In the end the road trip was a wash. Could have been worse, could have been better. Really just sort of treaded water from what we started with. Key guys hurt stayed hurt, lost a couple more guys. Stayed around the 6th seed. While neither thrilling nor inspiring they got enough of the job done.
- First big roadie ( 4 games) and won half of ’em. For a lot of teams coming home .500 on a multi-city and time zone road trip would be great. Record-wise, it is. Went from 6th to 7th in the last 5 games after dropping the last home game and losing against the 76ers and the Thunder. What’s slightly more worrisome is the Lakers continued inability to run with the big dogs of the NBA. While dealing with injuries the Lakers are having to feast on the sub .500 portion of the schedule while struggling to keep teams that are younger and healthier. Teams like OKC have given the Lakers fits in recent years and the Thunder just got better with Holmgren being available and a year for that squad to grow. Philly looks so much better with Harden gone it’s almost funny. We really failed to meet the challenge in both games from a physicality and completive standpoint as a team.
- Help is on the way! One third of the team sounds like they’re approaching “questionable/probable” on the injured status front. That’s good. With only Gabe Vincent completely ruled out of the game tomorrow night and the rest will likely be at best game day and more likely game time decisions the light at the end of this forlorn tunnel may be approaching. It’s been hard to truly gauge what the Lakers need simply because so many keys guys have been out for so many games. Rui has been out twice with injuries from in-game incidents. Vincent’s knee seems to have mildly blown up. Cam Reddish went down as soon as he got going and Vando’s been out abasically since camp started. Add in a few missed games here and there for others and (Hayes for more than a handful now) and the portrait remains very much a work in progress when it comes to getting the full picture of what this team can do.
- Big fish, small pond. Last season out of the gate we couldn’t beat anyone, 2-10 losing to teams good and bad so it’s nice to see that we’ve improved in the “winning the games you really, really should” department. It’s given us a little breathing room in terms of overall mojo (in the locker room and the public forum I would imagine) to get guys back in the lineup with time before the trading deadline approaches.
- Speaking of the approaching kind of, mostly, all the players can be traded day (aka 12/15 of every year). The Lakers will certainly be gauging the market but depending on how they value DLo and Rui. Given his injury status it’ll be hard for me to see a trade go through with Gabe’s deal attached (2 years after this at about $11 mil each) but I’m sure we’ll see some floated. Evidently Reaves is nigh untouchable? Not sure I personally agree with that but it shows the Lakers may have learned the Caruso Lesson as well as could be hoped for. While not a superstar he is pretty consistent and on a pretty team-friendly deal. That’s not the worst thing and it would take a pretty good return for me to justify moving him based solely on how well he fits into what AD an LBJ do. The next trade alert date will be 1/15/24 when a few more players hit the market and the deadline isn’t long after that, Thursday 2/8/24.
- 20 games in (roughly one-fifth of the season) and we’ve treaded water. Like I said, not wowing anyone but LeBron and AD have been pretty solid in the ways expected. AD isn’t in the MVP convo, LeBron could be with a couple more close games given his output. The issue generally being if either DLo doesn’t kind of go off or 3-4 guys don’t score efficiently in double-digits, the Lakers tend to lose. Sometimes really big. AD has been a potential DPOY candidate (certainly in line for an All Defense kind of recognition) thus far, LeBron’s been more then hoped for, and the depth was tested very early. While maybe not coming through with flying colors they’ve come through positively. Plus .500 record, playing pretty well at home (an area we struggled with last season) and flirting with a true playoff spot.
With another game against Houston the backdrop will likely be the ongoing Brooks and The King quibble, mostly from the Brooks side of things. Don’t sleep on this squad though, they’re going to play at a pace and energy similar to OKC. Hopefully get a player or three back by then.
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