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Here is mine:
Oh no, we suck again!

Kuzma cant do it alone. Before preseason I was hoping for 30 to 35 wins, but now I'm thinking under 20. I know it's premature but have seen our defense?

lol

snaquille oatmeal wrote:Here is mine:
Oh no, we suck again!

Kuzma cant do it alone. Before preseason I was hoping for 30 to 35 wins, but now I'm thinking under 20. I know it's premature but have seen our defense?

under 20 ?



what ?

typical kneejerk reaction.

one thread saying not to invest in our players since they’re on their way out anyway. then we have this thread after just 3 preseason games. not even legitimate nba games. and our full roster healthy.

keep it up guys!

Laker_Kid wrote:typical kneejerk reaction.

one thread saying not to invest in our players since they’re on their way out anyway. then we have this thread after just 3 preseason games. not even legitimate nba games. and our full roster healthy.

keep it up guys!

Have you seen our defense?

Laker_Kid wrote:typical kneejerk reaction.

one thread saying not to invest in our players since they’re on their way out anyway. then we have this thread after just 3 preseason games. not even legitimate nba games. and our full roster healthy.

keep it up guys!

Well... the operative word in the thread's title is premature.

i predicted low to mid 30s and i'm sticking with it

Dr Aki wrote:i predicted low to mid 30s and i'm sticking with it

I got dry-heaves watching our defense last night....but it is only game-3 of preseason. Half our squad didn't play. So while this is certainly a little alarming, and you have to wonder where all this defensive emphasis is going, I am not ready to change my predictions (mid-30's) either.

This team will prob take a little time to gel...and get their act together. I don't feel nearly as confident about 35-38 wins as I did a month ago...but I'll hold my cards a little longer.

Like the season and the year before, this team will go as far as the PG takes them. If Lonzo can't stay healthy, it's going to be a loooong year.

I'm sticking with my optimistic fan prediction of 7th-8th seed. Ball going to change this organization to a winning culture, and Ingram is going to take a huge step up this season. Lopez is going to be productive like last season, and Kuzma is going to be the hidden gem like I said in July.

I like 25 wins and a few season ending injuries myself.

I'm gonna stick to 30-35.. but sheesh, when Lonzo's not playing and with the amount of non/average shooters we have, it sure feels like it'll be a less win total than that.

30-35 sounds right, We aren't any worse than last year, and we have no incentive to tank. Let's not get fully discouraged by a very good denver team beating us (who matches up very well against us), and was on fire even in terms of their capabilities. What these past few games should tell us is this; we aren't really good. Some of us knew that, and most of the rest knew that us not being good is a very likely scenario. This is just confirming that. We aren't an 8th seed contender. Our roster is simply too young, and lacks too much talent, and our defense/reboudning will surely be terrible. But we'll be better than last year, just due to the fact that we have Lopez and Pope, and no incentive to tank.

30-35 wins, and hopefully clear development from the young guys. It's a likely scenario, and not a bad scenario at all.

Realistically, just looking at our roster, expecting more would be silly. Brook Lopez and KCP are good, but they have been missing the playoffs every other year on teams with similar rosters IN THE EAST. Lonzo is a great prospect, and he already is impacting the team positively, but Lebron as a rookie with Boozer and Big Z didn't make the playoffs his rookie year, AND his second year with Larry Hughes coming in instead of Boozer. Ingram showed tremendous improvement to end the season, and has all the potential in the world, but before the allstar game last year, he was putting up one of the worst statistical seasons ever.


My point is this...we can improve and still be a poor team in comparison to the rest of the league. We have improved imo, and I think that improvement will be evident in our record. But to expect a 40+ playoff contending team is just unrealistic, and maybe these poor performances are just bringing everyone back down to earth.

Yes it's preseason, but it's pretty evident that our defense sucks ass and we have no shooters. We're gonna give up a lot of points and won't have enough 3s to save us.

I'm gonna say 27 wins. But the first few months of the season are gonna be brutal.

Hoping to be at least .500 by allstar break asking for too much?

ill wait til randle and bi make some game changing moves and we win the game then i can say 30+ wins. right now they just pissin me off.

Easy guys!!

We have played 3 preseason games so far and have the following new players:

1. Ball
2. Kuzma
3. KCP
4. Lopez
5. Thomas Bryant
6. Hart
7. Bogut


We also had the following guys missing time:

1. Ball
2. Lopez
3. Bogut
4. Ingram

I think its fair to say we will get better with more time. Our top 2 centers and most experienced guys have not stepped foot on the floor. One who is our best scoring option and one who will be our top defender in the center. The one worrying part is Ingram. I was hoping he would be more assertive and not force things but still have to understand that he is just 20 years old.

Ball missing 1.5 games doesnt help too as he is the leader of the group. If you guys thought we would not have many hurdles then I ask you to take those glasses off. I think Ball's weakness will be exposed but as the season goes on, we should march towards that mid 30s win total.

On the positive side, we could have two guys that average 20 points a game in Lopez and Kuzma. If Randle keeps double-double and he stays focused on the rebounding while Ball keeps up his passing and dunks, we are looking at some exciting basketball. That said, there will continue to be stretches when we want to throw in the towel. We are a better team with more balance than previously. Lets give the team more than 3 preseason games.

My biggest worry is the defense. It looks really really bad!! Shots will fall or not but one thing you can be always sure about is defense and we don't have any as it sands. I have seen us play D for about 2 quarters in the 3 pre season games so far. Last year during our 10-10 run we played defense in 2 quarters every game we never played d all 4 quarters and i was hoping we will do that this year.

I was between 26 and 32 in the other thread. This team is almost entirely turned over at most positions and it's arguable that we are any better IMHO overall. Russell wasn't going to be a star but he will be more effective overall than Ball THIS year is my guess. Ball is a rookie and his performance is unknown at this point.

Randle appears topped out. Ingram is being pushed to be something he's not (in my opinion) and Kuzma is a surprise so far. Lopez has a history of injury and it remains open as to how we will use him. My guess is that his touches will be fewer here and in positions where he might not be at his best (for instance shooting 3's).

We could take a step backward in reality if Ball has issues adjusting and Lopez misses time. Consistent scoring will be what's missing most from last year's squad along with 3 point shooting. Young, Russell and Williams all stretched the floor. Can Ball be a threat from 3? Clarkson is a streaky 35% shooter from 3. KCP is streaky as well but needs space to shoot. I worry about the consistent scoring the most. We already know the defense will be problematic so to win we will need to outscore people. Do we have enough to do that with any consistency?

Win totals, at this stage of our rebuild, are meaningless. Who cares? All that really matters is the development of Ball and Ingram, who we need to be great -- not now, but in terms of being long-term building blocks -- if we're going to start digging out of this hole we're in any time soon. I'm not going to lie and say I've been encouraged by anything I've seen so far. We look horrible. But at the same time, I'm not going to flip out over a couple of preseason games, especially dealing with a couple of kids who still can't even legally drink yet. I'm sure there will be plenty of nights where I forget this and lose my patience, but it's gonna be a long, rocky road so buckle up.