All you negative nancies need to wake-up.

[snaquille oatmeal]

For me the topic people need to get a grip on is D'angelo Russell. Fans HAD to know that when the Lakers drafted him, it was going to be a long term project and not yield immediate gratification compared to a player with elite size or elite athleticism that is immediately transferrable to the NBA. What Russell brings takes time to adjust to the NBA. Now that reality is setting in, fans are acting totally unprepared for the long term nature of this rebuild and throwing Russell under the bus already.

Don't even want to get into people during game threads apparently watching a different game than I am cause to me Russell shows a ton of promise every time he handles the ball, but others just aren't seeing it for whatever reason.

Dock, love ya bro, but wasn't this the exact same opposite arguments when we drafted Bynum?

Phil didn't believe in playing rookies.

Lakers fans at realgm often posted the theory that bigs need more time to develop than PGs. Phil Jackson had nothing to do with this line of thinking.

[gts1]

Dock, love ya bro, but wasn't this the exact same opposite arguments when we drafted Bynum?

Phil didn't believe in playing rookies.

Lakers fans at realgm often posted the theory that bigs need more time to develop than PGs. Phil Jackson had nothing to do with this line of thinking.

There's a lot of data that shows PGs take the longest to develop... that being said in Bynum's case the problem wasn't his age per se but his total lack of basketball experience.. He took up the game much later in life than your average player that makes it to the NBA and really had a steep learning curve because of that...

[Jody Smokz]

What evidence do we have of this? Just b/c thing A happened doesn't mean thing B caused it. If anything thing A was going to happen regardless of thing B. Thing A being CP3 being one of the best PGs ever and Kyrie becoming a beast. I honestly think Kyrie would probably have been better not being coached by Byron.

Byron Scott is going to going to be a terrible coach in a million ways and make me furious, but the one thing he does really well is set young guys up for a bright future.

I would rather see Black and Kelly than Bass and Kelly, though... I feel like Byron is trying to make it up to Brandon for being an ass to him when he came into the league.

our big water mark this year will be a late stretch of great games with chemistry that is lead by the young guys.

[TylersLakers]

I would just like to see some small adjustments.

1) No more Ryan Kelly -- Waive or trade him. He's not hitting outside shots and he's even worse than Derek Fisher when it comes to driving to the basket. How he's getting playing time over someone like Nance or more minutes for Randle or even someone like Artest makes absolutely no sense. If Ryan Kelly is not hitting 40% from three he's absolutely useless on the court. And right now, he's no where close to 40% from three. I believe he's worse than Kobe when it comes to his three point percentage. At least Artest would bring an energy and toughness aspect. Ryan Kelly just fumbles and bumbles his way around the court and for every one good play he makes, there's usually about 4 or 5 bad plays mixed in.

2) Adjust rotations -- Kobe should be the only player on a minute restriction right now. Kobe should always come out at the 4 or 5 minute mark. As far as Randle/Russell, if they have it going, do NOT pull them out. We pulled Randle last night with about 4 minutes left in the first quarter after he almost single handedly got it down to a single digit lead. He came out, in came Ryan Kelly (see point above) and the lead expanded for Dallas. Same thing with Russell in the second (or third) quarter. He nailed a few shots, started getting some confidence, and he was taken out.

As far as Kobe's struggles -- there's some three point attempts that he doesn't need to take but hopefully he gets his shot back. We need it.

[Danny Darko]

What evidence do we have of this? Just b/c thing A happened doesn't mean thing B caused it. If anything thing A was going to happen regardless of thing B. Thing A being CP3 being one of the best PGs ever and Kyrie becoming a beast. I honestly think Kyrie would probably have been better not being coached by Byron.

Byron Scott is going to going to be a terrible coach in a million ways and make me furious, but the one thing he does really well is set young guys up for a bright future.

I would rather see Black and Kelly than Bass and Kelly, though... I feel like Byron is trying to make it up to Brandon for being an ass to him when he came into the league.

our big water mark this year will be a late stretch of great games with chemistry that is lead by the young guys.

I've seen the impact he's had on guys careers and have seen lots of comparisons, further more those guys point to him and the affect he had on them. You don't see young guys ever ever ever say those things about Phil or Pringles. Those two would rather have rookies learn on the bench and do not like to foster those guys. You can find many articles where players cite Byron's positive impact on their development.

You can make the same kind of argument about Phil and rings (is he a good coach or did he have the best players?) But arguing that he's not a good coach still won't get the next coach 11 titles to their name. The fact is at some point you have to just be paying attention and I feel like there is ample evidence Byron is good for the mentality of young players. Clarkson was terrible at the beginning of last year, he's also clearly self-motivated, but he's a legit player with an attitude that looks very consistent with the kind of mind sets and prep that many other Scott players have been successful with.

Do you have any evidence to the contrary?

[LakersLegacy]

We just need to hire thibbs and can Scott. The roster isn't that bad. If not we will probably give the 76ers the 4th pick.

I want to see some d, not the lakers give up the most points in the league w a good defender like Hibbert doing his best. Our young cores defense is awful and I blame Scott.

[gts1]

We just need to hire thibbs and can Scott. The roster isn't that bad. If not we will probably give the 76ers the 4th pick.

I want to see some d, not the lakers give up the most points in the league w a good defender like Hibbert doing his best. Our young cores defense is awful and I blame Scott.

no thanks.. Thibs will just run the players into the ground and butt heads with anyone who disagrees

[Laker_Kid]

Its still early in the season, but this is an on-going process in itself also. accept it, we are rebuilding and there is no easy way out. just enjoy he moment because we rarely go through this phase. :p

Starting with the obvious:

Russell - wanted Okafor but really, i'm just glad we didn't lose the pick and quite thankful we even jumped up a couple of spots. i support the pick 100% and believe he will be a special player for years to come. the expectations is too high but you can see the improvement in him every game. it will take time.

Clarkson - what a steal. has tunnel vision sometimes and can be annoyingly quick to pull the trigger, but the kid can score. offense is no problem, but if he improves on defense and even on playmaking, he'd be a complete player. knowing his work ethic, he should be able to if he really wanted.

Randle - simple: BEAST. this guy is going to be scary good once he gets it together. but he is still a work in progress. we know he can muscle his way on the post and through drives. the jumpshot is looking good as well. but still a long long way to go. he has some tendencies i dont like, for example: not giving the ball up to fhe guards, forcing too much, not setting up solid screens, etc. But i'm pretty sure such issues can be corrected as he gains experience.

Supporting cast:

Hibbert - I have a strong feeling he likes LA and will probably reup with us. I like what he brings to the team despite his shortcomings.

Williams - yeah i know he's a chucker too, but once Kobe retires and Nick is booted, he'd have greenest green light to do what he does best off the bench.

Question marks:

Nance - he is a project with no real specialty except for defense and athleticism. Hopefully he develops a jumpshot or a post play of sorts to go along with his defensive abilities.

Brown - hopefully he can be that 3 and D guy we sorely need. doesnt need to be Battier or Bowen good, but just try to get as close as possible.

Bass - we know he is a solid player. but i haven't seen it yet since he doned the purple and gold. can't blame him though, he 's been playing out of position.

Black - i actually like this dude. very strong and hustles, but i fear that it's all he'd be good for (low ceiling)

Upshaw - i like his potential. but that's all he has for now. aside from shot-blocking/defense. dude looked a step behind everyone. will need to improve conditioning and a lot of time and experience before he can contribute. still hoping the Lakers nurture him and give him a chance someday.

Everyone else can go. i wouldn't be sad to lose any of the question marks, except for Nance maybe. But that's how it stands for now personally