Oh yes! Your prediction for next year.

karkinos · Post #81 » by **karkinos** » Sat Aug 9, 2014 1:07 pm

at best: 42-40. kobe has to play 76+ games this season for that to happen imo. he needs to be on the floor to push the intensity for everyone else. the lakers will be good enough to beat the bad teams down more consistently. i dont think we'll get swept against the top seeds of the west, and we can definitely sneak 1 or 2 games out of 4.

realistically though i wouldn't be surprised if we went 38-44. the west is just too stacked.

as far as reaching playoffs, the margin for error is simply too small for this lakers squad. 7th or 8th seed isn't impossible if we were in the east, but in the west you basically have to play like a t4 team in the east just to get in.

SAS, clips, OKC, portland, clippers are 55 W teams
houstin will probably make it unless there is some crazy drama between d12 and harden
memphis, while they certainly are a shell of their former selves, still won 50games last year
dallas is well balanced and well coached. another 50 w team
gsw is a high 40, low 50 w caliber team...it's really all about injuries for them. injury free, 50 easy.
phx is irked about last year so they will be making a strong push this year. they have a strong prospect in TJ warren if his game can translate from summer league to the NBA.

DEEP3CL · Post #82 » by **DEEP3CL** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:06 am

So tired of reading this "'west is loaded ".....the conference has had these high's before only to see it swing down some. People act as if some of these teams won't have some set back. I can say confidently that I see all the teams in the top 5 of the west peeling backwards some. No need for me to rehash what it will be or what teams they are. The whole summer told the story already.

SlimShady83 · Post #83 » by **SlimShady83** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:17 am

DEEP3CL wrote:So tired of reading this "'west is loaded ".....the conference has had these high's before only to see it swing down some. People act as if some of these teams won't have some set back. I can say confidently that I see all the teams in the top 5 of the west peeling backwards some. No need for me to rehash what it will be or what teams they are. The whole summer told the story already.

Here, Here ...

drivewayball · Post #84 » by **drivewayball** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:51 pm

Boozer will be a surprise operating under an offense that will be conducive to his game. 31 minutes, 18 pts. and 10 boards a game.

karkinos · Post #85 » by **karkinos** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 3:28 am

DEEP3CL wrote:So tired of reading this "'west is loaded ".....the conference has had these high's before only to see it swing down some. People act as if some of these teams won't have some set back. I can say confidently that I see all the teams in the top 5 of the west peeling backwards some. No need for me to rehash what it will be or what teams they are. The whole summer told the story already.

the lowest number of wins you can expect for the west 8th seed is probably 45 wins....and the lakers would have to have all the right pieces fall into place to even sniff 45.

DaddyCool19 · Post #86 » by **DaddyCool19** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:30 pm

34-38 wins.

Darren_Errman · Post #87 » by **Darren_Errman** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 12:44 am

cancer wrote:
DEEP3CL wrote:So tired of reading this "'west is loaded ".....the conference has had these high's before only to see it swing down some. People act as if some of these teams won't have some set back. I can say confidently that I see all the teams in the top 5 of the west peeling backwards some. No need for me to rehash what it will be or what teams they are. The whole summer told the story already.

the lowest number of wins you can expect for the west 8th seed is probably 45 wins....and the lakers would have to have all the right pieces fall into place to even sniff 45.

45 wins will be far short. I think this is the year 50 is needed to make 8th.

DEEP3CL · Post #88 » by **DEEP3CL** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 1:00 am

cancer wrote:
DEEP3CL wrote:So tired of reading this "'west is loaded ".....the conference has had these high's before only to see it swing down some. People act as if some of these teams won't have some set back. I can say confidently that I see all the teams in the top 5 of the west peeling backwards some. No need for me to rehash what it will be or what teams they are. The whole summer told the story already.

the lowest number of wins you can expect for the west 8th seed is probably 45 wins....and the lakers would have to have all the right pieces fall into place to even sniff 45.

You act as if it's some unattainable number. I know the west will be tough but I keep seeing guys assess this as if none of the other teams will have any issues. I'm here to tell you it's not going to be any easier for any of the last 8 teams to do the same thing. I can go into detail on what I see happening with each playoff team from last spring.

