Lakers starting line-up could surprise people

[JellosJigglin]

Nash, old
Kobe, one leg
Boozer, would have rounded out a great big 3...7 years ago.

Randle, bust
Hill, decent...but not even a top 10 center in the west

Thanks for the lottery pick this year. lol

So which point guard do you guys like in next year's draft?

[Takingbaconback]

Nash, old
Kobe, one leg
Boozer, would have rounded out a great big 3...7 years ago.

Randle, bust
Hill, decent...but not even a top 10 center in the west

Thanks for the lottery pick this year. lol

So which point guard do you guys like in next year's draft?

Tyus Jones but Minnesota is going to take him

[durden_tyler]

That starting line-up:

40 years old
36 years old
Carlos Freaking Boozer

That's lottery bound!

[Hornet Mania]

I wouldn't underestimate the impact of replacing Pringles with Byron Scott either. Competent coaching is severely underrated.

OP is overly optimistic, but the Lakers could surprise. Think the ceiling is 40 wins though, which would still be worlds better than most (homers excluded) are anticipating.

[Kings2013]

Every fanbase is going to be optimistic about all possibilities of their team heading into the season, and particularly a fanbase as used to winning as the Lakers. But it is going to actually be painful to watch Scott in a dead end, and Kobe going out trying to carry a bottom 5-6 team on a nightly basis

[Kevin Johnson]

The only thing that's surprising people about that lineup is the fact that such historically quality organization suddenly stoops so low & have that be their starting lineup.

It would be like witnessing Snoop Dogg trying to hire a prostitute.

It happened in the 90s too when all of a sudden Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Byron were all gone. This is nothing new, the lakers will be back again. And lol at the lakers being 4th best in the west, love the optimism maybe a trade is in the works, we do have some nice pieces starting with Jordan Hill, Jeremy Lin, and Julius Randle.

Actually the year after Worthy retired the Lakers won 48 games because Jerry West had stocked the Lakers to the brim with good draft picks:

-Van Excel
-Vlade Divac
-Eddie Jones
-Elden Cambell
-Lynch
-Peeler

Vlade traded for Kobe. Eddie traded for Rice and would be an all-star. Cambell was a decent center with a long NBA career. Lynch good role player and defender on the Iverson Sixers who made it to the finals.

Kupchak hasn't shown any ability to recognize talent in the draft and the Lakers cupboard is pretty bare of young talent.

[Dupp]

One of the worst teams in the league.

Competent coaching is severely underrated.

True, too bad they hired Scott.

[TDevilsG]

Kobe is prepared to shoot 0-30 if necessary

[Jajwanda]

More like Nash, Bryant, Johnson, Boozer, Hill for now. It's actually the bench that's very strong. I would even put Hill on the bench and have:

- Lin
- Young
- Randle
- Hill

That would give you a really strong backup group.

[illastrate]

4th best team in the division maybe.

LA Clippers
SA Spurs
OKC Thunder
LA Lakers
Port. Blazers
Dallas Mavs
Phx Suns
G.S Warriors

The Rockets and Grizzlies ceased to exist?

[sca]

Just let things play out man. People have been underrating them all summer, and I like it that way.

Who's underrating them? The top 9 in the West (SAS, OKC, LAC, HOU, POR, GSW, DAL, MEM, PHX) are here to stay, while DEN & NOP are likely to be better than your team. Even if you assume that all your players are going to be healthy and won't miss any significant time, there are still lots and lots of question marks about your team. How much do Kobe and Nash have in the tank? Is there a single guy who's above average on defense on that roster? Who's going to play off-ball among those of Nash, Kobe, Lin and Swaggy-P (none of them can)?

Lastly, the situation with your bigs... They're terrible. Boozer, at this point in his career, is terrible on defense, and mediocre at best on offense (another guy who's likely to demand the ball to be effective), Randle is an unknown, but isn't exactly the next big thing, and both Hill and Davis are below-average players who are better suited to come of the bench for 15-20 minutes and play the role of a hustle big instead of defensive anchor.

