☆ Lakers General Gameday Thread: 2018-2019 SEASON

All Lakers gametalk for October, November and December games.. Probably best to condense game discussions into fewer threads

October:
Oct 18 @ Portland Trail Blazers
Oct 20 Houston Rockets
Oct 22 San Antonio Spurs
Oct 24 @ Phoenix Suns
Oct 25 Denver Nuggets
Oct 27 @ San Antonio Spurs
Oct 29 @ Minnesota Timberwolves
Oct 31 Dallas Mavericks

November:
Nov 3 @ Portland Trail Blazers
Nov 4 Toronto Raptors
Nov 7 Minnesota Timberwolves
Nov 10 @ Sacramento Kings
Nov 11 Atlanta Hawks
Nov 14 Portland Trail Blazers
Nov 17 @ Orlando Magic
Nov 18 @ Miami Heat
Nov 21 @ Cleveland Cavaliers
Nov 23 Utah Jazz
Nov 25 Orlando Magic
Nov 27 @ Denver Nuggets
Nov 29 Indiana Pacers
Nov 30 Dallas Mavericks

December:
Dec 2 Phoenix Suns
Dec 5 San Antonio Spurs
Dec 7 @ San Antonio Spurs
Dec 8 @ Memphis Grizzlies
Dec 10 Miami Heat
Dec 13 @ Houston Rockets
Dec 15 @ Charlotte Hornets
Dec 16 @ Washington Wizards
Dec 18 @ Brooklyn Nets
Dec 21 New Orleans Pelicans
Dec 23 Memphis Grizzlies
Dec 25 @ Golden State Warriors
Dec 27 @ Sacramento Kings
Dec 28 Los Angeles Clippers
Dec 30 Sacramento Kings

You know I

All eyes on these Lakers

I'm trying to keep my disappointment under control. Only one game in out of a 82-game season.

Especially keeping the following in mind:
-Portland has not lost opening day game in 17yrs (18 now). Last time they lost was vs 2000 Shaq-Kobe Lakers. Back then, Portland had young Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen, and Arvydas Sabonis
-Lakers have lost last 15 to Blazers in a row (16 now)
-Home game in Portland, emotional one with the passing of Mr Allen

As for the game yesterday, I did not like our defense. Too many lapses. I felt our post defense was fine but perimeter defense they tore apart. Stuka-diver Stauskus making 3s all over the place? Out of the left field after being borderline bust for his career :lol

We obviously cannot hit 3s so perhaps we should focus on the higher percentage shots closer to the basket.. We were hitting them at 53-54% clip most of the game. It's not a completely lost cause to focus on 2s if you can hit them that well. I believe 50% from 2pt line is equivalent to 40% from 3s. So we could have still won that game if we kept going for 2s.

I know it's the era of 3pt shots, but I think games are still winnable if you focus on 2s at high clip and defense.

I don't like Kuzma at 5. Sorry, it does not work. He is more of a 3 who can play 4. But 5? No no no, I don't want to see that. I also feel like Kuzma has not improved very much since last season. That's bit discouraging. He has high floor, but I am afraid his ceiling is low as well. I don't know, guys, but he is not on same level as Ingram.. I have a bad feeling about this.. Is it going to go the way of Nance vs Randle, where we chose Randle and traded Nance?

KCP played decent defense but his offense was brutal.. Something feels off about him. He might become trade-bait, but it was game 1 so I don't want to overreact. I might rather have Hart starting. He gives us more offense.

Stephenson and Beasley, uhhm.. Yeah.

Lonzo looked better around the paint driving in, but mehh. Hopefully, he was just rusty. We will see.. His assists will take a dip I believe with this squad.

[QUOTE=bladefd]I'm trying to keep my disappointment under control. Only one game in out of a 82-game season.

Especially keeping the following in mind:
-Portland has not lost opening day game in 17yrs (18 now). Last time they lost was vs 2000 Shaq-Kobe Lakers. Back then, Portland had young Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen, and Arvydas Sabonis
-Lakers have lost last 15 to Blazers in a row (16 now)
-Home game in Portland, emotional one with the passing of Mr Allen

As for the game yesterday, I did not like our defense. Too many lapses. I felt our post defense was fine but perimeter defense they tore apart. Stuka-diver Stauskus making 3s all over the place? Out of the left field after being borderline bust for his career :lol

We obviously cannot hit 3s so perhaps we should focus on the higher percentage shots closer to the basket.. We were hitting them at 53-54% clip most of the game. It's not a completely lost cause to focus on 2s if you can hit them that well. I believe 50% from 2pt line is equivalent to 40% from 3s. So we could have still won that game if we kept going for 2s.

