10/7 - Nuggets vs. Lakers PRESEASON GAME THREAD 7:30 PM

[ballaholick]

Robinson over Yi at this point. After two pre-season games. They can make it both; cut Swaggy instead.

I would cut brown, dude is trash, and Yi has a guaranteed contract

[Lost Angel]

i still want to see a Russell/Ingram/Deng/Randle/Nance line up

[dAdo dA dEvil]

Robinson over Yi at this point. After two pre-season games. They can make it both; cut Swaggy instead.

I would cut brown, dude is trash, and Yi has a guaranteed contract

At least Brown can D. And he is probably our best defender in the perimeter that's why we can't cut him yet at this point.

[larry14r]

Robinson over Yi at this point. After two pre-season games. They can make it both; cut Swaggy instead.

I would cut brown, dude is trash, and Yi has a guaranteed contract

So does Brown and Yi contact is not fully guaranteed so research before you start running your mouth.

[crazyeights]

This team is so much fun to watch. I feel like I've been oohin and ahhin all game haha.

I have seen a ton of progress at both ends with this team. Very pleased so far and still a huge amount of improvement to be had.

There's no reason this team can't be competing every night.

[tugs]

JC is so under control with his movements it's scary. It's like,

"Alright. I'mma set someone up for this possession."

"This is boring, I'll score next time."

I think he finally found, "The Switch".

[dockingsched]

While people are starting to hype up Denver just a tad, I saw a team out there that the Lakers have the potential of leap frogging in the standings.

[Kentavicius]

Zublocka >>>>> Jianlian

[Slava]

I still don't get what's so special about Mudiay. He is not a good finisher at the basket, doesn't draw too many fouls, has a horrific shot and doesn't atleast have the vision or defensive instincts a guy like Rubio has. Other than age there's really not much going for him.

I like Murray but as good a shooter as he is, he's a SG in a PG's body without PG skills or ability to guard SGs. Its going to be hard for them to round out a team with such flawed players.

[TyCobb]

Agree with Mudiay, but not with Murray. He has complete game. Very advanced for his age.

[The Skyhook]

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[lake_show]

Zublocka >>>>> Jianlian

Zublocka>Everyone

[lake_show]

This team is so much fun to watch right now. It's only been 2 preseason games, we still have a ton of learning and growing to do, and there will definitely be some tough times, but it's hard not to get excited about what we're seeing.

The Ingram, Nance, Black front court has been insane. So much defense. So much talent. Nance looks so improved this year. Shooting is still an issue (perimeter and FT shooting), but his defense and athleticism are no joke. Plus, you know he'll always be in the right spot and play the right way. Black on the other hand is beasting. I don't know if he's taking out all his pent up aggression from not playing at all last year or what, but he looks good.

Btw, to add on to what dock said... Denver is not better than us. They're projected to win 35 games this year. Who knows if they will or not, but anyone watching that game can tell you they aren't better than us. They're just not.

[ArC_man]

Our starters would be much better with JC in for Lou. Lou is flat out terrible on defense and completely kills the flow of our offense at times.

It's too bad Caldreon/Huertas + Lou would be by far the worst defensive back court combo in the league.

[SashaTheMachine]

Why does Yi always have to look down prior to shooting? Is he just making sure both his feet are behind the 3-point line? It's soooooo slow.

[Westbreezy]

Our starters would be much better with JC in for Lou. Lou is flat out terrible on defense and completely kills the flow of our offense at times.

It's too bad Caldreon/Huertas + Lou would be by far the worst defensive back court combo in the league.

Thats why I wish Bazemore would've accepted our offer

Would've been great start Russell-Bazemore-Ingram-Randle-Moz and then have Clarkson and Lou in as the backcourt off the bench

[TylersLakers]

I promised myself I wouldn't say this so early, but I'm sorry..

Timofey Mosgov:

A) I totally understand the new economics involving the jump in salary cap -- I'm probably one of the more advanced when it comes to knowledge about the cap. However, for a guy who was getting $5-6M a season under the old economics, that does not make him worth $16M under the new cap. We significantly overpayed for him, and that's not even a question. Which leads me to my next point..

B) "Well, if we didn't overpay to get him, we wouldn't have gotten him." Wrong. Dead wrong. We signed him to the contract so early on, we didn't even allow the market place to set itself. If we offered him $8-10M a season, and him and his agent said, "We like the money, but we're going to see what else comes up," then that's absolutely fine. Mitch can respond, "Sure no problem, if something else comes up, keep us informed." We don't need to land him at 12:01. If we land him 24 hours later, we still land "our" man and land him to a reasonable deal.

All this, anyways, is a moot point. The contract is signed, the ink has dried, and Mosgov is a Los Angeles Laker. I wasn't going to mention anything about the money until I established his worth and value to our team. And usually, 2 pre-season games isn't an effective and accurate judgement of someone's talent. However, in two games, here's what Mosgov is:

- An effective screener, which we knew.
- For a big guy, he does have some foot speed to him as far as rim runs. A positive: He doesn't fall down 3 times a game, ala Hibbert.

And outside of that, I can't think of anything else of worth that he's a positive asset at. Last night, every time the ball went to him in a post up situation, it was almost laughable how bad it looked. Forcing up bricks that had no rhythm or consistency to it. Doesn't have any sort of a go to post up move. In the half court, outside of setting screens, it doesn't look like there's anything else he can do. Terrible body language.

Defensively, he's a 7 foot tall body. Slow to react. No presence about him. I saw significantly more in Zubac's 3 minutes of PT than I've seen in Mozgov's 42 minutes worth of work this pre-season.

We really need Mosgov to at least be an above average to good player for us to a) have success and b) for him to justify the contract. For most C's, unless they're very young and in the early stages of their careers, you know what type of value they have and what type of player they are very shortly. Mosgov, folks, is not changing. Hopefully he does, but I seriously question it.

----------------

To the good: pretty much most of everything else. Randle's game was superb. Making early passes, making quick decisions, decisive, etc. Russell was fantastic. You can tell he takes that matchup against Mudiay very personally, regardless of pre-season or regular season. Clarkson just gets the game now, offensively and defensively. He was great coming off screens last night and knocking down shots -- which is one of the areas I wanted to see him improve at. Defensively, he's getting into guys and causing havoc. Larry Nance was excellent. I thought Lou Williams had a really good game.

You can really see the positivity and infectious energy about this group. Whether it's the guys on the bench, whether it's players on the court supporting Ingram, etc. Just beautiful to see.