That cold stretch in December/January hurt us too. Still, we won some games that we deemed impossible, so I think we are what we were meant to be. Eye test says we are better than 9-5 in March but we also got lucky sometimes. Just end the year on a high note, win all 6 if possible. We have that in us.
blorp4
Honestly the biggest things have been DLo heating back up after his cold spell and actually playing Rui after giving him the bag just to bench him early this year. I think if we can get even just Vando/Gabe back to form for the playoffs to where they can play some matchup/situational minutes we have a solid chance at making a run. If only we could have seen what a healthy Gabe could do against Fox with this supporting cast.
Expensive_Bass_6979
Shit literally made zero sense to anyone with a brain. Sure Rui got hit with injuries early on in the season but Ham just also refused to give him mins and didn’t put him in a situation where he could succeed
Kenneth2000D
Yeah, it’s amazing what happens when the coach actually knows what they’re doing!
myelrecsy
What’s crazy for me is that the Lakers are 10 games above .500 and yet they’re at 9th in the West.
itsnotreallyme0
Ham should really give prince 36mpg so he can become Middleton. Just an idea I have and hopefully someone agrees with me
elpsy0dey
I never understand why Rui got DNP’d in the final quarter.
Dude has the size and pretty good under pressure, with spacing capabilities to draw people out for Bron and AD.
Like Ham needs to get his shit straight. Rondo just retired so you better be on your toes.
brscxs
Any NBA coach should know this and take it onboard
gratitudeisbs
We’d be first in the west if we had a good coach and were healthy the whole season
StevenAlive7
I just don’t understand how all off season it was about let’s run this team back and the first thing Christmas ham does? Bench one of the best players from last year for a dude nobody has ever heard of that’s supposed to become the next Middleton? And why Middleton? I’ve never rated that dude. How do you see what our team was last year and think, you know what this team needs? A Middleton-lite player and it’s going to be at the expense of Rui. Dumbest fucking decision that was ever conceived.
The other thing I can’t stand is how many 3-4 guard line ups we play when we could just be a big team the entire game and wear ppl out with our inside energy. It’s wild what Pockets seems to think is the right thing to do. I’m honestly dreading the playoffs.
KingNephew
It’s actually impressive just how horrific of decision starting Reddish/Prince and giving them 30-40mpg was.
lakerconvert
Us winning is literally directly correlated with Rui’s minutes. Damn
foozbinjex
Downvote me if u want, but Rui wasn’t playing this way to start the season even when he was given minutes. I forgot which game it was but Ham told Rui that he needs him to be hyper aggressive and everything has changed since then (ironically the same thing that DLO was reinforced in order to get out of his slump).
Schematically, Rui has been integrated much better into the offense and has cleaned up a lot of his bad habits from the beginning of the season. For example, Rui has evolved throughout the season into a MUCH better finisher around the rim now. He used to show the ball and get cucked at the rim a ton, now he flushes it down almost immediately after going up strong. He’s much more decisive on the offensive end, and is WAY better at identifying when to cut, shoot, attack close outs, or pull up for a middy. Even his passing/kick outs has improved. Hopping into both feet set on his 3pt shot has also seemed to become more consistent. Defensively he’s much better at contesting and rotating properly, and it seems he’s finally elevating his rebounding at his position.
Yes, the minutes and rotations were apparently dog shit to begin the season, but at the same time, Rui (as well as DLO and others like Hayes) have been developed throughout the season. To say that the early season results would have magically been corrected if the rotations were different is purely theoretical because it overlooks the individual improvement the players made to elevate their game in order to be more deserving of their role within the rotations. Everyone, including the coaching staff, elevated their game in order to get where we are at. That’s building continuity. You don’t get better as a team just rinsing and repeating last season’s flash in the pan, especially when it didn’t even result in a championship. It can be argued that its not the minutes distribution that corrected the team success, but rather the individual players that elevated their play in order to be deserving of more minutes – all of which is partially due to needing to overcome the early season struggles.
Equivalent_Lab96
Taurean playing well with limited minutes since February. It’s crazy because he’ll give you the same production if you give him more minutes.
