up for a big year trying to get paid and prove himself as a valuable asset. I think there's at least a few wins in here.

All-in-all I've got us at around 30-35 wins again. That's a tall order in the West honestly and it'd put us somewhere in the 10-12 range which would be a respectable jump from where we were. The only thing that makes this so variable is our reliance on young guys. Ball will struggle sometimes. Ingram will struggle sometimes. A lot of our depth is young players, a lot of them are rookies even. This could swing down to 25 wins or it could swing up to 36-39 wins or so if one of the kids really looks like a star. Either way, it's going to be a better year than we had last year. I truly believe we're on the right track to something special here.

 

What's not there to be optimistic about.. Love this team and the future is bright

 

Buechler is a helluva assistant to have. Impressed. Never let up teaching, preaching and encouraging. That line "don't look at the score, keep playing like we're down fifteen"? Knute Rockne couldn't come up with a better line. Don't even know if we need the likes of Simon, Madsen, Mermaid..

 

Like it...but that is just freaky. Gotta be you and only you to post this.

 

Lonzo and Kuzma are so good. Looking forward to this season, I think we can make enough noise to attract big FAs next year.