Lakers already in mid-season form.

I don’t disagree with any of this. Just saying, if only 9 WC teams win 35+ games, the Lakers will be playing until the end. We need to hope hard for a 10th

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Originally Posted by Upper Decker

Very possible if either AD or Lebron miss some time due to injury.

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Or Davis gets moved/traded hihi:

https://lakeshowlife.com/2022/10/16/...anthony-davis/

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Green wouldn?t be able to do that with the Lakers either. His voice works with young, hungry dudes who have never accomplished anything. Wouldn?t work on Lebron, Westbrook, etc

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Agree 100%. My comment was more about the Lakers players than Ham's ability.

I always felt that Anthony Davis' box score was far more impressive than his eye-test results, and that feels more true today than ever. His numbers look great (24-10-2 + 5 stocks per game) but his team sucks and his impact just doesn't feel that strong. Can't believe someone as smart as Zach Lowe was picking him as a dark horse MVP candidate.

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

I don?t disagree with any of this. Just saying, if only 9 WC teams win 35+ games, the Lakers will be playing until the end. We need to hope hard for a 10th

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So in a weird way, we have 7 VERY important games on the schedule for pick purposes:

4 vs Lakers - need to sweep it to help our pick

3 vs UTAH - we already lost 1, and we play other 2 in December. Utah should still be playing hard then. Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for Pels to use those 2 games as "rest" games. Help prop up the JAZZ

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Originally Posted by WhenWereHealthy

I always felt that Anthony Davis' box score was far more impressive than his eye-test results, and that feels more true today than ever. His numbers look great (24-10-2 + 5 stocks per game) but his team sucks and his impact just doesn't feel that strong. Can't believe someone as smart as Zach Lowe was picking him as a dark horse MVP candidate.

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He was incredible for us up until the trade. He passed the eye test

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Originally Posted by luigi modelo

He was incredible for us up until the trade. He passed the eye test

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The only knock I really had on AD during his time here is that he didnt seem to have that alpha mentality that you want in a number one guy leading a team. Loved him as a player just not sold on him as a team leader

AD won a title his first season in LA so I’m not gonna act like he was ever a bad player. He played under Gentry for most of his time here and that says enough for me. His injury problems as others have pointed out are a fair criticism.

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Originally Posted by hornetsrebirth

The only knock I really had on AD during his time here is that he didnt seem to have that alpha mentality that you want in a number one guy leading a team. Loved him as a player just not sold on him as a team leader

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that's fair, for sure

AD out tonight against Minnesota.

Turns out we're in midseason form too with the injuries

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Originally Posted by luigi modelo

He was incredible for us up until the trade. He passed the eye test

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Toni was amazing for us

He averaged about 30 points with a 28 PER against prime GSW in the playoffs which are incredible numbers

Too bad (for the Lakers) he turned into one of the leagues biggest bishes

Wolves fans showering Lakers with "0-5" chants �� pic.twitter.com/xCdtHkZU1X

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 29, 2022

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Originally Posted by JJackisangry

AD won a title his first season in LA so I’m not gonna act like he was ever a bad player. He played under Gentry for most of his time here and that says enough for me. His injury problems as others have pointed out are a fair criticism.

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So did Quinn Cook. That roster had a lot of experience, and it had Rondo and LeBron, and Dwight Howard

Wemby, Scoot, Smith, Thompson twins. I'm good with either one.

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Originally Posted by RobertM320

So did Quinn Cook. That roster had a lot of experience, and it had Rondo and LeBron, and Dwight Howard

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And AD who they were not winning the title without. Point is he was a big part of that championship and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. His stats aren’t empty or misleading. If people want to make the argument that he isn’t a leader or an “Alpha” fine. I’d agree that he isn’t that kind of player.

Well dangit, Nuggets.

Never ever bet on Denver

Westbrook is basically the catalyst for the Lakers' wins right now. AD and Lebron are good for 50-60 points a game and really need scoring help to pull out wins for most games. And the only ones on the Lakers capable of doing that are Westbrook or Walker IV. If both get it going, the Lakers will likely have a good game. If one of them gets it going, the game will probably be close. And both are pretty inconsistent at this stage. There can be outlier games by others, but no one else has much of a scoring package.

