Last season we won 45 games. This coming season we have a better team and more experiance with the triangle. This means that we're expected to win five more games next season. This would take us to fifty wins and the 4th spot in the West. We could be a major force if we stay injury free. However, did we over achieve last season and did some of those extra wins come because of Kobe's heroics? I'm hoping they didn't because that would mean he's going to have to have another MVP calibure season for us to achieve 50+ wins. Can we do it? What are your predictions win/loss wise for the coming season?
I'd say 52 - we can get it, we just need for everyone to continue their improvement from last year. Plus, consistency is huge, Lamar has to bring it every game... Its also important on how we start the season. We have more home games now than later so we have to capitalize.
I'm going to say 42-47 because even though I think they've improved, so has many of the teams in the west and they are playing in a very competitive division.
A lot of what we did last year was soley because of Kobe in my opinion. He carried this team, and if it wasn't for an MVP calibur season, I don't think we'd have even sniffed the playoffs. However, as the season progressed, we did grow a lot as a team and Kobe began to trust his teammates a lot more, which was very, very helpful to us. I think we'll continue that natrual progression as a team this year, much like we did in the playoffs, and build off what we did last season. I think somewhere between 50-54 wins will be within reach, and depending on how good Phoenix and Sacramento are (or how much they stumble), we could make a run for the Pacific Division title.
Phil Jackson was quoted last season for saying: "I've cost us alot of games". Despite one of the best performances in the history of basketball, Our main man Kobe Bryant had a succesfful surgery to treat his a sore knee. And now that Odom has grasped the triangle offense, I expect the Lakers to be very well balanced team. Especially with the addition of shooting specialist Vladimir Radmanovic. I'll say 52+ games and WCF.
I can see us winning anywhere from 52 - 56 games. Sure the teams in the west have gotten better, but haven't we?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheBlackMamba:</div><div class="quote_post">I can see us winning anywhere from 52 - 56 games. Sure the teams in the west have gotten better, but haven't we?</div> Exactly. Not to mention we lost a lot of very winnable games last season. For an example, we lost every game to the lowly Portland Trailblazers (if I remember correctly), Smush's "choke dunk", and Odom's boneheaded charge in the last seconds against Sacto. Not to mention we lost games against teams like Cleveland, when it was clear we would have won, had the refs not been biased. Had we had a more experienced team, we could have easily won 50 games last season
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheBlackMamba:</div><div class="quote_post">I can see us winning anywhere from 52 - 56 games. Sure the teams in the west have gotten better, but haven't we?</div> ditto. Good post Mamba.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Brian:</div><div class="quote_post">Exactly. Not to mention we lost a lot of very winnable games last season. For an example, we lost every game to the lowly Portland Trailblazers (if I remember correctly), Smush's "choke dunk", and Odom's boneheaded charge in the last seconds against Sacto. Not to mention we lost games against teams like Cleveland, when it was clear we would have won, had the refs not been biased. Had we had a more experienced team, we could have easily won 50 games last season</div> I agree, we will definitely win those close games next season!! Plus, didn't we lead the NBA with the most games decided by 4 or less?? We were learn how to close out teams better, so that our starters can rest at the end of the 4th quarter. That rarely happen last season, b/c we always let teams back into the game. But I think we will have more experience, so I'm going with 50+ wins!!!!!!!!!
each move up in wins gets harder and harder. going from 10 wins to 20 wins is much easier than going from 20 to 30, which is much easier than 30-40, and so on. with that being said, i still think the lakers have improved the team and addressed specific need areas (ie outside shooter, deeper bench) and the big men have improved their games significantly enough to warrant anywhere from 50-55 wins. for the hell of it, i'm going to say 52 wins.
Good points in this thread about the upcoming season. Just to add to some of the input, here's a few factors to keep an eye on. Last season, our team was very fortunate with injuries. Neither Kobe or Odom suffered through injuries and the only major injury this team had to deal with was Mihm. Ironically, his injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it forced Kwame to play center and he thrived at it. Kobe will be coming off knee injury and Odom's shoulder still isn't 100% and he'll be playing a more physically demanding position this season. This increases the odds of either player being injured. On the positive side, a lot of the players will be entering their third season under the Triangle offense. Typically it takes three seasons for a team to embrace and move around the offense with instinct versus thinking about where to be. Something I'm encouraged with about this offseason is the anger this team has carried over, after blowing the 3-1 series lead against the Suns. Every player who's been interviewed in the offseason has referrenced that particular series and no one's been able to forget about the collapse. For the upcoming season the team sounds hungry and out for revenge. It's important for a team to have a common theme and sticking with it throughout the course of the regular season. My prediction is a 54 win season.
20 wins lol j/k i say about 50 wins, you have a dencet player at every position Smush- he can handle his own, ive seen him collapse during the final minutes but also come up. Kobe-do i really have to say anything lol Odom-Great player can play every position, a great passer, triple double threat every game just needs to be consistant Vlad-good outside shooter, just needs to be consistant Kwame-showed a lot of promise during the suns series, hopefully for laker fans he will bring that over and be consistant. really only problem with that team is consistancy
i am curious on to where the three year learning curve for the triangle offense is coming from? didnt all three of Pjax's championship teams win in their first or second season with him as coach?
It's not necessarily a three year learning curve on the Tri Offense. It's probably around a year, maybe less depending on how quickly you grasp it. However, the three years is more of doing it on instinct as opposed to having to think about where you have to go on the floor. That way, the movement is much more fluid because the players don't have to think it through, they just do it based on instinct because of how accustomed they'd grown to moving within the system. That's really where the three years come in to play.
Like Moo said, the 3 year learning process is actually more of a time frame where a player does it instinctly, every single play. If you look at Odom, he's inconsistent with it, but once he started playing his part in the triangle more often, he becamse more consistent. As to why I think we're going to win more games this year. Last year, I believe we lead the league in games lost by 5 points or less or something like that. I chalk that up to inexperience outside of Kobe and Lamar. Inexperience as a team, inexperience in the clutch. This year, we have players who know what it's like to be in the playoffs now. They've gotten the taste of being on the verge of the second round, and I think the Lakers are going to keep that all season long. Kobe Bryant now knows he can count on Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown, and Vladimir Radmanovic chipping in to help, so when it comes down to crunch time, Kobe can have more energy. I think we'll see a reversal of losing those close games. I think we'll win most of them.
