Their schedule gets really hard over the next month or so. Let's see where they are come January.
Unless the Clippers start winning, it's not going to matter. That would make 5 teams clearly worse than the Lakers, while another 4-5 are just as bad. It was going to require some luck before the Clippers shit show, with the Clippers shit show, it's all but the Kings pick.
Yes but if they let in high school students as rumoured in 2019, the Cs could be okay.
With 64 games left, I'd prefer to get more of a big-picture sense, rather than focusing on trying to figure out a magic number this early on. That said, I think it's a long shot for the Lakers' pick to convey with the three godawful teams I mentioned, plus four other really bad teams. Even if they were to stink their way into the 5th seed, there'd only be a 34% of the pick conveying. It's a good thing Sactown looks to be the worst of the worst and fully invested in the youth movement.
They were actually 10-10 last year before someone told Walton to cut the shit and get with the tanking program. No such luck this time.
It'd be hilarious if Sacramento drafted Porter given the normal recovery time for guys coming back with back surgery, because they'd really suck next year in that scenario.
And then we’ll all have agita until the lottery because of the #1 overall protection. There’s a real chance that the Kings lottery luck next year determines whether the Sixers or the Celtics run the Eastern Conference for the next decade. Glad they flattened the lottery odds just in time.
Not just a while. He's out for the season with microfracture surgery. I was bullish on the Clippers, but between their rough start and the injuries to Beverly, Gallinari and Teodosic I think they are in for a rough season. I could easily see them pivot by trading DeAndre Jordan and bottoming out this season.
I was actually surprised he completed that oop, he didn't really get that high up on his jump.
Why? His good looks, or his loquacious personality?
No, I didn't. All his Dad's talking will mean nothing if the kid doesn't develop into something more than an average basketball player. Let's not pretend LaVar Ball has some kind of long track record of successful hucksterism. He's capitalizing on a player that was a top 5 college prospect and top 5 NBA prospect. Without those credentials coming out of high school and college, he's not a story and nobody's printing money.
I'm curious where the "he's great off ball" stuff is coming from. I just don't see that, and with his terrible shooting, the defense isn't going to have to stick on him in the weak side. I see a kid with tremendous vision and I think his only chance at being good is for the ball to be in his hands as much as possible.
Theory is that he can't shoot in the NBA because the quicker and longer defenders give him no time. If he's off the ball he can, in theory, get more open looks, so his slow release isn't as big an issue.
Of course . People hardly watch whole games anymore. If he is an average player and the Lakers get good, he will get a Jeterian share of the credit.
I get the theory, but in practice in the NBA, super wide open uncontested looks are rare, so a slow release is still a huge deal.
I don't mean don't handle it, but not as primary all the time.
I think the obvious time for this to start happening is in the offseason.
Chauncey Billups advised Lonzo to get with Kevin Martin before doing anything else. For obvious reasons.
Okay..slow release based on what he could do.
It's a draft lottery. People keep acting like we have no shot at 2-5 if they finish outside of 7. Obviously we want better odds, but we're still in the game.
I'll make the bold prediction that Griffin dodged a bullet here. His foot wasn't planted which may have saved him while passing the initial Lachman test on his ACL and actually remained in the game trying to "run it off."
Well, they’ll have no shot at 4 or 5 if the Lakers finish 7th or worse, right? Only 1-3 are part of the draw, and then it’s by record. So LA would have a minuscule shot at 2 or 3, otherwise they’ll draft based on their position by record (or worse, if someone jumps them into 1-3).
Right. There is a big change in probability associated with the Lakers finishing with the 6th worst record (~15% chance of us getting the pick) versus the 5th worst (~46% chance). If the season ended now (with the Lakers 9th worst), we'd have a 4.4% chance of getting the pick.
For Sacramento, we don't want them to be bad this year. The worst scenario is that they land Doncic, who is NBA ready and might be able to help them win games in a year. Any of the other top 5 picks are much less likely to be a factor in year 1. I suppose Doncic still isn't a lock to go 1, but Sacramento slipping out of the top 3 is the best thing that can happen for their odds of a top 5 pick in 2019.
