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We're all kind of giving our thoughts on the upcoming season across some different theads!! Thought it might be fun to have one thread for those!!
One thing that I think we all agree on is that this will be an interesting season to say the least!! The team has more positives to work with than many seem to want to give them credit for and more negatives than we Lakers fans care to admit!!
Not going to get to in depth by going player by player, instead I'm going to just touch on positives and negatives!!
Positives: They got younger and more athletic. As we all saw over the past couple of seasons, this was/is imperative. Some of the signings were former lottery picks who, for whatever reason, haven't lived up to expectations. As much as we like to crack on D'Antoni, his system is one that most players (especially young players) like and it has made stars of players who otherwise may not have been. Considering the athleticism and youth of some of the younger guys, his system should be a good fit.
I like that even though Pau is able to practice right now after the procedures on both knees in the off-season, he isn't. Pau is a veteran and very smart player, him getting up to speed and being ready when the season starts shouldn't be an issue. Nash appears to be healthy. He's not 29 year old Steve Nash anymore, but he's still a smart and effective player. I also can't think of anyone I'd rather have the younger guys learning the offense from.
Kobe is ahead of schedule on his re-hab, however, there is still some question on when he will be ready to go. Hopefully, the team starts strong so that he won't feel pressured to come back to soon. We also don't know how well he will recover from this. Still, 80% of Kobe is better than 100% of most others.
Negatives: While they did sign some former lottery picks, there is a reason that these players were available for the price that the Lakers were able to get them for. It's because they haven't lived up to that potential. If the reason they haven't is because they just haven't had the right opportunity/system or they are "late bloomers" then the Lakers will be fine. If it's because they just aren't as good as folks thought when they were drafted or because they just don't want to do the work, then things could get real ugly, real fast.
The Lakers are looking at Kelly to be a solid 3 point shooter and it looks like he's already got injury issues.
The core of the team, the guys that the Lakers are depending on the most to win games and mentor the younger guys, are all coming off of injuries and are old. If they are unable to overcome the injuries enough or if they suffer more injuries, the Lakers will be in real trouble.
Thoughts?
One thing that I think we all agree on is that this will be an interesting season to say the least!! The team has more positives to work with than many seem to want to give them credit for and more negatives than we Lakers fans care to admit!!
Not going to get to in depth by going player by player, instead I'm going to just touch on positives and negatives!!
Positives: They got younger and more athletic. As we all saw over the past couple of seasons, this was/is imperative. Some of the signings were former lottery picks who, for whatever reason, haven't lived up to expectations. As much as we like to crack on D'Antoni, his system is one that most players (especially young players) like and it has made stars of players who otherwise may not have been. Considering the athleticism and youth of some of the younger guys, his system should be a good fit.
I like that even though Pau is able to practice right now after the procedures on both knees in the off-season, he isn't. Pau is a veteran and very smart player, him getting up to speed and being ready when the season starts shouldn't be an issue. Nash appears to be healthy. He's not 29 year old Steve Nash anymore, but he's still a smart and effective player. I also can't think of anyone I'd rather have the younger guys learning the offense from.
Kobe is ahead of schedule on his re-hab, however, there is still some question on when he will be ready to go. Hopefully, the team starts strong so that he won't feel pressured to come back to soon. We also don't know how well he will recover from this. Still, 80% of Kobe is better than 100% of most others.
Negatives: While they did sign some former lottery picks, there is a reason that these players were available for the price that the Lakers were able to get them for. It's because they haven't lived up to that potential. If the reason they haven't is because they just haven't had the right opportunity/system or they are "late bloomers" then the Lakers will be fine. If it's because they just aren't as good as folks thought when they were drafted or because they just don't want to do the work, then things could get real ugly, real fast.
The Lakers are looking at Kelly to be a solid 3 point shooter and it looks like he's already got injury issues.
The core of the team, the guys that the Lakers are depending on the most to win games and mentor the younger guys, are all coming off of injuries and are old. If they are unable to overcome the injuries enough or if they suffer more injuries, the Lakers will be in real trouble.
Thoughts?