The Lakers' Season after Starting 1-4

tjmakz wrote:It looks like I will be wrong when I said a week ago that I felt that LA had a better chance to not make the playoffs. They have had a nice run over the last 40 games.

They obviously won't make any noise in the playoffs but they have salvaged the season from a complete freefall which is how their season was headed.

pure stupidity, your a loyal fan huh?....I think they'll beat Spurs

cowens/oldschool wrote:

tjmakz wrote:It looks like I will be wrong when I said a week ago that I felt that LA had a better chance to not make the playoffs. They have had a nice run over the last 40 games.

They obviously won't make any noise in the playoffs but they have salvaged the season from a complete freefall which is how their season was headed.

pure stupidity, your a loyal fan huh?....I think they'll beat Spurs

I am sorry that I am not the NBA Visionary that you are.
Or is this just more Monday Morning Quarterbacking?
After Kobe went down, I don't remember seeing you post anything about expecting the Lakers to make it in the playoffs and to the second round.
When I posted this I was expecting the Lakers to play OKC if they made the playoffs.
You must have, but I did not expect Houston to lose to Phoenix in the 2nd to last game of the season.
This was an important game to Houston and Phoenix had lost 15 of their prior 17 games.
Then, LA had to beat Houston who is not a good matchup for the Lakers.
Am I a loyal fan? Kind of a silly question.
SA is a better matchup for LA compared to if they had to play OKC, Denver, LAC or Memphis.

Try rooting for your team a little better, not saying your a fairweather fan, but you sure sounded it after that post.....funny how when forced to go with Gasol and Howard out of necessity, suddenly it worked. As soon as he got there he benched Gasol, he obviously thought they couldn't play together. He should have went with these 2 from beginning and figured out how to make it work. He had 2 bigs that were first or second all NBA on same team, I'd say thats an advantage he refused to tap into, and he had an all world HoF wing and he couldn't figure out how to play to their strengths....do you see why I've been blasting D'Antoni alot this thread?

As soon as D'Antoni got there he benched Gasol?
Do you remember anything about Gasol being ineffective due to knee tendinitis in both knees which caused him to miss 8 games in December? Did you watch Gasol in the beginning of the season? If so, you would have seen that he was routinely getting his shot blocked by much smaller players due to having almost no ability to jump.
Do you remember Howard playing with a torn right labrum which added greatly to his lack of aggressiveness?
Gasol sat out an additional 4 games to rest and then he missed a month and a half with a foot problem.
Yeah, it's funny how good Dwight and Gasol look together now that they are both healthy. It's pretty amazing that D'Antoni never thought that Pau and Dwight could play well together...
Do you think that D'Antoni purposely benched Pau for Earl Clark who played a total of 34 minutes in the Lakers first 33 games?
When D'Antoni took over as coach he had Darius Morris and Chris Duhon as his point guards, a hobbled Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard who was trying to get into shape from back surgery.
I think D'Antoni has done quite a good job this year. He virtually gave every player on the roster outside of Sacre the opportunity to earn minutes this year. He constantly changed rotation patterns to find something that would work.
D'Antoni got completely away from his old coaching style with the Suns and Knicks.
I think he did a great job adjusting the offense to something that would work for these players.

Looks like some franchise player questioned his coach in the media.....

cowens/oldschool wrote:

tjmakz wrote:It looks like I will be wrong when I said a week ago that I felt that LA had a better chance to not make the playoffs. They have had a nice run over the last 40 games.

They obviously won't make any noise in the playoffs but they have salvaged the season from a complete freefall which is how their season was headed.

pure stupidity, your a loyal fan huh?....I think they'll beat Spurs

As I expected, the Lakers didn't make any noise in the playoffs.
I can't imaine that a team in the playoffs ever had to play without their top 4 guards as the Lakers did.
Without MWP for yesterday's game, that made the injury situation even more comical.

Dwight really knows how to take a team on his back, doesn't he?
That was a completely embarrassing way of ending the season for Dwight.
I don't know what the Lakers do with him.
Do they really want to commit $118m to Dwight?
I am assuming they have to.
Do they look to move him in a sign and trade?
Do they let him walk away?
I think all 3 options are on the table.


There will be significant changes with the Lakers roster.
They have to get younger and faster.
If they have to sign and trade Dwight and Earl Clark or trade Gasol and Hill, they should do so.

Could Kobe, Gasol, MWP or Blake be amnestied?
I guarantee one of them will be amnestied.

It was an extremely disappointing year, but thankfully it is over.
Time to focus on the future and not the past.

As the only Lakers fan that posts here on a regular basis, I want to thank everyone for their comments in this thread, whether they were good, bad or indifferent toward the Lakers season.

TJ,

I think it says a lot about the Lakers franchise that it can evoke an 18-page thread on a Celtics message board. Clearly, we are all bound together, even in times of adversity.

I would be shocked if anyone on this board has found this season anywhere near as exciting or interesting as the halcyon years featuring an exhilarating Celtics-Lakers competition down to the wire. Carmelos can come and Lebrons can go, but there's absolutely nothing like the spirited Celtics-Lakers rivalry to maximize the enjoyment of NBA basketball.

