Lakers-Nuggets pre-season game 1 Sept 30 6:30 pm Spectrum Sports Net

[tugs]

Imagine starting Josh Hart in place of KCP

[Kilroy]

It's preseason guys... KCP is going to be here so lets wait until the regular season before we judge him...

Zu looked a little off pace, but his stamina looked good and he showed some nice moves around the basket when he could hold onto the ball... I think he'll look better as he gets more time in the system and adjusts to the pace... Those guys are throwing rockets inside now.
We're super light at the 5... I don't see Zu getting outright cut, but he's got to step up a little.

Ingram's D was special... His shot still isn't falling though, which surprised me. It's got to be mental because his mechanics look so good. Nobody's in season form yet, but he looks poised to have a good season next to LeBron and maybe as the transition scorer when LeBron is out.

Kuz had nice intensity... His passing and court vision have improved... His shot looks off though. It's weird to me that a guy like Ball can chuck a length of the court pass in stride without really showing much effort but Kuz has to throw his whole body into it like a shot-put... But they were on target and good passes regardless. He's clearly been hanging out with Rondo a lot... Didn't look too happy on the bench though. It looked like LeBron was about to tell him to chill.

Rondo looks really good running the break. Can't really fault anything he was doing.

Lance is a spark plug off the bench, although he seems to fall into "Lance-World" and forget about system and team and what not... But if he can get to trusting his mates a little bit more, the second unit is going to be scary.

Hart was solid if not quite back to where he was last season.

McGee was impressive, although I doubt that lob-game is there for him all season as teams adjust to us. But he looked like the best player on the court when he was out there for a while (and LeBron was sitting)...

Didn't get to see any of LeBron's minutes.

Overall, I was disappointed how much this team looked like the team from last season... I expected it to be a little easier for us to score this season... But individually, I can't really complain about these guys too much yet.

Our Defense is light years ahead of where it was last season though... Even if it looked like Denver could get theirs at will against us.

[Leor_77]

copying the thoughts I posted on LG:

Defense needs a TON of work, in general.

We need to increase our 3-point shooting volume and fast breaks. I love two's, but those two things are how you score in this league (and we have players that can make three's). Lonzo can help with this.

Many blocked shots, loose balls, etc. seemed to roll into their hands. Many three's and other shots were made this way by them. Sometimes there's not much you can do about that.

I don't like the iso/ball stopping from Lance/Beasley. They need to play within the flow of the offense, or not play at all.

BI is great, Kuz is fine (will knock the rust off in no time). SVI should have regular minutes in the rotation.

[Spanish_Laker]

Typical around the league, one game and the overreaction happens. Chill guys, the team didn't even play hard. This kind of games is for the training camp invites.

[stan francisco]

My over reactions to the first preseason game:

All players looked rusty. The system is not humming yet. Team defense sucked at times, looked decent for stretches.

Rondo is just as good as expected. Additionally, he and LBJ is a great fit!!! Rajon will be our stabilizing force. Great signing. Thanks, Pelagic!

KCP’s shooting form looks improved. Let’s hope it translates to made threes, that he knocks them down at 40% or better. He’ll have to.

Hart is looking hungry and ready to take on the world. It won’t be long until he’s breathing down KCP’s neck for the starting job.

Ingram looked better off the ball which is a good sign. He anticipates so well defensively.

Kuzma seems to have got bigger and improved most of his game except from his shot. Rust? Let’s hope.

LBJ thumbs up

JMG thumbs up


Lance and Beasley need to pass the ball.

[Landsberger]

It's preseason guys... KCP is going to be here so lets wait until the regular season before we judge him...

Zu looked a little off pace, but his stamina looked good and he showed some nice moves around the basket when he could hold onto the ball... I think he'll look better as he gets more time in the system and adjusts to the pace... Those guys are throwing rockets inside now.
We're super light at the 5... I don't see Zu getting outright cut, but he's got to step up a little.

Ingram's D was special... His shot still isn't falling though, which surprised me. It's got to be mental because his mechanics look so good. Nobody's in season form yet, but he looks poised to have a good season next to LeBron and maybe as the transition scorer when LeBron is out.

Kuz had nice intensity... His passing and court vision have improved... His shot looks off though. It's weird to me that a guy like Ball can chuck a length of the court pass in stride without really showing much effort but Kuz has to throw his whole body into it like a shot-put... But they were on target and good passes regardless. He's clearly been hanging out with Rondo a lot... Didn't look too happy on the bench though. It looked like LeBron was about to tell him to chill.

Rondo looks really good running the break. Can't really fault anything he was doing.

Lance is a spark plug off the bench, although he seems to fall into "Lance-World" and forget about system and team and what not... But if he can get to trusting his mates a little bit more, the second unit is going to be scary.

Hart was solid if not quite back to where he was last season.

McGee was impressive, although I doubt that lob-game is there for him all season as teams adjust to us. But he looked like the best player on the court when he was out there for a while (and LeBron was sitting)...

Didn't get to see any of LeBron's minutes.

Overall, I was disappointed how much this team looked like the team from last season... I expected it to be a little easier for us to score this season... But individually, I can't really complain about these guys too much yet.

Our Defense is light years ahead of where it was last season though... Even if it looked like Denver could get theirs at will against us.

This is a good take.

You didn't see the Rondo/LeBron minutes..... they were 80% better than the non-lebrun minutes. They seemed in sync from the start.

Ingram showed some off the ball awareness we hadn't seen before. Kuzma was amped and then some.... didn't help that he hit is first 3. He was 4" off the floor after that. You can see he want's to play these games like no one else. He played some decent defense on the perimeter as well. He missed some easily makable shots in the paint. It was nice that they went to him in the post. I think with a little time he can present a decent matchup in the post at times. Ingram showed his typical Reed Richards drives albeit with some less than graceful finishes.

Stephenson is a guy who've I've seen little of before. He had some decent minutes.... I'm not sure he knew he had teammates.

McGee I'm not sold on offensively. He can be good at dunking but we better not be counting on much from him on that end.

Hart was active but also overmatched at times. He struggles with quick guards and that was the case last night. He's as bad with them as he is good with more physical guards.

I made a comment about how we looked little changed from last year as well. Even with Bron in the line up we had that same "flow" to our game.

[tugs]

Retracting my comment on KCP. I'd have him defend quick guards while Hart defends the bulkier ones.

[JohnVancouver]

Ingram showed his typical Reed Richards drives

Hahahahaha - extra points for that one.