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Logic.
2014-15 Lakers Season Thread (21-61) KAT
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by CP1708,
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Article on Bleacher Report about Final Standing Predictions
30. New York Knicks: 13-69
Current Record: 11-46
Current Pace: 16-66
FATS Projection: 16-66
FATS Similarity: 1988-89 Charlotte Hornets (98.03 percent match)
Without Carmelo Anthony on the court, the New York Knicks have played like a 16-win team throughout the season, and that's only because it's tough for FATS to project anything worse. Not only are their strongest similarity profiles matching them up with some of the worst teams in NBA history, but they're actually worse in most every important factor.
Frankly, this depleted team will have to get lucky to win even two more games throughout the rest of the season, despite their flashes of quality play against the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Samuel Dalembert were expunged from the rotation—and the roster—earlier this season, and now the Knicks are devoid of Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire's services as well.
It's going to get ugly, but that's inevitable when the starting lineup features Tim Hardaway Jr., Langston Galloway, Jason Smith, Lou Amundson and a washed-up version of Jose Calderon.
Do yourself a favor, Knicks fans. Rather than watching this team attempt to prove it doesn't belong in the D-League for the rest of the season, watch a lot of Duke basketball.
You know why.
29. Philadelphia 76ers: 17-65
Current Record: 13-45
Current Pace: 18-64
FATS Projection: 20-62
FATS Similarity: 1978-79 New Jersey Nets (97.34 percent match)
Without Michael Carter-Williams running the show and with Tony Wroten spending the rest of the season on the bench to heal his partially torn ACL, Tim Frazier was the starting point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers. But now he's been released, and this team is going to war with Isaiah Canaan and Ish Smith.
Yikes.
Philadelphia hasn't pretended that it's interesting in making a late push toward respectability this season, and it won't. Instead, the losses should keep piling up as head coach Brett Brown experiments with players, rotations and systems.
To his credit, he's figuring things out on defense. Since the calendar flipped over to 2015, the Sixers have allowed only 105.5 points per 100 possessions, which would rank just inside the top half of the NBA if it were maintained over the course of the season.
But this team is going backward without Carter-Williams at the helm, even if the last 20 games indicate that it's trending in the right direction. After all, that stretch isn't isolated to what's transpired since the Feb. 19 trade deadline.
28. Los Angeles Lakers: 23-59
Current Record: 16-41
Current Pace: 23-59
FATS Projection: 24-58
FATS Similarity: 1998-99 New Jersey Nets (97.83 percent match)
The Los Angeles Lakers only have two goals for the rest of the 2014-15 campaign.
They need to keep losing games so they can earn the best draft pick possible, though it's not as if the players and coaching staff will ever operate at less than 100 percent. They also need to evaluate their young talents and see if they can unearth any gems.
The good news here is that they're doing both, though Jordan Clarkson's recent performances are making it a bit harder for them to finish at the very bottom of the Western Conference. Since moving into the starting lineup for a Jan. 23 contest against the San Antonio Spurs, he's averaged 13.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 43.2 percent from the field.
But even with an improved Clarkson, the Lakers are entirely overmatched against most teams. With Wayne Ellington, Robert Sacre, Ryan Kelly and Carlos Boozer joining him on the court for the opening tip, they just don't have enough firepower or defensive ability to hang with the opposition unless they're completely overlooked.
It may be easy to get excited about back-to-back-to-back victories during such a down season, but let's not overlook that they came in overtime against the Boston Celtics, by three points over the Utah Jazz and against a Milwaukee Bucks squad still figuring out how to use Michael Carter-Williams.
28. Minnesota Timberwolves: 23-59
Current Record: 13-44
Current Pace: 19-63
FATS Projection: 21-61
FATS Similarity: 2011-12 Cleveland Cavaliers (97.85 percent match)
The Minnesota Timberwolves are not going to be pushovers during the rest of the season.
They're only on pace to win 19 games, but the FATS projection using data from their last 20 outings pushes that number up by another two. Subjectively, I'm tacking on two more victories because they've been even better lately, buoyed by the addition of Kevin Garnett, the returns of the veterans (Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic) and the improvement of Andrew Wiggins.
Sleep on the Wolves at your own peril, NBA elites. They may look like a scheduled victory, but they're going to make you work for that tick in the win column now, especially when compared to how they fared at the beginning of the season.
It's too much to expect a sudden coalescing of the talent resulting in a lengthy stretch of unbeaten play, but the Wolves should pick off a few unsuspecting opponents throughout the rest of the season.
Next year is when the fun truly begins for this young team.
26. Denver Nuggets: 25-57
Current Record: 20-38
Current Pace: 28-54
FATS Projection: 27-55
FATS Similarity: 1981-82 Cleveland Cavaliers (96.92 percent match)
The Denver Nuggets are basically the exact opposite of the Minnesota Timberwolves, but they came into Friday night with a seven-win cushion that won't fully allow the up-and-coming Western squad to catch them by the end of the year.
