Of course, not everybody is cut out to do great things with the Lakers and that goes for players and coaches and that's fine. They all share blame. But the easiest thing you can do in pro sports is get your ass in tip top condition. They supply with you with everything you need, around the clock. Julius found out the hard way, that showing up in your contract year looking like the Hulk is a double edged sword. The people calling the shots want to know what took so long and why now? And D'angelo's work ethic was reportedly worse, showing up to practice late and barely on time consistently. Not every coach is going to hold your hand, especially when being a Laker is privilege..as AD has found out spending his years in New Orleans. You want to stay a Laker? Attack your opportunity like Kuz, or like Zo did over the summer attacking his strength and conditioning. It won't guarantee you anything because superstars out there want in and Magic/FO knows that young guys that aren't supernovas like Kobe/Magic don't win titles in this league..gotta have vet superstars to win..but you give yourself a fighting chance if you attack your opportunity with everything you have. And a funny thing happened when Julius finally got into the kind of shape he should've been in, the rest of his game flourished..shit, he even found out that he could actually defend pretty well in tip top form. Miraculous, right? Julius should've been living in the gym following his 1st full year. Credit Zo here, and he came to find out that he could actually finish in the paint with better efficiency with a stronger frame..was going to the basket and throwing down dunks on guys this season and showing why he was touted. Kuz attacked his strength and conditioning as well and even improved his athleticism. A lot of guys don't like this part of being a professional because committing yourself in the weight room is harder than just working on your jumpshot. A lot of times it's a hunger issue. You either have that hunger to be a boss or you don't. A confidence thing as well. You either believe you can be great and set out to prove it or you fade back, accept that you're not going to be special and just get what you can get when the time is right. A lot of the kids that were coming out of high school years back fell into this category. They needed college and more than 1 year of it. Julius needed another year @ UK, especially seeing as how he came into the league with a screw in his foot from his high school foot injury. We're going to see what Zion is all about pretty soon. I expect his confidence to be sky high coming in, he already has the dominant physique and athleticism with room to grow. Zion is essentially super-Julius, so we'll see how he attacks his strength and conditioning program. And there's a lot more pressure on Zion..very similar to Zo. Sometimes pressure is good, it can get your ass in gear. I expect Zion to attack the opportunity to be great
Kyle Kuzma says the Lakers don’t have enough of a ‘sense of urgency’ https://www.silverscreenandroll.com...kuzma-locker-room-sense-urgency-playoff-hopes “I have no idea, honestly: We’ve been like that all year,” Kyle Kuzma said. “We play a big game against a big team and then play a team that’s lesser and we play down to their level. Our sense of urgency isn’t there. There’s no way we can compete and try to win like that.”
Taking 6 shots from 3 a game and making them at a .370 something clip is nice. Getting 2 to 3 blocks per game is pretty sweet. He is perfect for pulling the opposite big man out the post to leat his teams superstar have room to operate. Lopez would have been a real good center for a guy like LeBron in this type of NBA. Instead of using is stamina trying to fight for offensive boards he sucks at getting anyway he focuses on protecting the rim and getting defensive boards. Lopez would have been a good fit with Chandler and would allow Zubac to grow into the role in a couple of years. PG: Lonzo, Rondo, Caruso SG: Ingram, KCP/Hart/Lance SF: LeBron, Ingram, Svi PF: Kuzma, LeBron, Wagner C : Lopez, Chandler, Zubac Lopez gives LeBron that other outside threat he needs so you are not forced to try and trade Ingram and Kuzma who are not reliable from 3 yet. This forces Kuzma to crash the boards more offensively for second chance shots and other Ceballos type skills that are his bread and butter. Kuzma is not strong enough to bang down low or springy enough to protect the rim with his long wingspan. He can work on both as he gets stronger and concentrates on timing to use his long arms. But if you make him a spot up shooter then it will retard his improvement. So you need a spot up shooter at center. Next year they should sign Dwayne Dedmon, Trevor Ariza, Terence Ross, and Derrick Rose to balloon 1 year deals as upgrades to the current supporting cast. That is if they strike out on Kawhi and Klay and Durant and have to settle on guys who are not that much better than Ingram or Kuzma unless it means reuniting with D'angelo and Randle for old times sake. PG: Lonzo, Rose, Caruso SG: Ingram, Ross, Hart SF: LeBron, Lance PF: Kuzma, Ariza C : Dedmon, Chandler, Wagner Then in 2020 sign Anthony Davis and Ben Simmons along with old man Draymond for the veterans exemption and LeBron goes to the bench to become the 6th man of the year every year until he's 40 because he wants another record and a slew of championships. PG: Lonzo, LeBron SG: Ingram, LeBron SF: Simmons, LeBron PF: Kuzma, Draymond C : AD, Draymond
Knicks finally win. They had lost 18 straight. And guess who they beat before going on this 18 game skid? Lol You guessed it. Lakers. Oh and for fun..remember..the Knicks had lost 8 straight games going into that game against LAL. Lose 8 straight..beat the Lakers..then lose 18 straight. Fuck Luke Walton and his Arizona posse.
