1) C’mon PatBev…grow up and focus all that energy on just making layups, dude.
2) How long is too long to wait for AD? A month? Two? Two takes us basically up to the trading deadline and the feeling I get is that’s a month too long. FO is, of course, hoping LeBron and the Nobodies can “hold down the fort” until Davis returns…which has no timetable at this time.
3) Should he come back who is truly confident he’ll last more than a week or three? I am not. Three seasons marred by injury and his best season came with a three month break and no playoff travelling. There’s a smart time to sell and a dumb time to sell, which would mean basically paying to trade AD (which may be what the FO has wanted to have those picks for all along…). Get what you can once the severity of the injury is released, if you’re going all in this season it’s on LeBron, AD cannot be counted on. It’s really just as simple as that.
4) Will the Lakers get fined like Brooklyn did for resting basically the whole team? Concession losses like this always piss me off. Several thousand fans just got jilted at the arena, some likely attending the one game they will go to all year, maybe for a couple years. Also, why are just conceding losses like this? We ain’t even in the playin…
5) This season already had the smallest window possible for title contention. While technically not closed it’s really just a faint draft of a chance now. Who is a keeper from this season because if it’s just another whole new team again next year this franchise is a total joke. And a bad one at that. Lakers would do well to figure out sooner than later who they want to return and play for us next season so they can make the correct moves to free up spending money. If they believe AD can play a whole season…what’s that Dubya quote…”Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, heh, won’t get fooled again.” Lakers been fooled for three straight season by promise of health but, like many NBA players and there is no shame in this, AD’s body just can’t stand up to the normal 82 game grind. Neither could Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, Andrew Bynum after his own freak injuries and many, many others. AD and AB17 at least have rings to show for their hard work.
Sad state of affairs for LeBron to chase history as a backdrop but them’s the breaks.
Yep!
I understood resting LeBron and Russ at first, until I heard that Booker had injuried himself in the last game and was out. Without AD the Suns was a loss, but without Booker we might have had a shot, even though Austin is legitimately injured. One thing I did like was the game Dennis had. He’s much better like Westbrook when he gets to run the show. That’s why the Lakers were so stupid trading for both of them and expecting them to be themselves when paired with LeBron. LeBron is going to be LeBron until he hangs them up. They are the wrong type of guards to pair with him.
Yup, not too sure why we threw in the towel on this one but here we are.
Hi, Jamie. You mentioned Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, and Andrew Bynum as some of the players with injury histories, but I will add Michael Porter Jr. of the Nuggets to the list as well. That dude is always injured. I can’t even remember the last time I saw him play.
Yeah neither Schroder or Nunn will get that leeway in a normal rotation for the Lakers. So, nice, but kind of like empty calories from a team perspective.
Very sad indeed, but you spoke the truth. One thing is certain – bringing in a whole new team every year, as has been the case these past few years, amounts to nothing but turnovers. That takes away any semblance of cohesion and chemistry. Great teams value continuity. Thanks for the post, Jamie.
Thanks Buba, one of the biggest issues I have with the current Laker FO is that they tend to under-value role-players who can play well next to the stars currently on the team. It’s obvious a lot of the people making decisions don’t have respect for the hard work those kind of players put in and can contribute to a team culture. Which is weird because that was basically Kurt Rambis’ whole career…
“Concession losses like this always piss me off. Several thousand fans just got jilted at the arena, some likely attending the one game they will go to all year, maybe for a couple of years.”
That is what pisses me off when it comes to stars missing out on games. It’s even worst if it is load management. I feel bad for fans who had to pay to see their favorite stars in action only to be disappointed.
Up until he was injured a lot it was always a point of pride that Kobe played, at least a little. If the Lakers want to concede games, that’s annoying but whatever, LeBron, Russ and others could have played minimal minutes. I know the league doesn’t like this and have been handing out fines, and I certainly wouldn’t want a hurt player to play, but there has to be some kind of bridge between on this subject.