True Lakers Fans

F cked around and got a triple-single!

"Ball filled up the box score with eight points, seven assists, six rebounds and a career-high six steals in 34 minutes."

This guy tends to do a little of everything, but let's be honest . . until he can average 16-18 points a game to go along with his assists, rebounds, steals, blocks etc. He won't be considered our true leader. Granted, he's a kid and - like Kobe's first years - has already had to deal with the fame and infamy of his expectations. Hard to project when or if he will break out of his less-than-aggressive approach and be more of an attacker.

lakerevolution wrote:This guy tends to do a little of everything, but let's be honest . . until he can average 16-18 points a game to go along with his assists, rebounds, steals, blocks etc. He won't be considered our true leader. Granted, he's a kid and - like Kobe's first years - has already had to deal with the fame and infamy of his expectations. Hard to project when or if he will break out of his less-than-aggressive approach and be more of an attacker.

"Granted, he's a kid ..." A kid with the highest basketball IQ at his age since Magic Johnson. He's 6'7" with hops and will develop a consistent 3 point shot, a floater, a tear drop, a mid range game and will learn how to finish among the Redwoods. I ain't sweatin'.

KobeMVP888 wrote:

lakerevolution wrote:This guy tends to do a little of everything, but let's be honest . . until he can average 16-18 points a game to go along with his assists, rebounds, steals, blocks etc. He won't be considered our true leader. Granted, he's a kid and - like Kobe's first years - has already had to deal with the fame and infamy of his expectations. Hard to project when or if he will break out of his less-than-aggressive approach and be more of an attacker.

"Granted, he's a kid ..." A kid with the highest basketball IQ at his age since Magic Johnson. He's 6'7" with hops and will develop a consistent 3 point shot, a floater, a tear drop, a mid range game and will learn how to finish among the Redwoods. I ain't sweatin'.

Only if he can 1) shake off the weight of the lofty expectations, 2) put his past life (dad, Big Baller Brand, UCLA etc.) in the permanent rear-view and 3) be so in love with the game of basketball and the fire of competition that he efficiently becomes the best Lonzo he can be for us.

Magic had no domineering asshole father, came from humble beginnings, took the rock from day one balling with Kareem and literally took the league by storm his rookie year. That was them days, though. Kobe was held on a leash by Phil his first two years until he became the Black Mamba. Lonzo's story is laughable, serious, and meaningless all at the same time -- as long as he comes out performing at an NBA level. I think right now he, Kyle, Brandon and Julius are realizing how truly LONG and HARD the NBA reg. seas. shaft is, and they'll collectively or individually give a hetero pushback to the sodomy. If you follow my meaning

Didn't love his game yesterday. Has to get back to leading the unselfish culture.

Also he really struggles shooting at home.

Still if he never becomes a scorer but learns to pick his spots where he can be 4 of 9 instead of 4 of 15 but keep getting better at everything else , he will be great

I don't see Bron coming so I expect Lonzo to be more of a focal point next season in pick and roll sets

lakerevolution wrote:

KobeMVP888 wrote:

lakerevolution wrote:This guy tends to do a little of everything, but let's be honest . . until he can average 16-18 points a game to go along with his assists, rebounds, steals, blocks etc. He won't be considered our true leader. Granted, he's a kid and - like Kobe's first years - has already had to deal with the fame and infamy of his expectations. Hard to project when or if he will break out of his less-than-aggressive approach and be more of an attacker.

"Granted, he's a kid ..." A kid with the highest basketball IQ at his age since Magic Johnson. He's 6'7" with hops and will develop a consistent 3 point shot, a floater, a tear drop, a mid range game and will learn how to finish among the Redwoods. I ain't sweatin'.

Only if he can 1) shake off the weight of the lofty expectations, 2) put his past life (dad, Big Baller Brand, UCLA etc.) in the permanent rear-view and 3) be so in love with the game of basketball and the fire of competition that he efficiently becomes the best Lonzo he can be for us.

