'07-08 Laker season appreciation thread

[what would jack bauer do?]

We fell short in the end, but we had a great season.

-Kobe was the best player in the league and didn't miss a single game battling through a torn ligament and broken bone in his hand. He dismantled defenses up until the finals where Boston's pack it in and recover defense just stopped us in our tracks.
-Gasol did a great job learning the triangle. Come on he's only been on the team for 5 months! think about the future! He hasn't even shown us his complete game yet. Spend this summer getting back into pf shape rather than preparing to play as a center.
-Lamar did what Lamar does as usual. I know we always want more from him, but let's accept that he's a good all around double-double guy for us. We're spoiled.
-Fisher is a true leader and provided so much stability it was ridiculous.
-Farmar and Sasha showed incredible improvement. These guys are still young bucks; we'll be seeing them get better every year for the next 6-7 years.
-Bynum was just incredible until he got injured, he really showed us something when he was putting up 20+ points and 15 rebs on any given night.

Ever since Bynum went down our defense has been well below average and this is no secret. I'm convinced we'll win it all next year with Bynum back. I think there are some minor roster tweaks that need to be done to improve our defense, but we'll figure it out. All I know is we need a defensive stopper at the 3 that can stroke it.

THANK YOU LAKERS! I had a great year cheering for you through all the ups and downs. We got a 5 year window to win more championships with our current roster, and who's to say we don't have more? THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING.

[milesfides]

Great post, great points.

The loss still hurts, really bad. But we should all be proud of our guys. We shouldn't bail on them after they've gotten so far.

I appreciate all the hard work that so many players put in.
I appreciate all the sacrifices.
I appreciate all the gutsy plays.
I appreciate the beautiful basketball we can play when everybody is focused and on the same page.
I appreciate the newfound camaraderie.

I appreciate the permanent hope and high expectations this team now has.

Thank you, Lakers, for a great year!

[Sedition]

We didn't take it all this year, but considering all that we've endured to make it this far, I just wanted to say "Thank you" to the Los Angeles Lakers for making the NBA finally relevant to me once again. It hurts now, but this is just the opening stanza of yet another epic. As the Spartans used to say, "with our shields or upon them", the Lakers should be welcomed back to Los Angeles as heroes. Sleep with one eye open, league. This chapter in Lakers lore isn't yet finished.

Edit: Someone posted a similar thread first. Feel free to merge, mods.

[DEEP3CL]

It was a hell of a ride, nobody expected us to even make it to the end of the first month with Kobe still being on the roster.

Nobody expected Bynum to turn into a real NBA center.
Nobody expected the team to even contend for the playoffs.

Nobody expected the team to do NOTHING yet we proved the doubters wrong every step of the way.

We'll be back, tonight didn't kill us but it will make us stronger.

[doozyj]

And nobody will expect us to win the finals next year. WE WILL.

[Heyvoon24]

Next year, fellas....next year.

[That Nicka]

Cant wait for the parade next year!

[RJM]

Awesome season. In many ways it was an astounding success. It felt great to see my Lakers competing in the NBA Finals again where they belonged. This is the start of a Dynasty. Those Green Men may have won the battle (this year), but we will win the war (the long run)!!

Does this call for another Leonidas sighting?

[Danny Darko]

much appreciation for the wild ride.

Watching Andrew become the talk of the league was a pleasure

Watching Kobe start to pass and trust on his way to MVP was a pleasure

Getting Ariza and watching him shut down AI and throw some nasty dunks was a pleasure.

Wondering if broken down 60 year old Luke or triple double threat Luke was a pleasure (sometimes)

Seeing Vaseline Brown turn into perfect power forward for the offens was a pleasure. Call him soft all day long I'm stoked to have Gasol as one of us and we wouldn't have made it as far without him.

Seeing Sasha start to bloom and get some gems along with some hard knock lessons was a pleasure.

Watching Critt kill summerleague in spurts, watching youtube glorifications of Sun Yue, seeing Coby Karl play against his dad, watching DJ hit turn arounds and learning his life story, and seeing Lamar give em hell for the last half of the season was absolutely my pleasure.

