POLL The Lakers, Spurs, Leonard, DeRozan, and the idiot Raptors

[WiggyRuss]

The WC is a helluva lot tougher than the EC. If they can stay healthy & the young players play up to potential (which I don't wanna see) I think they could win around 45 games. But in the loaded WC that still might not be enough. The Nuggets won 46 games & miss the playoffs.

if LeBron is healthy and the Lakers only win 45 games Magic and Pelinka should be fired without a second thought.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

if LeBron is healthy and the Lakers only win 45 games Magic and Pelinka should be fired without a second thought.

Why? They did their job - they got the best player in the world.

Are you saying this year's team isn't better than last year's?

 

[trojanfan12]

I don't agree with that at all. Ingram is the best of the kids, and Lonzo is firmly in that mix as well. Kuzma is older and more fully formed at this time, but his upside is muted as a result. He's 3 years older than Ingram and Ball.

Right now, this moment in time, Kuzma is the best of the kids for the reasons you laid out.

However, assuming continued development from Ingram and Lonzo, that will change. Perhaps as early as this season.

 

[tlance]

Right now, this moment in time, Kuzma is the best of the kids for the reasons you laid out.

However, assuming continued development from Ingram and Lonzo, that will change. Perhaps as early as this season.

You have watched the Lakers a lot more than me, but from what I have seen that is not true.

Kuzma may be the better scorer, but Ingram is more versatile and can do more things on the court. Kuzma almost certainly fits better with Ball, LeBron and Rondo because he is the better catch and shoot player, but all things equal I am taking Ingram now and for eternity moving forward.

But I am keeping Kuzma too unless dealing him Nets a 3rd established star at some point.

 

[shopson67]

at what age do you think a player hits his prime in the NBA?

I think its the age 26-27 seasons. To be generous lets say its age 25.

Thats 5 years for Ingram until he is in his prime.

At that point

Ball is even younger than Ingram. Neither of their primes even comes close to lining up with LeBron's, and 5 years from now, LeBron will be playing in his age 39 season- if he is even still playing at that point which is highly highly questionable.

over 4 years ago the Cavs traded Wiggins since his prime would not line up with LeBrons and at that point LeBron was 29 and going to be playing in his age 30 season.

Believe me, the urgency has not LESSENED in 4+ years.

It's different for every player. Lebron was 31/7/7 in his 3rd season out of high school. Kobe hit that level in his fifth year out of high school. Ingram is in his 4th season out of high school. I'm definitely not saying his peak is at Lebron or Kobe level, but his development could be on pace. He went from 9.4/4/2 to 16.1/5/4 with only a 5 mpg increase from year 1 to 2. Now the defenses won't be focused on him as the main scoring threat (although it was a 3 way tie at 16.1 with Kuzma and Randle last year).

 

[shopson67]

You have watched the Lakers a lot more than me, but from what I have seen that is not true.

Kuzma may be the better scorer, but Ingram is more versatile and can do more things on the court. Kuzma almost certainly fits better with Ball, LeBron and Rondo because he is the better catch and shoot player, but all things equal I am taking Ingram now and for eternity moving forward.

But I am keeping Kuzma too unless dealing him Nets a 3rd established star at some point.

Your capitalization of Nets confused me for a minute, trying to figure out why the Lakers were sending him to Brooklyn...

 

[trojanfan12]

Kuzma may be the better scorer, but Ingram is more versatile and can do more things on the court. Kuzma almost certainly fits better with Ball, LeBron and Rondo because he is the better catch and shoot player, but all things equal I am taking Ingram now and for eternity moving forward.

I agree. That's why I said "right now, this moment in time". Kuzma is 3 years older, has more of an "NBA body" and was more "NBA ready". Even with the significant improvement that Ingram made last year, Kuz was still a little bit better, imo.

However, as I said, that will change and it may change as soon as this season.

There's a reason that Ingram was off limits in the Kawhi trade talks and Kuzma wasn't.

