Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2024 11:58 am Post subject: Lakers Predictions for the 2024-2025 season
who has the chance to be this year’s MVP between Anthony Davis and LeBron James, which player has a chance to come out of there struggling ways and make a difference for this year’s team.. which player might be traded.. etc.
Yeah I'm going with 45 wins too. _________________ "He's a Zen master, so he can speak to you, and he doesn't need a microphone; you can hear him in your head, 'Ron, don't shoot, don't shoot.' Whatever, pow, three. I love the Zen, though."
It will become clear very early on the org cares more about headlines and fanfare versus putting a winning product on the floor. _________________ "No amount of money ever bought a second of time."
I predict these are the top Western Conf teams in order:
Oklahoma City (62-20)
Minnesota (60-22)
Dallas (56-36)
Denver (51-31)
Memphis (47-35)
Houston (47-35)
Sacramento (45-37)
San Antonio (43-39)
I think the teams with the old stars (Phoenix, Lakers, Golden State) will all struggle. Lakers I got at 39-43. I doubt Lebron/AD play as healthy this year as last year.
I think Boston goes back to back rather easily. Maybe the Knicks can challenge them.
I think Memphis has a bounce back year and a 2nd year Wemby will get San Antonio back into the playoffs.
Not sure about record, because I think the West is going to be even more brutal this year with Jah back, Wemby, growth of a bunch of other teams along with salty dogs like ours (super stars)....but if this starting 5 clicks and we can get solid bench production I can see us 5th - 6th in the West.
That's said this is one of those squads where other teams are more predicitively top or bottom 5 the Lakers could in the dregs just as easily as they could be at the top.
Health, hitting on JJ as coach, hitting on some of the players who were underutilized last year could make for a good season.
Not impressed with the preseason, especially lack of depth. We're most likely gonna be floating around .500 all season again. _________________ Lakers. Built different.
LeBron is Finals MVP and retires after the championship.
Dalton Knecht is ROY. _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".
- 55-27 record
- JJ unlocks DLo and we keep him past the deadline + he delivers in the playoffs
- LeBron gets MVP, AD gets DPOY
- Knecht All-Rookie 1st Team
- Max Christie MIP
- To round it all out, because of Max's rise, AR takes the 6th man role and gets 6MOY award
- Lakers sweep to the Finals, but get taken to 7 by the Celtics but LeBron carries us home
[b]My realistic take:[/b]
- 50-32 record
- Rui plays like we all know he can, constistently
- AD DPOY
- LeBron All NBA 1st team
- We still win the Finals 8-)
- We keep DLo, I still believe JJ will unlock him
Memphis should be a playoff team. They were a top seed for years before the Ja stuff, but they are getting so many reinforcements back from injury and Edey will be a useable rotation player right away. Of the top 10 last year it seems like the Kings are the most likely to fall out. They have looked objectively awful so far and the move to get Derozan, who is best with the ball in his hands operating in similar areas as Sabonis, feels like a disaster waiting to happen. Possible the Clippers fall out too depending on how much Kawhi is able to play, which could make room for Houston.
How the top 10 shakes out is going to be heavily dependent on injuries. The only lock top-4 team IMO is OKC. Everything else feels like a toss up pending injuries.
Denver got objectively worse IMO. They limped into the end of last season, and they've lost Brown and KCP in consecutive offseasons. That means they're going to be leaning even more heavily on Jokic, Gordon, MPJ and Murray, and that foursome has already logged extremely heavy minutes the past 2 years. Murray seems to be regressing too. I think the depth after that top 4 will hurt them over 82 games, and Malone seems to think they're all out of shape right now.
I think Minny got worse, but willing to see how the Randle fit works. That team won 42 games the prior year with Towns missing most of the year. They were built to win a certain way last season and I'm not positive they can win 56 games again as a more offensive-minded team.
Dallas didn't get worse but I think swapping THJ and DJJ for Klay will end up being a net neutral move. They overperformed in the playoffs due to favorable matchups IMO. I think they end up around that 4-5 seed again.
Suns got better. If their big 3 are able to stay reasonably healthy I think they are a clear top 4 team. Jones, Beal, Booker and KD is going to be an elite offensive group with the right coach in Bud, and they added some good big man depth. Not sure how far they go in the playoffs, but they should overwhelm teams in the regular season.
Pelicans are another net neutral or possibly net negative team compared to last year. They went from a team that wants to overwhelm with size to a team of a bunch of wings but no true big depth. BI doesn't want to be there and the feeling seems mutual. And the Murray fit with Zion feels a little awkward. They should be pretty good defensively and I think they'll make the playoffs, but just not great IMO.
GSW I think could surprise people and crack the top 4 if Curry and Draymond can stay healthy. Their depth and defense model seemed to work in the preseason. They were 6-0 but they were blowing teams out too because their defense has been so elite, and every player that steps in is playing with high intensity on that end. I think they could get off to a hot start due to their defense and shooting and ride the momentum. Maybe they always do this in preseason and I'm overreacting, but their defense looks suffocating so far.
Overall, assuming no injuries, I'd say it's something like:
Top 4 in some order - OKC, Memphis, Phoenix, GSW
Next 4 in some order - Nuggets, Wolves, Mavs, Lakers
Last 2 in - Pelicans, Clippers/Rockets
I'll likely be very wrong about this . But teams #4-10 were separated by 5 games last year, so an injury here or there can significantly throw these rankings off.
Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 36711 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 11:01 am Post subject:
^^^
IMO even Denver’s championship run was sort of a fluke in which they didn’t have to face any top teams. They only won 53 games that season. How they did in surrounding years (the three previous and the one after) is a better indication of how good they actually are— WCF in 2020, Semifinals in 2021, first round in 2022, championship in 2023, semifinals in 2024.
They lost to a Wolves team that wasn’t even close to beating Dallas, that in turn wasn’t even close to beating Boston. And now on top of that they’ve lost KCP, their fifth most important player. _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
Cheers _________________ Starting Lakers Dynasty6.0! NOW!!
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....." each year in Lakerland is marked by four seasons: Kobe’s Mad at His Teammates; Kobe’s Shooting Too Much; Kobe Leads the Victory Parade; Kobe Receives His Championship Ring."
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