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

I'll take an L, everyone needs to realize that playing good team ball doesn't just happen. We've got work to do.

-Way too many TOs, that will improve as time passes and they figure the system out.
-GREAT first game for Howard, 19 & 12 with 5 blocks in his first outing since APRIL. BEAST.
-I really like the way Kobe's been picking his spots and not taking ill-advised shots.
-MWP played solid D as always and hit some 3s.
-We won't be playing all-bench lineups in the regular season, no way, so the bench should look better.
-We're still missing Hill who is going to back for the opener.
-I trust that Nash will figure the offense out and when it comes down to actual important games he won't hesitate to run more P&R if that's what's going to help us win.
-Our starters were all positive in the +/- column.
-Howard is a game changer fouls-wise. We got in the bonus early on every quarter.
-We shot well from 3, even after a couple of heaves at the end
--We shot the ball well from the field %-wise -> it's just that due to turnovers, which I don't doubt will be cut down as the season progresses, we took far less shots than them (19). At 49% shooting from the field, that's a huge difference.

1. Dwight looked fantastic physically. He started a little slowly, but once he felt his rhythm he looked very solid.

2. We caught glimpses of what this team should be like towards the end of the first half. They looked fantastic, electric, and every other positive thing you could ask for in that time frame. Obviously there's a lot to smooth out and they're going to have to get used to playing together, but today was a good start.

3. Nash didn't injure his ankle too much from that freak play.

4. Pau showed some aggression at times for the first time this pre-season.

I really wish someone would take out Aaron Brooks. That little (bleep) plays likes Magic (bleep) Johnson against us every damn time and I am sick of it. Take him the (bleep) OUT!!!!

OX1947 wrote:I really wish someone would take out Aaron Brooks. That little (bleep) plays likes Magic (bleep) Johnson against us every damn time and I am sick of it. Take him the (bleep) OUT!!!!

how in the holy hells does that fit into the optimism thread...

Well, the Heat the first year with their super-friends, they started off 9 and 8.

Going back, when the Mavs won the championship, they had an early stretch where they lost 10 out of 13 games.

And before that, when the Heat won in '06, they started off 10 and 10.

So, anything's possible.

Mike Trudell ‏@LakersReporter
Big diff. tonight from reg. season: Howard or Gasol will stay in to anchor 2nd unit (Sacre to bench). That'll help subs considerably.

Howard/Gasol - Hill - Ebanks - Meeks - Blake/Duhon would be much better. Jamison could play some 3 and some 4. Sacre is the odd man out.

This team is going to be fantastic once they build more chemistry. Dwight looked great. Kobe is going to have a fantastic year. Pau, by preseason standards, had a very good game. Metta looked good. Nash is Nash. I'm excited.

As far as the bench goes, I'm holding out hope that it can at least be decent. All 5 bench players will not play together at the same time together during the season or postseason for that matter. Once that rotations shortens up, and there is a starter in there with the bench, it should be improved.

That Nash ankle roll was incredibly scary. Thank God he's OK.

OX1947 wrote:I really wish someone would take out Aaron Brooks. That little (bleep) plays likes Magic (bleep) Johnson against us every damn time and I am sick of it. Take him the (bleep) OUT!!!!

Take him out? Hope you're joking.

Yeah, this team just needs more time to build chemistry. Two new starters, and 4 new bench players--that's gonna take a lot of time to work out.

By then, we should really cut down our TOs. Still a little concerned about transition defense, but hopefully that will be addressed when the season starts.

Brown (or Jordan) is doing the right thing to try and get in as much Princeton as possible in the pre-season so that guys can start to be more comfortable with it. I think it was "fksteveblake" who mentioned something similar, but we have guys that you can wake up from a deep sleep and they'd still run the pick and roll to perfection. The smart thing to do is to use this time to build familiarity with the new offense. It's a really, really good offense for this team IMO, but ofcourse it wont be pretty until the guys get it down.

