There’s a Jay-Z rap lyric I’ve always liked a lot. The Brooklyn born husband to Beyoncé says, simply, “life’s like a treadmill n***** runnin’ in place”. For me, at least, it’s a line about the search for progress and the want for more, but not actually getting it. It’s also about people’s perceptions of how […]
Lakers Analysis
Lakers Need Patience Now More than Ever
After a 124-120 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Lakers are now 2-5. I won’t spend much time on the game, but like I told you in my game preview, I was concerned about the team’s defense and rebounding while hopeful the team would be able to shoot the 3 ball well enough to keep […]
Will the Lakers Make the Playoffs?
Catchy headline, right? SEO that! #blogboys unite. Today, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post wrote that he does not think the Lakers will make the playoffs. He laid out a bunch of reasons why. They are points well made and argued with reason. I like Tim — I read his work, listen to him on […]
LeBron James, Point (Power) Forward
LeBron James, for his entire career, has been a point forward. He’s often brought the ball up the court, initiated his team’s offensive sets, and been the player most leaned on to quarterback the progressions within those sets to reach a desirable outcome. Even when he’s played with other ball dominant point guards (like Kyrie […]
Flexibility vs. Need and the Lakers Open Roster Spot
While the Lakers waiving and stretching of Luol Deng has mostly been viewed through the lens of financial flexibility and the push for a second star in the Summer of 2019, there are present day ramifications too. By allowing Deng to seek alternative employment opportunities, the Lakers roster now has room to add an additional […]
Embracing the Uncertainty of these Lakers
Jeanie Buss recently said that signing LeBron James in free agency reminded her of when the Lakers, then led by her father and Jerry West, lured Shaq away from Orlando. The magnitude of the moves are surely similar even if only from a name-brand standpoint, to say nothing of the comparisons between both superstars coming […]
The Lakers Have More Shooting Than You Think
Beyond the observation that they have signed some knuckleheads (or, put more kindly, out-sized personalities), the one critique that has been most damning this offseason focuses on the Lakers shooting deficiency. “The Lakers don’t have any shooters” is an oft-used cudgel used to hammer the front office’s approach and it’s coming from almost all who […]
Lonzo Ball: Something Different this Way Comes
He is not yet 21 and his sophomore season in the NBA is still months away. The fanfare of being a No. 2 overall pick along with inherent expectations have faded to some extent. And while Lonzo Ball is not exactly the forgotten man, the arrival of a mythical storm god promises to send him […]
No Laker May Be Asked to Change More than LeBron James
We often, and rightfully, look at superstar players as the center of whatever solar system they inhabit. When that superstar is LeBron James, you can remove the “often” and just lay it out as this is how it goes. When LeBron was on the Cavs, he was the Cavs. It was to the point that […]
On LeBron James, Luke Walton, and Burden Sharing
After the Lakers signed LeBron James, it did not take long for folks to start to question every other aspect of the Lakers organization. This is the gift and the curse of The King. When you have a generational talent on your roster, you reap the benefits of that through that player’s talent, but also […]