The Optimistic Thread! (TRD's FREEDOM THREAD!)

^ One thing I really marveled at was Dwight's ability to challenge shots without getting called for fouls. He went up 3-4 times and may not have come up with the block, but changed the shot for damn sure.

Andrew didn't have the athleticism to do this and when he tried he was called for fouls, sometimes unfairly. Dwight's mobility is really remarkable and I think that's going to make our defense terrifying later on in the season.

I don't expect 4 blocks a game, but honestly he could have had way more last night. I think he should average more shots changed/shots blocked this season than he's had so far in his young career.

truthfully that's what i love most about getting dwight over bynum. MOBILITY and DUNKS.

after drew's knee first knee injury, he lost a lot of that explosiveness...and that to me was, without a doubt, partially mental.

it's so nice to have a big that can truly run the floor, be agile on offense/defense, and provide some cathartic power dunks.

The Pre Season is almost over....

therealdeal wrote:^ One thing I really marveled at was Dwight's ability to challenge shots without getting called for fouls. He went up 3-4 times and may not have come up with the block, but changed the shot for damn sure.

Andrew didn't have the athleticism to do this and when he tried he was called for fouls, sometimes unfairly. Dwight's mobility is really remarkable and I think that's going to make our defense terrifying later on in the season.

I don't expect 4 blocks a game, but honestly he could have had way more last night. I think he should average more shots changed/shots blocked this season than he's had so far in his young career.

^I read that line and I had a deja vu moment. I posted this in the preseason thread " The thing that impressed me most was his ability to challenge shots without getting in foul trouble."

But yeah I agree (obviously). I'm glad someone else saw it too. That was beautiful to watch. And it also shows how much the refs respect his defense. Other players might have been called for fouls on those plays. That's why I was surprised people on here were complaining about his defense. He blocked or altered at least 7 or 8 shots. Of course he wasn't perfect but the guy hasn't played in 6 months yet he still dominated.

And it's hard not to respect a guy who has his kind of work ethic. He's always working to improve his game and he's a willing listener/learner. Overall, I don't think he's ever going to be better than the other great Laker centers (due to his offensive limitations), but he certainly has a chance to be the best defensively.

I'm really going to try to reserve ALL judgment about our bench until at least February. I will be holding onto hope that there its not a lack of talent, but a lack of conformability with the Princeton. Even with Blake and Duhon, i still give our bench a B- in terms of talent. Execution right now is an F. If they can get the execution to at least a C or C+, that'll do just fine.

The starters are A+ talent and C- execution, which is getting them by. As chemistry and conformability with the Princeton grow to allow A+ execution, WATCH OUT!

Im optimistic that TWC can not in fact block me from seeing all the games this season.... I'll be able to catch one or two that is for sure

The regular season will be an inverse of the preseason. Can you say 82-0?

puffyusaf#2 wrote:Im optimistic that TWC can not in fact block me from seeing all the games this season.... I'll be able to catch one or two that is for sure

I'm pretty sure there's 31 games or so on national television. So if by some chance TWC is the most evil corporation in history and doesn't want to show Laker fans their channel, you'll still see almost half the season.

I think ESPN and TNT also have the option of switching some of their broadcasts during the season. So if the TWC situation continues past November 1st, don' t be surprised if more national broadcasts are added.

Well, today was an improvement from what I have been seeing in our bench. There is still tons of work to do, but I'm confident if we can cut down the turnovers and everybody gets on the same page offensively and defensive both starters and bench players, we should be fine.

dwighthowardsdad wrote:Well, today was an improvement from what I have been seeing in our bench. There is still tons of work to do, but I'm confident if we can cut down the turnovers and everybody gets on the same page offensively and defensive both starters and bench players, we should be fine.

Good post

one game closer to the end of the mike brown era

There was a lot of good to be pulled out of this last game:

1. Nash had 7 assists in 24 minutes of play. He's starting to get a feel for this team and that's going to start paying dividends. Hopefully as that happens he realizes that he can shoot the ball a bit more.

2. Pau played well. I don't think we'll see a lot of double-doubles from Pau, or at least not as many as we're used to. Here he'll distribute more and I think we'll see a career high average in assists. He played well much of the night, but this is the kind of game that he can't keep up with for too long. He's just not athletic enough.

3. Jordan and Sacre are very solid backup Centers. Neither are very smart, but they work hard and they give you some production.

4. Meeks looked great. He went to the line 3 straight times in the 4th and had those two great spaced out threes. He's looking like the solid defender we wanted too. Good showing.

5. We got some serious competition from our bench. This Clippers bench is the deepest in the league and they flexed that tonight. Even so, our guys hung in there. We played without the two players that have the biggest impact on our team and we should have won.

6 (and the most important one). We've now lost two games that we should win just due to turnovers. When our offense starts meshing and our players start getting used to each other, our team is going to win most games. A lot of the turnovers from the starters just come from not being used to each other. The bench makes poor decisions which lead to turnovers, but those will smooth out with time as well. I think we'll see a much different Laker team in a month than we're seeing now and the team we're seeing now will still win plenty of games.

^ Agree with your point on Meeks. His defense looked great out there today.

He has "Kobe" and "Jamison" shaped head which, well, is good too I guess.

Here's to being optimistic that this gets done!

Janis Carr: Gilbert Arenas just strolled by the baseline largely unnoticed by the Lakers-Clippers fans Twitter @janiscarr

CaCHooKa Man wrote:one game closer to the end of the mike brown era

True ... too bad it's one game closer to end of Kobe and Steve era as well

Vasashi17 wrote:Here's to being optimistic that this gets done!

Janis Carr: Gilbert Arenas just strolled by the baseline largely unnoticed by the Lakers-Clippers fans Twitter @janiscarr

thought he was about ready to decide to play in china...unless it's smoke and mirrors

well let's face it...compared to steve blake and chris duhon (and *laugh* darius morris), it's an upgrade.

Unfortunately you might be right. I don't even like Hibachi and I don't want him for this team.

But watching Blake last night was the toughest part of the game by far. If we find a way to let go of Morris, Clark, Duhon, and Blake then bring on Hibachi.

No Dirk , Kaman is ailing and Delonte has been suspended again ... we may win a game soon

kenzo wrote:

CaCHooKa Man wrote:one game closer to the end of the mike brown era

True ... too bad it's one game closer to end of Kobe and Steve era as well

But one game closer to a championship!!!!!!!!!

I'm surprised this thread is still alive.

Ah, the good ol' panic button, I was hoping we wouldn't start to see people mashing it with this much intensity so early in the season. I'd like to remind everyone this is the preseason we're talking about so no we're not really "0-8" we're 0-0. Everyone knew this season we would start off slow due to so many new players having to not only begin to integrate themselves and find their niche in this team, but also have to learn a whole new system at the same time as finding chemistry. I'm still very optimistic and excited about this season, and everyone else should too! We're taking baby steps towards a championship, and the team is getting slightly better day by day. Thankfully an easy early schedule should soften the blow of how many losses we have. However, by the middle of the season, the beast that is this new Lakers team should begin to rear it's head and other teams will cower in fear. In the meantime, everyone should just sit back and relax! It's a loooooong season, and if you have already begun to rip your hair out over losses in the preseason, you'll be envious of LeBron's hairline by early December.

Here's some optimism from Dwight. It's a message for all Laker fans: