I understand we want the highest seeding possible and avoid the play-in, but the matchup seems like the more important piece and it’s something we have little control over. How good is that 6th seed if we end up facing the Nuggs as the 3rd seed in the 1st round? I would almost rather face GSW & PHX in the play-in games and then face a #1 seeded OKC in the 1st round. The trick is to avoid DEN & SAC as much as possible….imho

Another road game, another loss. 5-11 on the road (not counting the IST in Vegas) and the Lakers couldn’t look more different than the team we saw raise the inaugural cup in Vegas. Worse, the excuses, er, reasons are piling up now.

1) Excuse #1: Were not healthy. Oh, really? Welcome to pro sports. Perhaps this was maybe-kinda-sorta true when we were missing 1/3!of the team. Now? That excuse rings hollow. If someone who should be playing isn’t that’s on the coach.
2) Excuse #2: Were not familiar with one another. Outside of Vando everyone played in camp and preseason, they had a Vegas mini camp together, and have played over 1/3 of the season. If the issue is the rotations that excuse sounds like a very thinly veiled knock on the coach.
3) Excuse #3: The Coach is blowing it. Up until the trade, and now again this season, many fans wondered openly big Ham has the chops to coach bay this level. While I think he does, my issue is that he seems slow to adapt. One glaring example is the Taurean Prince minutes imbalance. I cannot figure out what has created this wealth of trust the staff has in TP that isn’t shared amongst proven playoff players Rui or Vando. I’m not saying any of these are all that much better than the other. But Vando and his defense were a huge component of us even making the playin last season. Rui showed he can rise to the moment. Prince has been fine. Streaky, as all shooters are, and generally not really up to the task on D. The other semi-concerning issue with Ham is that he’s parroting the “we need guys back” excuse. That dog will never hunt, your whole job is to figure out a way to win given the resources at hand. It is a shitty job but you took it. So get to it. Also ditch the 5 out sets unless you can talk shooters into either getting back in D, matching up in transition and crashing the glass when the shot goes up. We’re getting killed because mall our guys are standing at the three point line for some dumb reason.
4) AD is balking out. This is the best I’ve seen Davis play in years and since he took the second half off against Denver I think he’s been pretty consistently great. We’re seeing him pop for some jumpers and his three ball is coming around.
5) Feels like a trade is inevitable. I just don’t see the inherent inconsistencies that some guys bring going away. DLo is perfectly content to be an after thought on offense, Rui’s scoring vacillates wildly from game to game, and we’re not going to waste LeBron and AD’s best season since The Bubble Banner. So whether it happens sooner or later it feels almost certain something will change.

LA Lakers trade rumors: 5 players that could wear Purple & Gold before NBA trade deadline https://t.co/4mDyhkijGe

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) November 29, 2023

#5 Bojan Bogdanovic
#4 John Konchar
#3 Alex Caruso
#2 DeMar DeRozan
#1 Zach LaVine

10 NBA Hidden Gems Nobody Is Talking Abouthttps://t.co/lPZSrqm5DZ via @BleacherReport

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) October 22, 2023

Max Christie, Los Angeles Lakers
Max Christie #10 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives to the basket during the game against the Golden State Warriors on October 7, 2023 at Chase Center in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2023 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images
It’s hard to shine next to the star power of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, particularly when you see action in only 41 games as a 19-year-old rookie. That’s why Max Christie’s summer-league performance was so important; it proved he had the skills to be productive if given the opportunity.

The Michigan State product put up 19.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists across three games in Las Vegas, shredding the nets from everywhere.

After drilling 41.9 percent of his triples last season, the Los Angeles Lakers guard canned 45.7 percent in Vegas while also hitting 50.0 percent of his shots from the field and making every free-throw he attempted.

While those offensive numbers impress, Christie might have been even better on the other end. Summer league head coach JD Dubois praised his versatility on D, and the bulk he added over the past year should only make him more potent defensively this season.

The Lakers are deep, and Christie doesn’t figure to start unless injuries force him into the first unit. But it seems safe to assume his age-20 season will include more than 41 contests and 12.5 minutes per game. Expect a rotation role at minimum.

And if the gains Christie showed off in July prove to be real, fringe consideration for Most Improved Player could be in order.

https://t.co/mQ8uspPhF8

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) September 9, 2023

The Brooklyn Nets’ center and forward Ben Simmons might get traded to Los Angeles Lakers this offseason. The Lakers have always desired to pair LeBron James with a plus size playmaker and their dream might come true. They have been a great team and why wouldn’t they be? They have got King James and Anthony Davis running rampant for them.

The LSU Tigers product played 42 games for the Nets last season and averaged 6.9 points, 6.1 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game while shooting 56.6 percent from the field. The Lakers would love to win a championship before LeBron leaves and this signing might help them do so. Will they be able to pull it off? Here is all the information you need about the trade between the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers involving Ben Simmons.

The Lakers are expected to offer D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura in exchange for the Nets’ #10 and a 2027 first round pick. The NBA world had high expectations from the 27 year old, he was supposed to be the next LeBron James but he is far from it at the moment. The comparison and expectations might have affected him. Will the Lakers take the risk of signing a declining player rather than making a win now move?

Signed with SacTown for $3.1 mil. Not 100% certain but i think that’s about 600,000 K more than we could offer him. Never been a huge fan but wouldn’t have minded him hopping into the #14 roster spot, although he’s basically an older (albeit far more polished) version of Jax.

Glad he found a home, keep making those dollars.

2023 NBA Mock Draft 9.0: Kobe Bufkin, Bilal Coulibaly and Dereck Lively are rising with one week left https://t.co/FLyOgspgzh via @forthewin

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) June 16, 2023

#17
Los Angeles Lakers: Dereck Lively II

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Duke Blue Devils, Freshman, 7-foot-1 center

FROM: Philadelphia

DRAFT AGE: 19.4

After a tough start to his collegiate career, Duke big man Dereck Lively eventually blossomed into a highly impactful player on the defensive end of the floor.

“I’m somebody who is going to chip away at the rock every single day, trying to get one percent better every day and try to make sure you’re sharpening something whether it’s dribble or shooting or finishing or your touch shot,” Lively told For The Win. “No matter what it is, you have to get a little bit better.”

The Athletic senior writer Sam Vecenie reported that few players “have had a stronger pre-draft process” than Lively. According to Bleacher Report lead scout Jonathan Wasserman, teams “may need to trade” for a higher pick in the draft if they want to select Lively.

Opponents were just 14-for-38 (36.8 percent) when he defended them in the restricted area of the paint, per Stats Perform. Meanwhile, via CBB Analytics, the other team was held to shoot just 29.8 percent in the paint during minutes when Lively was on the floor.

“I’m always somebody that you’re going to hear on the floor, no matter if that’s on offense or defense,” Lively added. “I still have to be the kind of radio tower. Everybody sees me. Everybody can hear me. But I can see everything. I have to be able to navigate everybody on the court.”

Lively does the little things very well, too, which makes him valuable.

Lively set 0.21 ball screens per touch, per Stats Perform, which was the most among all projected first-round draft picks. The big man set 0.10 handoffs per touch and 0.16 off-ball screens per offensive chance, and both rates ranked as the second-most among projected first-rounders.

“I’m just trying to go out there and be the most coachable player and try to be the best teammate and be able to be the best player on the court,” Lively said. “No matter if that’s me diving out of bounds or diving on the floor to save a ball or making an extra pass or making an extra rebound or doing whatever it takes to win.”

MORE: Meet NBA draft prospect Dereck Lively, the big man from Duke who is going to dominate on defense

Reality has begun to sink in. Three things are true:

-At the start of the season I picked the Nuggets to go all the way (with the Heat coming out of the East, I believe but I’ll have to go back and listen to that podcast to be sure).

-After the trade and the first two series my Laker Fan Goggles convinced me the new-look Lakers could take Denver in 6 games with the only swap being we’d win game 2 in Denver after adjusting to the altitude.

-My Laker Goggles were wrong and my mind was spot on to start the season. Up until the playoffs I didn’t see anyone stopping Denver…except the Lakers and the Heat, maybe Boston if they could get Tatum to be consistent (they have not). It’s not what most of planet Earth wants but it looks like they’re gonna get Denver-Miami.

