Andrew Kasmarek, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler are getting you ready for the NBA season. The previews feature all sorts of information to get you ready for the start of the season.
What I know…
- Kobe will be back at some point this season. And ESPN, ranked him as the 25th best player overall[1].
- Pau Gasol shaved his beard and got a haircut :/
- They brought back Mike D’Antoni. This is an interesting move on all accounts. He will be under the hot seat from the onset of the season. If they start slow without Kobe, he might not make it out of November.
Additions/subtractions…
They brought in Nick “Swaggy P” Young. Now, before I say anything more, if anyone has any info on how the hell he got the nickname “Swaggy P” from Nick Young please contact me. Do not get me wrong, I am all for nicknames, and Swaggy P sounds like a cool 1930’s Jazz musician, but what does “P” mean!?! It is all I have wanted to know for years. Nickname aside, we know he can score, we just do not know when. He is a nightly question mark, but with Kobe’s absence right away, and D’Antoni’s defenseless strategy, Swaggy should stay on the floor and shoot a lot.
They brought in Chris Kaman, whom should fit in a bit more tidy than Dwight Howard. He will play defense, rebound, listen to Kobe, will not make any faces, and will still look ugly. I like this move barring health concerns as Kaman has missed a multitude of games.
They drafted Ryan Kelly from Duke. Kelly already had the best game of his life, and I am not going to sit here and say he is going be the next Ryan Anderson, even though they are both named Ryan and it is a nice comparison (Caucasian, tall, shooters, beards, Caucasian, etc.…).
They lost Ron Artest or Metta WorldPeace whichever one you are into these days. I do not know if it matters a whole lot given that Ron is clearly on the last leg of his career, but he is still Ron. Also there is word he wrote a book on the “Malice at the Palace”. This will be a must read. If you don’t read it, I will then I will tell you all about it in a book report.
What I have been pondering…
This is one of those teams… Their roster kinda stinks, they have a lot of no-namers, guys like Robert Sacre (who was dumb enough totattoo Snoop Dogg or lion on him), Jordan Farmer (have not heard from him in a few…), and Shawne Williams. They also have a lot of old players with five players having more than 10 years of experience. Steve Nash is in his 17th season, as is Kobe. And Kobe is obviously coming off his Achilles injury which is just a bummer all around.
There are multiple reasons to see these guys tanking this year. They finished in the bottom third defensively last season (a D’Antoni number) and that was with Kobe yelling and glaring at everyone, while playing so hard that everyone else, except Dwight, at least tried that hard too. I am not expecting to see Kobe until around Christmas, or maybe early December if the month of November goes poorly. And even then, if things are going poorly when Kobe gets back, he might over extend himself again trying to compensate for all the badness he watched in agony from the bench. Basketball players never do well trying to do too much. Kobe is so goddamn competitive that he cannot help it. If his team is bad, he will be position, given his stature on the team, to try and start doing too much. Which would coincidentally take his teammates out of the game and thus the Lakers.
BUT, on the other hand, I am not ever, ever going to count out Kobe. He played one his best seasons ever last year at age 34. It was devastating watching him limp off the court after busting his ass that much to get the Lakers there. You know he thought about that all offseason. His recovery has been quick, he has already claimed that if it was the playoffs starting October 29th and not the regular season he would be playing.
Recently, ESPN wrongfully ranked Kobe at number 25 in the ESPN Top 100. He will obviously take that personally. This is a man going for his sixth title. Michael Jordan, regardless of injury would never have been ranked below 25. Derrick Rose has not played in 17 months and he has yet to appear on the rankings, which is nearing the end of its countdown[2], and realistically would not he be more of a question mark than Kobe? Either way, I am glad it happened because it gives Kobe just one more reason to come back swinging.
Prediction…
I do not know why, but I think these guys gut it out and get in the playoffs. They might start slow, they might fire their coach, but it goes back to saying I cannot count out Kobe. He will get them there. It is a seven or eight seed at the best and they will probably get run off the court by the Spurs, Thunder or Clippers[3]but they will be there nonetheless.
It’s going to be an interesting year in LA-LA land. I am just pumped to see what Mamba is going to tweet about.
~Andrew
[1]This will serve as great motivation for Mr. Bean Bryant. Also, ESPN got crucified for this ranking, I have a piece coming about this later.
[2]For the record, by seasons end, no one will be questioning Derrick Rose being ranked that high.
[3] If they were to square off with the Clippers I think that would be a series for the ages in terms of watching a player (Kobe) play for the pride of four decades worth of Laker greats. The guys who would never ever want to see the Lakers lose to the Clippers in the playoffs regardless of who is seeded higher. I do not know for sure, but I have to imagine this is shit Kobe thinks about.
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