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think they did the best they could, given how half the season went.
The Skunker
2023
Both games at home, Cully? At home?
CROFLThread Giuseppe Koolaid_Man lakaluva history2b @culburn316 21_Blessings 21_ ings Killakobe81 Bynumite
Boiled down :::
Duncan : 5
the tired old bag Le : 4
Let us proceed....
think they did the best they could, given how half the season went.
The Skunker! smells like chicken
^ this. Still sucks tho
Also this series if anything heightens LeBron's legacy and heavily damages AD's. LeBron put up god-tier numbers, arguably one of the greatest post-seasons ever by a 38+ year old. It just wasn't enough because the Lakers outside of LeBron have been terrible for ages.
They are spinning like an overachievement that the Lakers reached the WCF given where they were just a few weeks before the playoffs began, however I think they underachieved all year and just begin to care late in the season when they realized they were going to make the playoffs. Anthony Davis and Lebron James on the floor at the same time, that should not end in them being swept by Denver.
AD doesn't really have much of a legacy to damage. He's an All Star game performer who doesn't bring it when it matters.
Right. As a talent, AD had the potential of an all timer. But he's merely been a pretty good, sometimes really good, player in his career outside a couple of great playoff performances in New Orleans against Portland in the first round. Definitely a second tier star. Reminds me a bit of Kevin Garnett, but KG was at least consistently leading those Minny teams to the playoffs, even if they never did anything.
I hate the Lakers and Lebron but damn they went above and beyond in the playoffs. Towards the end of the season I thought they'd miss out on the PO and be a middle of the pack team.
There are no moral victories. I mean, where the season started and the malaise of the Westbrook period, it was a season in which was up and down from Feb 9th. I wasn't delusional enough to think we'd win it all, but in a weird West, they made a nice run. When you biggest fear is seeing if your two best players will make it the 3 month sprint to the Finals w/o getting hurt, you're on thin ice. AD hasn't been consistent since 2020. Not that he was really halcyon back then either as he ebbed and flowed through the bubble run and ran roughshod over the youthful Nuggets team. Not winning Game 1/2 sunk the feel good story, but the franchise doesn't count WCF appearances. However, it was nice having relevant bball in April/May for a change.
Same could be said about the 2010 Spurs
The Laker residents of this website couldn't stop giving us over The Skunker for years, despite the fact that that was the worst Spurs team (50-32) in the entire Duncan era, so now I'm pushing in their own .
Do unto others as others do unto you. No mercy
Remember when the Lakers fans were saying AD was better than Duncan and Robinson?
Started 2-10. Had a 0.3% chance to even make the play-in.
Yeah, it sucks to see them get swept...but it was better than the alternative if we didn't trade det LA native
We move.
Lakers made some good moves that o my the lakers can make. Like trading away westbrick without giving up significant capital or getting rui for nothing. The other small market teams have to do it or they would be labelled as unreasonable.
My ideal Lakers offseason:
1) Re-sign Austin Reaves
2) Re-sign my pet cat Rui
3) S&T D'Lo/Beasley/#17 for Killa
4) Re-sign Mo Bamba (cheaply)
5) Execute Vando's option
6) Re-sign Dennis to back up Killa
7) Bring back Stanley Johnson
Then run it back. AD and Killa can dominate the regular season, making Bron a 3rd option. Bron can coast until the playoffs come back around.
Financially not possible to make all those moves and still sign Kyrie unless you think he’s signing with the Lakers for the MLE. , they couldn’t do all those things if Kyrie accepted just $20 million per. They’ll be hard pressed to keep just Reaves and sign Kyrie, even if they got rid of everybody else except LeBron and Davis. I guess we’ll see what considerations Kyrie and guys like Reaves and Rui are willing to make.
I think they’d be better off not even considering Kyrie. And then looking at cheaper options who may end up playing up with more minutes and playing with James, Davis. I think they need to add a cheap big to help defend the likes of Jokic, someone like Plumlee who has good knowledge of Joker. And they need a guard who can shoot and defend with some PG abilities. Someone like Coby White, who I’ve felt for a while could be a really good starter in the league if given the opportunity and more minutes.
