Lakers In a Solid Place?

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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#41 » by Bolivar » Tue Jan 24, 2023 5:47 am

Yeah well they're one proper losing streak away from being done for the season (while also giving their pick away). They've been on really thin ice basically since their crappy start to the season, and with AD being the usual "half a season", they're basically forced to try to give some semblance of playoff effort while rest of the league is coasting. Which actually makes their games somewhat interesting to watch, so there's that.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#42 » by 76ciology » Tue Jan 24, 2023 5:51 am

A sinking ship that is patching some holes
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#43 » by levon » Tue Jan 24, 2023 5:57 am

Bolivar wrote:Yeah well they're one proper losing streak away from being done for the season (while also giving their pick away). They've been on really thin ice basically since their crappy start to the season, and with AD being the usual "half a season", they're basically forced to try to give some semblance of playoff effort while rest of the league is coasting. Which actually makes their games somewhat interesting to watch, so there's that.

They're not giving a pick away, it's a swap. And the Pelicans are 3-7 in their last 10 and on a 4 game losing streak. I'd venture to guess that pick difference will be no more than 10 spots at the end of the season, which is not a big deal.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#44 » by cam24thomas » Tue Jan 24, 2023 6:26 am

Lakers are in a solid place, if being a treadmill team is solid.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#45 » by DS17 » Tue Jan 24, 2023 6:31 am

As long as Westbrook is on this team I don’t see them going far.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#46 » by DS17 » Tue Jan 24, 2023 6:31 am

For every one good game Westbrook will have 5 where he’s a negative (in my ooinion)
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#47 » by One Last Shot » Tue Jan 24, 2023 7:38 am

Bolivar wrote:Yeah well they're one proper losing streak away from being done for the season (while also giving their pick away). They've been on really thin ice basically since their crappy start to the season, and with AD being the usual "half a season", they're basically forced to try to give some semblance of playoff effort while rest of the league is coasting. Which actually makes their games somewhat interesting to watch, so there's that.


Yeah well they are one proper winning streak away from 13th seed to having a home-court advantage in the Playoffs. Lakers are just 4 games behind the 4th seed Pelicans so I'm not sure why you said that rest of the league is coasting when every game matters in this tight Playoffs race. But I get your point, Lakers literally in thin ice, they are starting players who won't play a single minute if they are playing for a stack team like Celtics. This roster is horrible LeBron will have to cover every position, Bryant started back-up by a warm body like Gabriel that's it their "rim protection". AD being healthy will help a lot but this is the 3rd straight year he suffers injury during the season, can't really count on him so Lakers will have to rely on the talent level of LeBron and whoever is having a hot hand to any given night. Sometimes its Dennis, then Russ, then Lonnie and Austin when they come back. Even Matt Ryan make a buzzer-beater game-winning shot in this roller coaster season of Lakers. Rui might help but I don't expect much, low-risk high reward move.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#48 » by Beethoven » Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:04 am

Even if we get AD back fully 100% healthy, don't mean nothing.

Everytime AD goes up for a shot or rebound in the midst of a crowd, him landing on his feet properly is like playing roulette in vegas. You can wager red and black but eventually a green 00 will wipe you out.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#49 » by baldur » Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:39 am

more solid place than clippers, suns and warriors though. they were projected to get 55 wins. will they even make the playoffs?

maybe criticize them more instead of a team whose best player is 38 and surrounded by mediocre players and scrubs.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#50 » by Lalouie » Tue Jan 24, 2023 9:36 am

ummm, TWENTY FIVE of THIRTY TEAMS are in a solid place
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#51 » by mudsak » Tue Jan 24, 2023 3:24 pm

I'm honestly impressed by their acquisition of Rui... first time in a long time that FO did something that resembled a sensible move. Come on Lakers... get ur **** together... we need to you to rise and keep the Wolves out of the playoffs.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#52 » by schnakenpopanz » Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:12 am

Like a broken record, the same song repeats for 3 years now.
"The lakers are back"
"The most dangerous x-seed/play in team ever,"
"If healthy everyone is scared of them"
"No one wants to face them"
the fact is that this season is all about the scoring record

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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#53 » by dautjazz » Wed Jan 25, 2023 12:52 pm

Things is can AD stay healthy 4+ months? Either way I'm not sure how deep a run they could even make at full strength, first round matchup will be somewhere between 1-3 seed. The Kings would be a matchup that I think could favor them if the Kings remain up there. The West doesn't have any teams that look plain scary though, I suppose the Lakers at the very best could become a threat to make it out, but even if they did come out, the East opponent would probably destroy them.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#54 » by ShazamDaShiznt » Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:04 pm

They have one of the worst schedules remaining. It's over. Should have played well early in the season against those mediocre teams.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#55 » by G35 » Wed Jan 25, 2023 8:17 pm

dautjazz wrote:Things is can AD stay healthy 4+ months? Either way I'm not sure how deep a run they could even make at full strength, first round matchup will be somewhere between 1-3 seed. The Kings would be a matchup that I think could favor them if the Kings remain up there. The West doesn't have any teams that look plain scary though, I suppose the Lakers at the very best could become a threat to make it out, but even if they did come out, the East opponent would probably destroy them.



