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

Everyone seems to be talking about how they actually had fun watching the game today and I agree. I can't remember the last time I saw the Lakers having fun with Brown at the helm. It was pretty frustrating watching four hall of famers start the season looking confused, and frustrated with the overall lack of direction of Mike Brown.

It was great to see our Lakers back tonight.

Lakers bench outscored Warriors bench 37-25...they have Landry, Jarret Jack, Richard Jefferson not some scrub team. Well done.

People doubted when I said Pau's defense has been solid...it is. He held Millsap WED to 2/7 FG...tonight played 40 mins, Landry 3/12 FG, David Lee 3/10 FG. Great job Gasol

GoldHammish wrote:

therealdeal wrote:

Legendary wrote:

therealdeal wrote:Yay! My thread is taking off!

T-minus 1 hour and 40 minutes until the muzzle is put on...

Any last words?

Spoiler:

So are youtube videos allowed too or is it strictly just pictures?

It wasn't determined, but I'll try to stick to pictures and gifs. Maaaybe videos if I find something I like.

Real... UR gonna have to try harder than that... Contribute trough images. I have faith in you.

Alright, alright you got it. Only pictures.

therealdeal wrote:Alright, alright you got it. Only pictures.

Are you allowed to type some text in to word, do a screenshot, save it and then upload your text as an image? Or are you forbidden to use any image containing any amount of text?

We won. Kobe played an efficient 33 minutes, Pau played with effort, and the bench did well. The rotations made a lot more sense; it was a good win. We needed it.

I liked having Ebanks out of the rotation. It allows for a Meeks/Kobe/Jamison lineup at the 2/3/4 that I still want to see (did we see it last night?). It also allows for Meeks/Jamison/Hill/Gasol (2/3/4/5) with the point being the most minutes possible for Meeks and Jamison, our big summer bench acquisitions.

I am FINALLY optimistic again. I haven't been at all this year with what I'd seen from the head coaching. The roster was awesome but once I saw how they were being played and the massive confusion in the preseason and beyond I didn't think we were going anywhere. I'm so thankful for Jerry Buss stepping in and bringing this nonsense pretty much to an end. There's still the matter of the next coaching hire, however, and I won't lie that I'm nervous about it. If it's Phil or Sloan, it'll be amazing. If it's D' Antoni or Dunleavy then I think we might be in nearly as bad a situation as before. So a lot is riding on this. McMillan is kind of in the middle for me. Good coach, but not the home run I want.

therealdeal wrote:Alright, alright you got it. Only pictures.

I think videos should be allowed.. Pics, gifs, short clips.

fkmikebrown wrote:what?? i have ZERO pity. NONE. sure he lost his job and that's never fun, but he walked away with $11 million dollar. boo friggin hoo. he'll be fine.

I have responded to this with a new topic. I don't want to tarnish the optimism thread with what I have to say about this...

On a side note, I am seriously hoping we get Phil Jackson back. I think we will be great with the Zen Master back at the helm. I am a little nervous about Phil's habit of not playing certain bench players...but I trust his judgement more than Mike Brown's.

D'Antoni would be a good consolation prize IMHO, but I want Phil...he's the big fish in this pond.

first winning streak of the season!

2-0 under bernie

^^

Lakers are:

1st in total rebounding differential (+9.5 per game...not including tonight's +11)
1st in defensive rebounding differential (+6.0 per game...not including tonight's +7)
3rd in offensive rebounding differential (+3.5 per game...not including tonight's +4)
1st in free throw differential (+9.5 per game...not including tonight's +16)
7th in field goal percentage (45.6%...not including tonight's 44.4%)

*****from the top 10 teams in offensive rebounding differential, only the Lakers and Cavs are in top 15 in FG% (LAL is 7th, CLE is 12th). Most of those teams are bottom 10 in FG% (this is to be expected).

The 6 teams shooting better than us (excluding tonight's games):
MIA (-1.5 per game in total rebounds, -4.3 in offensive rebounds)
LAC (+0.7 per game in total rebounds, -3.5 in offensive rebounds)
SAS (-3.4 per game in total rebounds, -4.3 in offensive rebounds)
DAL (-3.8 per game in total rebounds, -7.8 in offensive rebounds)
OKC (+2.3 per game in total rebounds, -2.5 in offensive rebounds)
BOS (-4.5 per game in total rebounds, -3.0 in offensive rebounds)

As you can see, the top 6 teams in FG% each get outrebounded on the offensive end. This is to be expected because if you make such a high percentage of your shots, you won't get as many offensive rebounds. Conversely, teams that grab the most offensive rebounds, tend to be near the bottom in FG%. This is to be expected because if you make such a low percentage of your shots, you'll have more opportunities to grab offensive rebounds.

This is where the above statistics become scary for Laker haters. Since we are 7th in the league in FG%, one would expect us to be near the bottom in offensive rebounds. Yet, we are 3rd in offensive rebounding differential and number 2 in offensive rebounding rate. As I mentioned earlier, 8 out of the top 10 teams in offensive rebounding differential are in the bottom half in FG%. So not only do we make a high percentage of our shots, we also grab an abnormally high percentage of our misses. Obviously the Lakers have not played well for most of the season thus far, and that's what makes these numbers even more scary. And to top it all off, we EASILY lead the league in free throw differential (attempts) and are near the top in make-differential as well.

By season's end, we could be top 3 in FG%, FT differential, and offensive rebounding differential. Has that ever been done before?

^^ nice insight. That sure is impressive

We're not going to win every game, and yes we only beat 2 bad teams, but I have to point out that the culture of the team has already changed. Mike Brown brought in a losing culture, he had this team forgetting what it felt like to win, now that he's gone that seems to have been cleansed from them, so great to see. Wins are wins, nice to see us beating teams we're supposed to in blowouts, with Nash still out even.

We got:



...instead of a:

gcclaker wrote:We got:



...instead of a:

And thank heavens for that. But of course, that's not saying much. It's a relief of sorts, but it's still a huge let down when you think we could have gotten Phil or Sloan.

I don't think we were ever linked to Sloan?

My optimism from last night kinda went out the window today.

therealdeal wrote:

I just watched this movie last night with some friends.

Finwë wrote:

therealdeal wrote:Alright, alright you got it. Only pictures.

I think videos should be allowed.. Pics, gifs, short clips.

How long do you have to do this Real?? and if you don't mind, what was the bet

With MDA Nash should be able to do pick and rolls without having to worry about implementing a completely new system.