Your whole roster consists of below-average role players and washed-up stars. If there's any hope of this team making the play-offs, then Kobe must return to his MVP form or something.

[John Long]

Kobe is prepared to shoot 0-30 if necessary

Kobe is always prepared.

[Pan Jia Yuan]

Pretty sure OP's just trolling the Lakers.

[JellosJigglin]

The only thing that's surprising people about that lineup is the fact that such historically quality organization suddenly stoops so low & have that be their starting lineup.

It would be like witnessing Snoop Dogg trying to hire a prostitute.

It happened in the 90s too when all of a sudden Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Byron were all gone. This is nothing new, the lakers will be back again. And lol at the lakers being 4th best in the west, love the optimism maybe a trade is in the works, we do have some nice pieces starting with Jordan Hill, Jeremy Lin, and Julius Randle.

Actually the year after Worthy retired the Lakers won 48 games because Jerry West had stocked the Lakers to the brim with good draft picks:

-Van Excel
-Vlade Divac
-Eddie Jones
-Elden Cambell
-Lynch
-Peeler

Vlade traded for Kobe. Eddie traded for Rice and would be an all-star. Cambell was a decent center with a long NBA career. Lynch good role player and defender on the Iverson Sixers who made it to the finals.

Kupchak hasn't shown any ability to recognize talent in the draft and the Lakers cupboard is pretty bare of young talent.

Van Exel was a steal. Divac(26), Campbell(27) were late 1st round picks. Lynch(12) and Peeler(15) were mid-1st round picks. Eddie Jones was a lottery pick.

Before this year they didn't have a 1st round pick since 2007. Marc Gasol in the 2nd round turned out alright. So did Bynum at 10, who most here considered a reach. Of course he missed out on some late-pick surprises but so did 28 other teams. When you already have a contending team and you're always picking late, you're going to draft to fill a need rather than someone with potential who was a few years away. That's the right approach to take when you're in win-now mode.

[JellosJigglin]

Just let things play out man. People have been underrating them all summer, and I like it that way.

Who's underrating them? The top 9 in the West (SAS, OKC, LAC, HOU, POR, GSW, DAL, MEM, PHX) are here to stay, while DEN & NOP are likely to be better than your team. Even if you assume that all your players are going to be healthy and won't miss any significant time, there are still lots and lots of question marks about your team. How much do Kobe and Nash have in the tank? Is there a single guy who's above average on defense on that roster? Who's going to play off-ball among those of Nash, Kobe, Lin and Swaggy-P (none of them can)?

Lastly, the situation with your bigs... They're terrible. Boozer, at this point in his career, is terrible on defense, and mediocre at best on offense (another guy who's likely to demand the ball to be effective), Randle is an unknown, but isn't exactly the next big thing, and both Hill and Davis are below-average players who are better suited to come of the bench for 15-20 minutes and play the role of a hustle big instead of defensive anchor.

Your whole roster consists of below-average role players and washed-up stars. If there's any hope of this team making the play-offs, then Kobe must return to his MVP form or something.

Every team has questions. You could go down all 30 teams in the league and do the same thing.

[RollingWave]

Ehhh, I'd say there are some question on Phoenix given that the whole Bledsoe mess and how Fyre was actually their +/- leader by a mile. But still the Lakers are unlikely to be good this year, though every year some teams surprise.

I'd say there's a 10-15% chance the Lakers are that out of nowhere team this year (ala Phoenix last year.) , they're also pretty experienced in most position which helps their floor at least, if not their ceiling.

all in all, I think they'll probably have a better record then most haters assume, but even that is not exactly saying much, their upside is what, 35-40 win? that's not bad, if you were in the East anyway. but in the west that's 10th place material barring multiple teams collapsing due to injury and what not.

[sca]

Just let things play out man. People have been underrating them all summer, and I like it that way.

Who's underrating them? The top 9 in the West (SAS, OKC, LAC, HOU, POR, GSW, DAL, MEM, PHX) are here to stay, while DEN & NOP are likely to be better than your team. Even if you assume that all your players are going to be healthy and won't miss any significant time, there are still lots and lots of question marks about your team. How much do Kobe and Nash have in the tank? Is there a single guy who's above average on defense on that roster? Who's going to play off-ball among those of Nash, Kobe, Lin and Swaggy-P (none of them can)?

