Jazzfan1971 and Floppymoose's season preview - The Lakers

[Ace626]

I've won several money bets on realgm, and the other party has paid zero times. Feel free to make your own standings prediction, though. We can compare at the end of the season and see who did better.

Took my criticism in a very mature way, props to you my man (no sarcasm)
I just really can't see how someone can see Lakers the worst team in the west
My bias tells me 9th seed, my rationality says no worse then 12th seed

[gstephanopulos]

Lakers fans... nough said

[Promezclan]

Well, I'm from the Bay Area and I hate the Lakers, but... I'll just say that you can make a lot of money in Vegas with such wisdom - the over-under on the Lakers is WAY higher.

[NashtyNas]

This has to be a joke......right!?

Replace D'Antoni with Scott.
Lose Gasol, add Kobe, Hill, Boozer, Randle, Lin, maybe Nash = win 12 less games.

Okay.

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[AussieCeltic]

Once again I'm perplexed by the analysis you guys are providing.

Even as a Laker hater, they're at least 15 wins to low and definitely not LAST in the west.

[The Realist]

30 wins despite Kobe costing them a couple of games.

[tmorgan]

(coming from a Pistons fan that tries to be unbiased, but occasionally fails)

The Lakers did lose Meeks as well. Meeks is no Kobe, but he did play awfully well last year. It isn't adding Kobe and subtracting nothing, it's replacing a guy that shot 40% from 3 on 5 attempts a game with someone that's never shot that well.

Kobe is an all-time great, so don't take this the wrong way -- but I didn't realize he was a 33.5% career 3pt shooter on 4 attempts a game. That actually kinda sucks.

[DaddyCool19]

I don't think that Scott is a good coach and getting him won't improve the lakers that much but I can't see them winning less than 30 games. At best with Kobe in beast mode (which I can't see ever happen again) they could win as much as 36-38 games. I can't see them making the playoffs with that roster.

[LofJ]

I have the Lakers last in the West as well. Picking up Boozer was a smart tanking move. The front office shouldn't give a damn about what Kobe wants. The team needs to be in the top 5 to keep their pick, bottom line.

[kingkirk]

OP didn't mention Boozer at SF. Can't be taken seriously.

[Dr Aki]

15 wins?

wut

[reapaman]

Imo you should up them to about 22 -25 wins and then it wouldn't look so crazy while still keeping your prediction of them being the worst in the west.

With that said, I'm pretty confident that the Lakers are not worst then the Jazz because the Jazz are a train wreck of monumental proportions waiting to happen. If anyone in the west gets 15 wins, it will be the Jazz. Plus did Milwaukee drop off the face of the map? How do you not see them being the 2nd worst team next year?

[Troubadour]

This has to be a joke......right!?

Replace D'Antoni with Scott.
Lose Gasol, add Kobe, Hill, Boozer, Randle, Lin, maybe Nash = win 12 less games.

Okay.

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You're not adding Kobe Bryant. You're adding a player in what will likely be the second last year of his career playing on injured legs. Adding Boozer isn't a good thing. It's actually a downgrade from Pau Gasol. Byron Scott is not a good coach. The Lakers also play in the West.

This team is probably good for 20 wins or so.

[irie]

Can't see them being worse than the Jazz. But I guess I wouldn't be totally surprised.. Kobe is pretty old now and the rest of that roster is pretty bad.

[LloydFree]

Once again I'm perplexed by the analysis you guys are providing.

Even as a Laker hater, they're at least 15 wins to low and definitely not LAST in the west.

This. I thought the 76er preview missed the point , but this Laker preview is comical. The Lakers are better than the Jazz, Magic, Timberwolves and probably the Bucks.

[SA37]

I think calling Kobe, Boozer, and Lin "has beens" is wrong, but that's the author's opinion. All 3 guys are legit starters in the league (Kobe, obviously is more than that) although Lin and Boozer are overpaid. I think defensively the Lakers will struggle and that is ultimately what will keep them out of the playoffs. In the East they'd be a playoff team, but in the West it's just too competitive. Kobe may or may not get back to being the Kobe of old, but I imagine, even in the worst case scenarion, he's going to be getting over 20 a game and still having games where he gets 35.

I imagine L.A. will finish around the 35-win mark.

[cammac]

Likely worst in West still 25 to 28 win team.

[LloydFree]

How are the Jazz not the worst team in the West? They were the worst team last year. They lost 2-3 veterans that contributed to the few wins they had. Then drafted an 18 year old HS PG.

As bad as the Lakers were last year, they were still better than the Jazz, while not having Kobe, and they added a few pieces. How did the Jazz jump them?
This isn't a well thought out analysis.

[C.lupus]

High sodium levels in this thread.

[8305]

I wonder if Kobe will melt down trying to play with this group? I could see a trade demand before the year is over which would be impossible to accomplish with his salary. If that scenario comes to fruition things could be really ugly. Can't blame anyone for taking the money but if an aging great player wants to play on a competitive team the model in Dallas with Dirk has to be employed.