Alright Lakers fans, welcome in to the first post since implementing the changes in my blog, well for those who are still up since it's 11:00 pm in Pacific time. I will be talking about my thoughts about the upcoming Lakers 2013-14 regular season campaign.
Honestly, I didn't find any time to watch any highlights in the ongoing preseason action, although I did promised I was gonna watch before this preview, so this one's on me. But as the old saying goes, the show must go on.
So there's a lot of stories to talk about as the Lakers head into this season. Obviously Dwightmare II: Escape From LA. The whole Dwight Howard fiasco during this off season just basically left the Lakers' front office personnel in shambles. They even put up a sign for Dwight to stay in front of the Staples' Center, in my opinion the most stupid idea and ruins the credibility of a historical franchise such as the Lakers like they were running for a campaign and what happened? Dwight signed with the Rockets.
Since Dwight's departure, Mitch Kupchak had to work with what he had because of the high luxury tax and low salary cap room. Signings like Chris Kaman, Xavier Henry, Wesley Johnson, Jordan Farmar, and Nick Young don't spell a championship team. Probably, the signing of Nick Young and the comeback of Farmar were our decent signings. I've read a lot that Farmar improved his lock down perimeter defense while playing overseas and personally I thought we shouldn't have let him go in the 2010 offseason because he speeds up the tempo of our offense. Signing the hometown kid, Nick Young, in my opinion was my favorite signing of this season because he's athletic, young, he can score and drive to the basket and when he's on, he's on, his only problem is consistency to perform at a day to day basis. Other than that, most of the other players we signed were leftovers from a dinner plate. Since I'm a Raider fan, Kupchak did his best impression of Reggie McKenzie signing serviceable free agents with whatever cap space he had.
The biggest questions for the Lakers heading into this season are these: Will they recover from the disastrous Dwight Howard experiment? Can Kobe Bryant still play at a high level despite suffering a career threatening achilles injury? Is Steve Nash still an elite point guard even though he's almost 40? Will Pau Gasol ever rekindle his 2009-2010 form again after 3 disappointing seasons? And the biggest question is this: is Mike D'Antoni the long term answer as the Lakers' head coach now heading into his first full season? The first question has been answered because apparently every Laker that was on the 2012-13 roster moved on and from I heard, the team bonding has improved, both on and off the court without Howard.
Looking at the schedule, the Lakers are gonna their hands full early: Clippers, Golden State, San Antonio, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Denver, Memphis, Detroit, and Golden State again. Tough sled early on, consider what kind of roster the Lakers have and with Kobe out for a long indefinite period of time. Brutal start for the season, unless they can get in sync with D Antoni's system and one of our guys step up. If Kobe's in the lineup, at least there's a fighting chance to snatch a few wins, if not we may win at least one or two of those games considering we still have Nash and Gasol as part of the main corp, but it's still a brutal mountain to climb.
Overall, I have no expectations with this team, although we are not worst roster in the NBA. Next season we have all the salary cap in the world, but realistically what alternative do we have if we flop in the LeBron/Melo sweepstakes? This franchise is not screwed yet. I think this season, the Lakers will still sneak into a playoff spot as long as they compete their hearts out. It's a dark time for us Laker fans, more darker than 2004-2007. No matter, the Lakers will find ways to come back and compete for a championship sooner or later because this franchise is too defiant. Every season is a championship or bust season, this season is just a wait and see. Until then, GO LAKERS!
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