Lakers starting line-up could surprise people

[JellosJigglin]

Last year, the lakers were 27-55.

Seeds 7, 8, 9, 10 were
50-30
49-33
48-34
40-42

The last time Kobe was healthy, the lakers were 45-37 and that's with Dwight Howard (albeit injuired) as the second best player on the team who still put up better numbers (17-12-2 blocks) than Jordan Hill ever did.

A trying Kobe probably puts them around 10th seed.

That was with D'Antoni running the team in the first half of the season, when he had Pau Gasol shooting 3's. See their record in the second half after Kobe took control of the team and played like an MVP.

But Kobe is also coming back from injury, he's older, and his supporting cast is terrible. I still don't think that's going to equate to more than 45 wins or anywhere near the playoffs.

I guess my point was that 45-win team shouldn't be used as a measuring stick to forecast this current team's success, because it was a tale of 2 teams: 1st half was D'Antoni ball and 2nd half was Kobe ball. That was a 50+ win team with any other coach in the NBA. We saw what happened when Kobe knocked some sense into D'Antoni and put his teammates in position to maximize their strengths. I believe they had the best record in the NBA in the second half that season, when Kobe had enough of D'Antoni's 3-ball. Kobe was tight with Pau, and it didn't sit well with him to see Pau reduced to being a spot-up, corner 3 point shooter. I have never seen a coach guide his team as poorly as D'Antoni did that season.

Does that mean this Laker team can win 45 games? I doubt it. I have them right around a .500 team, so around 41 wins. That's only a 4 game difference, so I wouldn't be shocked if they won 45. It's just highly unlikely and I wouldn't bet money on it.

[tsherkin]

That was with D'Antoni running the team in the first half of the season, when he had Pau Gasol shooting 3's. See their record in the second half after Kobe took control of the team and played like an MVP.

But Kobe is also coming back from injury, he's older, and his supporting cast is terrible. I still don't think that's going to equate to more than 45 wins or anywhere near the playoffs.

I guess my point was that 45-win team shouldn't be used as a measuring stick to forecast this current team's success, because it was a tale of 2 teams: 1st half was D'Antoni ball and 2nd half was Kobe ball. That was a 50+ win team with any other coach in the NBA. We saw what happened when Kobe knocked some sense into D'Antoni and put his teammates in position to maximize their strengths. I believe they had the best record in the NBA in the second half that season, when Kobe had enough of D'Antoni's 3-ball. Kobe was tight with Pau, and it didn't sit well with him to see Pau reduced to being a spot-up, corner 3 point shooter. I have never seen a coach guide his team as poorly as D'Antoni did that season.

Does that mean this Laker team can win 45 games? I doubt it. I have them right around a .500 team, so around 41 wins. That's only a 4 game difference, so I wouldn't be shocked if they won 45. It's just highly unlikely and I wouldn't bet money on it.

This is still predicated on Kobe performing at his 2013 level, however, which was a fairly large outlier season. He shouldn't be playing 40 mpg, and that level of offensive productivity would have been unreasonable to expect healthy, let alone returning from injury and an extended layoff.

[anarchy24]

But Kobe is also coming back from injury, he's older, and his supporting cast is terrible. I still don't think that's going to equate to more than 45 wins or anywhere near the playoffs.

I guess my point was that 45-win team shouldn't be used as a measuring stick to forecast this current team's success, because it was a tale of 2 teams: 1st half was D'Antoni ball and 2nd half was Kobe ball. That was a 50+ win team with any other coach in the NBA. We saw what happened when Kobe knocked some sense into D'Antoni and put his teammates in position to maximize their strengths. I believe they had the best record in the NBA in the second half that season, when Kobe had enough of D'Antoni's 3-ball. Kobe was tight with Pau, and it didn't sit well with him to see Pau reduced to being a spot-up, corner 3 point shooter. I have never seen a coach guide his team as poorly as D'Antoni did that season.

Does that mean this Laker team can win 45 games? I doubt it. I have them right around a .500 team, so around 41 wins. That's only a 4 game difference, so I wouldn't be shocked if they won 45. It's just highly unlikely and I wouldn't bet money on it.

This is still predicated on Kobe performing at his 2013 level, however, which was a fairly large outlier season. He shouldn't be playing 40 mpg, and that level of offensive productivity would have been unreasonable to expect healthy, let alone returning from injury and an extended layoff.

I wouldn't count on him to produce like that at the start of the season. My hope is that the Lakers hover around .500 for the first 1-2 months, like they did last year. And hopefully Kobe can get in a groove after he get his rust off.

