In the latest Laker Film Room Podcast, Pete and I answer questions sent in from listeners. Included are our thoughts on whether this new starting lineup would have produced more wins to this point if they’d been the starters all season, what we’d like to see the young players improve on after the all-star break, and whether Jordan Clarkson might still be better as a point guard.
Click through to give it a listen.
https://soundcloud.com/user-456873398/lfr-mailbag
mattal says
Just saw this and since I’m feeling snarky:
‘The http://scores.espn.com/nba/team/_/name/mia/miami-heat released Williams, 25, on Tuesday. He averaged 5.9 points and 2.9 rebounds over 25 games for the Heat.’
Those stats are only marginally worse than Mozgov’s or Deng’s. Other teams are releasing players that add little value. The Lakers sign them for $134 million over 4 years.
Clay Bertrand says
What was the deal with D’Angelo Russell’s “game” last night??????
Seriously WTF?????
2 pts 5 assists 3 TOs on 1-2 shooting in 23 minutes???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I mean, it didn’t even look like he was trying to do ANYTHING. ZERO impact on the game. Absent some explanation of a physical ailment, I find his play in last nights game very puzzling.
This game comes on the heals of me hearing a Lee Jenkins interview whereby he was completely dismissive of Russell as any kind of future performer. He talked up Ingram but was really down on Russell. I was really surprised he was so dismissive of a 20 yr old 2nd year player especially a guy who had strung together a couple of nice assist games lately.
I was looking forward to seeing Russell continue to trend upward and then he pulls a TOTAL DISAPPEARING ACT!!!! I haven’t seen a game like this from Russell this season that I can recall. Its not like he was being dominated by Reggie Jackson.
Weird game for him. Weird in a worrisome way IMO>
david__h says
these podcasts are becoming addicting……
o’angelo suffers from what I call he needs to not wait for the game to come to him. you can see he’s being asked to perform as a typical point guard; run plays and get the other guys involved first. he’s not that guy. he works best when he takes the game into his own hands; his overall game opens up after he is able to look for, take and make the open shot before involving others.
at this point, randle needs to show us he has a left hand…..
ingram’s mindset tells me he wants to get better and willing to do whatever it takes to get there.
zubak’s starting to look like he’s serious about professional basketball. I was hoping by the all star break that he would leapfrog all other centers and be mozgov’s back up. little did I know the choice to move mozgov to the bench would happen quite this way. regardless, the future looks brighter at the center position.
black’s hustle and understanding of his role as an atypical center solidifies what hard work can produce in today’s nba. it’s become clear that mozgov’s shadow has always been in perfect position as what the laker’s were looking for in a rim protector.
nance shows what an athletic and ego free player can contribute to any team.
clarkson has a ways to go as far as being a mistake free player.
Keep up the good discussion guys.
Go lakers
fern16 says
Man, that Knicks/ Oakley mess. And we thought our FO is dysfunctional. Can’t believe they did him like that. Imagine AC Green being dragged out of Staples like that? What a ugly shameful sad scene…
_ Robert _ says
Clay: Yes – some of us have been concerned with DAR from the beginning. And now the defenses seem to be coming a little slower. Your post would have received three or four defense responses a couple of months ago. It is now apparent that DAR is not likely to be a super star (never thought he would be), and my previous ceiling of Nick Van Excel is looking very questionable.
mattal: Well yes – the 4 year deals were ridiculous from the start and now everyone is realizing it. Not sure why this was not apparent from the beginning but it certainly was not to our FO.
FO: Let’s not slow play this thing. Move Jim out now. If we wait until year end – the Summer will be wasted on proxy fights and TMZ videos. We can’t afford that.
Team: We are really in a very bad spot. Even worse than I thought and that is bad. I mean wow.
FredP says
This is another informative podcast. It would be nice to see Clarkson get some burn with the starters. It is time to give all the young players a chance to see what they can do together on the floor. I like the idea of giving Russell more opportunities to score but am worried that his knee is still bothering him. He has not been the same since he came back from his latest ailment. What a world of difference it is to have Ingram in the starting lineup. It will be fun to watch how he develops the rest of this season.
bluehill says
Speaking of dysfunction. If this quote is accurate, oh boy. It’s only been a week. Just make it stop.
“Magic Johnson said he wants to “call the shots’’ for the Los Angeles
Lakers, a week after it was announced he has rejoined the team as an
adviser to owner Jeannie Buss.
“Working to call the shots, because
it only works that way,’’ Johnson told USA TODAY Sports when asked what
he hopes his role with the franchise will be. “Right now I’m advising. I
get that. But at the end of the day, then we all got to come together
and somebody’s got to say, ‘I’m making the final call,’ all right? And
who’s that going to be?
“So, we’ll see what happens.’’
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2017/02/10/magic-johnson-shot-caller-los-angeles-lakers/97732992/
bluehill says
Clay Bertrand That’s been my biggest concern with DLo. His effort level just doesn’t seem consistent game to game. Different than having an off night. I hope he can “learn” how, but it’s not a great sign this early in his career.
Busboys4me says
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2691917-nba-trade-deadline-2017-br-staff-pre-all-star-trade-deadline-predictions
Pretty good read.
bluehill says
Busboys4me The trade for Lou makes sense. The one for Deng, though. Well, if Mitch can pull that off, that would be like the Horry game-winning 3 against the Kings.
KevTheBold says
_ Robert _
Almost missed this.
For me, if someone has proven the potential to take over games,..even if only on the offensive end, it would seems hasty write him off at such an early age, and experience level.
What makes it more premature, imo, is to forget that he’s also shown potential to run an effective offense for a team.
Those imo, give him great power,.. Now, Whether he learns to wield it, or not, at this point at least, is no one’s to say with any validity.
You can speculate, but shouldn’t have illusions that it’s anything more than that,.. a speculation.
No matter what occurs in the future, it will only be, that you guessed right, or wrongly.