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How Many Games Do You Project The Lakers Will Win This Season?

  • 15-20

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  • 21-25

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  • 26-30

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  • 31-35

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  • 36-40

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  • 41-45

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  • 46-50

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  • 51-55

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  • 56-73

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  • They Will Break the NBA Record with 74+ Wins

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  • Total voters
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dceja said:
Everyone in attendance at today's game gets a kobe 8 jersey damn
Click to expand...

Wow. All I got was a plush toy and some thunder sticks.

Looks like they're giving away replica 24 jerseys on my birthday, but I have like 4 already :lol:
 
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What a horrible game tonight.

Lakers might set a new NBA record for fewest points scored in a game tonight.

Seriously.
 
Achilles strain for Bean. His body may not make it to the end of the year.
 
Yea Kobe body ain't making it through the season
I knew something was up when he missed so many games with a "sore shoulder"
 
Next 4 games all should be L's:

Tuesday vs: Pelicans.Even with no Unibrow
Thursday @ Golden State: We'll be lucky if we don't lose by 40+ that night
Saturday @ Utah: Always tough to play there and we usually lose there.
Sunday vs Rockets: 2nd game of back to back.
 
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Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak really likes Coach Byron Scott's tough-love style with young players

Coach Byron Scott has unapologetically shown tough love toward the Lakers' younger players, continually cementing his old-school approach as the losses pile up at a historic rate.

He's told Julius Randle to grow up and stop pouting when he gets taken out of a game. He's been hard on rookie D'Angelo Russell, taking away his starting job last month (along with Randle's) and recently calling his playing style "young and dumb."

He was joking about the latter, but the serious-minded Scott has a fairly important backer — his boss.

"If you asked our young players, I think there would be a mutual respect, as you might expect maybe between a parent and a child," Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak told The Times on Sunday before the Lakers lost a slow-speed chase to the Utah Jazz, 86-74.

"In other words, I'm going to love you, I'm going to bring you along, but every now and then, I've got to teach you the right way to do things."

Randle wasn't happy after being removed from the Lakers' 97-77 victory over Phoenix last week. He didn't understand Scott's postgame comments that singled out his poor defense.

As the story gained traction, Randle said simply, "Me and him never had issues," and did some singling out of his own, saying reporters made up the alleged frostiness between the two.

Kupchak said Scott had maintained a respectful relationship with the five young Lakers — Randle, Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr. and Anthony Brown — and approved of Scott's taking them all to an Italian restaurant for dinner in Boston two weeks ago.

Scott discussed their roles, as well as what he expected from them in the future. Clarkson said he had a "great" relationship with his coach and added, "It was good to be able to sit down and catch what he sees in us."

The Lakers (8-31) are a sunken team. When their season ends in April, they may well have set the team record for most losses.

Even though Scott demoted Randle and Russell, he was doing the right thing by making sure the five young players weren't buried at the end of the bench, Kupchak said — not that there were many options on this mishmash of a roster.

"Every coach chooses to bring along young players differently," Kupchak said. "Some coaches will not play rookies at all. Some will give them more leeway than others. They're young players and they're playing big minutes."

Kupchak created headlines last week by saying the Lakers couldn't move on as a team until Kobe Bryant left, comments he made to a group of season-ticket holders. He wanted to clarify them Sunday.

"I guess there was some backlash to the comment that we can't move on until Kobe retires," Kupchak said. "There's no doubt this season is in great part a tribute to him and what he's meant for this organization. It's what he deserves, it's what we want to give him, it's what the fans want and it's a justifiable tribute to his career.

"Having said all that, to think that we're not developing our young players? I mean, who's starting? Larry Nance. Anthony Brown. And Jordan Clarkson. Who's playing 20 to 30 minutes a game? Julius Randle. D'Angelo Russell.

"There is a way to do both. But I think somebody somehow took this comment that we can't move on, which means we can't develop young players as long as Kobe's here, which is ridiculous.