 

[tlance]

Your capitalization of Nets confused me for a minute, trying to figure out why the Lakers were sending him to Brooklyn...

Yeah, my phone autocorrects some weird stuff sometimes. Just another example.

 

[Myles]

The Lakers are winners because they got LeBron. They won't compete for a championship this year. They may not finish better than 5th the next couple years. They are winners in that they have gotten much better. They are not winners in that they are going to be championship contenders.

 

[Inimical]

I agree and have been saying that for years.

But there is a difference between playing alongside Kawhi and the kids, vs. just kawhi.

I think he will still be playing at an allstar level 4 years from now if he can avoid major injury. He will need more help at that point though.

He wont have to play nearly as many minutes. People need to look at the Lakers bench. We have the best bench in the League now. We have young kids who are blossoming. The passing on this team is going to be god like.

 

[Inimical]

You don't know that yet. These kids typically jump up from year to year. I'm eager to see these kids playing around Lebron, easing the defensive pressure on each of them.

Nobody is expecting the Lakers to unseat the Warriors this year, which is the one thing Lebron couldn't do "by himself" last year. Nobody in their right mind takes anyone after the top two Sixers over Ingram (and likely not over Kuzma or even Ball). Guys like Covington and Reddick are what they are with no upside and are a dime a dozen in the league.

If they didnt sign boogie i think Lebron could have taken us to the finals. Though, all Javale has to do is play D and catch lobs. We have the best bench. RONDO HART STEPHENSON BEASLEY ZUBAC. I mean honestly, Zubac was showing flashes but thats still up in the air. But all Beasley has to do is catch and shoot, and thats the only thing the fucker can do lol.

 

[CitySushi]

If they didnt sign boogie i think Lebron could have taken us to the finals. Though, all Javale has to do is play D and catch lobs. We have the best bench. RONDO HART STEPHENSON BEASLEY ZUBAC. I mean honestly, Zubac was showing flashes but thats still up in the air. But all Beasley has to do is catch and shoot, and thats the only thing the fucker can do lol.

LOL wut?

 

[CitySushi]

if LeBron is healthy and the Lakers only win 45 games Magic and Pelinka should be fired without a second thought.

LOL wut?

 

[CitySushi]

Covington is a "dime a dozen" huh?

didnt realize 1st Team All Defense in the ENTIRE NBA made you a "dime a dozen" guy, interesting.

Or how shooting well over 40% for your career made you a "dime a dozen" guy. lol

What is a dime a dozen is a PF that can score and play no D like Kuzma.

Pretty sure if these guys were a dime a dozen, they wouldn't be getting 4 year 120M extensions.

Nailed it...

 

[CitySushi]

He wont have to play nearly as many minutes. People need to look at the Lakers bench. We have the best bench in the League now. We have young kids who are blossoming. The passing on this team is going to be god like.

LOL wut?

 

[Inimical]

but yeah, short term i'll say Raps...

long term, we'll see what my Magic 8-Ball says...

I see what you did there

 

[Mecca]

Right now, this moment in time, Kuzma is the best of the kids for the reasons you laid out.

However, assuming continued development from Ingram and Lonzo, that will change. Perhaps as early as this season.

I think Ingram is better.

Scores, creates for himself and others.

 

[Mecca]

If they didnt sign boogie i think Lebron could have taken us to the finals. Though, all Javale has to do is play D and catch lobs. We have the best bench. RONDO HART STEPHENSON BEASLEY ZUBAC. I mean honestly, Zubac was showing flashes but thats still up in the air. But all Beasley has to do is catch and shoot, and thats the only thing the fucker can do lol.

Dude...lol

Boston, Raptors, Warriors, Nuggets, Heat....

Just off the top of my head.

 

[Mecca]

Pretty sure if these guys were a dime a dozen, they wouldn't be getting 4 year 120M extensions.

Nailed it...

 

[CitySushi]

This thread is a lot of comedy. I wanted to keep on my roll of LOL wut, but I had to interject on this one.