If covid had not happened, these are the exact same questions we would have been asking about AD. He needs a 2-4 month break in order for his body to prepared for the rigors of the playoffs. The RS does not allow for that and that is why AD is always hurt.

Now a lot of fans complain about they want the best players in the playoffs, and that less games and less intensity or whatever new idea they are coming up with, will create a better performance from the players.

I make this analogy:

Anyone can get up and go work out, spend two hours in the gym, after getting 8 hours of sleep, drinking water, and eating a proper meal.

That is easy. That is boring.

You want to know someone that is dedicated to working out and will push their physical limits? The person that went bar hopping the night before, had five beers and half a pizza, and then only got four hours of sleep. If that person gets up and goes to the gym and puts in two-three hours of work. That is what I want to see. That is someone that does not have to have ideal conditions to do their job.

It is like people nowadays want zero-risk, ideal conditions, and then then they will go and do their job. That is ridiculous and boring....
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#56 » by ShootersShoot » Wed Jan 25, 2023 8:32 pm

G35 wrote:
dautjazz wrote:Things is can AD stay healthy 4+ months? Either way I'm not sure how deep a run they could even make at full strength, first round matchup will be somewhere between 1-3 seed. The Kings would be a matchup that I think could favor them if the Kings remain up there. The West doesn't have any teams that look plain scary though, I suppose the Lakers at the very best could become a threat to make it out, but even if they did come out, the East opponent would probably destroy them.



If covid had not happened, these are the exact same questions we would have been asking about AD. He needs a 2-4 month break in order for his body to prepared for the rigors of the playoffs. The RS does not allow for that and that is why AD is always hurt.

Now a lot of fans complain about they want the best players in the playoffs, and that less games and less intensity or whatever new idea they are coming up with, will create a better performance from the players.

I make this analogy:

Anyone can get up and go work out, spend two hours in the gym, after getting 8 hours of sleep, drinking water, and eating a proper meal.

That is easy. That is boring.

You want to know someone that is dedicated to working out and will push their physical limits? The person that went bar hopping the night before, had five beers and half a pizza, and then only got four hours of sleep. If that person gets up and goes to the gym and puts in two-three hours of work. That is what I want to see. That is someone that does not have to have ideal conditions to do their job.

It is like people nowadays want zero-risk, ideal conditions, and then then they will go and do their job. That is ridiculous and boring....



Sorry, I disagree with your example. The person in the second scenario is creating their own unideal conditions. "My life is too easy, I am going to go out of my way to make it harder on myself" is not the same as overcoming adversity. Overcoming adversity is doing it against things usually out of one's control. The idea that someone becomes a more "interesting", stronger, or better person by working out after willingly going out the night before to drink and not taking care of themselves is absolutely ridiculous.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#57 » by The Laker Kid » Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:41 pm

Westbrook laid layers of bricks, so yes they are on a solid place.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#58 » by Michael Jackson » Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:52 pm

I do not know that being that close to the San Andreas fault line it can ever really be considered a "solid" place. Quite obviously the Clippers have the same issue. Unless the teams relocate to say Vegas... I don't know that they can ever be in a solid place. Maybe Des Moines?

As far as the team... health is the major issue of course. I Rui is a nice addition to an extent, but he also hasn't been healthy. All that being said... a fully health Lakers team in the playoffs still wouldn't be a favorite but who really wants to face them. Fully healthy for a playoff run is a tough expectation though.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#59 » by SK21209 » Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:59 pm

They started off 2-10 and have since gone 20-16. When AD went out they were a pretty good defensive team with a terrible offense, while he's been gone they've gotten much better offensively and tanked defensively. The optimistic read is the offensive improvement will stick and AD/Hachimura will drastically improve the defense. Hachimura isn't some great defender by any means, but he at least has the size and strength to slot guys correctly. The Lakers got smacked by the Clippers last night largely because we were guarding Kawhi with **** Pat Bev. Kawhi hit a few early shots right over him, so we started doubling him on the catch. That lead to the open threes the Clippers buried. With AD and Hachimura, we can actually guard bigger wings with size and have a shotblocking presence at the rim.

This team is much, much better than last year's version. That's not saying much, but if AD is actually playing this is easily a playoff team and they might even avoid the play in. LeBron is still a Top 10 guy that's winning his minutes against legit teams despite starting with Schroeder, Pat Bev, Troy Brown and Thomas Bryant. Russ still doesn't fit but they've managed to minimize that some. That said, the AD injury stuff alone makes it hard to say they're in a "solid" place.
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Re: Lakers In a Solid Place? 

Post#60 » by KingFox » Wed Jan 25, 2023 10:02 pm

ShazamDaShiznt wrote:They have one of the worst schedules remaining. It's over. Should have played well early in the season against those mediocre teams.

They're lucky. All the national games they get give them 2 and 3 days rest in between some games. Must be nice!

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