After trading away Arron Afflalo, Alonzo Gee and JaVale McGee at the trade deadline, the Nuggets are taking a step in the wrong direction. And they've already been free-falling as of late, playing a brand of basketball that's completely devoid of both passion and identity.
Over their last 20 games heading into a putrid Friday night showing against the Utah Jazz, they'd won only twice, and the victories came against the Dallas Mavericks (at the end of a win streak before the trouble began), New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers. During that stretch, they've been outscored by a jaw-dropping 10.7 points per 100 possessions.
To put that in perspective, the Philadelphia 76ers are being outdone by 11.1 points over the same stretch, and the New York Knicks are at 9.2.
Enough said.
T-25. Magic & Kings 29-53
Current Record: 11-46
Current Pace: 16-66
FATS Projection: 16-66
FATS Similarity: 1988-89 Charlotte Hornets (98.03 percent match)
Without Carmelo Anthony on the court, the New York Knicks have played like a 16-win team throughout the season, and that's only because it's tough for FATS to project anything worse. Not only are their strongest similarity profiles matching them up with some of the worst teams in NBA history, but they're actually worse in most every important factor.
Frankly, this depleted team will have to get lucky to win even two more games throughout the rest of the season, despite their flashes of quality play against the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Samuel Dalembert were expunged from the rotation—and the roster—earlier this season, and now the Knicks are devoid of Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire's services as well.
It's going to get ugly, but that's inevitable when the starting lineup features Tim Hardaway Jr., Langston Galloway, Jason Smith, Lou Amundson and a washed-up version of Jose Calderon.
Do yourself a favor, Knicks fans. Rather than watching this team attempt to prove it doesn't belong in the D-League for the rest of the season, watch a lot of Duke basketball.
You know why.
29. Philadelphia 76ers: 17-65
Current Record: 13-45
Current Pace: 18-64
FATS Projection: 20-62
FATS Similarity: 1978-79 New Jersey Nets (97.34 percent match)
Without Michael Carter-Williams running the show and with Tony Wroten spending the rest of the season on the bench to heal his partially torn ACL, Tim Frazier was the starting point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers. But now he's been released, and this team is going to war with Isaiah Canaan and Ish Smith.
Yikes.
Philadelphia hasn't pretended that it's interesting in making a late push toward respectability this season, and it won't. Instead, the losses should keep piling up as head coach Brett Brown experiments with players, rotations and systems.
To his credit, he's figuring things out on defense. Since the calendar flipped over to 2015, the Sixers have allowed only 105.5 points per 100 possessions, which would rank just inside the top half of the NBA if it were maintained over the course of the season.
But this team is going backward without Carter-Williams at the helm, even if the last 20 games indicate that it's trending in the right direction. After all, that stretch isn't isolated to what's transpired since the Feb. 19 trade deadline.
28. Los Angeles Lakers: 23-59
Current Record: 16-41
Current Pace: 23-59
FATS Projection: 24-58
FATS Similarity: 1998-99 New Jersey Nets (97.83 percent match)
The Los Angeles Lakers only have two goals for the rest of the 2014-15 campaign.
They need to keep losing games so they can earn the best draft pick possible, though it's not as if the players and coaching staff will ever operate at less than 100 percent. They also need to evaluate their young talents and see if they can unearth any gems.
The good news here is that they're doing both, though Jordan Clarkson's recent performances are making it a bit harder for them to finish at the very bottom of the Western Conference. Since moving into the starting lineup for a Jan. 23 contest against the San Antonio Spurs, he's averaged 13.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 43.2 percent from the field.
But even with an improved Clarkson, the Lakers are entirely overmatched against most teams. With Wayne Ellington, Robert Sacre, Ryan Kelly and Carlos Boozer joining him on the court for the opening tip, they just don't have enough firepower or defensive ability to hang with the opposition unless they're completely overlooked.
It may be easy to get excited about back-to-back-to-back victories during such a down season, but let's not overlook that they came in overtime against the Boston Celtics, by three points over the Utah Jazz and against a Milwaukee Bucks squad still figuring out how to use Michael Carter-Williams.
28. Minnesota Timberwolves: 23-59
Current Record: 13-44
Current Pace: 19-63
FATS Projection: 21-61
FATS Similarity: 2011-12 Cleveland Cavaliers (97.85 percent match)
The Minnesota Timberwolves are not going to be pushovers during the rest of the season.
They're only on pace to win 19 games, but the FATS projection using data from their last 20 outings pushes that number up by another two. Subjectively, I'm tacking on two more victories because they've been even better lately, buoyed by the addition of Kevin Garnett, the returns of the veterans (Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic) and the improvement of Andrew Wiggins.
