NBA 2021 and beyond: Let's Talk Lakers!

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by gump

I don’t think their roster is great, but they underperformed their regular season significantly in this series. Mostly starting with Randle, but not only that. Thibs was not great on offense this series, frankly. I am not sure I recall more than 2-3 times when the Knicks went after Trae in these 5 games.

Well yes - the playoffs expose things that the regular season doesn't.

That aside - the Knicks looked like a team on the rise for the first time in two decades. This will help them in free agency in 2022 provided they can build upon it next year.

[gump]

Let’s hope they don’t celebrate their first playoff run in 8 years by trading for Bargnani because “the East is big, man”.

[Hewson]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

I know I'm supposed to root for success and all but I haven't had an off season since 2019 so whew thank god

That is no way to earn your waffle fries.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by gump

Let’s hope they don’t celebrate their first playoff run in 8 years by trading for Bargnani because “the East is big, man”.

The main reason why my excitement about the Knicks future is much much lower than most Knicks fans is because that man still owns the team.

Listen to Shattered - The Athletic's podcast about the fall of the Knicks after the 90s when you have a chance.

But speaking of Bargnani... I think I shared this once but not sure if you saw it

https://www.slamonline.com/nba/david...ible-to-guard/

[gump]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

The main reason why my excitement about the Knicks future is much much lower than most Knicks fans is because that man still owns the team.

Listen to Shattered - The Athletic's podcast about the fall of the Knicks after the 90s when you have a chance.

I'm with you. Not at all confident that things will not fall apart. As a cynical Knicks fan, where others see cap flexibility, a wealth of picks and young talent, I see an ever-lasting ability to overpay for bad free agents and to make bad trades.

The other thing is that we don't really know that Leon Rose is actually good. He didn't do any damage and took some smart decisions, and is surrounded by generally good people. His patient approach has been good. But being better than Steve Mills is not exactly a major win. The next two offseason are where he needs to prove his chops.

But speaking of Bargnani... I think I shared this once but not sure if you saw it

https://www.slamonline.com/nba/david...ible-to-guard/

Maybe West meant to say it was nearly impossible for Bargnani to guard anyone?



Seriously, my least favorite Knicks player this century.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

lol - I think it was more along the lines of he super skilled but you could disrupt anything he did simply by being overly physical with him, and that I'd he played today vs. 10+ years ago, with the rule changes, he'd be an all star.

Found it interesting that a guy like David West would say that.



And agreed on Rose. He didn't do anything. And his first decision - whether to extend a player who had a career year right before becoming extension eligible (but was dreadful in the playoffs) is going to be a doozy.

[gump]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

And agreed on Rose. He didn't do anything. And his first decision - whether to extend a player who had a career year right before becoming extension eligible (but was dreadful in the playoffs) is going to be a doozy.

I think they just roll it over and exercise their option with Randle, which allows the team to see if this regular season was real, but it also (if I get the cap workings correctly) gives them a bit more flexibility for the 2022 FA class as they will have his Bird Rights and can go over the cap to extend him after potentially signing another FA. It also works for Randle as he would be eligible for super max then, I think.

I didn't like that Rose punted the 33rd pick this year, which was kind of valuable, in a team totally devoid of talent. His decision to pick Obi when Haliburton was available, knowing the black hole that the team has at PG, is questionable at best, even if Obi has shown signs of life lately. I'm curious about their offseason strategy, really, because there is no way to make this team a contender until at least 2022.

I would imagine that the Nets winning the championship might make Dolan pretty antsy, leading to terrible decisions.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by gump

.

I would imagine that the nets winning the championship might make dolan pretty antsy, leading to terrible decisions.

10000000000000000000000000000000%

[U2inUtah]

Not looking good for our Lakers

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Another tough season for the resident haters:

https://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=401327905

Once again, the silence here is deafening; you'd think we were in the off-season still.

[lazarus]

You sure got a big fucking mouth for someone whose loser team hasn't won a championship in... *checks notes*...48 years, despite being in one of the two biggest markets in the country.

I'm sure you guys will do great next time around.

Tell Spike Lee I said hi.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by lazarus

You sure got a big fucking mouth for someone whose loser team hasn't won a championship in... *checks notes*...48 years, despite being in one of the two biggest markets in the country.

I'm sure you guys will do great next time around.

Tell Spike Lee I said hi.

If that reasoning helps you sleep at night, good for you I guess.

[DaveC]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

Another tough season for the resident haters:

https://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=401327905

Once again, the silence here is deafening; you'd think we were in the off-season still.

[Hewson]

Looks like that house of cards I described in January met a stiff wind last night.

I could only watch the first quarter since I have a 5:30 AM eastern reveille, but I saw enough to sleep quite well.

[Hewson]

And that supporting cast outside of Lebron and AD is complete dogshit.
The Marc Gasol signing was a total bust (scoreless in the starting lineup last night, took only 1 shot)
Kyle Kuzma is supposed to be the best player on the team outside of the 2 stars, he goes for 2 points in an elimination game?
LeBron will be 37 in December and AD is fragile, that team looks porked for some time.
If only they'd drafted some good young players when they had those high draft picks a few years ago, maybe guys like Julius Randle, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingraham or a D'Angelo Russell, they might have a future.

They got 1 title out of the AD trade, but looks like they mortgaged 10 years of contending to do so.

[gump]

The Suns are really fun to watch. If Paul hadn’t gotten hurt they might have swept the series.

[gump]

Originally Posted by lazarus

You sure got a big fucking mouth for someone whose loser team hasn't won a championship in... *checks notes*...48 years, despite being in one of the two biggest markets in the country.

I'm sure you guys will do great next time around.

Tell Spike Lee I said hi.

Man, Knicks fans are immune to this shit. We had two Pfizer shots and annual boosters for anti-Knicks rants like decades ago.

[Hewson]

Originally Posted by gump

The Suns are really fun to watch. If Paul hadn’t gotten hurt they might have swept the series.

Booker is fantastic.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by gump

The Suns are really fun to watch. If Paul hadn’t gotten hurt they might have swept the series.

Bingo.

Nobody should be surprised by what happened. The Suns are a 2 seed. They were competing for the 1 seed into the last week of the season.

The Lakers were the 7 seed. They needed a last second shot to beat Golden State just to get into the playoffs (who then went on to lose at home to Memphis).

This is the expected result.

[mikal]

Originally Posted by Hewson

And that supporting cast outside of Lebron and AD is complete dogshit.
The Marc Gasol signing was a total bust (scoreless in the starting lineup last night, took only 1 shot)
Kyle Kuzma is supposed to be the best player on the team outside of the 2 stars, he goes for 2 points in an elimination game?
LeBron will be 37 in December and AD is fragile, that team looks porked for some time.
If only they'd drafted some good young players when they had those high draft picks a few years ago, maybe guys like Julius Randle, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingraham or a D'Angelo Russell, they might have a future.

They got 1 title out of the AD trade, but looks like they mortgaged 10 years of contending to do so.

That's always the million dollar question. Would you rather have 1 championship sandwiched by 9 shitty seasons? Or 10 seasons where your team is in contention every year but no championships to show for it?