Lol Media up in arms because of LeBron calling guys out..same media that are questioning if LeBron even cares..same media that's been calling LeBron's teammates out publicly all season. FOH I trash LeBron myself when I feel like he's doing wrong, but this ain't it. If you're the leader and you've tried and tried to light a fire behind the scenes and the shits not working, you damn well better go the extra mile and take it publicly just like Kobe, Bird and other greats have done historically. Hade better exhaust all options, especially for orgs that have high standards. When I see Kuz developing just fine and Zo making strides as well ( Zubac also developed very well, especially the improvements with his physique), but then I watch a meh Ingram for 2/3's of the season I can't lay 100% blame on the staff or FO for how his development is going. Ingram has to take some responsibility. Perhaps the hours he spends in the tattoo shop..maybe start spending some of those hours in the weight room, how about that? He definitely talks a good game and lives up to the humble part of his " humble beast " nickname, but enough talk. Where's the beast? Make a full scale attack on your development..should want to make LeBron look stupid for wanting to trade him, even though LeBron wasn't really wrong there either. Bynum once made Kobe look stupid for wanting to trade him for Kidd, so go for it. He's picking it up now, but hell, obviously every game counts. Getting swept this season by the Orlando Magic makes a fuckin difference. Super meh in both of those games. That said, Luke's ability to develop young players isn't up to par either. Magic came back and put everyone on notice..they all had to get in better shape. Damn shame that Magic had to do that. That should tell you where this org was before Magic took over. Fuckin Luke Walton has been on a magic carpet ride his whole career. Lakers should've drafted Mo Williams or even Korver instead of Luke, wouldn't even be dealing with this shit right now. Hell, even Matt Bonner would've sufficed. Maybe not Zaza Pachulia though..Shaq would've killed that dirty MF
Also, probably should be noted that right now the Lakers are just a dumb basketball team. Obviously, LeBron and Rondo are savants, but Rondo is just sucking performance-wise..Chandler knows what he's doing out there, but of course he's battling age and attrition. Other than that, everybody else out there is just dumb, inexperienced or both. Yet to really get a feel for Bullock, so may not be fair to him..same for Muscala since he immediately caught the injury bug on arrival. But Ingram the other night..he dribbles himself into basically a 1 on 4 situation in transition, picks up his dribble and gets stuck, tries to bail himself out by passing to a Javale who then also tries to go 1 on 4 and he turns the ball over. Dumb and dumber. They miss Zo in more ways than one, no question, brings the IQ of the team up exponentially
Why if they have to try to hold on to one kid this summer in the AD talks, it should be Zo. Health issues be damned. They do have to figure that out, how to make sure he stays healthy, but figure it out. Sometimes I think it's Kuz, but no, it's just Zo. He's so far ahead of the rest of these non-LeBron/Rondo/Chandler guys, it's amazing. 6, 7, 8 year vets look dumb as hell compared to Zo and his aptitude for the game. Can only imagine how he'll be as a 4th or 5th year guy
Guess we'll see how this game goes tonight against another shitty team. Looks OK so far AD will play VS LAL on Wednesday, been announced
They're going to lose this game, aren't they? Yup, time to batten down the hatches and go for the draft pick. Fire Luke and see what Shaw has, if he's worth keeping around..probably will be kept if they tab Kidd as head coach given their relationship. Would assume the BFFs could work well together. Grab Kidd..keep Zo.
Kidd's strength as a HC is player development. He's going to have to figure out what to do with Zo at the free throw line because that % is easily the worst part of his actual game. Kidd shot almost 80% from the FT line for his career. Spent most of his prime up above 80%, but he too had to improve from his 1st couple seasons. He was just below 70% to start out. Obviously, not as bad as Zo. Something has to give
Gonna have to agree with Gebbeth..the tank is needed. May as well have LeBron fake an injury and start sitting him if this is where they're headed. Save the tread on those tires. Tank techniques [activated]
I know Noah is loving this. A well known LeBron antagonist. Lol Jonas had his way as well. Welp, do your AD trade ( hopefully), sign Kawhi, change the coaching staff and pray for better health. Because now that LeBron is no longer immune to injury, that makes the whole AD/Kawhi/LeBron trinity an injury risk. Kawhi's almost always missed 10-15 games per reg season and AD's stuff is well documented. Season was lost on Christmas day..almost like Derek Carr getting injured on Christmas eve in '16
So I haven't been watching the games, but BI seems to be putting up monster numbers. Can we just trade LeBron and build around Ingram?
Ingram is trade bait. I wouldn't be surprised if BI is doing this to increase his trade worth. D'Lo and Randle seem to be thriving out of the Luke Laker system. Maybe he sees his future somewhere else. Wouldn't blame him.