Magic had no domineering asshole father, came from humble beginnings, took the rock from day one balling with Kareem and literally took the league by storm his rookie year. That was them days, though. Kobe was held on a leash by Phil his first two years until he became the Black Mamba. Lonzo's story is laughable, serious, and meaningless all at the same time -- as long as he comes out performing at an NBA level. I think right now he, Kyle, Brandon and Julius are realizing how truly LONG and HARD the NBA reg. seas. shaft is, and they'll collectively or individually give a hetero pushback to the sodomy. If you follow my meaning

I think Lonzo will be fine. Almost no rookies dominate. Kobe wasn't even Good until season 3, then he took off from there. Lonzo does a lot of things well that most PG's don't do like Rebound and play solid Defense. He has Leadership qualities and Court Vision that rank with the best in the league too IMO. Remember how long it took Jason Kidd to develop a consistent 3 point shot? Once he did he became unstoppable. I think by season 3, Lonzo will be around 40% from 3 consistently.

lakerevolution wrote:Only if he can 1) shake off the weight of the lofty expectations, 2) put his past life (dad, Big Baller Brand, UCLA etc.) in the permanent rear-view and 3) be so in love with the game of basketball and the fire of competition that he efficiently becomes the best Lonzo he can be for us.

Frankly, I think that's who Lonzo is, but perhaps your vision is better than mine. We'll see!

Lonzo Ball on pace to become only the 3rd rookie to average at least 7 Assists and 7 Rebounds in NBA history. The other 2 were Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson. Ball on the season is averaging 7.2 Assists and 7.0 Rebounds to go with his 10.1 Points in his 50 games played. Bust - nah, kid just needs to improve his shot and stay healthy.

First a platelet-rich blood procedure for his knee, then this diss track:


   

Lonzo Ball gets personal in Kuzma diss track

ANDREW JOSEPH | USA TODAY | 9 hours ago

Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma are Lakers teammates, and by all indication, they're friends. They just never pass on an opportunity to make fun of each other.

Here are the lyrics, via Sporting News:


"Who are you without ZO2?

Just another dude with a bunch of tattoos

You ain't got no shoe Nike wins, Kuz lose

Claiming that I can't shoot, but all these words is hitting you.

Boy you talking crazy, why you try to play me?

You ain't on my level, you ain't famous as my baby

I'm working out daily, but I ain't posting it

And I would never stop a workout just to post a pic

They let 'em gas you up, thinking that you can't be touched

Coming from the outskirts of Flint, boy you ain't tough

Big Baller Brand getting bread, little Kuz is getting crumbs

We thumbing through that money, look at y'all, y'all is playing with your thumbs

Don't know who your daddy is, well your ass is getting sonned

We both taking shots, the only difference is you ain't hitting none

Usually do this s- for fun, but trust me boy I'm not the one

If you the bullet, I'm the gun, If you the pot, I'm cooking some

You want smoke, you can get it, dressing for attention

Trying to be Russell Westbrook, you just honorable mention

I killed you with a sentence, to me you just a peasant

Triple Bs is independent, Kuz (???), can't reinvent it

Cause you ain't got the people, and you ain't got the sources

Put all your money in a Porsche, I dropped a check on horses

You better join the forces, with them main enforcers

Triple Bs is for the culture, your squad is a bunch of vultures

I'mma stop, you losing focus, reason why you dropped your courses

Need some more endorsements, one fleece, you think we didn't notice?"



All fun and games, but Zo is his daddy's son and definitely a product of this silly new generation. The part about Kuzma not knowing his dad is, hmm, interesting but I doubt these two are anything but buddies. Lonzo better come out balling is all I know.

If Lonzo is just playing around and Kuz doesn't mind, then it's all good. Otherwise those lyrics are little disturbing IMO. The Dad part is a little over the top. I think Lonzo has a Great Basketball IQ but lets face it Kuzma is the better player as of now.

3Peatkb24 wrote:If Lonzo is just playing around and Kuz doesn't mind, then it's all good. Otherwise those lyrics are little disturbing IMO. The Dad part is a little over the top. I think Lonzo has a Great Basketball IQ but lets face it Kuzma is the better player as of now.

They're going low. I love it! You should see the thread of trash talking I did with my buddies before one of our golf outings. Lonzo's song is the minor leagues compared to our shit. All this tells me is that these guys are COMPETITIVE. Love it.

KobeMVP888 wrote:

3Peatkb24 wrote:If Lonzo is just playing around and Kuz doesn't mind, then it's all good. Otherwise those lyrics are little disturbing IMO. The Dad part is a little over the top. I think Lonzo has a Great Basketball IQ but lets face it Kuzma is the better player as of now.

