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

well one thing's for sure, the offensive system will be easier for players to understand and pick up...so learning curve shouldn't be bad at all. esp when nash returns to take the helm.

were gonna score a billion points per game and nash is gonna get me a ton of assists on my fantasy team. those are about the only positive things i can say for now.

OK, this is the optimistic thread, so I will tell you why I feel optimistic about Mike D'Antoni as the Lakers head coach.

Our bench will get more shots and more playing time. One of the primary considerations for adding a new head coach had to be the development of our bench. Our starters are experienced veterans with high IQs who can adapt to any system. For all the talk of the Princeton offense, the lack of production from our bench (Mike never really used the bench players, much like Phil) was the primary reason for the team's poor record and inconsistent scoring under Mike Brown, even including last season...which was Pre-Princeton.

The coach who can get more playing time, more shots and more confidence and comfort for our bench going forward is the coach who, IMHO, will give the Lakers the best chance to win a championship. Phil's Lakers lost their bid for a three peat due to an inadequately prepared bench. Depth is huge these days, and a winning team must give playing time to their bench during the regular season.

Our team will still be a great defensive team, in time. Our team has many players who know how to play defense. We have veteran all-star talent leading the team by example in practice and in games. If Mike D'Antoni simply stays out of their way, and let's them play defense for themselves, he should not have to worry about fielding questions regarding the team's lack of defense.

Phil Jackson was my primary choice, but Mike D'Antoni still excites me, and I truly believe (as I did before he became the Lakers coach) that he has what it takes to be a champion as a head coach. Honestly, I think he is a better coach than Erik Spoelstra, and the Heat just won. Stay Calm, Lakers fans, the last few games gave us an adequate preview of exactly why a more up-tempo, open offensive philosophy is better for our PG, better for our bench, and ultimately probably better for re-signing Dwight Howard.

Will it prove to be better for winning the championship? For that, we will have to wait and see. For now, I am choosing to be optimistic...

I can watch Kobe score 30 every game

Battle Tested20 wrote:

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

Going off memory... I think he has to do it a month(?) And it was because Brown got fired before his discussion topic hit x number of pages... Maybe it was 175 pages? 200?

GoldHammish wrote:

Battle Tested20 wrote:

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

Going off memory... I think he has to do it a month(?) And it was because Brown got fired before his discussion topic hit x number of pages... Maybe it was 175 pages? 200?

150

Showtime is back ba....

What? Oh, Nash is out for 2 weeks...okay thx.

In two weeks, Showtime is back ba....

WHAT!? Oh, average age of the team is 38 + 32 + 34 +....well "old as ish"...oh..thx.

In two weeks, a slower version of Showtime is back ba...

Seriously...what is it this time...uh-huh, Kobe just reinjured his foot...

F it! Just win.....baby!

Well, Pringles is better than Brown, and I really thought we had a shot to overcome Brown's nonsense and atleast win the West once we started to gel (yes, with the Princeton).

I still think we can win the West once we get rolling. Im going to give us a while to see what offense MDA puts together for this squad, and what potential trades or signings we go through with. He already said it wont be anything as uptempo as we've seen from him in the past (and honestly I didnt think he was that dumb anyways), so it'll be interesting to see what he comes up with. Defensively we'll get better as Dwight gets better.

Showtime!!...with Darius Morris.

It's more like Slowtime with this roster. A roster change leads to Showtime!

We played a solid game against the Spurs with 2 PGs out (Nash being one of them) and no real coach.

Our D is looking better.

Kobe is THAT GUY.

^On top of that, our 2 bigs didn't even have a good game either. I'm amazed we were even that close with them.

revgen wrote:^On top of that, our 2 bigs didn't even have a good game either. I'm amazed we were even that close with them.

Yeah. We're good, and we're gonna get better. I think Pau needs to go though

At least this game gives me hope that we'll compete for the championship with Nash and MDA running the offense. If we can almost win against SAS without 2 main point guards and with the coach that "stays out of the way" and with Pau doing absolutely nothing... yeah. Not bad at all.

we hung with a legit team without our starting pg, head coach, and a pau gasol shooting 30-something% on the year

a win would have been nice, but i guess that's just being greedy.

We looked 100x better tonight than we ever did under Brown this season...and we did it without our starting and backup lead guards and with an interim head coach. I ain't even mad tho.

karacha wrote:At least this game gives me hope that we'll compete for the championship with Nash and MDA running the offense. If we can almost win against SAS without 2 main point guards and with the coach that "stays out of the way" and with Pau doing absolutely nothing... yeah. Not bad at all.

Yep, alot of room for improvement. Hell, Morris was our starting PG, and him, Ron and Pau accounted for two fifths of our shot total, while connecting at under 20% (this is a huge problem by the way), so Id say it couldve been worse.

If Clown was still coaching we would have lost by 20

I have faith that Europansy won't be on the roster at the end of the year!

Have to keep my hopes up!!

We were in it, it was competitive. We were playing a top NBA team and for a change we weren't down 20 by the 3rd quarter, we looked like we belonged up there with them. Our defense was also a positive, they had 38 points at halftime, our defense definitely looks better.

D12 blitzed the Spurs PNR Miami style

We were able to hang with a Spurs team that was basically at full strength while we had key players missing.

Every game I've seen improvement since "you know who" was axed.

Can't wait till Nash gets back so we can see what this team is really capable of.

Really encouraged by this game even in a loss.

Gimme Nash and a decent coach who has instituted an offensive system and we probably cruise to an easy win tonight.

We lost to the Spurs on a last-second shot while playing pickup ball. The potential is there.

Weezy wrote:We were in it, it was competitive. We were playing a top NBA team and for a change we weren't down 20 by the 3rd quarter, we looked like we belonged up there with them. Our defense was also a positive, they had 38 points at halftime, our defense definitely looks better.

And we were without our PGs. I'm surprised at how well we played. Night and day difference compared to a week ago.

I'm not worried about the Spurs, I want to see the Lakers with Heats and Thunders.