NBA 2016-2017

ps99472

New member
GO LAKERS!  a good start for the new season.  Ingram as point seems kinda weird, when they run that small ball team.  Defense was as porous as usual, but at least they're scoring.

 
It's good to see D'Angelo unfettered by Byron.

And Kelly... err... Jordan Clarkson was probably the best free agent they signed over the summer. :)
 
I'm still not sold on Julius Randle...he seems way too undersized to be a true PF and doesn't have enough of an outside/midrange jumper to be an effective SF. 

I was actually impressed with Mozgov...he's more mobile and has more skills than I thought. 

Now let's see how they can handle a team that actually plays defense...and that will allow the Lakers to actually play some defense.  Last night's game felt like an All-Star game to me...matador defense for 48 minutes.
 
we going 82-0 baby!  8)

Last night shows we can score with the best of them (Houston is one of the best at scoring with D'antoni at the helm) but man, we need lots of work defensively.  We let them score 70 on us at the half, which is just insane.  We clamped down in the 2nd half but those last 2 minutes were cringe worthy when we couldn't even inbound the ball correctly.  I blame Deng for not seeing Russell wide open

Positives: The 2 cancers are gone.  Major one being Byron scott (this offense is so much better) and Kobe (at least past 2-3 years kobe who took 20 shots on bad percentages)

I haven't had this much fun watching a lakers game in maybe 2-3 years (besides kobe's last game of course LOL) they are young hungry and learning.  I love Walton's quote "this isn't about the number of wins, but the progress our core makes" which I 100% agree.  Best case 40 wins, worst case I hope we get to 30 wins. 
 
They were actually fun to watch for the first time in several years. They will still lose a lot of games this year, but the future looks bright if Russell, Clarkson, Randle, and Nance keep developing. The cherry on top is if Ingram hits and becomes a top 10 player.
 
paydawg said:
I'm still not sold on Julius Randle...he seems way too undersized to be a true PF and doesn't have enough of an outside/midrange jumper to be an effective SF. 

I was actually impressed with Mozgov...he's more mobile and has more skills than I thought. 

Now let's see how they can handle a team that actually plays defense...and that will allow the Lakers to actually play some defense.  Last night's game felt like an All-Star game to me...matador defense for 48 minutes.

By "not sold on Randle," do you mean, "I don't think Randle will be an All Star"? Randle is a different type of player. It's hard to think of a comparison. He's a high motor big, a bit undersized, with a strong handle and very soft touch around the rim, and no J.

I don't think we need Randle to be a star. We need at least a couple of these guys to become All Star caliber players (DLo, Clarkson, Ingram?). We need Randle, Nance, and others to be solid players.
 
On the other hand, OKC looked horrible, they still won -- but it was ugly.

The Spurs are amazing... no matter who retires, they still never go into rebuilding mode.

Cleveland is still the best in the East (Boston or Toronto for 2nd) but Spurs, GS and LA (Clips not Lakers) are rock, paper, scissor (with maybe Houston and Utah for lizard/Spock).

I know everyone thinks GS with Durant is a lock... but they were close to getting eliminated by OKC and couldn't win out against the Cavs so there is some light for other teams in the West.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
On the other hand, OKC looked horrible, they still won -- but it was ugly.

The Spurs are amazing... no matter who retires, they still never go into rebuilding mode.

Cleveland is still the best in the East (Boston or Toronto for 2nd) but Spurs, GS and LA (Clips not Lakers) are rock, paper, scissor (with maybe Houston and Utah for lizard/Spock).

I know everyone thinks GS with Durant is a lock... but they were close to getting eliminated by OKC and couldn't win out against the Cavs so there is some light for other teams in the West.

Yep, I think GS still wins about 65+ games, but they definitely are going to take time to gel vs some people who think they will win 73 games.  Main weaknesses I see from last year

1. Lack of depth.  They lost lots of their bench.  Their bench used to be their main strength
2. Loss of defense.  Barbosa/Bogut/Ezeli were great defensively.  Durant will have to do more. Zaza looks lost out there
3. Bogut screens.  Underrated loss.  Those Bogut illegal screens allowed curry/Thompson to get wide open looks.  Credit spurs coaching but they went through every screen easily and defended them well

 
Perspective said:
paydawg said:
I'm still not sold on Julius Randle...he seems way too undersized to be a true PF and doesn't have enough of an outside/midrange jumper to be an effective SF. 

I was actually impressed with Mozgov...he's more mobile and has more skills than I thought. 

Now let's see how they can handle a team that actually plays defense...and that will allow the Lakers to actually play some defense.  Last night's game felt like an All-Star game to me...matador defense for 48 minutes.