Lastly, the situation with your bigs... They're terrible. Boozer, at this point in his career, is terrible on defense, and mediocre at best on offense (another guy who's likely to demand the ball to be effective), Randle is an unknown, but isn't exactly the next big thing, and both Hill and Davis are below-average players who are better suited to come of the bench for 15-20 minutes and play the role of a hustle big instead of defensive anchor.

Your whole roster consists of below-average role players and washed-up stars. If there's any hope of this team making the play-offs, then Kobe must return to his MVP form or something.

Every team has questions. You could go down all 30 teams in the league and do the same thing.

Really? That is your response? By that logic, every team has the same chance at making the play-offs or winning the championship. Your team has a number of obvious issues. If you're turning a blind eye to them, then you're being a homer, and reality will hit once the season starts, I guess.

[frozt]

Who's underrating them? The top 9 in the West (SAS, OKC, LAC, HOU, POR, GSW, DAL, MEM, PHX) are here to stay, while DEN & NOP are likely to be better than your team. Even if you assume that all your players are going to be healthy and won't miss any significant time, there are still lots and lots of question marks about your team. How much do Kobe and Nash have in the tank? Is there a single guy who's above average on defense on that roster? Who's going to play off-ball among those of Nash, Kobe, Lin and Swaggy-P (none of them can)?

Lastly, the situation with your bigs... They're terrible. Boozer, at this point in his career, is terrible on defense, and mediocre at best on offense (another guy who's likely to demand the ball to be effective), Randle is an unknown, but isn't exactly the next big thing, and both Hill and Davis are below-average players who are better suited to come of the bench for 15-20 minutes and play the role of a hustle big instead of defensive anchor.

Your whole roster consists of below-average role players and washed-up stars. If there's any hope of this team making the play-offs, then Kobe must return to his MVP form or something.

Every team has questions. You could go down all 30 teams in the league and do the same thing.

Really? That is your response? By that logic, every team has the same chance at making the play-offs or winning the championship. Your team has a number of obvious issues. If you're turning a blind eye to them, then you're being a homer, and reality will hit once the season starts, I guess.

Yeah thats terrible logic rofl. The Lakers are no where near the top 8 as is. They may surprise and contend for 8th. MAYBE. But rofl at that logic

[co_laper]

Steve Nash
Kobe Bryant
Wes Johnson
Carlos Boozer
Jordan Hill

Dont under estimate Wes Johnson/Jordan Hill as impact players... they are high energy, defensive oriented players who bring intangibles on offense through garbage/clean up buckets, and dunks.

A lot of haters will say Nash/Kobe are done, but if reports are true, and theyre healthy, then that changes the dynamics completely.

Nash gives you unparalleled outside shooting, and Kobe from 2 years ago was an MVP candidate.

With that said, the best this team could be is a 4 seed in the West.

But it wouldn't be a stretch to say that if the Lakers click early, there isnt anything stopping them from taking the West. The importance of Chemsitry should never be overlooked.

Deep bench as well when you consider the likes of JEREMY LIN, NICK YOUNG, XAVIER HENRY, JUILIUS RANDLE

thats a seriously strong bench.

Thoughts?

I think you're living in the past.

A healthy Kobe, Boozer, Nash is not the same as Prime Kobe, Boozer, Nash. At this point, they are what they are. You can play Nash and Bryant 34 minutes and I doubt they produce like they did in their MVP years.

Unless that's what you're expecting when you meant they're healthy, then this team has no chance at even getting close to 4th seed. The very best scenario is fighting for 8th seed. Likely scenario is fighting for the last 4 seeds in the West.

[NaturalBuns]

Lakers will not get 50 wins.

And that's what it takes...
You have to stay healthy to even come close to a 8th seed.
PHX and almost Memphis got plagued by key injuries.


We all know Kobe and Nash won't hold up.