GT: T-Wolves @ Lakers October 28, 2015 7:30PM

[crazyeights]

The thing that annoys me most is that we obviously aren't ready as a team. And that's on Byron. His rotations should have been set 2 pre-season games ago. I get that Kobe was injured, but now he's still in the beginning stages of figuring things out. We could lose a lot of winnable games early, just because of roster-turnover/Byron's tinkering.

Scratch that--the thing that annoys me most is losing a game to another bottom-feeding team AND not getting enough experience for Russell. If we're not even going to win, we have to at least be playing for the future.

[Slava]

This loss still stings, we should have beat this team at home. So many mistakes that should have been ironed out in preseason are coming back to haunt now.

> God knows how long they even worked on PnR defense for those 8 weeks because I could see no plan or purpose there.
> Brandon Bass could have as well been playing for the other team.
> There's no reason for anyone not named Curry in this world to be taking 12 3s in a game, let alone Kobe. Some horrible shot selection, some went in others did not but that just cannot happen.
> There was very good ball movement with the 2nd unit when they checked in at the end of the first quarter but sadly that was the last we've seen of it.
> Terribly called time out in the end to round it all off.

[Slava]

I also honestly think Russell was shocked to see how badly those guys were gunning. Its one thing to hear about Kobe's shooting jokes from the outside and a completely different experience to witness it first hand while being teammates. I really do feel for him.

[SDChargers#1]

Russell looked TERRIBLE last night, simply TERRIBLE. Like he had no idea what was going on or how to move in an NBA game.

I am trying my best not to jump to any conclusions, but this just infuriates me that we didn't take Okafor. Russell is going to flaunt it in our faces all year.

[TylersLakers]

No offensive creativity whatsoever and that bothered me. Everything was either a Kobe isolation on the wing (which I can live with every now and then, aside from his second half shooting woes, he had a lot of juice to him) or a 1-4 pick and roll with Clarkson. No movement, hardly anybody cutting baseline, just standstill crap. I'm gonna rewatch it again tonight but yeesh.

Defensively, I totally understand playing Rubio like that to start the game. However, once he proved he was on and making those shots, we have to force him to be a driver. He's not the most aggressive offensive player in the league and if we fight over those screens and force him to drive, I trust that more than the same pick and roll strategy we played all night of just letting him shoot uncontested shots. We changed our pick and roll strategy the last 2 minutes and Rubio couldn't get a shot off.

I love Byron, really do. However, with more talent this year, those defensive strategies looked very similar to last season. Either he needs to accept that he needs some veteran coaching help to assist him (can you name one assistant coach on our staff?) or else there's not much we can do.

Not going to overreact to one game, but that was disheartening in a game where we had the lead. Can't blow games like this if we have any hope at all to make the playoffs.

[Kilroy]

It's hard to keep a lead like that going into the second half... I think we looked pretty great in the first half. I think Kobe played too much through the first 3...
Randle is a really special combination of skill, athleticism, and mentality... He looks a lot quicker now...

Liked what I saw from Russel on the Defensive side. He was relying too much on making the spectacular pass though... And those miscues weren't all his fault either. Guys just weren't expecting the passes. He was moving well without the ball, but he wasn't getting open and the passes weren't finding him. Would have liked to see more from him, but I was OK with what I did see. I also agree with the studio guys assessment that with Kobe, Clarkson, Russell, and Randle all needing touches, it's going to be hard to find a ballance, especially if Kobe dominates the ball like he did last night.

Kobe lost the game for us IMO... That timeout was a bad call... Let Randle see what he can do, and pound the boards. Lou is an outside shooter, not the guy you want shooting a floater in the lane. That guy's Clarkson.
Scott could have called a better play, but that was a bad timeout.

Towns is going to be a beast too...

[TylersLakers]

And when it comes to our D, we now have a rim protector (Hibbert) and three pretty damn good athletes (Clarkson, Randle, Russell) playing with him. I realize Kobe's older and not the defensive player he once was but there are teams with LESS that defend MORE.