Sleep on the Wolves at your own peril, NBA elites. They may look like a scheduled victory, but they're going to make you work for that tick in the win column now, especially when compared to how they fared at the beginning of the season.
It's too much to expect a sudden coalescing of the talent resulting in a lengthy stretch of unbeaten play, but the Wolves should pick off a few unsuspecting opponents throughout the rest of the season.
Next year is when the fun truly begins for this young team.
26. Denver Nuggets: 25-57
Current Record: 20-38
Current Pace: 28-54
FATS Projection: 27-55
FATS Similarity: 1981-82 Cleveland Cavaliers (96.92 percent match)
The Denver Nuggets are basically the exact opposite of the Minnesota Timberwolves, but they came into Friday night with a seven-win cushion that won't fully allow the up-and-coming Western squad to catch them by the end of the year.
After trading away Arron Afflalo, Alonzo Gee and JaVale McGee at the trade deadline, the Nuggets are taking a step in the wrong direction. And they've already been free-falling as of late, playing a brand of basketball that's completely devoid of both passion and identity.
Over their last 20 games heading into a putrid Friday night showing against the Utah Jazz, they'd won only twice, and the victories came against the Dallas Mavericks (at the end of a win streak before the trouble began), New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers. During that stretch, they've been outscored by a jaw-dropping 10.7 points per 100 possessions.
To put that in perspective, the Philadelphia 76ers are being outdone by 11.1 points over the same stretch, and the New York Knicks are at 9.2.
Enough said.
T-25. Magic & Kings 29-53
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Despite their record and without looking at the numbers, I got the impression that denver has been the worst team in the league for a while now. Cool to see that the numbers backup the eye test
Interesting
Interesting
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Past 20 or so games they've been as bad as any team.
Were 13-20 won 5 in a row to get them to 18-20, now 20-39
I'm praying for just 6 wins from them over 23, just so we'd have to go 10-14 to catch them.
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CBS Sports:
4. Emmanuel Mudiay
27. Sam Dekker SF (Wisconsin)/ Jakob Poeltl PF (Utah) / Tyrone Wallace PG (Cal)
Draft Express
4. Emmanuel Mudiay
27. R.J. Hunter SG (Georgia State)
Basketball Insiders
4. Emmanuel Mudiay
27. Robert Upshaw C (Washington)
Notable picks before the Rockets pick...
Draft Express
21. Cliff Alexander, SF (Kansas)
22. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, SF (Arizona)
23. Montrezl Harrell, PF (Louisville)
26. Tyus Jones, PG (Duke)
CBS Sports
Hollins-Jefferson is at 25,26 & 28
Basketball Insiders
Hollins-Jefferson is at 22
Just need the Rockets to slip a few spots to 24 or 25. We could trade up with the 2nd to ensure that we can get Rondae Hollins - Jefferson. 19th pick is cheaper than the 27th + 34th.
Next year's team could be-
Guards - Mudiay (19) & Clarkson (23)
Forward - Hollins-Jefferson (21), Julius Randle (21) & Ryan Kelly (24)
Center - Black (24)
Kobe 37, Nick Young 30, Sacre 26
$25.5mil in cap space with 9 guys....
Have a few good directions to go... And some for a stepping stone into 2016.
4. Emmanuel Mudiay
27. Sam Dekker SF (Wisconsin)/ Jakob Poeltl PF (Utah) / Tyrone Wallace PG (Cal)
Draft Express
4. Emmanuel Mudiay
27. R.J. Hunter SG (Georgia State)
Basketball Insiders
4. Emmanuel Mudiay
27. Robert Upshaw C (Washington)
Notable picks before the Rockets pick...
Draft Express
21. Cliff Alexander, SF (Kansas)
22. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, SF (Arizona)
23. Montrezl Harrell, PF (Louisville)
26. Tyus Jones, PG (Duke)
CBS Sports
Hollins-Jefferson is at 25,26 & 28
Basketball Insiders
Hollins-Jefferson is at 22
Just need the Rockets to slip a few spots to 24 or 25. We could trade up with the 2nd to ensure that we can get Rondae Hollins - Jefferson. 19th pick is cheaper than the 27th + 34th.
Next year's team could be-
Guards - Mudiay (19) & Clarkson (23)
Forward - Hollins-Jefferson (21), Julius Randle (21) & Ryan Kelly (24)
Center - Black (24)
Kobe 37, Nick Young 30, Sacre 26
$25.5mil in cap space with 9 guys....
Have a few good directions to go... And some for a stepping stone into 2016.
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develop Ryan No Feet Kelly and Bobby Sacre?