[John Long]

I see a lot of people with loser mentalities and saying for the Lakers to tank.

Horrible!!!! If you're going to lose a fight might as well go down swinging and aim for the fences.

Amnesty Kobe so free agents want go there. That would be a gutsy and winner move. Not sure how much fu money do the Busses have.

Saying Amnesty Kobe is like saying the Spurs should amnesty Tim Duncan, its never gonna happen. The Lakers are a classy organization and they will never do that to their main star, Laker legend and face of the franchise for the past 19 years. Also the Lakers make way too much money off of Kobe to have him leave on a bad note. Besides this just shows me how much you know about the NBA because the Lakers already used their amnesty provision on Ron Artest.

[Dez]

I see a lot of people with loser mentalities and saying for the Lakers to tank.

Horrible!!!! If you're going to lose a fight might as well go down swinging and aim for the fences.

Amnesty Kobe so free agents want go there. That would be a gutsy and winner move. Not sure how much fu money do the Busses have.

It would also be an illegal move, they can't amnesty Kobe (Not that they would anyway).

[djeros612]

I laugh at the laker optimism , keep telling yourself
Kobes going to average 25 ,

boozer couldn't be past his prime ????

Nick young just got hurt .

Nash is moving into a nursing home after the season collecting his last check , he mightttt play 35 games.

Jordan hill is a back up

Randle is a unknown

And lol Wes Johnson , ? Fr? He is a scrubbb watched him as a twolves fan and Minnesotan . Dude has no handles and poor decision making .

Lakers are in the west bro , prolly wouldn't make it to the playoffs in the east bro .


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[anarchy24]

I laugh at the laker optimism , keep telling yourself
Kobes going to average 25 ,

boozer couldn't be past his prime ????

Nick young just got hurt .

Nash is moving into a nursing home after the season collecting his last check , he mightttt play 35 games.

Jordan hill is a back up

Randle is a unknown

And lol Wes Johnson , ? Fr? He is a scrubbb watched him as a twolves fan and Minnesotan . Dude has no handles and poor decision making .

Lakers are in the west bro , prolly wouldn't make it to the playoffs in the east bro .


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Why did the Wolves have Johnson handle the ball and make plays? Lakers have him there to defend and shoot 3s. Which complements Kobe's game. I just hope he worked on his 3pt shot all summer.

Nick being hurt is a blow to the second unit, but that could be a good thin since Randle will probably play with that unit. He'll have the ball more.

Gasol left to go to the Bulls, Kaman left too, Gortat resigned. Other than those 3 who would you have signed to be the Starting C? Byron Mullens? Jason Collins? Okafor I believe is still injured. Hill was the best option they had.

[robbie84]

Bahahahahahaha the 4th seed in the West?
I know that this guy doesn't represent the general IQ of Lakers fans, but as a Celtics fan this is so stereotypical.
I'm even wondering if he's trolling now.
Bahahahahaha

[djeros612]

I laugh at the laker optimism , keep telling yourself
Kobes going to average 25 ,

boozer couldn't be past his prime ????

Nick young just got hurt .

Nash is moving into a nursing home after the season collecting his last check , he mightttt play 35 games.

Jordan hill is a back up

Randle is a unknown

And lol Wes Johnson , ? Fr? He is a scrubbb watched him as a twolves fan and Minnesotan . Dude has no handles and poor decision making .

Lakers are in the west bro , prolly wouldn't make it to the playoffs in the east bro .


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Why did the Wolves have Johnson handle the ball and make plays? Lakers have him there to defend and shoot 3s. Which complements Kobe's game. I just hope he worked on his 3pt shot all summer.

Nick being hurt is a blow to the second unit, but that could be a good thin since Randle will probably play with that unit. He'll have the ball more.

Gasol left to go to the Bulls, Kaman left too, Gortat resigned. Other than those 3 who would you have signed to be the Starting C? Byron Mullens? Jason Collins? Okafor I believe is still injured. Hill was the best option they had.

Do you even understand basketball ?

Do you get that regardless of what your doing you need to be able to handle the ball at his position for one .

Two , nick young getting hurt , hurts randle not help him . Young stretches the defense giving randle more room . Now there going to be collapsing on him all game .

Yeah hill was the best option but at the same time he wouldn't start on any other team .

