[Rams Dominate]

Hope your right, I have the Directv basketball package so I should visit this thread a lot...

[snackdaddy]

its hard to say with this year's Lakers. They have a former all star center who's still young. They have a possibly dynamic rookie point guard in Russell and good potential at the PF in Randle. Clarkson looks to be a good scorer. Lou Williams will be solid bench contributor. On top of that they have Kobe, one of the top 5 players in the history of the game. Someone who pushes his teammates to be better. Demands they be better. A healthy team could compete for a playoff spot. Maybe not a high, or even mid seed, but a playoff spot nonetheless. At least a Laker fan can dream.

[Hacksaw_64]

Julius Randle Steal And Dunk:

Julius Randle Putback Dunk:

[Rams Dominate]

Sweet.......

And how about that Dodgers comeback tonight?

[Hacksaw]

When we start beating NBA teams I'll feel a bit better. The team should be better but in the West, better isn't good enough...

[Rams Dominate]

Your right HS, we're 0 for the pre-season against NBA teams & blew out a Jewish squad, no surprise there for sure, the Lakers home page says our wunderkind Russell is really picking up his assist game big time...We'll be competitive, but wins will be a struggle, baby steps...

[OldSchool]

This team just doesn't have much talent, too many years of mismanagement and hanging our hats on Kobe and we let the roster fall apart. Just for reference the last Lakers 1st round pick to have 10+ ppg for a career was?

Andrew Bynum

We've drafted poorly when we have actually kept our 1st rounders and the team is devoid of talent. Going to take 3-5 years to rebuild. Unless we come up with a couple big signings after Kobe retires.

[snackdaddy]

This team just doesn't have much talent, too many years of mismanagement and hanging our hats on Kobe and we let the roster fall apart. Just for reference the last Lakers 1st round pick to have 10+ ppg for a career was?

Andrew Bynum

We've drafted poorly when we have actually kept our 1st rounders and the team is devoid of talent. Going to take 3-5 years to rebuild. Unless we come up with a couple big signings after Kobe retires.

Yeah, its going to be rough going for a few years. They need to stop trading away draft picks. They might have a good nucleus with Russell, Randle and Clarkson. Two of those will have to be all stars in the next two or three seasons to be a playoff contender. And they will need good role players around them. Its possible, but who knows? None of us has a crystal ball.

The formula for most champs is to have multiple all stars and at least one has to be among the elite of the NBA for at least that season. With Russell and Randle it could happen. But its also just as possible they're turn out to be NBA journeymen, nothing more. If thats the case, then they won't be anything more than a low seed playoff team if they pick up some decent players around them.

With today's NBA waiting to sign another Shaq ain't gonna happen. There aren't any out there. And LA is no longer the premium destination. Times have changed. We waited a decade after the Magic Showtime era and it took about 7 years after the Kobe/Shaq days. So anything's possible. But with Dr. Buss gone and Jimmy running the show, I'm not very optimistic. I see some lean years coming.

[Rams Dominate]

I watched the Lakers opener against the T-Wolves last night & with the Lakers enjoying a 15 point lead late in the 3rd qtr I thought Chick Hearn (RIP) should make his famous "game over" thang, but the game is 4 qtrs. long like it or not so to start the 4th the Lakers promptly swooned & went into a 23-7 drought, lost the lead & the game 112-111 with Kobe NOT taking the final shot with 4.2 seconds on the clock, of course by this time Kobe was missing EVERYTHING he put up, so a back-up guard took the last bad shot...
We're in for a long year, maybe not as bad as last year but bad nonetheless...D'Angelo Russells stat line, 4 points, 2 assists...Gonna be a long year...

[snackdaddy]

Yeah, I watched most of the game. I didn't see a lot of flow to the game for them. Looked more like a pick up game. And defense was almost non existent. It'll likely be another long year. Maybe not as bad as last year, but not much better. Losing a home opener to last year's worst team isn't gonna inspire anything.