Nothing about the board thrills me as much as the abilities of people of differing opinions to disagree civilly. You have consistently exhibited what I feel have been amazing restraint and fact-based responses, even under some heavy bombardment at times. Your most recent post is just another example of your ability to to place class above the temptation to yield to what would be very understandable bitterness under the circumstances.

I can't recall any season in which the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the Celtics and Lakers have so closely mirrored one another. And I look foward to an off-season of interesting
give-and-take as both teams almost certainly undergo major overhauls. Because, in the long run, it's ironic that the appeal of both teams to
their respective fan bases would be greatly diminished without the yin of one team and the yang of the other.

I look forward to the next chapter of the most exciting rivalry in basketball, if not all of sport, if for no other reason than it always affords me the opportunity to lose a lot of weight.

Thanks for your continuing contributions to this board.

Sam

....guess I could be wrong

tjmakz wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:

tjmakz wrote:It looks like I will be wrong when I said a week ago that I felt that LA had a better chance to not make the playoffs. They have had a nice run over the last 40 games.

They obviously won't make any noise in the playoffs but they have salvaged the season from a complete freefall which is how their season was headed.

pure stupidity, your a loyal fan huh?....I think they'll beat Spurs

As I expected, the Lakers didn't make any noise in the playoffs.
I can't imaine that a team in the playoffs ever had to play without their top 4 guards as the Lakers did.
Without MWP for yesterday's game, that made the injury situation even more comical.

Dwight really knows how to take a team on his back, doesn't he?
That was a completely embarrassing way of ending the season for Dwight.
I don't know what the Lakers do with him.
Do they really want to commit $118m to Dwight?
I am assuming they have to.
Do they look to move him in a sign and trade?
Do they let him walk away?
I think all 3 options are on the table.


There will be significant changes with the Lakers roster.
They have to get younger and faster.
If they have to sign and trade Dwight and Earl Clark or trade Gasol and Hill, they should do so.

Could Kobe, Gasol, MWP or Blake be amnestied?
I guarantee one of them will be amnestied.

It was an extremely disappointing year, but thankfully it is over.
Time to focus on the future and not the past.

As the only Lakers fan that posts here on a regular basis, I want to thank everyone for their comments in this thread, whether they were good, bad or indifferent toward the Lakers season.

Why did I think that the Lakers can't sign and trade Dwight? Not sure why I am thinking that.

tardust wrote:

tjmakz wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:

tjmakz wrote:It looks like I will be wrong when I said a week ago that I felt that LA had a better chance to not make the playoffs. They have had a nice run over the last 40 games.

They obviously won't make any noise in the playoffs but they have salvaged the season from a complete freefall which is how their season was headed.

pure stupidity, your a loyal fan huh?....I think they'll beat Spurs

As I expected, the Lakers didn't make any noise in the playoffs.
I can't imaine that a team in the playoffs ever had to play without their top 4 guards as the Lakers did.
Without MWP for yesterday's game, that made the injury situation even more comical.

Dwight really knows how to take a team on his back, doesn't he?
That was a completely embarrassing way of ending the season for Dwight.
I don't know what the Lakers do with him.
Do they really want to commit $118m to Dwight?
I am assuming they have to.
Do they look to move him in a sign and trade?
Do they let him walk away?
I think all 3 options are on the table.


There will be significant changes with the Lakers roster.
They have to get younger and faster.
If they have to sign and trade Dwight and Earl Clark or trade Gasol and Hill, they should do so.

Could Kobe, Gasol, MWP or Blake be amnestied?
I guarantee one of them will be amnestied.

It was an extremely disappointing year, but thankfully it is over.
Time to focus on the future and not the past.

As the only Lakers fan that posts here on a regular basis, I want to thank everyone for their comments in this thread, whether they were good, bad or indifferent toward the Lakers season.

Why did I think that the Lakers can't sign and trade Dwight? Not sure why I am thinking that.

Good question.

Here's some points from the NBA CBA FAQ:

•Starting in 2013-14, the team receiving the player cannot be above the "apron" ($4 million above the tax level) after the trade1, 2.
•Starting in 2013-14, the team cannot receive a player in a sign-and-trade if they have used the Taxpayer Mid-Level exception (see question number 25) that season.1


1 These teams are free to send players to other teams in sign-and-trade transactions, or to receive players in sign-and-trade transactions who weren't signed-and-traded themselves. Also, the restriction applies only to the sign-and-trade transaction itself -- teams are free to acquire players who had been signed-and-traded in earlier transactions.


Based on the points listed above, I believe the Lakers could sign and trade Dwight, but I could be wrong.
If the Lakers amnestied Kobe, then they definitely could sign and trade Dwight, because they would be below the apron.
Even amnestying Gasol and taking back less salary for Dwight would put them under the apron.
Based on the first bullet point, the Lakers are not the receiving team of the player in the sign and trade, but are receiving of a players(s) who are already signed.
The more I read this, the more I think I am wrong...

when you figure it out let me know. I would rather let someone else to the research. since it is your team, you have to do the work.