They're going low. I love it! You should see the thread of trash talking I did with my buddies before one of our golf outings. Lonzo's song is the minor leagues compared to our shit. All this tells me is that these guys are COMPETITIVE. Love it.

I figured that is what it was that Kuz doesnt give a shit what Lonzo says and vice versa , just friends being friends. It would almost be like you, Rev, Craig, and I taking digs at one another. It would take alot for me to get upset with you guys after we have chatted with each other for damn near a decade. Like with Tate, I laughed 99% of his shit off - I mean that in a good way because I like Tate and think he is a good guy so I laughed off alot of what he said toward me like Podunk State = Indy, hicktown, etc... He was always fun to debate.

Coming off a (hopefully) successful knee scope, Lonzo now has to continue to show and grow his "brand" as a valuable asset to this team. He'll have more seasoned teammates to pass to, and his defensive presence and movement without the ball on offense (spacing, etc.) will be crucial if he is to have a future with the Lakers. There are possibilities that Magic and Rob could make mid-season trades if this initial mash-up experiment isn't working.

An interesting comparison of Lonzo to Draymond Green in this article. It makes sense, even though Draymond carries a little more muscle in the paint than Lonzo is probably capable of flexing. But it reveals where he can focus his energies as he continues to become the NBA star we all expect.

"Green has paved the way for low usage and versatile players to become All-Stars. The former Defensive Player of the Year has never seen his usage rate exceed 18.6 percent and had the same usage rate, 17.2 percent, as Ball last year.

Green’s ability to be an All-Star while sharing the majority of his minutes with high usage play creators like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant makes him even more valuable.

While Ball wasn’t surrounded by All-Stars last season, he still showed his willingness to get his teammates involved, which will help raise the ceiling of a team that will either add an All-Star free agent or see one of their young guys grow into that All-Star role."



https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/201 ... s-analysis

lakerevolution wrote:Coming off a (hopefully) successful knee scope, Lonzo now has to continue to show and grow his "brand" as a valuable asset to this team. He'll have more seasoned teammates to pass to, and his defensive presence and movement without the ball on offense (spacing, etc.) will be crucial if he is to have a future with the Lakers. There are possibilities that Magic and Rob could make mid-season trades if this initial mash-up experiment isn't working.

An interesting comparison of Lonzo to Draymond Green in this article. It makes sense, even though Draymond carries a little more muscle in the paint than Lonzo is probably capable of flexing. But it reveals where he can focus his energies as he continues to become the NBA star we all expect.

"Green has paved the way for low usage and versatile players to become All-Stars. The former Defensive Player of the Year has never seen his usage rate exceed 18.6 percent and had the same usage rate, 17.2 percent, as Ball last year.

Green’s ability to be an All-Star while sharing the majority of his minutes with high usage play creators like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant makes him even more valuable.

While Ball wasn’t surrounded by All-Stars last season, he still showed his willingness to get his teammates involved, which will help raise the ceiling of a team that will either add an All-Star free agent or see one of their young guys grow into that All-Star role."



https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/201 ... s-analysis

It's funny, but of all the young players, Lonzo is the one who I think has Hall of Fame potential. His basketball instinct is reminiscent of Magic Johnson. In my opinion, he sees the floor even better than Jason Kidd did at this age and defensively he is ahead of where Kidd was IMO. Durability is the one legitimate question mark and while this was supposed to be "the most important summer of his career," he was unable to fulfill that hope due to the knee issues and surgery. He did hit the weight room, however, so he has accomplished that goal already. In terms of his shot, free throw shooting and ability to finish, all of those things will come with time. I don't see him as the "mash-up experiment" that a lot of Lakers fans see; I see him as the future face of the franchise, just as he was billed before last season.

What a coincidence that the day before this news came out, Andrew Bynum was in the news regarding a comeback. Man, do I hope Lonzo doesn't have Drew's knee issues. Just like Drew, Lonzo took his time making a decision that will impact his future. Personally, I think he should have gone for the repair. The long game is what matters here, not this season, and he would have been back in time for the stretch run anyway. We can only hope that he won't be in and out of the lineup this season because of this knee issue. I'm curious as to what input Magic Johnson had in this decision, if any.