It's interesting with the new salary cap structure -- teams are going to have to seriously think about who they want to invest in, because it's much easier to get punished for overpaying a player and getting "locked" into a contract where you simply cannot throw extra money at another guy because of cap restraints.
The only saving grace for these teams is that expirings are still highly coveted as a way to make cap room fast. But I wouldn't be surprised to see teams struggling with cap space, even as it increases. Mid/high level guys are still overpaid relative to their value on the team (since a young borderline all-star level guy can always go out and find someone to pay him the max if not close to it).
Someone like Rui, who showed a ton of promise and good range, should be able to command an impressive salary on the open market right now. Someone is going to take a potshot at him. The Lakers have bird rights but it'll still hurt them to pay him what he's going to get offered elsewhere.
I'm betting someone offers Rui a 3-4 year deal worth 55-70 million. A 25 year old potential breakout two way PF who can defend pretty well and hit shots is going to entice a lot of teams. I expect the Lakers will match it, but it might make it more difficult to go out and get other guys.
I don't ever want to hear AD being mentioned in Timmy's stratosphere ever again tbh
AD shouldn't be mentioned in the top 25 stratosphere. He's a perennial underperformer who had a few good seasons. Dude isn't even close to KG's level to say nothing of Timmy's.
AD is not Duncan or KG. But I don’t think it’s wrong or disrespectful to compare him to either of them, even if he is not necessarily in the same class. Sometimes, people look at accomplishments, specifically championships and team success, and make that a significant separater between players, when most of us basketball junkies know and acknowledge that championships not only don’t simply belong to the one individual star player, but it requires an entire team and organizational effort. That’s why Bulls fans lament the pre Phil and Scottie Bulls. That’s why some (I’d like to say most but haters gonna hate) fans understand why LeBron took his talents to South Beach. That’s why damn near every other starter on Russell Celtics also made it to the Hall of Fame. It’s not a one-on-one tournament. It’s a team game. Championships are a team accomplishment.
Fact is, based on talent and skill and natural gifts, Anthony Davis sits at the same table as Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. He doesn’t have the same team success as the franchise player, not the same MVP consideration or championship rings. But on just talent, he’s there. Championship pedigree, team success, sure, he gets moved down to the kiddie table. But as the franchise player, he was sleepwalking 28/12 and 2+ blocks. In the playoffs in New Orleans, he upped his production to 30 and 12 on 52%+ shooting. He was a stud. And then injuries and deferring to LeBron the last four years has gotten everyone thinking and saying he’s not that great. No, dude is still great. He’s just not Tim Duncan great, not even Kevin Garnett great. And that’s no shame.
mental midget and a china doll = NOT in TD or KG’s level
China doll is absolutely fair. Don’t agree that he’s a mental midget. Certainly not an alpha or a closer. And he can be inconsistent. But I don’t believe that makes him mentally soft.
Houston Rockets James Harden. Now that to me is a mental midget to a tee. Even as critical as people were of Tatum in game 3 for quitting, being mentally weak, game 7 of the Philly series and game 4 to stave off the sweep show that a player can have moments of both mental weakness and mental toughness. I’ve even seen Tim Duncan broken down and dejected in the playoffs before, multiple times. None of the greats have unblemished resumes. And none wear a Teflon vest.
????
He was visibly upset and dejected after missing the layup in Game 7 2013 at the end, but it's not like we got blown out or something, of the series or the game. It was just a horrifically frustrating way to end the one and only one opportunity to redeem ourselves from 6 and Duncan's miss over 6'7" Battier was the nail in the coffin.
The only other argument you can make is the three years in between 1999 and 2003 years where Duncan three years in a row lost in the playoffs, the first time being in street clothes with the bum knee, the second time I'll admit he was a bit embarrassed but the Spurs were way outmatched that year; and the third time again showed that the Spurs needed to make significant changes on the roster to beat LA. Duncan was great in '02 but couldn't do it literally by himself and it was painfully obvious by that point David Robinson was beyond finished as a #2 option.
Agreed. AD is in the Dirk/KG/Mailman/C-Webb tier.
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