Outside of needing time to get used to playing with each other, the main players are looking good. Remember that this team has been totally overhauled, only MWP, Pau and Kobe remain from the championship team two years ago. It'll take time.

The bench wont be a strength, but if they can play decent enough defense and guys stay in their lane on offense, it should be good enough. The "all-bench" line up probably wont see much significant time.

^ Now that's some excellent use of the Optimistic Thread.

Time is what they need.....

The defense is going to be a work in progress it appears. Lot's of motion at times but little connecting with the offensive players.... especially when the ball goes up. It will get better.

Bench........ nothing optimistic to add here.

Offense showed some glimpses and had some stagnant periods. Kobe and Nash will have to work out who is initiating the offense because when they are standing 3 feet from each other it isn't going to work that well....

If what we were seeing was the Princeton offense it needs some time to gel and get 4 guys that are used to constant touches to move without the ball. That's going to be the devil in the details with this group I'm afraid.... Again, I think they will work it out eventually but as I noted in the Game day thread it will take 20 games or so.

Thing is with the Princeton Offense you need real good passers and high B-Ball IQ ... both D12 and Metta are poor passers and Metta IQ is questionable at best ... there were times tonight when he handled the ball too much and tried to make a play = disaster ...

The Steve Nash offense and Pau facilitating will be way more efficient

Alcindor wrote:

OX1947 wrote:I really wish someone would take out Aaron Brooks. That little (bleep) plays likes Magic (bleep) Johnson against us every damn time and I am sick of it. Take him the (bleep) OUT!!!!

Take him out? Hope you're joking.

Dude, your avatar, I would have thought you would get it, if anyone.

OX1947 wrote:

Alcindor wrote:

OX1947 wrote:I really wish someone would take out Aaron Brooks. That little (bleep) plays likes Magic (bleep) Johnson against us every damn time and I am sick of it. Take him the (bleep) OUT!!!!

Take him out? Hope you're joking.

Dude, your avatar, I would have thought you would get it, if anyone.

big difference between a hard foul and taking someone out

Bench was outscored 39, so that means that our starters outscored theirs by 32. That's something right? How many minutes did their starters play on average?

^ None of their starters played over 30 minutes.

But I think that's a testament to how badly our bench played honestly. They were outplayed so badly that Sacramento's bench won the game.

Our bench looked a bit better when Duhon was in - that was a positive that I took away from the game. I think Jamison will settle in more once the team itself starts settling in. Meeks at least hit some shots. But the second half of the game with Blake in there was rough. Blake has been the biggest disappointment for me this preseason. I thought he would at least look better than last year, but he's actually looked much worse. We need to cut bait with him I think.

Turnovers caused the game. They lost the game because of the turnovers. It was the first game the starting 5 played together in a real (a per-season game not really real) game.

They will be fine.

Something that kind of has me disheartened is that this thread, with this season, and these players is only 4 pages long.

And the WMC thread is at 15 already.

They were made on the same day.

Damn. I suppose it's a testament to human nature and to the fundamental attitude of most Laker fans, but that's disappointing. You'd think with a team that looks as good as ours and as exciting as they do, we'd see more optimism.

Thanks to those who are contributing. At least we see some things that are bright for this team.

it's kinda like online product reviews. one probably feels more inclined to go through the process of filling out feedback when something is wrong, rather than when the product arrived and is working as expected.

Oh I'm sure it is. It's human nature to want the most of something you have high expectations for and it's human nature to easily find the bad before the good if you expect the good.

I'm just hoping this thread starts catching fire more as time goes on because there's a LOT to be happy about right now as Laker fans.

Things to be optimistic about:

-We saw glimpses of what this team will be like consistently once they start clicking
-Dwight had a great first game
-Kobe has been picking his shots which should make him more efficient this season
-Pau was more aggressive with Dwight on the floor
-Meeks is a deadly shooter when open and is an underrated defender
-Ron Artest continues to play really well, whether it's on defense or offense
-Dwight's defensive presence was noticeable early on