Also, Kobe gave up a wide open man after complaining to an official about a call. It was nice to see Roy Hibbert confront Kobe and smack him on the chest and tell him to get back. Kobe nodded and said "my bad." Didn't see much complaining the rest of the way during game play.

[Slava]

And when it comes to our D, we now have a rim protector (Hibbert) and three pretty damn good athletes (Clarkson, Randle, Russell) playing with him. I realize Kobe's older and not the defensive player he once was but there are teams with LESS that defend MORE.

Also, Kobe gave up a wide open man after complaining to an official about a call. It was nice to see Roy Hibbert confront Kobe and smack him on the chest and tell him to get back. Kobe nodded and said "my bad." Didn't see much complaining the rest of the way during game play.

I liked that part too. Glad to see Hibbert is taking that defensive captain role seriously.

[EArl]

Okafor with a great first night BTW...

[The Prodigy]

I'm not as disappointed about the loss as I am about the fact that our young guys didn't get a chance to play freely. I was never expecting Kobe to be much of a mentor to them, it's just not in him, but he seemed to be going out of his way to make sure he'd eat first, second and third, with zero regard for the flow of the game and the players around him.

One instance that to me was very telling of Kobe's lack of mentorship was his complete avoidance of the Randle/KG back-and-forth, where a veteran needs to step in and make sure the rookie doesn't do anything stupid that will cost the team and himself. Luckily, Randle handled it well, but Kobe's absence was very conspicuous.

[Star-Lord]

One instance that to me was very telling of Kobe's lack of mentorship was his complete avoidance of the Randle/KG back-and-forth, where a veteran needs to step in and make sure the rookie doesn't do anything stupid that will cost the team and himself. Luckily, Randle handled it well, but h absence was very conspicuous.

Yeah, this isn't fair at all. Other players jumping in almost always only exacerbates a moment that turned out to be fleeting, mainly because all three refs were right there. Let the refs do their job. Plus, Randle looks like he can take care of himself just fine.

We can be mad at Kobe for thinking it's still 2007 and gunning without conscience, but this is silly. Kobe can and currently may very well be an effective leader and mentor without that kind of stuff.

[The Prodigy]

One instance that to me was very telling of Kobe's lack of mentorship was his complete avoidance of the Randle/KG back-and-forth, where a veteran needs to step in and make sure the rookie doesn't do anything stupid that will cost the team and himself. Luckily, Randle handled it well, but h absence was very conspicuous.

Yeah, this isn't fair at all. Other players jumping in almost always only exacerbates a moment that turned out to be fleeting, mainly because all three refs were right there. Let the refs do their job. Plus, Randle looks like he can take care of himself just fine.

We can be mad at Kobe for thinking it's still 2007 and gunning without conscience, but this is silly. Kobe can and currently may very well be an effective leader and mentor without that kind of stuff.

I never suggested that Kobe get in KG's face, I would have just expected him to step in, talk to Randle and de-escalate the situation. Yes, Randle is a bull and could probably break KG's skinny ass in half but then what? Ejection, free throws, suspension.

[Hank7]

If we can't beat the Wolves at home .... whew.

[ArC_man]

Honestly the offense wasn't the problem last night. If scoring 111 points doesn't get the job done, then we're not going to win a lot of games. I do put some of the blame on Kobe, but when he came back in the 4th (where he really stunk it up) we had already lost our lead. The game should have never gotten to that point.

I think it's been abundantly clear from pre-season that the Kelly+Bass combo just flat out doesn't cut it defensively. I don't know why Black is in Byron's doghouse but there's no reason why he shouldn't be playing. Black isn't a huge upgrade on defense, but at least he offers better PnR defense, a better PnR roll target, and at least some form of rim protection. I also don't understand why JC and Randle aren't getting more minutes when both can handle the load (at least JC has proven last year he could). There was a period in the 4th were we just couldn't buy a bucket or get a stop, why not call a timeout to halt the momentum and put JC and Randle back in at that point?

[TyCobb]

This team is so damn talented. All this team needs is game reps and it's gonna grow into something beautiful. Finally get to sit back and enjoy Lakers basketball again.

