Los Angeles Lakers 2018-2019 Season Thread

[DJ Fieri]

Sure but they are not going to light it up from 3. Thats a fact that everyone in the game has not only accepted but predicted before the season.

Nobody said they would light it up....but f they increase it 6-8% to 30-32%? That's a good enough increase......a lot of time games are decided by 3-5 points.

A few extra 3's can make a difference.

Listen, I'm not saying we're gonna win 52-55 games or anything crazy.....but 45-48 games? Not outside of the realm of possibility.....not when you have the best basketball player on the planet.

 

[DJ Fieri]

No game thread?

@Retroram52 must be working.

 

[DJ Fieri]

The Lakers are up 1 vs the Spurs with just under 9 minutes left.

 

[DJ Fieri]

Sure but they are not going to light it up from 3. Thats a fact that everyone in the game has not only accepted but predicted before the season.

Um, there in the 4th quarter and the Lakers have made 11 of 30 3's.

That's 37%.

 

[DJ Fieri]

Hart has made 4 of 5 and Kuzma 3 of 8 3's.

 

[Retroram52]

Three games, three loses.

 

[Retroram52]

Yep working DJ.

 

[Retroram52]

I saw the vid that someone posted on LeBron telling a fallen player to stay down, "your bro will come and get you." As pointed out here in Phoenix, in the malay with the Rockets, LeBron was caught not practicing what he preaches. When the fight broke out, he didn't defend Ingram or Rondo but went and protected Chris Paul.

As one announcer here put it, LeBron doesn't play for the Lakers, the Lakers play for LeBron. Now maybe this is hyperbole to get local fans rowed-up as the Lakers play Phoenix tomorrow night but it does reflect on a reality that LeBron does what he wants and has little accountability to anyone, apparently. Maybe this is what occurred in Miami and Cleveland, maybe.

Call it new chemistry development with the youngsters of the Lakers or whatever, but if the losing continues I wonder how long before the locker room becomes toxic.

 

[trojanfan12]

They are not all of a sudden going to become better shooters. At this point they are as good as they are going to be. They need to play better defense. Defense is a team effort and can always be improved.

Defense and run. As long as defense keeps games close they can win with either fast break points or Lebron just being Lebron if necessary.

At shooting the basketball it does. These guys have been playing for 12 years straight and then some. They are not all of a sudden going to become better shooters.

They are missing wide open shots. Nothing is going to improve that.

They can improve team things like defense and hustle.

Sure but they are not going to light it up from 3. Thats a fact that everyone in the game has not only accepted but predicted before the season.

No offense, but these are some fairly uninformed posts.

While you are correct that most predicted that the Lakers wouldn't "light it up from 3", they also weren't expected to be as bad as they have been. The main problem is that guys who were expected to be, at least serviceable from 3, have not been.

Lebron is a career 34% from 3. So far this year, he is at 16%.

Kuzma shot 37% last year. He is at 27% this year.

KCP is a career 34% from 3, he is at 17% this year.

Ingram shot 39% last year and is currently 0-5.

Only Lonzo (31% last year, 42% this year) is shooting better from 3 than previously.

Logic would dictate that Lebron, Kuzma, KCP and Ingram will all improve their 3 point shooting just by reverting to their norm and Lonzo will probably drop a bit in percentage.

As for the defense. In the NBA, defense is usually the last thing that comes together for a team with a lot of new faces. These are NBA players, so they can all score.

But defense requires communication and trust. That takes time to build.

Having said that, unless they make a trade of some sort, the best they are likely to reach defensively is being an average NBA team. Outside of McGee, they lack the size and rim protection to be better than that.

 

[trojanfan12]

As pointed out here in Phoenix, in the malay with the Rockets, LeBron was caught not practicing what he preaches. When the fight broke out, he didn't defend Ingram or Rondo but went and protected Chris Paul.

I disagree. It looked to me like Lebron grabbed the nearest guy, who happened to be CP3 and kept him from re-entering the fight which, if he had, would likely have escalated the situation resulting in more players being suspended and players who were already looking at suspensions, being given longer ones. Pretty much every time we see a fight in any sport, there tends to be a mix of guys who are "peacemakers" and just get whoever they can away from the fight, whether it's a teammate or an opponent.

As one announcer here put it, LeBron doesn't play for the Lakers, the Lakers play for LeBron. Now maybe this is hyperbole to get local fans rowed-up as the Lakers play Phoenix tomorrow night but it does reflect on a reality that LeBron does what he wants and has little accountability to anyone, apparently. Maybe this is what occurred in Miami and Cleveland, maybe.

That's pretty much the case with every superstar. I mean, sans Shaq, does anyone think that Kobe's teammates weren't playing as much for him as they were the Lakers?

Call it new chemistry development with the youngsters of the Lakers or whatever, but if the losing continues I wonder how long before the locker room becomes toxic.

So far, everyone is saying all the right things. I don't think anyone thought they were going to take the NBA by storm.

In his first year with the Heat, they were 9-8 at 17 games into the season and struggled with defining roles all the way to the finals, where it cost them a championship.

In his first year back with the Cavs, they had a losing record at one point in the season.

This happened despite him having all stars and future HoF'ers on those teams.

