The Show Must Go On: 2013-14 Los Angeles Lakers thread

[GreatestLaker]

Nooooooooo

I want that top pick.

 

[Hater]

Kobe bout to fukk up the tank

 

[gho3st]

with the way the team is playing we'd probably sneak into the playoffs or miss it by 3-4 games. So

 

[MustafaSTL]

Man, getting to watch Bean play is great in and of itself. fukk some tank attempt.

 

[MustafaSTL]

Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in the history of the game, and you have some nikkas wishing he would NOT play just for some non-existing tank attempt?

 

[GreatestLaker]

Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in the history of the game, and you have some nikkas wishing he would NOT play just for some non-existing tank attempt?

We aren't winning a title this year regardless if he plays or not. Might not even make the playoffs. With a top pick this year we can draft a player that can help us out in 2015 or we could even trade it for an already established superstar player. The Spurs were in a similar situation in 1997 with David Robinson and look how that worked out for them.

 

[MoneyTron]

He's back.

 

[Colejeezy]

The gawd back

 

[MustafaSTL]

We aren't winning a title this year regardless if he plays or not. Might not even make the playoffs. With a top pick this year we can draft a player that can help us out in 2015 or we could even trade it for an already established superstar player. The Spurs were in a similar situation in 1997 with David Robinson and look how that worked out for them.

Have you played organized basketball before? Do you know how difficult it is to sit for an entire year and try to come back like it's nothing? Especially at 35 and would be 36 if he sat out for an entire season? It's THAT easy to just come back with a 19 year old rookie and life is just all good?

David Robinson was legitimately hurt, the Spurs didn't just say "David, we don't want you to play for the whole season because we absolutely know that we will win the draft lottery and get the number one pick."

So say the Lakers "tank" and miss out on the lottery and get like the 5th or 6th pick in the draft. And he ends up being just an ok player. Would you say sitting one of the greatest players in the history of the sport was worth it?

Now say Kobe plays and the Lakers get 42 or so wins and get to pick 13th or something like that in the draft. Is that a worse scenario?

 

[GreatestLaker]

Have you played organized basketball before? Do you know how difficult it is to sit for an entire year and try to come back like it's nothing? Especially at 35 and would be 36 if he sat out for an entire season? It's THAT easy to just come back with a 19 year old rookie and life is just all good?

David Robinson was legitimately hurt, the Spurs didn't just say "David, we don't want you to play for the whole season because we absolutely know that we will win the draft lottery and get the number one pick."

So say the Lakers "tank" and miss out on the lottery and get like the 5th or 6th pick in the draft. And he ends up being just an ok player. Would you say sitting one of the greatest players in the history of the sport was worth it?

Now say Kobe plays and the Lakers get 42 or so wins and get to pick 13th or something like that in the draft. Is that a worse scenario?

It usually takes up to a year to completely heal from a torn Achilles. Why not let him come back towards the end of the season when his Achilles is stronger? Again we aren't going anywhere this season. You just want to see Kobe play. You aren't looking at the big picture. My whole thing is I want what puts us in the best possibly position to compete for a championship. I don't care about making the playoffs just to make it.

The top 5 players in this year's draft are all predicted to be superstar players. So if we get the 5th pick, hell yes I would be happy. Winning 42 games and getting the 13th pick would be awful. You do know that means that we missed the playoffs right and missed out on the top players in the draft?

Again we can either draft a player with superstar potential and keep it or trade it for a player of Rondo's caliber. That puts us in the best position to compete for a ring in 2015.

 

[Bilz]

Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in the history of the game, and you have some nikkas wishing he would NOT play just for some non-existing tank attempt?

Good point. If they really want to tank, he should be out there gunning and trying to recreate 2006

 

[MustafaSTL]

It usually takes up to a year to completely heal from a torn Achilles. Why not let him come back towards the end of the season when his Achilles is stronger? Again we aren't going anywhere this season. You just want to see Kobe play. You aren't looking at the big picture. My whole thing is I want what puts us in the best possibly position to compete for a championship. I don't care about making the playoffs just to make it.

The top 5 players in this year's draft are all predicted to be superstar players. So if we get the 5th pick, hell yes I would be happy. Winning 42 games and getting the 13th pick would be awful. You do know that means that we missed the playoffs right and missed out on the top players in the draft?

Again we can either draft a player with superstar potential and keep it or trade it for a player of Rondo's caliber. That puts us in the best position to compete for a ring in 2015.

There are only three players that have people talking at the top of the draft. If this was the NFL or MLB where the draft goes by record, and not a lottery, then I would give more thought to the idea of shutting the season down. Most years the team with the worst record won't get the top pick. Again, there are three players people are after, not 5 or 6 or 7. Tanking and losing out on the lottery for one of those 3 players will be worse than you think. I don't think you are actually contemplating how much of an absolutely HUGE gamble this strategy is.