Big-Addition-4828
“Pockets” is crazy 😂
BaullahBaullah87
And this should be no knock on Prince…when he plays around 20 mins and slots in right, he is much more effective too
WCJ0114
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe at some point this season, pockets had dlo, Reaves, and rui all coming off the bench…
17 Comments
That cold stretch in December/January hurt us too. Still, we won some games that we deemed impossible, so I think we are what we were meant to be. Eye test says we are better than 9-5 in March but we also got lucky sometimes. Just end the year on a high note, win all 6 if possible. We have that in us.
Honestly the biggest things have been DLo heating back up after his cold spell and actually playing Rui after giving him the bag just to bench him early this year. I think if we can get even just Vando/Gabe back to form for the playoffs to where they can play some matchup/situational minutes we have a solid chance at making a run. If only we could have seen what a healthy Gabe could do against Fox with this supporting cast.
Shit literally made zero sense to anyone with a brain. Sure Rui got hit with injuries early on in the season but Ham just also refused to give him mins and didn’t put him in a situation where he could succeed
Yeah, it’s amazing what happens when the coach actually knows what they’re doing!
What’s crazy for me is that the Lakers are 10 games above .500 and yet they’re at 9th in the West.
Ham should really give prince 36mpg so he can become Middleton. Just an idea I have and hopefully someone agrees with me
I never understand why Rui got DNP’d in the final quarter.
Dude has the size and pretty good under pressure, with spacing capabilities to draw people out for Bron and AD.
Like Ham needs to get his shit straight. Rondo just retired so you better be on your toes.
Any NBA coach should know this and take it onboard
We’d be first in the west if we had a good coach and were healthy the whole season
I just don’t understand how all off season it was about let’s run this team back and the first thing Christmas ham does? Bench one of the best players from last year for a dude nobody has ever heard of that’s supposed to become the next Middleton? And why Middleton? I’ve never rated that dude. How do you see what our team was last year and think, you know what this team needs? A Middleton-lite player and it’s going to be at the expense of Rui. Dumbest fucking decision that was ever conceived.
The other thing I can’t stand is how many 3-4 guard line ups we play when we could just be a big team the entire game and wear ppl out with our inside energy. It’s wild what Pockets seems to think is the right thing to do. I’m honestly dreading the playoffs.
It’s actually impressive just how horrific of decision starting Reddish/Prince and giving them 30-40mpg was.
Us winning is literally directly correlated with Rui’s minutes. Damn
Downvote me if u want, but Rui wasn’t playing this way to start the season even when he was given minutes. I forgot which game it was but Ham told Rui that he needs him to be hyper aggressive and everything has changed since then (ironically the same thing that DLO was reinforced in order to get out of his slump).
Schematically, Rui has been integrated much better into the offense and has cleaned up a lot of his bad habits from the beginning of the season. For example, Rui has evolved throughout the season into a MUCH better finisher around the rim now. He used to show the ball and get cucked at the rim a ton, now he flushes it down almost immediately after going up strong. He’s much more decisive on the offensive end, and is WAY better at identifying when to cut, shoot, attack close outs, or pull up for a middy. Even his passing/kick outs has improved. Hopping into both feet set on his 3pt shot has also seemed to become more consistent. Defensively he’s much better at contesting and rotating properly, and it seems he’s finally elevating his rebounding at his position.
Yes, the minutes and rotations were apparently dog shit to begin the season, but at the same time, Rui (as well as DLO and others like Hayes) have been developed throughout the season. To say that the early season results would have magically been corrected if the rotations were different is purely theoretical because it overlooks the individual improvement the players made to elevate their game in order to be more deserving of their role within the rotations. Everyone, including the coaching staff, elevated their game in order to get where we are at. That’s building continuity. You don’t get better as a team just rinsing and repeating last season’s flash in the pan, especially when it didn’t even result in a championship. It can be argued that its not the minutes distribution that corrected the team success, but rather the individual players that elevated their play in order to be deserving of more minutes – all of which is partially due to needing to overcome the early season struggles.
Taurean playing well with limited minutes since February. It’s crazy because he’ll give you the same production if you give him more minutes.
“Pockets” is crazy 😂
And this should be no knock on Prince…when he plays around 20 mins and slots in right, he is much more effective too
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe at some point this season, pockets had dlo, Reaves, and rui all coming off the bench…