12:43am January 12, 2012-
@Matt_Barnes22: FINALLY a day off 2maro, can’t WAIT to hangout w/my baby boys 2maro.
It would be ridiculous to think anyone else suiting up in purple and gold feels any different. The jam packed shortened 2011-12 season has started off with surprises of all sorts, especially in Los Angeles. The lucrative prospect of gaining Chris Paul went sour, and Odom asked to be traded. The JV Team of LA, the LA Clippers, defeated the Lakers in back to back games in mid-December leaving many southern Californians to doubt which team has more swag. The bench has stepped up and MWP has transitioned to a 6man spot to keep the energy up on the bench and step in for necessary defense. All sorts of predictions can be made about how the season will go for the Lakers. Some say maybe, just maybe, Kobe gets himself another championship ring, others think there is simply no way and predict a first round exit from the playoffs. I say, way too early to tell. Due to the fractioned season consistency will become the name of the game.
The exhausting scheduling of games leaves a lot of room for error on any team. Fresher legs will always have an advantage and teams playing blocks of 3 games in 3 days will always be disadvantaged. The sheer amount of traveling is a headache. Hence whatever team can show up and give solid, consistent performances will be primed for the playoffs.
The LA Lakers are beginning to find their stride. They were dealt a bad hand in terms of their season opening scheduling but with those grueling first few weeks behind them they should now be conditioned to push forward and turn in more W’s than L’s. Looking at their results, that is how the trend currently moves.
Furthermore, as the players return to peak fitness, hopefully Mike Brown can finally establish a rotation. Brown needs to start spending less time looking down his bench to decide who needs to go in for who. Being 2 weeks into season and having players that are not quite at their athletic capacities yet and a coach who does not have any solid plan yet is definitely a detrimental characteristic the Lakers have struggled with.
Nonetheless the infamous franchise is improving, and Andrew Bynum is beginning to light it up – finally showcasing some of that potential all Lakers fans know he possesses. Kobe is (slightly) less selfish (sometimes) – and hopefully the aging all-star continues to move in that pattern – for his body’s sake, and his team’s sake. So while it is too early in season to make any predictions that can be taken seriously, it is safe to make the general assumption that the teams that find their rhythms sooner rather than later and consistently improve will be the ones to watch.
With that in mind, the Lakers fall in the middle. They are consistently improving, beginning to produce more favorable outcomes after their rocky start but they have not established a rhythm yet. It would be advisable that be a top priority of Mike Brown, however the LA newcomer appears to be taking his time laying out a dependable game plan. Brown struggled to produce solid results with the Cavs and Lebron – maybe he is not quite equipped for LA either.
Back to the Los Angeles Lakers Newsfeed