Laker fans are dulosinal . You guys will be fitting for the top pick . Could easily be in the bottom 3 in the league . If everything goes right you won't even get the 8th seed and that's with Nash and Kobe playing extended minutes and producing all year which we all know isn't happening . Get over it the Kobe era is over . You guys will be going through a rebuild soo and hopefully you guys luck out a draft the next Kobe real soon otherwise yall will be what the clippers were , real soon.


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[JellosJigglin]

But Kobe is also coming back from injury, he's older, and his supporting cast is terrible. I still don't think that's going to equate to more than 45 wins or anywhere near the playoffs.

I guess my point was that 45-win team shouldn't be used as a measuring stick to forecast this current team's success, because it was a tale of 2 teams: 1st half was D'Antoni ball and 2nd half was Kobe ball. That was a 50+ win team with any other coach in the NBA. We saw what happened when Kobe knocked some sense into D'Antoni and put his teammates in position to maximize their strengths. I believe they had the best record in the NBA in the second half that season, when Kobe had enough of D'Antoni's 3-ball. Kobe was tight with Pau, and it didn't sit well with him to see Pau reduced to being a spot-up, corner 3 point shooter. I have never seen a coach guide his team as poorly as D'Antoni did that season.

Does that mean this Laker team can win 45 games? I doubt it. I have them right around a .500 team, so around 41 wins. That's only a 4 game difference, so I wouldn't be shocked if they won 45. It's just highly unlikely and I wouldn't bet money on it.

This is still predicated on Kobe performing at his 2013 level, however, which was a fairly large outlier season. He shouldn't be playing 40 mpg, and that level of offensive productivity would have been unreasonable to expect healthy, let alone returning from injury and an extended layoff.

I look at Kobe's last healthy season as a sort of send-off, an ode to the "mamba" as we knew him. Even by his standards, he looked better that season than he had looked in years. We'll never see that guy again. He's going to have to evolve his game, which he fully realizes from listening to his interviews (i.e. studying Paul Pierce's game this summer, spending more time developing the young guys).

But D'Antoni was notorious for sticking to his 8-man rotations. It was part necessity because the Lakers were looking to sneak into the playoffs, and part stupidity because it's his responsibility to protect his aging star players. And Kobe needs that more than most stars. He will push himself until he literally breaks. This Laker team has more depth, and a coach who fully intends to use it. They already have a plan in place to manage his minutes. They won't need that version of Kobe and 40+ mpg from him (losing Young for 2 months is a blow though).

[MiltownHawkeye]

I had an open mind about the Lakers being better than expected until I opened the thread and saw the actual starting lineup. Congrats OP, your thread did the opposite of its intended purpose.

[tsherkin]

But D'Antoni was notorious for sticking to his 8-man rotations. It was part necessity because the Lakers were looking to sneak into the playoffs, and part stupidity because it's his responsibility to protect his aging star players. And Kobe needs that more than most stars. He will push himself until he literally breaks. This Laker team has more depth, and a coach who fully intends to use it. They already have a plan in place to manage his minutes. They won't need that version of Kobe and 40+ mpg from him (losing Young for 2 months is a blow though).

I don't really have faith that this squad, as constructed, has much punch behind it. If you look at them, their offense seems likely to be really bad. If Kobe DOESN'T go nova, they're basically toast on that end. No creators, Nash isn't going to be reliable as a healthy contributor or a significant-minutes contributor, and the rest of that team is Boozer, Randle, Hill, Davis, Lin and Swaggy P-tard. That's... not good. Lin's OK, he's starting-level material but he's not a star-level player. He's apt to give 13/5 on average efficiency with tons and tons of turnovers (like he has for basically the last 3 years in a row). I mean, he can be the second volume guy on the squad, but that's not really doing them favors.

They aren't gonna be stunners on D, so the lack of serious offensive punch will be a problem for them.

That's why these questions of health and Kobe's minutes are so critical to the core of the team's identity. Scott can coach his pants off and it'll still matter only so much given the tools with which he's working. I think Randle will eventually be a fine addition and maybe in year two, Lin will show us something new, but I dunno, man. This is a squad that will definitely live or die on the basis of what Kobe can do, which isn't hot stuff for them. They aren't quite the 05-07 Lakers, but even they had Odom.

[anarchy24]

Do you even understand basketball ?

Do you get that regardless of what your doing you need to be able to handle the ball at his position for one .

Two , nick young getting hurt , hurts randle not help him . Young stretches the defense giving randle more room . Now there going to be collapsing on him all game .

Yeah hill was the best option but at the same time he wouldn't start on any other team .