By "not sold on Randle," do you mean, "I don't think Randle will be an All Star"? Randle is a different type of player. It's hard to think of a comparison. He's a high motor big, a bit undersized, with a strong handle and very soft touch around the rim, and no J.

I don't think we need Randle to be a star. We need at least a couple of these guys to become All Star caliber players (DLo, Clarkson, Ingram?). We need Randle, Nance, and others to be solid players.

Yeah...maybe I was hoping Randle would be an All-Star caliber player after everyone fell in love with him before and after the draft.  To me he looks like a less skilled version of Lamar Odom.  But LO had better ball handling skills, better outside shot and a knack for grabbing rebounds for his size.  I love DLo and Nance and think Ingram will be a really good player in this league once he gets a bit stronger.  I wouldn't mind seeing Nick Young or Lou Williams shipped out of town. 
 
paydawg said:
Perspective said:
paydawg said:
I'm still not sold on Julius Randle...he seems way too undersized to be a true PF and doesn't have enough of an outside/midrange jumper to be an effective SF. 

I was actually impressed with Mozgov...he's more mobile and has more skills than I thought. 

Now let's see how they can handle a team that actually plays defense...and that will allow the Lakers to actually play some defense.  Last night's game felt like an All-Star game to me...matador defense for 48 minutes.

By "not sold on Randle," do you mean, "I don't think Randle will be an All Star"? Randle is a different type of player. It's hard to think of a comparison. He's a high motor big, a bit undersized, with a strong handle and very soft touch around the rim, and no J.

I don't think we need Randle to be a star. We need at least a couple of these guys to become All Star caliber players (DLo, Clarkson, Ingram?). We need Randle, Nance, and others to be solid players.

Yeah...maybe I was hoping Randle would be an All-Star caliber player after everyone fell in love with him before and after the draft.  To me he looks like a less skilled version of Lamar Odom.  But LO had better ball handling skills, better outside shot and a knack for grabbing rebounds for his size.  I love DLo and Nance and think Ingram will be a really good player in this league once he gets a bit stronger.  I wouldn't mind seeing Nick Young or Lou Williams shipped out of town. 

In my opinion, I'm also not a huge Randle fan but not for the reasons you stated.  Randle's rebounding rate is absolutely elite.  Last year was essentially his rookie year.  He's been averaging 11 pt/10 boards for his career and had 34 double doubles (forgot how many in a row last year).

Ball handling? Out in the open court, I think Randle is actually faster than odom with the ball.  Of course, his ball handling skills aren't as polished.  Prime Odom was special in this regard with his fancy handles.  Randle has guard like handles and rarely gets swiped in open court so I'm happy enough with that

Where Randle really needs to work on is his court vision and his basketball IQ.  He will show flashes of brilliance then next play he will run full steam ahead and go 1 on 3 for a contested layup when there's another open guy.  I like when he pushes the ball up but he gets tunnel vision too easily there.  If he could slow the game down a bit and find the open man, he would be perfect in this fast pace option.  Think Draymond 2.0

Outside shot?  Yeah he needs work on making long range 2's and 3's.  I've watched the lakers for a long long time and LO never really became a true threat from deep.  He got hot once in a while but he has never consistent enough.  His success mostly game from hard cuts in the triangle offense and playing off Pau.  Randle needs to be a threat from deep to open up the floor for the rest of the players.

He had an impressive first showing but I want to see him continue that streak.  As a player, I like Larry Nance Jr more as a player going forward but I'll be watching for Randle's development.  If he could pick up 80% of nance's brain, he would be awesome.  Just watch Larry Nance whenever he's in the game, he does ALL the little things and dirty work no one else will with no players calls for him (sets picks, hustles, gets loose balls, boxes out)
 
Portland looked pretty good against the Clips last night.

The West is going to be tough.

And I guess the East has some power shifts, the Rose-less Chicago looks better and ATL is still a contender (Dwight revival?).

Can't wait to watch OKC vs GS next week and then Chi/Mia the week after.
 
Perspective said:
Kiss that top-3 protected pick goodbye.

Not mad at all. Would love for them to win 40 games even if we get the 9th seed and miss the playoffs. We have enough talent to compete every night, just need more internal improvement. we will also finally  be a big free market if we can show that we are one piece away or at least conpetitive. Spurs don't get Aldridge..warriors don't get Durant..etc without having a winning atmosphere
 
SoclosetoIrvine said:
Perspective said:
Kiss that top-3 protected pick goodbye.

Not mad at all. Would love for them to win 40 games even if we get the 9th seed and miss the playoffs. We have enough talent to compete every night, just need more internal improvement. we will also finally  be a big free market if we can show that we are one piece away or at least conpetitive. Spurs don't get Aldridge..warriors don't get Durant..etc without having a winning atmosphere

Agreed. Forget about the pick we're going to lose. Team is probably too young already.
 
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