Anyhow, the game.
1) Lakers continued to have no answer to Jamal Murray. Over two quarters and two different games Murray went absolutely bonkers against the kitchen sink the Lakers threw at him torching us for 53 points. The tandem between Murray and Jokic reminds me a lot of the Pau-Kobe Konnection but less lopsided. Either player is comfortable sliding into the alpha role and then again back out of it, acquiescing to the other’s greatness without ego.
2) Lakers thought they had Jokic in a box, didn’t take advantage of it, then he broke out of the box. Through 3 quarters Jokic looked fairly pedestrian and our chances of getting back into the series looked pretty good. Then the 4th quarter came, he had plenty left in the tank unlike in Denver when he ceded the spotlight to Murray, and he finished us off in game 4 flipping Denver’s script mildly enough for the Lakers, again, to have no answer.
3) The Denver Nuggets, as a whole, are deeper and better than the Lakers. The core of the Nuggets (Joker, Jamal, MPJ) have been together for 5 seasons and through a lot together. Aaron Gordon and KCP were dynamite pick ups for them. Bruce Brown has been stellar. Their bench, even though it has been outscored in most games by our bench, has had more of an overall impact on the game. Points are but one facet of the jewel that makes up an NBA game. The Nuggets have simply been the better team in the facets that matter the most: grit, clutch scoring, poise, and execution under pressure.
4) D-Lo shrinking big time. Even the ESPN announcers were saying Russell had become un-playable. His three point shot has left the series, his defense has always been questionable (at best), and when he’s not scoring he doesn’t find other ways to contribute. He’s a series defining -53, which only tells part of the futility tale. I have never been sold on D-Lo, dude can make shots but lacks that killer mentality you want in one of your top 3 players. Post game he himself had no answers which never bodes well. Feels like he could go full 1-2-3 Cancun on us in game 4 a la Nick “Wasn’t Long For the Team After That” Van Exel. He could do a lot by coming out a lot more aggressive in game 4 and make the Nuggets think about guarding him more but no matter what adjustment he and the staff come up with it’s likely too little, too late.
5) Coach Ham’s rookie status is showing. In my opinion Michael Malone is one of the 3 best coaches in the NBA. Without pissing anyone off he has managed a core group through injuries, role adjustments, an MVP unable to get as far as they have this season and all in the tough Western Conference. You could have heard a pin drop when the Nuggets won the #1 seed in the west, so little was the fanfare. Same went for every team they dispatched in the playoffs. Evidently, when people ask for “what historical games” proof of the Nuggets ability to win they forget that it actually took historical games from both Durant and Brooks to get that to 7 games. We ain’t come close to matching what Phoenix brought to their series. Maybe beating the Lakers will elevate their rep, and winning a title would certainly cement both Malone’s and Jokic’s greatness, but I kind of doubt it. They’ll say the same things they did about Miami getting to the NBA Finals in the Bubble or some such silliness. I’m not fooled, the Nuggets are kicking our ass and might go all the way.

Should have never believed in those Laker Goggles. FWIW I’d like to see what this team, as-is for the most part, can do with a pre-season and 82 games to come together. The chemistry of the Nuggets is showing as much as their talent. Frankly, at this stage, it ain’t about talent. Everyone has talent at this point of the playoffs. It comes down to intangibles things that just don’t show up in the box score. In a lot of ways the Lakers are now built incorrectly, as well. We’re built for LeBron and AD to carry the majority of the load on both ends and they’re simply not up to the task, especially James. Not anymore. My big fear is he ends up getting surgery on that foot this summer, it’s obviously affecting his jump shot and has since he came back from whatever rehab he did before the season ended.

Same for AD. There’s a part of me that thinks it’d be best for both to get whatever issues they have in their feet fixed as best they can. There’s another part of me that knows that, if they go that route, the Lakers are basically done for the next 5-6 years unless they luck into a star or someone forces their way here.

I’m not too bummed, honestly, still got a game to work with and make this interesting. Win at Crypto tomorrow and see what you can do in Denver. Would like to avoid a sweep but Laker History tells us a sweep is actually the most likely (the Lakers have never forced a game 5 hen down 3-0). There will be a more positive post talking about what this team was able to accomplish post-trade deadline but for now we’re dealing with where we’re at.

I guess this wasn’t so short, lol…

Knicks vs Cavs might be interesting but the top 3 seeds should move on easily.