I can see why Jim Buss thinks they're one big FA signing away from being highly competitive.

[Star-Lord]

One instance that to me was very telling of Kobe's lack of mentorship was his complete avoidance of the Randle/KG back-and-forth, where a veteran needs to step in and make sure the rookie doesn't do anything stupid that will cost the team and himself. Luckily, Randle handled it well, but h absence was very conspicuous.

Yeah, this isn't fair at all. Other players jumping in almost always only exacerbates a moment that turned out to be fleeting, mainly because all three refs were right there. Let the refs do their job. Plus, Randle looks like he can take care of himself just fine.

We can be mad at Kobe for thinking it's still 2007 and gunning without conscience, but this is silly. Kobe can and currently may very well be an effective leader and mentor without that kind of stuff.

I never suggested that Kobe get in KG's face, I would have just expected him to step in, talk to Randle and de-escalate the situation. Yes, Randle is a bull and could probably break KG's skinny ass in half but then what? Ejection, free throws, suspension.

I don't think we've seen anything from Randle to suggest that that kind of volatile behavior is something to worry about. I'm sure he can get there with enough provocation, as anyone could, but even when confronted with KG right in his face he was still cool. He just wasn't about to back down. Now, if Julius had exhibited some Demarcus Cousins type behavior in the past, I might be more inclined to agree with your overall sentiment, but he hasn't at all. We can definitely add poise to his list of positive attributes.

If we can't beat the Wolves at home .... whew.

It's the very first game of the season.

[bulliedog8]

Can't believe I'm seeing so called Laker fans on the GB praying to keep a so called top 3 pick. First off you have to realize this team is just decent enough that they won't come close to being low enough to keep that pick. Secondly college basketball will be almost unwatchable this season and there isn't one kid that will be a lottery pick that will put a team over the hump.

If you believe that they'll keep that pick and find a stud in a real weak draft....then you are mentally F'd up and have no ball IQ.

Dont know how much you or anyone else values Fran Friscellas opinion, but he says Simmons is a transcendent talent. I never watched him really, but I think him and Skal will be multiple time allstars. Im high on Jaylen Brown of California too.

[Hank7]

Honestly the offense wasn't the problem last night. If scoring 111 points doesn't get the job done, then we're not going to win a lot of games. I do put some of the blame on Kobe, but when he came back in the 4th (where he really stunk it up) we had already lost our lead. The game should have never gotten to that point.

I think it's been abundantly clear from pre-season that the Kelly+Bass combo just flat out doesn't cut it defensively. I don't know why Black is in Byron's doghouse but there's no reason why he shouldn't be playing. Black isn't a huge upgrade on defense, but at least he offers better PnR defense, a better PnR roll target, and at least some form of rim protection. I also don't understand why JC and Randle aren't getting more minutes when both can handle the load (at least JC has proven last year he could). There was a period in the 4th were we just couldn't buy a bucket or get a stop, why not call a timeout to halt the momentum and put JC and Randle back in at that point?

Totally agree that JC and Randle needed to be in there with more minutes ... and what the hell was Kelly doing in there when the game was on the line? He can't hit an open shot to save his life.

[bulliedog8]

Also, Byron has got to go. Dont know why teams keep hiring these recycled coaches. The only coach that has been fired that id hire, is Thibs. Or else, go for a young up and coming assistant that understands players more of todays nba, or a high profile college coach like Kevin Ollie. I like Luke Walton as a prospect for head coach for the lakers next year. Getting some experience right now as Kerr is out. Been under kerr, played for phil. Young. He would just need to bring in an experienced staff and I think he would be set.

[ArC_man]

On the bright side, Randle has continued to impress me. The rebounding that we saw in college is finally here and I love the competitive spirit.

People are ragging on Russell but I thought he played a fine game overall. I counted about 3-4 wide open shots he created but people just missed (or simply weren't ready for the ball like Hibbert). I'd like to see him more aggressive if he gets pressured bringing the ball up the court. There's simply no reason why he should let a guy like Kevin Martin hound him for 90 feet.