The Black kid is a decent late season pickup. Scott is developing who he needs to develop. A quick, athletic, attack the rim PG. It's just crazy that dudes expect to be good and have a top 5 pick all in the same season. Shows how crazy some of you are going
U look at the roster and the second best player is a 6th man in Nick Young and even he's been hurt all season. Roster stinks, let JC make plays and get his feet wet and ride the losses.
Byron can focus on more than one player at a time.
Black, Kelly and Sacre are all young and on the roster. Yes they're worth taking a look at and worth trying to develop properly, even if it seems like they won't amount to anything in the end. The team isn't doing anything else at the moment.
Also who the **** is talking about being good AND keeping the top 5 pick?
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develop Ryan No Feet Kelly and Bobby Sacre?
The Black kid is a decent late season pickup. Scott is developing who he needs to develop. A quick, athletic, attack the rim PG. It's just crazy that dudes expect to be good and have a top 5 pick all in the same season. Shows how crazy some of you are going
U look at the roster and the second best player is a 6th man in Nick Young and even he's been hurt all season. Roster stinks, let JC make plays and get his feet wet and ride the losses.
Byron can focus on more than one player at a time.
Black, Kelly and Sacre are all young and on the roster. Yes they're worth taking a look at and worth trying to develop properly. The team isn't doing anything else at the moment.
Also who the **** is talking about being good AND keeping the top 5 pick?
No real way to develop Sacre... Other than send him down to the DLeague. He is what he is, and will never get better... Good locker room guy, and isn't a total screw up to be a 5th Big. He could be what Turiaf or Powell were in Post Shaq & Title Runs from 2005-2010. There's some value in being that though. A guy who is at the bottom of your rotation, but you can at least count on to have his shoes tied. You will need to rely on that guy to get you some minutes somewhere in the season or in the playoffs due to foul trouble or injury. If the 12th man can give you anything, then he's valuable.
Boozer will be the only guy to sit. Nobody else will because we only have 3 guards in Clarkson, Lin & Ellington. Swaggy is a Guard, but he will spend a bulk of his minutes backing up Wes.
Not sure why 5 or 10
I get why he has Kelly at the 3. Because he needs to be able to handle a handful of minutes there to get playing time (against backups, not starters).. But he should be getting minutes at PF too because he's damn good for what he can provide as a 4 off the bench.
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Yeah that's all I mean. Even if it's "developing" him to be a spot minutes/utility guy, that's better than completely writing him off like dude was suggesting.
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He's played about 20 minutes pretty consistently since the end of January.
He does have places of need to improve. Defense at the rim (numbers are better than I expected, but still could use it)... Make a higher % of shots, just don't think either are in the cards.
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bravelude
Banned
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Being stuck with Byron for 3 years
its cuz the rebuild will take a few years. hes just a dummy coach. its a good thing to bring in an abusive coach. shapes the kiddies.
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As long as Byron manages the tank right by the end of the season and we keep our pick, he's done his job IMO. We all know that Byron isn't a winning coach. He's there to help you transition and develop until the players tune him out. On MDA, he obviously had a knack for offense, but he was not a good head coach to manage the personalities and personnel we had. I think we'll see him in the league again at some point, hopefully in a high level assistant coach role where he can thrive. Sometimes, I wonder if MDA and Thibs would get together on a team outside of the Olympics...that'd be a sight to see. But, not everyone's got that Lebron "let's combine our talents and win" mentality.
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My man got old quick
Los Angeles
formerly bright nikes
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We gettin old right with him [emoji]128116[/emoji]
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Reported
darthska
Staff member
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"Father Time is undefeated."
- Barkley
:\
- Barkley
:\
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Father Time may ruin my athleticism but it won't stop me from draining 16 footers on all of you. 
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Father Time may ruin my athleticism but it won't stop me from clanging 16 footers off the backboard.
Nick young is that you?
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Father Time may ruin my athleticism but it won't stop me from clanging 26 footers off the backboard.
Nick young is that you?
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Nick young is that you?Father Time may ruin my athleticism but it won't stop me from clanging 26 footers off the backboard.
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When I googled nick young gif that was the first thing to pop up
I was like ****, am I really going to pretend to be this guy?
I was like ****, am I really going to pretend to be this guy?
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This whole beef with the ESPN Anchor....
Nick just have a seat. Between you and your girl yall probably making 10 mil a year and you are worried about this guy?
Why?
Nick just have a seat. Between you and your girl yall probably making 10 mil a year and you are worried about this guy?
Why?
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Can I be your Javale 
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dont ever think hes not from the streets of LAThis whole beef with the ESPN Anchor....
Nick just have a seat. Between you and your girl yall probably making 10 mil a year and you are worried about this guy?
Why?
darthska
Staff member
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And what did we sign him for? Like 10 years, 34 katrillion dollars?When I googled nick young gif that was the first thing to pop up
I was like ****, am I really going to pretend to be this guy?
... :\- Status