I know it's the era of 3pt shots, but I think games are still winnable if you focus on 2s at high clip and defense.

I don't like Kuzma at 5. Sorry, it does not work. He is more of a 3 who can play 4. But 5? No no no, I don't want to see that. I also feel like Kuzma has not improved very much since last season. That's bit discouraging. He has high floor, but I am afraid his ceiling is low as well. I don't know, guys, but he is not on same level as Ingram.. I have a bad feeling about this.. Is it going to go the way of Nance vs Randle, where we chose Randle and traded Nance?

KCP played decent defense but his offense was brutal.. Something feels off about him. He might become trade-bait, but it was game 1 so I don't want to overreact. I might rather have Hart starting. He gives us more offense.

Stephenson and Beasley, uhhm.. Yeah.

Lonzo looked better around the paint driving in, but mehh. Hopefully, he was just rusty. We will see.. His assists will take a dip I believe with this squad.[/QUOTE]
Interesting stats last night.
Lilliard and CJ had a -8 and -9 respectively. Damian tho milked the FT line with 8-8.
Hart played really good but his FT's concern me also Ingram. Yes, Brandon had a nice groove during the preseason but still,...
Kuzma is just a bit too trigger happy, just because he has the mamba mentality doesn't necessarily mean he's got the Mamba ability.
Rondo had a good 11 assist to just 3 turnover unlike Lebron who had 6-6. :(
KCP was pretty gun shy which makes me wonder if he is bricking his shots during practice.
124 pts allowed seems really high but Portland just shot 44%

Well, it looks like Rondo is suspended 3 games and Ingram 4.. Video shows Rondo did spit on CP3, regardless of whether it was intentional or not. Bad look for Rondo.. Ingram as well looks bad.

As for CP3/Harden.. I don't respect their antics, especially Harden. He flops around like a dodo constantly and cries for freethrows every single play. Guy has a good game, he doesn't need to rely on those foolish tactics, antics and acting. It's annoying to watch him cry every play. Just play the damn game..

As for the game itself.. I thought we did well defensively and kept it close most of the game. I see same issues.. Can't hit 3s, not enough depth at 5, not able to draw fouls to get to FT line, I don't trust us making our FTs either. I'm disappointed in KCP all-around and Kuzma offensively. I don't like Kuz playing 5 -- JaVale may not be able to play big minutes so we need Wagner back fast.

I hope Hart is moved to starting 5 soon if KCP shows no improvement. Lonzo and Kuzma will also replace Rondo and Ingram over the suspension. It will be interesting to see how they do.

My main concerns out of the gate are: 1. Lack of size. When McGee is on the bench the Lakers have no defense against dribble penetration. They get out rebounded constantly. Kuzma is getting eaten alive at the 5. He isn

Josh Hart [B]must[/B] start and we need Mo Wagner back right now. I don't want to see Zubac out there again - let him go to the d-league to develop. Spurs went to Aldridge [U]every[/U] [U]single[/U] [U]play[/U] over and over while McGee was on the bench in foul trouble. He scored I think 5 straight possessions on Zubac in under 4 minutes, drew fts and completely shut down Zubac on the other end before we had to bring in Jonathan Williams who isn't even on our depth chart.

I miss Randle and his defense. I wish he had just returned instead of asking out.. I would have paid him instead of KCP. We would have won last night with Randle. Sh!t, I'd rather have Kwame Brown or Chris Mihm out there than Zubac..

I would try to move KCP's expiring deal, Beasley's expiring deal and a future pick for a backup center. Neither of them will be back next season anyways so lets get something in return now.. Preferably a backup center as I said who can provide 15-20 solid minutes per night.

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What was wrong with LeBron in first half yesterday? He missed 3 layups in a row before getting blocked on the 4th layup by Rudy Gay.. He no longer looks like the best player in the game.. He still did keep us in the game so I don't blame him at all, but we have to account for that as a team.

