TEAM USA MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE pic.twitter.com/MblxwQ9HxC

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) July 28, 2024

So true!!

Good evening, DJ!!

It’s been a while; I hope all is well with you and your family. Yes, you are right. This Lakers summer league team is terrible. As a matter of fact, I was even wondering if the coach descended from Darvin Ham’s coaching tree. There was no flow to the game, and the team looked disjointed. They were just darting around like a bunch of headless chickens! The situation was made worse by the fact that they could not even throw a penny into the ocean. They were flat-out terrible and looked punch drunk.

But then again, memory tells me that some players perform poorly in the summer league yet excel during the season. Austin Reaves is an example of that. During the 2021 summer league play, he was outperformed by the likes of Shaundee Brown and Trevlin Queen. This was despite being designated as a two-way player along with Joel Ayayi. But Austin Reaves became a diamond in the rough and has since looked untouchable in trade talks.

My favorite Lakers summer league team is the 2017 summer league roster featuring Lonzo Ball, Vander Blue, Alec Brown, Thomas Bryant, Alex Caruso, P.J. Dozier, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, David Nwaba, Matt Thomas, Travis Wear, Gabe York, and Ivica Zubac. That team won the championship that summer and Lonzo Ball was the league MVP, while Kyle Kuzma won the finals MVP.

So, do you see what shoulda, woulda, coulda, had we kept them?
The current NBA roster is filled with these incredibly talented baby Lakers. Sometimes, I wish I could turn back time and have all of them play on our team. That would be such an unstoppable force on the court!

[Thank you, DJ]

DJ, I like your take on sidekicks. Makes sense.

I’m getting effing tired of great old people dying left and right.
RIP, Willie. You and Mickey were the greatest.

Another great one moves on. What a career.

Yes we did DJ. Even though Tatum was the consensus best player in the draft, Magic thought Lonzo would be a great Hollywood story. Local boy makes good. Actually the staff wanted Tatum and even preferred Fox over Lonzo. Just one of the many huge mistakes the Laker management have made.

we would’ve traded him in the AD deal anyway…..

Hi DJ. Always, I continue to enjoy stories

Lakers should have agreed to trade Reaves in the deal and to give Kyrie 4-years rather than just 2-years. They could have had Kyrie but chickened out as usual.

If Pacers open up their spending and Siakam would take 37 Mil again and LBJ would take $40 Mil, I am getting season tickets. LOL

Better execution at the end of games by the Celts…same reason we keep losing to the Nuggs. You gotta know Jrue Holiday ain’t the guy you wanna challenge at the end of the game….he’s gonna make that play the majority of the time. Compare that to the end of the Mavs/Wolves. Luka sought out Gobert, put him on skates, and…game. Also, when you play that up & down style so much like the Pacers it’s hard to shift into that grind house of end-of-game, high-pressure playoff mode.

I’m sure Rick will bring it up along with his whole David and Goliath schtick.