"In fact, Kobe gives the younger guys a chance to fly under the radar a little bit. They can make mistakes. Maybe they don't get the attention they normally get under a normal season. On top of that, they get to learn by being around Kobe."
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Source:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-lakers-kupchak-20160111-story.html
 
Getting worried that BS will be our coach next year

"Innocent bystander "
Now he's a father figure
He's family
Give him a fair shake

How about the fact that his teams can't play defense even though defense is about energy and effort and BS is supposed to be a defensive minded coach?

How about playing bass/kelly as our back up bigs and put us in a hole early in the year?

Why does Sacre play over Tarik?

What is this isolation offense?

Will management consider all this??? Getting worried
 
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Mitch. :lol:

That said, that dinner in Boston between Byron and the 5 kids is the most coach-y thing I've seen from him. Great job on that one.

Now actually learn to coach. :lol:
 
when exactly did kobe hurt his achilles? dude seemed fine.

it's just a strain tho right? my dude will be fine right??
 
Freeze said:
I know :frown:


any word on D.Lo? I'm really getting into enjoying watching him play
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He's probably going to be out for the week. I'm going to need him not to dress like Wayman ever again though.
 
Why isn't Julius Randle a top-10 sophomore?

Chad Ford: Last week we tackled our top 10 sophomores and -- controversially, if you believe our Twitter followers -- left Lakers forward Julius Randle out of our top 10.

Randle was the No. 7 pick in the draft in 2014 and was regarded as a top-two or top-three pick before his freshman season at Kentucky. At least one draft expert even said he'd take Randle No. 1 over Andrew Wiggins.

Randle is off to a solid start on his first real season (he had a season-ending injury on opening night of his rookie campaign), averaging 11 points per game and 9.5 rebounds for the Lakers. But he's shooting only 41 percent from the field and has played questionable defense all season -- leading head coach Byron Scott to sit him often in favor of rookie Larry Nance Jr.

Scott and Randle have sparred in the media in recent days, and Scott said Randle needs to grow up. Randle says he feels as if he's being singled out on a team that has been filled with poor performers.

So, Kevin, why did you leave him out of your top 10?

Kevin Pelton: Because I remembered Jusuf Nurkic qualified for the list despite not playing all season. Randle was originally in my 10th spot, so he wasn't far off.

I've been pleasantly surprised by his rebounding. He's pulling down 29.5 percent of all available defensive rebounds, putting him in the league's top 10. Perhaps more important, the Lakers have been much better on the glass with Randle on the court, suggesting he's not just stealing rebounds from his teammates. Add in Randle's ability to initiate the fast break after grabbing a rebound and that's useful.

Randle's issues have actually been more on the offensive end. He's shooting only 41.3 percent on 2-point attempts and his shot chart shows his problems, from both close range and further out. Randle is barely making half of his attempts within three feet (51.2 percent), struggling to score over length. Per NBAminer.com, the 35 times he has had his shot blocked put him in the league's top 20 in that undesirable category.

And outside 10 feet, Randle has shot 23.1 percent (21-91), according to Basketball Reference.

Chad, is there hope for him to become an efficient scorer?

Will Randle improve his weaknesses?

Ford: So, in short, you're a Laker hater.

I too had Randle just outside my top 10. He was the next guy in. But I don't think that will pacify Lakers fans. They want a superstar to build around and Randle shows enough flashes as a rebounder and ball handler in the open court to give them hope. I think that the long-term hope is Randle will start hitting jump shots. In high school, scouts thought of him as a very advanced offensive player with the ability to stretch the floor and put it on the deck.

Kentucky primarily used Randle in the low post, but his lack of elite size and explosiveness meant he struggled to finish. Shot blockers loved him in college.

So I think the hope has been that Randle would thrive in the NBA, given the predilection for 4s who can space the floor. But as you've pointed out, not only is he continuing to struggle at the rim, he's also missing almost 80 percent of his shots from beyond 10 feet.