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We are losing close games against decent teams so it's not a lost cause, but we have to get our acts together. We didn't have Ingram or Rondo yesterday too, but I thought Kuzma did great yesterday, more than made up for Ingram not being there. Ingram has been asleep at the wheel too often as well so far - Kuzma is at least energetic and active out there. We could have used Rondo yesterday though in crunch time. Disappointing loss yesterday..

I

I’m not super impressed with Kuzma to be honest. I know he scored a lot of points last night and that’s great. I don’t know what he did during the offseason but it doesnt look like he’s added anything I haven’t seen already last year. And when they play him and Lebron at the 4 and 5 for long stretches while McGee is on the bench the defense and rebounding really suffers. However, I’m pretty sure these guys are barely drinking age. They’re kids. Kuzma, Ingram, Lonzo and Hart could all be future stars problem is Lebron didn’t sign up so that Ingram could be great in two years. He wants to win now. Same with Magic. It’s championship or bust for the guys running the show. We can talk about patience and development but at the end of the day it’s win now for the Lakers.

[QUOTE=LA Lakers]I’m not super impressed with Kuzma to be honest. I know he scored a lot of points last night and that’s great. I don’t know what he did during the offseason but it doesnt look like he’s added anything I haven’t seen already last year. And when they play him and Lebron at the 4 and 5 for long stretches while McGee is on the bench the defense and rebounding really suffers. However, I’m pretty sure these guys are barely drinking age. They’re kids. Kuzma, Ingram, Lonzo and Hart could all be future stars problem is Lebron didn’t sign up so that Ingram could be great in two years. He wants to win now. Same with Magic. It’s championship or bust for the guys running the show. We can talk about patience and development but at the end of the day it’s win now for the Lakers.[/QUOTE]

I have a gut feeling it is going to come down to a Kuzma or Ingram choice sooner or later. Both won't be here long-term - I just don't know who.

I prefer Ingram's all-around game but his 2 big issues are a) lack of range and b) falling asleep at the wheel too often. Shooting will come as his game progresses, and tbh you can compensate for lack of range in other ways - his midrange is not bad at all. I'm mainly worried about the second thing. It speaks completely to a focus issue, and it worries me in the big picture.

Kuzma, on other hand, is active and focused. He is not as talented overall, but he can shoot very well. His 2 big issues are a) not playing good defense and b) inconsistency on offense/taking low percentage shots. I'm worried about the latter, or as tamaraw called the mamba mentality.. It is what made Kobe great & win us games but also cost us games when his shot wasn't falling. Kobe though got to the FT line, played very good defense, and was clutch. Kuzma is not there yet in overall impact as Kobe.

So far, Ingram impacts the game more, but MUST STAY AWAKE! Drink coffee before games, drink 5 hour energy, do something to stay focused. No falling asleep at the wheel.

It

It’s kind of the same issue as last year in the sense that you had all of these assets at the forward position. Too many guys in the 6’8- 6’9 range who all want to dominate the ball. How does Walton rotate guys when you have Julius Randle, Kuzma and Ingram all needing minutes? Now they solved part of the issue by replacing Randle with Lebron James. But that still leaves a lot of passing and ball sharing to be expected. It’s hard to divvy up minutes for versatile stretch forwards. Especially if they are young and still raw and unproven. If you think about it isn’t Kuzma a really shooting guard in a very athletic 6’9 frame. He’s basically trapped in a power forwards body with a guards mentality. I think he’s good. Shows a lot of promise. To be fair to Kuzma last night, the refs weren’t giving him any calls. There were several and-1s and flat out no calls. He played aggressively which is good. Lebron also got four or five no calls. Only time it seems he went to the line was at the end when he couldn’t make his shots lol. The officiating has been terrible so far. Letting guys get the shit hacked out of them on one end and then a ticky tac bs phantom call on javale McGee for having the audacity to attempt to play traditional defense on Lamarcus Aldridge as he backed down into the post. Like wtf. It was insane the officiating during that game. The nba feels weird this season. I love the 14 second re set shot clock after an offensive rebound rule. But man the pace of these games is so fast. It’s basketball on meth. Hockey basketball. 145 point games. Crazy. Gonna be a wild year lol

[QUOTE=LA Lakers]It

Seems like the Lonzo, Hart, Kuzma, Lebron, McGee lineup is good defensively.