The Lakers were not the same at the end of the year as they were at the beginning of the year. And Lebron and AD are still with the team and not injured.
Yeah, I'm not sure how some people can imagine a Lebron/AD less (or one of the two) Lakers squad is nothing else than lottery team. Reaves is OK but not a first or even second option on contending team... They barely even made the POs last year and the fact they reached the WCF is a testament to the West overall mediocrity.
The Lakers were not the same at the end of the year as they were at the beginning of the year. And Lebron and AD are still with the team and not injured.
That won't last. LeBron's last 3 seasons games played: 55,56,45. AD's last 3 seasons games played: 56,40,36.
Lakers can certainly turn it around, but like ex said their two stars are made of glass. It's a lot to claim they had a great end of the season when they were unimpressive in the playoffs. They somehow dropped two games against a Morant-less Grizzlies and two games against a toothless Warriors team.
I'm looking back at the WC playoff results. It's hard to be impressed by the conference. Nothing against Denver, but they were the only team in the entire playoffs who looked ready to go and did their job. I still can't get over how they only won 53 games in the regular season.
I think we can make the play in. I'm low key hoping they low key tank the season and use it as developmental especially for Wemby and his body. Tank and we should get another chance at another top 4 draft pick. We build through the draft usually and I don't see Wemby's no.2 running mate on this squad as it stands. Another season of sucking to get Wemby's body more ready and his potential career running mate will be well worth it. We have some solid wings who'll continue to grow. Collins and Jones are ok but the C and PG spots need upgrading before Wemby's prime.
Last edited by Russo21; 09-24-2023 at 06:13 AM.
Portland, who finished last year at 33-49, and #5 in the pre lottery standings, might be the model.
Went beyond those 2 though to when they brought in some guys that filled out their needs better. And Reaves started to flourish with more ball handling opportunities.
They'll be top 5 this year. Could be top 2 if injuries don't ravage them.
That’s like saying the Beautiful game would have thrived with T,T, and M playing 40-50 games each, because Boris, Patty, and Beli could carry the load.
The Lakers will go only as far as Bron and AD take them. Everyone else is a support piece who’s success is in playing off those two.
^ Yeah, in the playoffs. Again, the topic here is making the play-in.
The Lakers appeared in the process of morphing into the "beautiful game" Spurs, not in terms of aesthetics, but the way they functioned (less star centric) after their trade deadline shakeup.
Except in their case they had a really good record with Bron on the bench.
13-14 isn’t really good. If you’re going to drop a statement like that, you’ll need to bring receipts.
Not being dominant with two players and spreading the shots is not the beautiful game. It just means they're depending on role players more. The beautiful game was driving and kicking and moving the ball. The Lakers were just as iso-dependent as they ever were.
And LOL at calling the Lakers a top 5 team in the league much less top 2. Man you guys need to turn off the ESPN.
With Kevin Tran in uniform I'm feeling much more confident about our chances this year.
the dejounte led play in team won 34 games and landed as the 10 seed
core of young players is now more complete, 2 way franchise cornerstone in wemby. I'd be inclined to think that 34 win mark is closer to their floor than it is their ceiling and I think play in should be the expectation.
spurs over/under is set at 29.5
free money!
I don't want the Spurs to tank this season, and I don't think they will. I think they would be better suited at trying to get the best out of everyone and letting the chips fall where they may be. They won't get a good understading of what they have with Wemby or his teammates or the direction they need to head if they don't try and maximize every opportunity and try to win every game.
O/U is set so that bets come down even on both sides, so you're hedging on the dumb as rocks general public and a load of casuals being right.
What a ed up world where people look at betting lines set out by Vegas as any sort of thing to pay attention to. They're not Greek Oracles, they want your money.
idk if it was just an observation being made or a counter but either way if i was a betting man....
The league doesn't stay static and that team had two of the best and then most underrated role players in the league, in White and Poeltl.
People keep acting as if the Spurs youth will collectively show linear progression, but somehow none of the other bad teams will.
vegas must have made a killing off of spurstalk last year
i guess we'll find out
to be fair, Vegas would’ve known we were tanking, meanwhile ST is blindsided by trading Josh Richardson and Poetl.
They make a bunch out of optimistic fans betting on their own team, which you should never do.
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