Having a more legit reason for hope than any other team in the whole league including the raining champions led by an overrated inarticulate wailing sealion... priceless.

[That Nicka]

Thanks for the great season Lakers

[K0BE-24]

ive read this book few years ago called Fever Pitch, the author writes about how obsessed he was with Arsenal (soccer club) and how he would become depressed when his club lost... etc. anyways, at that time i was like man, this is just pathetic, i get pissed when the lakers lose but not to the point where i become depressed... well my friends, i guess after having the type of season we had, i feel depressed right now. I feel like my girlfriend just dumped me.... what a freaking season. props to all of our guys... they overachieved and played their hearts out... we lost badly, we got raped, humiliated... but guess what, it will make us a better team, next season we will be back even stronger.... And for some of us, to post some of the crap about how weak and pathetic our team is, go back in time and think about the first game of the season, if u were a laker fan then, we played the houston rockets. Did you expect the lakers to win it all? I'll be honest with you, i told my girlfriend, there is nothing to be excited about this season, we probably wont even make the playoffs.... damn was I wrong, not only did we make the playoffs, we came within 2 games of winning the whole **** thing... Proud of my Lakers . . .Watchout NBA, not even your crooked refs will be able to stop us next year...

[dockingsched]

stay humble. we know what type of monster staples center is about to unleash on the league next yr. stay humble.

[Flipdog69xxx]

we had a great run. like stated earlier next year will be BEAST!!! Go Lakers!!!

[Ming Kong!]

Jazz fan here. I'll admit I didn't know if the Lakers would make the playoffs at the point when Kobe said he wanted to be traded, and the Lakers went to game 6 vs the best team in the league, so it's not a complete failure of a season.

The fashion the Lakers lost this series was terrible, loosing huge leads, the terrible performance in game 6. After the way LA dismantled SA I had them about even with Boston, and expected a long close series. Didn't happen, but I think loosing in this fashion will get the Lakers organization anxious to make more moves.

I think with Bynum, things could really look bright in LA if Bynum and Gasol can coexist (which I don't see being much of an issue).

Anyways the Lakers had a fantastic season, and despite the bitter end, remember, it's PROGRESS!

[TonyMontana]

We didn't take it all this year, but considering all that we've endured to make it this far, I just wanted to say "Thank you" to the Los Angeles Lakers for making the NBA finally relevant to me once again. It hurts now, but this is just the opening stanza of yet another epic. As the Spartans used to say, "with our shields or upon them", the Lakers should be welcomed back to Los Angeles as heroes. Sleep with one eye open, league. This chapter in Lakers lore isn't yet finished.

Edit: Someone posted a similar thread first. Feel free to merge, mods.

Good SH-T Sed..............

It does hurt but it is what it is, and it was their year.
Im cool with it, and Im really looking forward to next year. Hopefully we can get some free agents to help our quest for the CHip and Bynum returns with rage wanting to prove that he is the future, Kobe matures evern more and we go back to defend our W.C chip and then the FInals CHip.

Im proud of my Lakers FTW

[hermes]

Im proud of my Lakers FTW

thanks lakers for the great season, hope there are more to come

[islander009]

This is a start for years to come. We started off not even getting out of the first round or not even making the finals. Then we ended up playing our hearts out to the Finals, a place that some teams work to but never make it. We were blessed with changes by our GM, now its time to tweak a couple more things and get a healthy Bynum back for next year. Lakers remember this feeling all throughout the offseason and use it to harness your focus on your game, work at it, remember how close you were but not there, and be ready for next season.

Guys this type of loss hurts sooo much and there isnt any way to stop the pain. But I am quite happy with our success this year. WE will return, mark me on that. This pain will turn around and be our success in the future. Lets go Lakers.

[hermes]

all this next year talk is bringing out the cubs fan in me
anyway

the lakers had a great season, no one can take that away from them
i'm proud for how hard they fought, everything they went through

thanks again for the amazing season

[milesfides]

merged - I got skillz too CC!

[dockingsched]

time for kobe and fisher to get those surgery requiring injuries taken care of. appreciate the warrior mentality they displayed.