Game 59: Los Angeles Lakers (19-39) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (32-25) - 8:00 PM ET

[TyCobb]

Willy is blowing up lately too.

[ROballer]

Yeah, but Zubac' PER has grown tremendously in the last month, he's at over 16 right now which is tremendous for a 19 yr old.
With the way he stuffs the stat sheet when he gets his minutes, he might hover at around ~17-18 by the end of the year, which is where Willy's at right now.

16/10/2.3 per 36 is I think, more than any of us ever dreamt from him in his rookie season.
With all his deficiencies, which are all understandable, the way he contributes on the stat sheet is very encouraging.


I mean, there are two guys EVER who got 16/10/2 per 36 at the age or 20 or less, and those guys are Shaq and Anthony Davis.

[TyCobb]

There should be an inflation adjustment for currently produced basketball statistics. 10 boards today are easier than 10 boards in a slower paced setting like previous eras.

[RingsDontLie]

^exactly this is why I hope me and Magic are on the same page and consider Zubac and Ingram untouchable. These two could be the real deal that sets this franchise back to glory along with D'angelo.

[Landsberger]

Russell's problems are less about him and more about what the expectations are. In the history of the league there are very few players that have led a team to deep playoff runs being both the primary playmaker as well as carrying the bulk of the scoring load. It's exceptionally rare that a PG, who leads his team in scoring also wins a championship. Pop has made a career of taking these teams out in the playoffs.

Laker fans expect a Curry level of performance. He's in a no-win situation IMHO. He'll never be a Curry type and quite frankly a lot of stars aligned for that GS team when they won. If they win again this year he isn't the primary scorer for them anymore or at least he's not required to be the leading scorer for them to win. Until we get a true leading scorer type Russell will get this type of scrutiny from the press and fans. I still think his best place will be off the ball in the future.

As for the game tonight. I saw good effort but not much results with most of the guys. It's obvious we have young and inexperienced players. They will learn and grow but we still need a younger star to lead this group and put some shade on the younger guys.

Let it go bud... the horse is dead.

What would you do if you didn't have me to follow around to do your cute little posts? I'll say what I want when I want dude.

[Princeinrevolt]

Russell's problems are less about him and more about what the expectations are. In the history of the league there are very few players that have led a team to deep playoff runs being both the primary playmaker as well as carrying the bulk of the scoring load. It's exceptionally rare that a PG, who leads his team in scoring also wins a championship. Pop has made a career of taking these teams out in the playoffs.

Laker fans expect a Curry level of performance. He's in a no-win situation IMHO. He'll never be a Curry type and quite frankly a lot of stars aligned for that GS team when they won. If they win again this year he isn't the primary scorer for them anymore or at least he's not required to be the leading scorer for them to win. Until we get a true leading scorer type Russell will get this type of scrutiny from the press and fans. I still think his best place will be off the ball in the future.

As for the game tonight. I saw good effort but not much results with most of the guys. It's obvious we have young and inexperienced players. They will learn and grow but we still need a younger star to lead this group and put some shade on the younger guys.

Let it go bud... the horse is dead.

What would you do if you didn't have me to follow around to do your cute little posts? I'll say what I want when I want dude.

Getting a little mad huh?

[Landsberger]

Let it go bud... the horse is dead.

What would you do if you didn't have me to follow around to do your cute little posts? I'll say what I want when I want dude.

Getting a little mad huh?

Not at all. The "Russell defense force" seems to be the ones constantly chasing any comment I make about him around the board so they seem to be the ones taking exception to the debate not me. I take exception to people trying to claim that I "hate" someone or otherwise are not looking at something objectively. That's it.

[lake_show]

What would you do if you didn't have me to follow around to do your cute little posts? I'll say what I want when I want dude.

Getting a little mad huh?

Not at all. The "Russell defense force" seems to be the ones constantly chasing any comment I make about him around the board so they seem to be the ones taking exception to the debate not me. I take exception to people trying to claim that I "hate" someone or otherwise are not looking at something objectively. That's it.

