LA Lakers

[rooster69ph]

wins may not come in aplenty this season but am truly excited to see the young core play and develop ...

 

maybe in a year or two this team could be playoff bound again.

[tonytony098]

Hopefully si ingram magpakitang gilas

[The Cunning Linguist]

Sana nga biglang magpakitang gilas si Ingram. Nun summer league kasi di siya masyado nag shine, e mga undrafted players lang naman karamihan ng kalaban nila dun.

[Katniss Everdeen]

missing kobe brayant

[Guiness]

Metta World Peace Re-Signs with LA Lakers: Latest Contract Details, Reaction

 

By Tyler Conway , Featured Columnist

Sep 21, 2016

 

Not even a coaching change can stop the bond between the Los Angeles Lakers and Metta World Peace. The Lakers agreed to terms with the veteran forward Wednesday, where he'll likely serve in a mentorship role for the young players on the roster.

Shams Charania of The Vertical reported the news, with Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News noting it's a training camp deal. The Lakers signed World Peace to a similar contract last season before he made the roster.

 

World Peace, 36, will be spending his sixth season of his last seven with the Lakers. He averaged 5.0 points and 2.5 rebounds during a 35-game stint with the team in 2015-16.

 

"I can still play. I can play, it’s not even a question man," World Peace said in August, per Ian Begley of ESPN.com. "But, you know, sometimes you don’t get in the game, man. What are you going to do? I’m not going to be upset, I’m going to support. So if I don’t play, like this year on the Lakers I could have averaged 15 or 20 on the Lakers if I played, easily."

Of note: World Peace has averaged 20 points per game over a full season once in his career. He hasn't averaged 15 points since the 2008-09 season with the Houston Rockets—the year before his first stint with the Lakers.

That has created a perception that World Peace is past his prime, which he admitted is frustrating:

The only thing that gets me frustrated with the whole basketball is people think I can’t play anymore. So as a man, I take that personally. But at the same time I’m able to still focus on making sure

Julius Randle

is doing his thing, and he’s focused, making sure I can give back. But when the season’s over, then I like to explain that I can play, and I can bust people’s ass. But the fans have to understand, it’s not up to me. It’s so frustrating to keep hearing it from the fans. "Come back to

New York

, come to

Chicago

. Why didn’t you play." It’s so frustrating at times.

Truth be told, World Peace is past his prime and has been for some time. The numbers and eye test both bear that out. One of the best individual defenders of his generation, World Peace has been slowed by nagging injuries and the natural aging of a man turning 37 in November. He's not capable of handling quicker small forwards and is best served banging around with small-ball 4s.

Once a solid scorer who could create a shot for himself and teammates, World Peace had nearly two-thirds of his field goals come via an assist last season, per NBA.com.

 

The Lakers likely view him as a late career mentor who can guide the team's young talent. He's reached the lowest of lows on and off the floor during his NBA career, admitting to drinking during games and was the main participant in the Malice at the Palace.

"I didn’t think he would be that nice of a guy," guard D'Angelo Russell said in January, per Janis Carr of the Orange County Register. "But he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met."

 

World Peace as a vital mentor might have seemed like a crazy idea just a few years ago. But now it appears the Lakers like having him around enough to overlook his declining skills on the floor.

Edited September 22, 2016 by hahnz

[crawler76]

Lakers for the win....

[The Cunning Linguist]

Just watched the Lakers vs Nuggets earlier...man are they a fun team to watch! They may not win a lot this coming season but they are surely going to be entertaining.

[calvinzero]

The Lakers could suffer the same feat like the Celtics in 1990's.

 

Celtics waited for 22 years before they grabbed the 17th title, the winningest among all teams.

[startoffbeat]

The Lakers could suffer the same feat like the Celtics in 1990's.

 

Celtics waited for 22 years before they grabbed the 17th title, the winningest among all teams.

 

 

It's a cycle. Phil Jackson did note that the Celtics-Lakers rivalry skips decades. Makes sense since neither team made an impact in the 90's after what they did in the 80's. We are lucky to have witnessed it again a few years ago. It is also worth remembering that the Lakers only waited 12 years for them to win a three-peat and another half a decade to win back-to-back. While the C's waited 22 years for a single trophy.

[calvinzero]

I just want to have at least playoff appearance for them.

 

They are consistent before in terms of playoff games.

 

But realistically, a big NO.

 

Reason: Western Conference POWERHOUSE teams like Spurs, Clippers and Warriors.

[startoffbeat]

A playoff berth would be miraculous with the line up that they have right now but I would not bet against it. I actually find it nice to have other teams win championships. Variety is good. I am too old to be an exclusive fan of just one team.

Edited October 10, 2016 by startoffbeat

[startoffbeat]

In spite of waiting for 22 years for an NBA title, Boston is still the NBA franchise with the most NBA championships.

 

And no one in here is disputing that.

[Guiness]

D'Angelo Russell got ignored again, so he high fived himself

by Tim Cato @tim_cato

 

Oct 10, 2016, 9:10a

 

There’s two types of people in this world — those who have tried a high five that awkwardly wasn’t reciprocated, and dirty liars. But D’Angelo Russell might even be a third type, who embraces his high fives that don’t go as planned even more than the successful ones.

See here.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35bNL-WCYKk

 

That’s a textbook, Grade A recover right there. You’ve gotta be aware of your surroundings to really make this work, and within a split second, Russell realized the only way to save embarrassment would be to high five his own self.

 

Doing it once and have a consistent body of work are two very different things, but here we see Russell continue to impress — a handshake, in this case, but still a form of hand-on-hand greeting that can go terribly awry.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-mVQ6b2wHk

 

It’s an honor to watch such a true master of his craft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel bad for him, his own teammates are tuning him out. Maybe they should have traded him or Nick Young. I hope this doesn't shake his confidence moving forward.

[startoffbeat]

just saying

 

It's all good.

[Eddy Syet]

The Lakers be running again.