And I am a Laker fan before just a Kobe fan. Sitting Kobe for the entire season if he is able to play within the next few weeks is a gamble, period. Purposely losing games for a lottery is a gamble, period. You are acting like things are too guaranteed (that a pick outside of the top 3 would be a superstar, that the Lakers would win the lottery, etc) by purposely losing games.

Do you see who is projected to be 5th in the draft this year? http://nbadraft.net
fukking Dante Exum. You want to purposely lose games, and be happy to draft fukking Dante Exum?

When Detroit built their team in the mid 2000s, did they purposely lose games to build their roster? Dallas in 2011? Hell, the entire Spurs roster outside of Tim is from players drafted later in the draft, not from purposely losing games when they weren't championship contenders.

I just think it's a horrible, absolutely horrible strategy to try to build a championship team by purposely losing games so that you can "try" to get a good pick in a lottery.

 

[Regular_P]

There are only three players that have people talking at the top of the draft. If this was the NFL or MLB where the draft goes by record, and not a lottery, then I would give more thought to the idea of shutting the season down. Most years the team with the worst record won't get the top pick. Again, there are three players people are after, not 5 or 6 or 7. Tanking and losing out on the lottery for one of those 3 players will be worse than you think. I don't think you are actually contemplating how much of an absolutely HUGE gamble this strategy is.

And I am a Laker fan before just a Kobe fan. Sitting Kobe for the entire season if he is able to play within the next few weeks is a gamble, period. Purposely losing games for a lottery is a gamble, period. You are acting like things are too guaranteed (that a pick outside of the top 3 would be a superstar, that the Lakers would win the lottery, etc) by purposely losing games.

Do you see who is projected to be 5th in the draft this year? http://nbadraft.net
fukking Dante Exum. You want to purposely lose games, and be happy to draft fukking Dante Exum?

When Detroit built their team in the mid 2000s, did they purposely lose games to build their roster? Dallas in 2011? Hell, the entire Spurs roster outside of Tim is from players drafted later in the draft, not from purposely losing games when they weren't championship contenders.

I just think it's a horrible, absolutely horrible strategy to try to build a championship team by purposely losing games so that you can "try" to get a good pick in a lottery.

Plus, the whole purpose of the lottery is to make sure teams can't zero out and be assured of the top pick.

They actually have quite a few complementary pieces right now. In the offseason, if Kobe comes back at a reduced cost and they sign Carmelo and/or Bosh with most of these guys returning, they'd have a pretty nice squad.

Blake/Farmar/Nash
Kobe/Young/Meeks
Carmelo/Henry/Johnson
Bosh/Williams
Kaman/Hill

 

[GreatestLaker]

There are only three players that have people talking at the top of the draft. If this was the NFL or MLB where the draft goes by record, and not a lottery, then I would give more thought to the idea of shutting the season down. Most years the team with the worst record won't get the top pick. Again, there are three players people are after, not 5 or 6 or 7. Tanking and losing out on the lottery for one of those 3 players will be worse than you think. I don't think you are actually contemplating how much of an absolutely HUGE gamble this strategy is.

And I am a Laker fan before just a Kobe fan. Sitting Kobe for the entire season if he is able to play within the next few weeks is a gamble, period. Purposely losing games for a lottery is a gamble, period. You are acting like things are too guaranteed (that a pick outside of the top 3 would be a superstar, that the Lakers would win the lottery, etc) by purposely losing games.

Do you see who is projected to be 5th in the draft this year? http://nbadraft.net
fukking Dante Exum. You want to purposely lose games, and be happy to draft fukking Dante Exum?

When Detroit built their team in the mid 2000s, did they purposely lose games to build their roster? Dallas in 2011? Hell, the entire Spurs roster outside of Tim is from players drafted later in the draft, not from purposely losing games when they weren't championship contenders.

I just think it's a horrible, absolutely horrible strategy to try to build a championship team by purposely losing games so that you can "try" to get a good pick in a lottery.

That's a gamble I'm willing to take. Its not like we are gambling much anyways dude. This roster is not a good one even if Kobe comes back some what healthy. Even if we don't "tank" we are still going to lose a ton of games.

Detroit built their team by signing and trading for players that everyone thought were average at the time, but they also had assets to complete those trades. Something we lack. They got Ben Wallace in a sign in trade for Grant Hill, signed Billups as a FA, got Rip Hamiltion for Stackhouse and got Rasheed for a first round pick and Sura. Spurs kept their draft picks, something we didn't. You can't compare our situation to theirs.

 

[GreatestLaker]

Plus, the whole purpose of the lottery is to make sure teams can't zero out and be assured of the top pick.

They actually have quite a few complementary pieces right now. In the offseason, if Kobe comes back at a reduced cost and they sign Carmelo and/or Bosh with most of these guys returning, they'd have a pretty nice squad.

Blake/Farmar/Nash
Kobe/Young/Meeks
Carmelo/Henry/Johnson
Bosh/Williams
Kaman/Hill

That team is fukking terrible. Aren't winning shyt with that squad.