Randle is going to have to improve at least one of those numbers to be an effective player in the NBA. Given his size limitations, I don't think it will be him scoring at the rim.

But I'm also concerned about him on the defensive end. Other than rebounding, I don't see much effort. I'm sure you remember wringing your hands a bit during the draft over Randle's painfully low steal rate. Do you see him ever turning into potentially an elite defender?

Pelton: Elite? I'd settle for average, but there is reason to expect that as a possibility.

Believe it or not, Randle is actually coming up with steals at an above-average rate for a power forward. And while he rarely blocks shots, opponents have shot a below-average 50 percent against Randle inside five feet, according to SportVU tracking on NBA.com/Stats.

ESPN's real plus-minus (RPM) still rates him as a below-average defender because the Lakers are allowing 4.3 more points per 100 possessions with Randle on the court, but he's close enough to potentially get to average with experience.

We heard a few comps for Randle during the draft process, most notably Zach Randolph. Having seen him in the NBA for a couple of months now, who does Randle remind you of, Chad?

Does Randle compare to star players?

Ford: Before the draft, Randolph and to a lesser extent Paul Millsap were the comps. I'm not confident he can hit either of those ceilings, which leads me to guys like Tristan Thompson (the rebounding!), J.J. Hickson and possibly Jared Sullinger.

I'm sure you've spit out some more accurate ones.

Pelton: You hit on several of the names my SCHOENE projection system has as comparisons for Randle. Sullinger and Thompson are both in the top 10 and Hickson and Randolph in the top 20.

SCHOENE's best comp is Drew Gooden, which I think makes a lot of sense in terms of lottery pedigree, rebounding prowess and relatively low-percentage shooting. Besides the pre-draft comps, there are a lot of long careers in that group but very few All-Star appearances.

Unless Randle can dramatically improve his shooting and finishing, stardom doesn't seem to be in the cards for him. There's nothing wrong with that -- none of the players drafted after Randle are surefire stars -- but it does dampen the enthusiasm about the Lakers' young core to some extent.

Speaking of which, despite the second-best scoring average among sophomores, Lakers second-round pick Jordan Clarkson didn't make our top 10s either. What do you see in his future?

Ford: Clarkson was right behind Randle just outside my top 10. Ideally he's a rotation player who gives your team a scoring punch coming off the bench. That's valuable -- especially because he can play both the one and the two.

But his stellar rookie year might have moved him from underrated to overrated. I see him as a Rodney Stuckey or maybe a Jerryd Bayless type of player down the road.

To me this whole exercise means that, right now, D'Angelo Russell is their only true building block for the future -- unless, that is, Nance has you excited, Kevin. Russell has bounced back from a rough start to really begin to produce.

What do you think of the rest of the Lakers' young talent?

Pelton: I just assumed before the exercise that Clarkson would rank in the top 10 because of how effective he was as a rookie, but when I looked closely at the numbers, I wasn't impressed. Clarkson has never rated well by RPM, and his box-score stats have taken a turn for the worse this season, which is problematic for a 23-year-old player.

While there's certainly still room for Clarkson to develop at that age, when we talk about potential, remember that we're comparing him to what another second-year player like Marcus Smart will become with two more seasons of experience.

I thought taking Nance in the first round was a stretch, and I'm not sure he has done anything to change that opinion. He has provided energy and high-percentage finishing but has been ineffective on the defensive glass and is rarely creating his own shot. I see Nance having an extended career, but primarily as a reserve.

So I think Russell is the only Lakers youngster with a good shot at becoming an above-average starter. That's what makes it so important for them to retain their pick and find another young star in this year's draft.
Click to expand...
http://espn.go.com/nba/insider/stor...ius-randle-future-star-los-angeles-lakers-nba

Sums up nicely how I feel. Randle is a productive starter, Clarkson/Nance are off the bench sparkplugs and Russell is the key to everything.
 
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25. Twenty, five?

Mitch.......


I'd take him, at a large discount. Not 25. :lol:

Pass me the Denzel drinkin gif.
 
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