I ain’t mad at the Nets. They shot for the moon and failed spectacularly but at least they took the shot. They’ve got some decent players back (Bridges emerging as a #1 scoring option to go along with his All-NBA defense is a surprise) and a buncha picks. They’ll be ok down the road.

Watched the Stephen A alternate feed (ManningCast clone) during the 1st game. Not bad, good energy to it because most of the guests are actually in studio (unlike the Manning’s show), but he would probably benefit from having a permanent co-host to play off of. Never liked JJ Redick but he’s surprisingly good as an analyst & commentator.

Richard Jefferson might be the worst nba analyst on tv. And this is in a world where Reggie Miller exists.

Celts up by 30 at halftime…that’s a wrap. Guess I’ll go out and hit some corners before Knicks/Cavs…

3 potential Myles Turner to LA Lakers trade scenarios to get the Indiana Pacers' center, including a package with Buddy Hield https://t.co/AKHAoOn9eG

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) November 2, 2022

#1 – Lakers give up Russell Westbrook and 2027 and 2029 first-round picks.

#2 – Trade two picks only for Turner.

#3– Find a third team to add to the trade.

3 Trades For Lakers Using Both Future 1st Round Picks: https://t.co/Npnpjv1jdL

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) August 23, 2022

#1 Indiana Pacers Receive:
-G Russell Westbrook
-2027 First-Round Pick (LAL)
-2029 First-Round Pick (LAL)

Los Angeles Lakers Receive:
-C Myles Turner
-G/F Buddy Hield

…

#2 Washington Wizards Receive:
-G Russell Westbrook
-2027 First-Round Pick (LAL)
-2029 First-Round Pick (LAL)

Los Angeles Lakers Receive:
-F/C Kristaps Porzingis
-F Kyle Kuzma

…

#3 Utah Jazz Receive:
-G Russell Westbrook
-2023 First-Round Pick (NYK)
-2023 First-Round Pick (DAL via NYK)
-2025 First-Round Pick (NYK)
-2027 First-Round Pick (NYK)
-2027 First-Round Pick (LAL)
-2029 First-Round Pick (LAL)

New York Knicks Receive:
-G Donovan Mitchell

Los Angeles Lakers Receive:
-F/C Julius Randle
-G Mike Conley

For all of 5 minutes you saw what a small glimpse of what the Warriors had hoped would be a staple of their season: a line up featuring Curry, Thompson, Wiggins, Poole and Green. It swung the game in the Warrior favor. It also started with defense. While it also has great spacing provided by their shooters, to a man that line up has solid to great defenders starting with Green. Green hasn’t shot well from three in years, in fact he has more seasons shooting under 30% from three than over it. Now he does share the floor with some elite shooters but his true contributions are his defense, smarts and passing. I would even say in that order. My point here is, while Green can certainly make a three it is certainly not the aspect of his game that makes Golden State so lethal. They maximize his better talents by putting him in perfect places to use his passing and IQ to break a defense down. The coach didn’t show up with a predetermined role for Draymond, he created an environment for the natural skill set to evolve and eventually thrive. The point I’m driving at here is, with limited resources by which we can improve our team it’s important to remember that the thing that makes Golden State work is a smart, effective defense, an offense with a foot in both modern and old school basketball, and high IQ players. If they can hit a three, wonderful, that’s another useful weapon. Does it need to be requirement #1,2, or 3? In my opinion, no it does not. We should target the best defenders we can acquire who hopefully have a diverse skillset/high IQ and trust in LeBron and hopefully some smart guy coach to work that out over time.

If you think about it, and want to go down a bummer of a rabbit hole, we had guys that checked a lot of those boxes: KCP, Kuzma, Caruso, Green, Dwight 2.0 and JaVale McGee all understood what they were supposed to do on both ends and we blew that squad up. Having Rondo was enough to take the pressure off LeBron to make a play every possession, and the defenders on the perimeter along with our centers allowed AD to play the free roamer role he’s elite at. Whatever reasons as to why we strayed from that path are the wrong ones when building an actual team that can play on the floor. Teams on paper always look good, just about anything can look amazing before it’s counted on to perform. Finding players who can both excel in a role and co-exist with the greatness of LeBron and AD in a supporting and positive manner is difficult. Hope we can find some more that can…

#highhopes #lowexpectations #betternotblowitRob