OMG...I always check on the Lakers scores. I saw a score in the 3rd and they looked like they had a handle on the Pacers. Got busy and went back to the score and saw it was tight under a minute. Lebron hits a short shot with about 20 seconds to go to put them up 2. Pacers nail a 3 at the buzzer to win by 1. I just love Lakers misery. Would love to have seen Lebron's reaction at the end.

Aww man such heartbreak for the lakers. So tough man.

:rolleyes::hihi:

And now finally, 6 weeks into the season, the lakers go on a real road trip.

**Actually they get portland at home first, then the real road trip. Good grief.

well that was glorious. thank you Pacers.

Wow, i already had the lakers winning that game after they were up by so much... thank you pacers!

Useless without video

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Originally Posted by neworleanshoo

well that was glorious. thank you Pacers.

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Wow, I stopped paying attention when Lakers were up by 17 late.

Lakers are ready to blow it up? Moving Beverley too?

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/...sell-westbrook

Matt Ryan not the QB got cut yesterday

The Lakers just made the release of Matt Ryan official: pic.twitter.com/22HtVehumm

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 1, 2022

shoot. definitely prepping for some moves that will make them better this season.

Another graph that should warm your heart:

https://twitter.com/kirkgoldsberry/s...84396732428293

The Lakers have been playing well lately and are only a few games away from the playoff/play in pack. I just hope teams 11 and up keep the lakers on that 12th spot at least. And AD has played more games this season than bi and zion so far.

Would y’all do something with that Lakers pick for Chet?

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Originally Posted by PaKwAn

The Lakers have been playing well lately and are only a few games away from the playoff/play in pack. I just hope teams 11 and up keep the lakers on that 12th spot at least. And AD has played more games this season than bi and zion so far.

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The thing about the Lakers is that even if the roster generally sucks (it does) we all know that davis and Lebron are enough to be the basis of a solid team when they're both healthy and active.

The question about them that comes up every year is: how healthy and active will they be? Yes, davis has been pretty healthy so far this year, but how many times in his career has he played like 30 games of a season before getting a small injury and missing 3 weeks? It happens all the time. Similarly, Lebron has only averaged about 55 games player per season or the last 4 years. Odds are that he's not going to play more than about 65 this year, based on time already missed.

Combine that with the fact that, thus far, the Lakers schedule has been arguably quite easy (of their 21 games, they've been at home for 13 and have already played the Spurs 3 times and the Pistons) its not a surprise that they're pulling back from the catastrophic start.

I just have no faith in davis' injury luck - he'll probably miss 10-15 more games this year. That, plus the fact that their schedule is about to get harder I think they're going to normalise out a little. In the next two weeks they play:

@ Cleveland
@ Toronto
@ Philadelphia
@ Phoenix (second night of a back to back)
v Celtics
v Nuggets


Meanwhile they play coinflip games against Washington only and have only one guaranteed win game v Pistons. I could very easily see them going 2-7 over the next 2 weeks.

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Originally Posted by WhyHornetsWhy

Would y’all do something with that Lakers pick for Chet?

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Like what?

Brow leaves the game 8 minutes in with an injury, not to return, Lakers lose.

This has always been the thing with Brow. Not that he's not an excellent player, because when healthy and engaged he's an all-timer. He just usually plays in an unmotivated fashion and he's very prone to injury.

Every season you predict him to miss about 15 full games, and then have another 6-10 games where he technically plays but leaves at some point with an injury never to return.

Lakers upcoming schedule until Christmas:

- @ Raptors
- @ Sixers
- @ Pistons
- Celtics
- Nuggets
- Wizards
- @ Suns
- @ Kings
- Hornets
- @ Mavs

I don't think it would surprise anyone if they went 3-7 over that span. Wins over the Pistons, Wizards, and Hornets. Nuggets and Mavs are coinflips so I could also see 5-5. Hard to imagine them doing much better than that though, assuming reasonable injury luck for the other teams.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Brow leaves the game 8 minutes in with an injury, not to return, Lakers lose.