If guys here think that Golden St., Dallas, Portland, OKC, Clippers, Spurs, Memphis and Houston won't have problems then I don't know what to say for you. So that in a way cracks the door for the Lakers to at least beat out one of these teams. The Lakers are going to be more competitive than some people are led to believe. None of those 8 teams are perfectly built, each has a flaw just like the Lakers have a flaw. This is why you have to play the games. And it's not like the Lakers didn't beat any of those teams last season. The only team that threw a freebie was San Antonio.

Let's stop acting like we actually fielded a complete team last season, let's stop acting like injuries didn't wreck our season totally last season. We had over what close to 150 or more man game lost to injury ? If we cut that down to at least on 20-30 then that's damn good and gives us that competitive chance.

WCDYNASTY · Post #89 » by **WCDYNASTY** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 9:27 pm

I hope the Lakers play well, but if they miss playoffs I hope they end up with a top pick and draft Okafor. Randle and Okafor would be one heck of a big man duo!

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Post #90 » by **milesfides** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 10:01 pm

If the Lakers are healthy, I can see them as a 6th seed.

They will most definitely play better defense. Personnel and not having D'Antoni will do that.

Just by looking at position:

PG: Jeremy Lin has to be a net positive at the point, which will be a huge difference from PG's in the past
SG: Kobe, if healthy, will still post a healthy PER differential. If he can post an all-star differential, +8 or above, we're going to be great.
SF:Wes and Nick together should at least keep it even (Wes losing a bit to high usage SF's, Young scoring on backup SF)
PF: We're going to lose a bit here. Even if Kelly becomes a reliable stretch forward, he's just not going to get enough touches to offset his opponent; PF is a high-production position in the league. And Boozer won't help much either, he was a net negative last year and will probably be worse this year. Can't win at every position, but the key would be placing a player who maximizes his teammates' efficiency (that's Kelly), while bringing a high production PF off the bench who will get enough touches to produce (hopefully Randle).
C: Hill and Davis both posted +6, so that's going to be a position of strength for us.

It Clarkson and Randle hold their own, then we're in good shape.

Lin and Hill running the high p/r, Kobe punishing opposing 2-guards in the post, Wes and Kelly burning cheaters - that can be an extremely efficient offense.

Clarkson, X, Young, and Randle could be a high-powered bench if they play together and unselfishly. That's up to B-Scott.

There are many variables, everybody has a lot to prove, but Portland is a good example of what can happen when you have healthy players who are playing good ball together.

They went from 33 wins to 54.

KobeKenobi · Post #91 » by **KobeKenobi** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 7:52 am

I'm banking on Kerr destroying the golden state warriors. Klay is probably pssed off he was in trade discussions already.

Things can go bad for Houston. Their locker room is already a mess and the season hasn't even started. Look for them to not make the post season.

As for the grizzlies...Zach is declining...they won't be that good.

We are going to sneak into the 5th seed best case scenario or get the 6th to 8th seed.

SlimShady83 · Post #92 » by **SlimShady83** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 9:52 am

Not to go off topic too much, but since it's my thread

anything goes for me haha.

With the team we have next year, who do you guys wish to see in the 1st round the most?

cw3k · Post #93 » by **cw3k** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:47 pm

Would love to see LAL vs LAC.

Will take a miracle to take out LAC.

AdonisDeMarion · Post #94 » by **AdonisDeMarion** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 4:09 pm

We can get the 5th seed, everyone is acting as if the Lakers will be the only team that will have injured players and other teams will have all the luck and health on their sides. I'm sick of it, anything can happen.

Houston will struggle this season. Harden and James are nice players but when you have nothing around your stars you'll be licking to survive the West. I can see him missing the post season together

Golden State can go either way and with Bogut and Curry subject to injury anything can happen

Memphis is a solid team don't sleep on them at all, adding Carter only makes them better now they have a guy take can create his own shot or for others, plus he brings 3 point shooting

Portland has a great starting five but if the bench is not so much to look at, if Blake and Kaman can produce it would change the make up this team, depth was this team's only problem.