 

[Old Lion]

No offense, but these are some fairly uninformed posts.

While you are correct that most predicted that the Lakers wouldn't "light it up from 3", they also weren't expected to be as bad as they have been. The main problem is that guys who were expected to be, at least serviceable from 3, have not been.

Lebron is a career 34% from 3. So far this year, he is at 16%.

Kuzma shot 37% last year. He is at 27% this year.

KCP is a career 34% from 3, he is at 17% this year.

Ingram shot 39% last year and is currently 0-5.

Only Lonzo (31% last year, 42% this year) is shooting better from 3 than previously.

Logic would dictate that Lebron, Kuzma, KCP and Ingram will all improve their 3 point shooting just by reverting to their norm and Lonzo will probably drop a bit in percentage.

As for the defense. In the NBA, defense is usually the last thing that comes together for a team with a lot of new faces. These are NBA players, so they can all score.

But defense requires communication and trust. That takes time to build.

Having said that, unless they make a trade of some sort, the best they are likely to reach defensively is being an average NBA team. Outside of McGee, they lack the size and rim protection to be better than that.

Shooting 3s will help but that wont win them many games even if they come back to form. They shot decent from 3 last game and still lost. 3 games of terrible defense, 3 losses. Talk to me when they win a game.

 

[Retroram52]

LIke I stated TJF12, the local sports announcers hate the Lakers and sometimes they put this stuff out there and maybe they can somehow affect what is going on with the Lakers which maybe a pipe dream in many cases.

I don't trust the guy at this point but I am sure the chemistry will continue to develop or disintegrate as most things go. The youngsters that have stayed with the club have a pretty good chemistry going and maybe they are deferring to LBJ as a matter of respect. Whether they get to the point of blending, remains to be seen as you have already stated.

BTW, Brandon did get a four-game suspension and Rondo got three games. Paul got two.

 

[trojanfan12]

Shooting 3s will help but that wont win them many games even if they come back to form. They shot decent from 3 last game and still lost. 3 games of terrible defense, 3 losses. Talk to me when they win a game.

lol

I'm sure not having Ingram and Rondo had nothing to do with last nights loss.

It's October, we are 3 games into the season, with a lot of new faces. Being 0-3 doesn't mean anything more than being 3-0 would.

I mean, if they were 3-0, would you be talking about what a great team they are and predicting a title?

 

[tomodach10]

lol

I'm sure not having Ingram and Rondo had nothing to do with last nights loss.

It's October, we are 3 games into the season, with a lot of new faces. Being 0-3 doesn't mean anything more than being 3-0 would.

I mean, if they were 3-0, would you be talking about what a great team they are and predicting a title?

Old Lion just wants to be right sooo bad lol

 

[Old Lion]

lol

I'm sure not having Ingram and Rondo had nothing to do with last nights loss.

It's October, we are 3 games into the season, with a lot of new faces. Being 0-3 doesn't mean anything more than being 3-0 would.

I mean, if they were 3-0, would you be talking about what a great team they are and predicting a title?

Maybe not. Maybe if they were 3-0 and playing decent defense instead of giving up over 130+ a game.

 

[trojanfan12]

Maybe not. Maybe if they were 3-0 and playing decent defense instead of giving up over 130+ a game.

I get it about the defense. But there are a couple of things that I don't think you're considering.

First, when looking at points given up, you have to consider pace of play. The Lakers play at one of, if not the, fastest paces in the league. That means more scoring opportunities for both teams. The Lakers could be holding teams to 25% percent shooting and they are going to give up more points than slower paced teams (which is pretty much all of them) because 25% of a 100 shots means more made baskets than 25% of 75 shots.

Second, this early in the season, the offense is ahead of the defense. That's just how it is with basketball. The reason is because good team defense requires communication and trust. Those take time to develop.

As I said previously, even if they improve to their full potential, they are likely to be no better than an average team defensively because they lack size and only have 1 rim protector.

 

[tomodach10]

Boy did they blow that game on Monday! They made every mistake possible in the last minute of OT. It was an action filled thriller. Did SA miss any threes? The Lakers will improve on hitting open shots as the season goes on IMO, that to me is what is the number 1# killer right now.

 

[DJ Fieri]

Josh Hart gets the start tonight.

 

[DJ Fieri]

Shooting 3s will help but that wont win them many games even if they come back to form. They shot decent from 3 last game and still lost. 3 games of terrible defense, 3 losses. Talk to me when they win a game.

7 of 19 tonight, bud. 2 games in a row that they are shooting pretty well.....

 

[DJ Fieri]

I get it about the defense. But there are a couple of things that I don't think you're considering.

First, when looking at points given up, you have to consider pace of play. The Lakers play at one of, if not the, fastest paces in the league. That means more scoring opportunities for both teams. The Lakers could be holding teams to 25% percent shooting and they are going to give up more points than slower paced teams (which is pretty much all of them) because 25% of a 100 shots means more made baskets than 25% of 75 shots.

Second, this early in the season, the offense is ahead of the defense. That's just how it is with basketball. The reason is because good team defense requires communication and trust. Those take time to develop.

As I said previously, even if they improve to their full potential, they are likely to be no better than an average team defensively because they lack size and only have 1 rim protector.

BOOM.

They play at a break-neck pace.