This has always been the thing with Brow. Not that he's not an excellent player, because when healthy and engaged he's an all-timer. He just usually plays in an unmotivated fashion and he's very prone to injury.

Every season you predict him to miss about 15 full games, and then have another 6-10 games where he technically plays but leaves at some point with an injury never to return.

Lakers upcoming schedule until Christmas:

- @ Raptors
- @ Sixers
- @ Pistons
- Celtics
- Nuggets
- Wizards
- @ Suns
- @ Kings
- Hornets
- @ Mavs

I don't think it would surprise anyone if they went 3-7 over that span. Wins over the Pistons, Wizards, and Hornets. Nuggets and Mavs are coinflips so I could also see 5-5. Hard to imagine them doing much better than that though, assuming reasonable injury luck for the other teams.

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He left with the flu....is that an injury now?

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Originally Posted by AUSSIE_PELICAN

He left with the flu....is that an injury now?

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Eh, I wasn't watching the game, I just saw the ''Anthony davis is exiting the game, going to the training room, will not return'' tweets.

The point still entirely stands with regards to his expected availability. You will lose 6-10 games a year that he has technically played in, but leaves 10 minutes or so into for whatever reason and to which he will not return.

You will also lose, on average, about 15 games due to normal style ''games missed due to injury'' shenanigans.

And their upcoming stretch of games is still tough. So the point about their probable record over the next ten games or so is still something I think is plausibly the case.

Basically, he must have felt well enough to start the game, then got repeatedly dunked on, and decided, “Nah, I’m done”.

Chuck nailed it here

Another Lakers update from the Chuckster �� pic.twitter.com/w5FrOXkbhc

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) December 14, 2022

Lakers lose to Celtics, now have 16 losses.

That was an important loss. They fought back and had the momentum. Luckly AD missed both FT and Lebron was awfull as usual on defense especially last couple of mins...

Wemby dream is still alive!

One thing I will say is that I've seen a lot of Lakers fans crowing about the fact that we can no longer expect the number 1 pick because they're not the worst team in the NBA anymore.

But what they don't seem to realise is that it doesn't matter. Right now they're the 12th seed, and that's after going on a pretty good run - I could see them managing to make 10th seed but I'd expect them to lose out in the play-ins (obviously could be wrong, maybe they have another gear or pull off a trade, but they're levelling out at the moment with 5-5 in their last 10).

So let's say they end up with the 10th seed and that places them somewhere like 13th in the draft lottery.

Right now, we're 27th in the draft.

I would happily swap the 27th pick for the 13th pick in almost any circumstance. And even if we're not getting a top 3 pick anymore, that's still

A) A huge leap for us and gives us so many more options, including for trading the pick once swapped
B) A huge blow to a not-very-good Lakers pick who misses the opportunity to pick someone up in the lottery and has to be forced into making a back-end pick which could still work out but has fewer options.

The thing about the Lakers is, sure AD is playing at an MVP level right now. But even with AD and Lebron playing, they're barely a .500 team. There's NO CHANCE they both stay healthy the rest of the season without one or both missing a batch of games.

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Originally Posted by RobertM320

There's NO CHANCE they both stay healthy the rest of the season without one or both missing a batch of games.

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this.

And just like that AD out for at least a month due to a foot injury

At least some good news despite the losing streak.

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Originally Posted by PaKwAn

At least some good news despite the losing streak.

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I'd never wish injury on a player, but it was predictable if nothing else.

Just a shame really that the next month's schedule for LA is a pretty soft one. Lots of road games, but they play Hornets x2, Wizards, Magic, Heat x2, Rockets, and Spurs in the next month or so, all of which are potentially winnable games for them even with Brow if everything goes well for them.

On the plus side, I'm not sure I'd have them as favourites in all of those games, and they also play Phoenix, Sacramento x3, Mavs x2, Hawks, Clippers, Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Blazers.

I saw the video of how he got hurt, such a weird injury..didn't look that bad to be honest

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Originally Posted by PaKwAn

I saw the video of how he got hurt, such a weird injury..didn't look that bad to be honest

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Obviously hope it's nothing serious but it's the non-contact injuries that come from nowhere that worry me most. Just feeling something go, unexplained.