Dallas looks great on offense but the other side is what could hurt them, Chandler can only do so much. The point guard spot is much weaker now. Jose was a great floor leader. Defence will be a problem, but if Chandler goes down so will the team, no disrespect to Dirk at all

OKC struggles with teams with power players in the post(see Memphis match up 2014), this team did nothing to improve their post offense and will still depend on Durant and Westbrook to do everything as always.

LAC should Improve off last season, with a new owner in place I feel it will help them out more. I still see the front court only issue. Hawes and Davis aren't the best rim protectors

San Antonio only added players that fit their system and got their guys to return and sit out this summer, this is the last team I want to see until the conference finals

guest81 · Post #95 » by **guest81** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 5:41 pm

AdonisDeMarion wrote:We can get the 5th seed, everyone is acting as if the Lakers will be the only team that will have injured players and other teams will have all the luck and health on their sides. I'm sick of it, anything can happen.

Houston will struggle this season. Harden and James are nice players but when you have nothing around your stars you'll be licking to survive the West. I can see him missing the post season together

Golden State can go either way and with Bogut and Curry subject to injury anything can happen

Memphis is a solid team don't sleep on them at all, adding Carter only makes them better now they have a guy take can create his own shot or for others, plus he brings 3 point shooting

Portland has a great starting five but if the bench is not so much to look at, if Blake and Kaman can produce it would change the make up this team, depth was this team's only problem.

Dallas looks great on offense but the other side is what could hurt them, Chandler can only do so much. The point guard spot is much weaker now. Jose was a great floor leader. Defence will be a problem, but if Chandler goes down so will the team, no disrespect to Dirk at all

OKC struggles with teams with power players in the post(see Memphis match up 2014), this team did nothing to improve their post offense and will still depend on Durant and Westbrook to do everything as always.

LAC should Improve off last season, with a new owner in place I feel it will help them out more. I still see the front court only issue. Hawes and Davis aren't the best rim protectors

San Antonio only added players that fit their system and got their guys to return and sit out this summer, this is the last team I want to see until the conference finals

But all those problems are still a lot less then the Lakers have. It's not like the gap was small between those teams and the Lakers, they were realllyy far away from sniffing just the 8th seed

Michael Lucky · Post #96 » by **Michael Lucky** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 6:48 pm

35-47, +/- 3 wins as your margin of error.

Post #97 » by **Slava** » Sat Aug 16, 2014 12:45 am

Michael Lucky wrote:35-47, +/- 3 wins as your margin of error.

So you are predicting on a 12 win differential and adding a 6 win handicap to it over an 82 game schedule. That means we might end up in the lottery or make the playoffs! Don't go near Vegas Sherlock!

Michael Lucky · Post #98 » by **Michael Lucky** » Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:10 am

Slava wrote:
Michael Lucky wrote:35-47, +/- 3 wins as your margin of error.

So you are predicting on a 12 win differential and adding a 6 win handicap to it over an 82 game schedule. That means we might end up in the lottery or make the playoffs! Don't go near Vegas Sherlock!

35+47=82.

karkinos · Post #99 » by **karkinos** » Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:13 am

Darren_Errman wrote:
cancer wrote:
DEEP3CL wrote:So tired of reading this "'west is loaded ".....the conference has had these high's before only to see it swing down some. People act as if some of these teams won't have some set back. I can say confidently that I see all the teams in the top 5 of the west peeling backwards some. No need for me to rehash what it will be or what teams they are. The whole summer told the story already.

the lowest number of wins you can expect for the west 8th seed is probably 45 wins....and the lakers would have to have all the right pieces fall into place to even sniff 45.

45 wins will be far short. I think this is the year 50 is needed to make 8th.

like i said, lowest number you can expect

i think it's going to be around 48

Post #100 » by **Kilroy** » Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:20 am

Remember, if the teams in the West are truly so tough, it'll be tougher for the better teams to win too... So the number of wins needed to get into the playoffs could go down actually.
I don't think it will, but I think 48 might be realistic.

I still think with a little bit of luck we can take the 6th seed.

But I also think we'll know pretty quickly where this team will fall.