Laker fans are dulosinal . You guys will be fitting for the top pick . Could easily be in the bottom 3 in the league . If everything goes right you won't even get the 8th seed and that's with Nash and Kobe playing extended minutes and producing all year which we all know isn't happening . Get over it the Kobe era is over . You guys will be going through a rebuild soo and hopefully you guys luck out a draft the next Kobe real soon otherwise yall will be what the clippers were , real soon.


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Do you even understand what I was trying to point out? I know players need to know how to handle the ball and all, but the way you point out that skill of Johnson is going to affect him with this Lakers team. He will handle the ball. But most of what he'll do is what I said. He will not be expected to dribble more than he has too, making that weakness a non issue.

Teams collapsing to Randle only means he's good. And teams doing that is also good. He needs to learn how to react to defense like those. The bench have decent shooters he can pass to. Losing Nick will hurt, but at least it's not the whole year.

Hill will be fine as long as he doesn't get too many minutes.

How can the Lakers be in the hunt for top pick when they had their worst season ever and only manage to get the 7th pick? They upgraded their PG position, Kobe is back, SF is basically the same, if not upgraded since Kobe will play at little there. Yeah they lose some at PF and C with the lost of Gasol and Kaman. But they at least added guys that they can take a chance on and still retain the cap flexibility. And the Lakers will never be Clippers bad since they don't have as racist and cheap ass owner running the show. They've shown time and again that they are willing to do anything to field a good team. I don't see that changing any time soon.

[ChosunX]

I see a lot of people with loser mentalities and saying for the Lakers to tank.

Horrible!!!! If you're going to lose a fight might as well go down swinging and aim for the fences.

Amnesty Kobe so free agents want go there. That would be a gutsy and winner move. Not sure how much fu money do the Busses have.

Saying Amnesty Kobe is like saying the Spurs should amnesty Tim Duncan, its never gonna happen. The Lakers are a classy organization and they will never do that to their main star, Laker legend and face of the franchise for the past 19 years. Also the Lakers make way too much money off of Kobe to have him leave on a bad note. Besides this just shows me how much you know about the NBA because the Lakers already used their amnesty provision on Ron Artest.

If it could be done it would be a winning move from a bball standpoint. But LA loves his gifted sociopath so there would be riots.

[zimpy27]

Lakers will not make it into the top 8 even if everything goes right for them. They do however have the sort of team that can cause many upsets and beat the best teams. Plus they will be fun to watch, not all is lost.
I'll probably back them for a few upsets this year.

[RebuildaBulls]

Lin, Nash, Boozer and Young are some of the worst defenders in the league. Plus Bryant who I'm not sure is the same as before. Can't go anywhere without decent defenders at least!

[junot111]

Lin, Nash, Boozer and Young are some of the worst defenders in the league. Plus Bryant who I'm not sure is the same as before. Can't go anywhere without decent defenders at least!

Where did you get this idea that Lin is a bad defender? I wouldn't say he's great but you're reaching by calling him "one of the worst "

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[tacchan23]

Lin, Nash, Boozer and Young are some of the worst defenders in the league. Plus Bryant who I'm not sure is the same as before. Can't go anywhere without decent defenders at least!

Where did you get this idea that Lin is a bad defender? I wouldn't say he's great but you're reaching by calling him "one of the worst "

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He got the idea because he is born that way, sadly

[spaceballer]

Lin, Nash, Boozer and Young are some of the worst defenders in the league. Plus Bryant who I'm not sure is the same as before. Can't go anywhere without decent defenders at least!

As a Bulls fan, you should remember Rose coming off an MVP season and getting blocked by Lin's defense.

[Imon]

I guess my point was that 45-win team shouldn't be used as a measuring stick to forecast this current team's success, because it was a tale of 2 teams: 1st half was D'Antoni ball and 2nd half was Kobe ball. That was a 50+ win team with any other coach in the NBA. We saw what happened when Kobe knocked some sense into D'Antoni and put his teammates in position to maximize their strengths. I believe they had the best record in the NBA in the second half that season, when Kobe had enough of D'Antoni's 3-ball. Kobe was tight with Pau, and it didn't sit well with him to see Pau reduced to being a spot-up, corner 3 point shooter. I have never seen a coach guide his team as poorly as D'Antoni did that season.

Does that mean this Laker team can win 45 games? I doubt it. I have them right around a .500 team, so around 41 wins. That's only a 4 game difference, so I wouldn't be shocked if they won 45. It's just highly unlikely and I wouldn't bet money on it.

Didn't Kobe play himself ~45mpg that season during the stretch run?
If he does that again his knees might explode this time around.