Is that what it seems like lol... There's no "Russell defense force". It's just that you're involved in everything Russell related. If there's a Russell post anywhere on this board guaranteed you'll be the first one there, and it's never anything new you're posting. Same old spiel. You just get upset that because most people don't agree with you. Just because most people don't agree with the stuff you have to say (which is mostly just inaccurate, dated information) doesn't mean poor little you is being attacked.

And, I wasn't gonna... I was gonna let it go... but to address you're previous comment... I think you're giving yourself a little too much credit. I'm sorry to burst your bubble but I barely even read half of what you write. Especially when it's the Russell related routine you run. Even when you quote me I sometimes don't even read it. Sorry. You seem to love to quote me though. I feel like we're best friends by now. Btw, if you don't like what I have to say, ignore it. That's what I do with some of your stuff. I'm not breaking any rules around here, and just like you're gonna write what you want... I'm gonna write whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it. Sorry bud. Even if you do consider it "cute" lol.

[Landsberger]

Getting a little mad huh?

Not at all. The "Russell defense force" seems to be the ones constantly chasing any comment I make about him around the board so they seem to be the ones taking exception to the debate not me. I take exception to people trying to claim that I "hate" someone or otherwise are not looking at something objectively. That's it.

Is that what it seems like lol... There's no "Russell defense force". It's just that you're involved in everything Russell related. If there's a Russell post anywhere on this board guaranteed you'll be the first one there, and it's never anything new you're posting. Same old spiel. You just get upset that because most people don't agree with you. Just because most people don't agree with the stuff you have to say (which is mostly just inaccurate, dated information) doesn't mean poor little you is being attacked.

And, I wasn't gonna... I was gonna let it go... but to address you're previous comment... I think you're giving yourself a little too much credit. I'm sorry to burst your bubble but I barely even read half of what you write. Especially when it's the Russell related routine you run. Even when you quote me I sometimes don't even read it. Sorry. You seem to love to quote me though. I feel like we're best friends by now. Btw, if you don't like what I have to say, ignore it. That's what I do with some of your stuff. I'm not breaking any rules around here, and just like you're gonna write what you want... I'm gonna write whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it. Sorry bud. Even if you do consider it "cute" lol.

cute expanded to 2 paragraphs. Nice! Didn't think you had it in you.

[Princeinrevolt]

Not at all. The "Russell defense force" seems to be the ones constantly chasing any comment I make about him around the board so they seem to be the ones taking exception to the debate not me. I take exception to people trying to claim that I "hate" someone or otherwise are not looking at something objectively. That's it.

Is that what it seems like lol... There's no "Russell defense force". It's just that you're involved in everything Russell related. If there's a Russell post anywhere on this board guaranteed you'll be the first one there, and it's never anything new you're posting. Same old spiel. You just get upset that because most people don't agree with you. Just because most people don't agree with the stuff you have to say (which is mostly just inaccurate, dated information) doesn't mean poor little you is being attacked.

And, I wasn't gonna... I was gonna let it go... but to address you're previous comment... I think you're giving yourself a little too much credit. I'm sorry to burst your bubble but I barely even read half of what you write. Especially when it's the Russell related routine you run. Even when you quote me I sometimes don't even read it. Sorry. You seem to love to quote me though. I feel like we're best friends by now. Btw, if you don't like what I have to say, ignore it. That's what I do with some of your stuff. I'm not breaking any rules around here, and just like you're gonna write what you want... I'm gonna write whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it. Sorry bud. Even if you do consider it "cute" lol.

cute expanded to 2 paragraphs. Nice! Didn't think you had it in you.

This rivalry is better than the Celtics/Lakers rivalry hahaha

[Slava]

Not at all. The "Russell defense force" seems to be the ones constantly chasing any comment I make about him around the board so they seem to be the ones taking exception to the debate not me. I take exception to people trying to claim that I "hate" someone or otherwise are not looking at something objectively. That's it.

This kind of thing is not cool. Don't do that again.

[iamworthy]

The DLo conversation is absolutely fascinating. We all watch him play and We come up with two completely different conclusions.