The Lakers Optimist

I guess I could safely be considered the Lakers optimist. I’ve been called delusional, I’ve been laughed at for my overly positive views on my team. I’ll accept it. My outlook is always based on facts. I’m a fan who saw the Lakers beat the Celtics on that famous sky hook by Magic. I rooted for my team when Magic retired and Sedale ran the point. I’ve seen Smush and company struggle and I’m still here screaming for purple and gold.

And I for one am not going to sit here and doom my team before 2014-2015 even has its first tip off!

Let’s take a brief painful glimpse of what went down last year…or rather WHO went down. It was the worst ever.

Like Kobe said, FLUSH IT

But before we flush it, let’s examine what went wrong.

Injuries. Injuries of this magnitude was unexpected and blindsided everyone. The result was d-League players starting and no sense of chemistry because lineups changed every night. No team in the league could have survived this type of bad luck. Foolishly, I’ve heard people say they would not have done any better healthy… That is illogical. Seriously, because we’re didn’t have the luxury of seeing that.

Poor Coaching. Sorry D’antoni! I really was rooting for you, but here’s the issue. Even with all the injuries, the constant was Pau, Hill and Kaman. We saw a successful peek in pre-season of the Gasol-Kaman effect and refused to use it! They were healthy 80% of the season. He stubbornly refused to play to his strengths and could not find a way to utilize two all-star big men within his run and gun offense. This outweighs the glaring fact that his team could NOT play defense, but also made that an even bigger issue. But it’s hard to play defense when you’re playing 40 plus minutes of run and gun shorthanded. Slowing things down would have played in your favor, got your bigs involved and saved energy. His failure to adjust and ridiculously inconsistent rotations, even with injuries was another factor.

No Kobe. Yeah! Just like Miami without LeBron, Thunder without Durant, etc. Do you really think that didn’t play a part in such a dismal season???

So here we are with a brand new season. Adjustments have been made.

D’antoni is gone. Upgrade.

Whoever coaches now will hopefully institute a traditional offense and be more flexible to adjust to their talent.

They tried to strike oil with bringing in a superstar and it didn’t happen, but nice try.

Are we dead? The team that won it all last year didn’t have LeBron or Carmelo. Besides, we have Kobe.

Lakers brought back the gems from last year like Hill, Xavier, Swaggy P, Ryan Kelly and Wesley Johnson. They picked up Julius Randle in the draft as a possible future star big man. They addressed the PG issue with newbie Jordan Clarkson.

They nabbed solid players in Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer. They added a young 6’10 250lb big in Ed Davis.

But we don’t have a superstar so we came up empty right?

That is stupid.

The Lakers even without a coach, but not for long, have established an identity. They’ve created a powerful, tough, paint dwelling front line. They’ve addressed the rebounding issue that killed them all last year. They’ve picked up guys like Lin, Henry, Boozer and Clarkson that love to attack the rim. Opponents will be working hard against this team every night, if healthy.

This is not going to be the pushover jumpshooting team from last year. Even Wesley Johnson I expect to be used the right way. Post him up. Make him attack and make him play defense.

There’s not going to be any tall dudes jacking up threes.

We have an if party going on though. These things can take place if:

Byron Scott, or any coach with skills to rotate and utilize guys correctly, becomes coach.

Kobe is some remnant of Kobe, but realizes he is not the same Kobe. Kobe has to be there and teach, mentor and lead.

We stay HEALTHY. Healthy teams develope lineup consistency, which develops rotation consistency, which leads to chemistry. HUGE.

I’ve grown tired of hearing the beat writers naysay, the haters laugh and the spoiled fans cry and complain.

Look at the facts.

The game hasn’t started yet.

The Lakers are much better than last year already.

Kobe will be back.

You can bet they hear the haters talking.

Remember, a team on paper is different than a team on the court. The year they went to the finals nobody expected much from Kobe, Bynum, Odom and company. Of course Bynum went down and we eventually got Gasol. But nobody expected them to jump out to 26 wins so fast.

Stars are important, but there is a league full of talented and hungry players who deserve to be acknowledged.

Welcome to L.A., Lin and Boozer. You are now a part of the most loved and hated franchise in sports.

Time to prove em wrong.

I have a guarded optimism for my team.

But don’t mind me. I’m just a Lakers optimist.

Let’s get it!!