How bad do the Lakers have to be to not be on national TV every night?

[radiohead]

A bit OT: Do you guys really think the Lakers don’t make the playoffs this year? The best thing about this season is that they don’t have any incentive to tank since the Pelicans have the right to swap picks with them. The Pels making the playoffs and the Lakers missing it will really be something.

The Lakers seem like a pretty clear playoff team if they can stay relatively healthy i.e. Davis and James both hit 60 games.  Even with all the intermittent playing time last year, they will still above .500 when both James and Davis played for them.  And they have a better and better fitting team around them this year.  If they'd actually pull the trigger on the Westbrook for Hield/Turner swap, they'd be really dangerous.

That’s another point of debate among my Laker friends. Giving away that second future first rounder for a chance to compete this year is really a no brainer for them. Pelinka thinks otherwise though.

[footey]

The Lakers are like the Cowboys, they are close to being considered a national team. Even if they are poor, they have so many fans they will continue to get the TV time.

[Phantom255x]

The Knicks have had so many bad years and still get a lot of national TV games, including sometimes Christmas games. That's just how it goes for the Lakers and Knicks in particular. Lakers to a greater extent of course

[Moranis]

The Lakers weren't on tv every night when they were bad and guys like Randle, Ball, Kuzma, and Ingram were the top guys.  But when you have Lebron James and to a lesser extent Anthony Davis, you are going to be on tv a lot.  That is one of the reasons teams pay huge amount of money and put up with a lot of star baggage to sign stars.  They draw interest and interest ultimately turns into dollars.

Couple that with Lebron almost certainly passing Kareem at some point this year, and there is even more interest on them.  Plus they have the whole Westbrook situation.  Just so many story lines to follow, they could basically win 8 games and you'd have to watch them (in fact 8 wins might actually increase interest in watching them because so many will revel in the fact that Lebron is losing at an epic level).

[slamtheking]

The Lakers weren't on tv every night when they were bad and guys like Randle, Ball, Kuzma, and Ingram were the top guys.  But when you have Lebron James and to a lesser extent Anthony Davis, you are going to be on tv a lot.  That is one of the reasons teams pay huge amount of money and put up with a lot of star baggage to sign stars.  They draw interest and interest ultimately turns into dollars.

Couple that with Lebron almost certainly passing Kareem at some point this year, and there is even more interest on them.  Plus they have the whole Westbrook situation.  Just so many story lines to follow, they could basically win 8 games and you'd have to watch them (in fact 8 wins might actually increase interest in watching them because so many will revel in the fact that Lebron is losing at an epic level).

I could easily revel in that without watching a single moment of any of their games (except when they play the C's of course)

[celticsclay]

The Lakers weren't on tv every night when they were bad and guys like Randle, Ball, Kuzma, and Ingram were the top guys.  But when you have Lebron James and to a lesser extent Anthony Davis, you are going to be on tv a lot.  That is one of the reasons teams pay huge amount of money and put up with a lot of star baggage to sign stars.  They draw interest and interest ultimately turns into dollars.

Couple that with Lebron almost certainly passing Kareem at some point this year, and there is even more interest on them.  Plus they have the whole Westbrook situation.  Just so many story lines to follow, they could basically win 8 games and you'd have to watch them (in fact 8 wins might actually increase interest in watching them because so many will revel in the fact that Lebron is losing at an epic level).

I could easily revel in that without watching a single moment of any of their games (except when they play the C's of course)

Yeah I mean I enjoyed the hilarity of them missing the playin and westbrooks shots off the side of the backboard as much as anyone, but when it came to a Tuesday night game they were down 18 in the second quarter I would go find something to do and watch their lowlights on Twitter later. I’m also curious how much people care about these records any more. I know more people will watch a Thursday night football game than a Yankees playoff game but that seems like the only sport people really care about records anymore. It seemed to me like even non baseball fans were kind of interested in judge hitting 62. Same thing with football records all these passing records have just kind of felt meaningless lately when a guy like Herbert gets 5000 yards on a fringe playoff team and Dan Marino was being dominant and was getting 3000 yards. It’s absolutely a tremendous accomplishment by Lebron when it happens, but I just don’t know many people care.

[Vermont Green]

Austin Reaves  SG
Lonnie Walker IV  SF
Patrick Beverley  PG
LeBron James  PF
Anthony Davis  C

Lakers projected staring line up tonight against GSW.  Blowout in the making?

[Moranis]

Austin Reaves  SG
Lonnie Walker IV  SF
Patrick Beverley  PG
LeBron James  PF
Anthony Davis  C

Lakers projected staring line up tonight against GSW.  Blowout in the making?

Highly unlikely.  for as bad as the Lakers were last year, the Warriors still had a very difficult time guarding both James and Davis. 

[celticsclay]

Austin Reaves  SG
Lonnie Walker IV  SF
Patrick Beverley  PG
LeBron James  PF
Anthony Davis  C

Lakers projected staring line up tonight against GSW.  Blowout in the making?

They are 7 point underdogs which is far bigger than you would normally see for a team that is considered a contender (not saying I or many people think they are a contender but this line is closer to a play in level team). I’m really interested in how Lebron looks on defense. They can try and hide him on draymond a bit, but with switching he will be forced to deal with wiggins or the guards a bit and that is something he was really pathetic at last year. I think he will still be very good offensively. Am also curious how Davis looks shooting from distance. Last year he bizarrely completely collapsed on his threes. Somehow shooting 18%. I think the lakers need him around 32% to keep defenses honest and not clogging the paint.

[celticsclay]

Lakers getting blown out. Absolutely embarrassed. Curious if Lebron will try to stat pad down 30 in the 4th.

[ozgod]

Lakers getting blown out. Absolutely embarrassed. Curious if Lebron will try to stat pad down 30 in the 4th.

He’s been stat padding for a while this game already 

I would love the Fakers to be on TV and lose every time 

[celticsclay]

Austin Reaves  SG
Lonnie Walker IV  SF
Patrick Beverley  PG
LeBron James  PF
Anthony Davis  C

Lakers projected staring line up tonight against GSW.  Blowout in the making?

Highly unlikely.  for as bad as the Lakers were last year, the Warriors still had a very difficult time guarding both James and Davis.

 

[celticsclay]

Lakers getting blown out. Absolutely embarrassed. Curious if Lebron will try to stat pad down 30 in the 4th.

He’s been stat padding for a while this game already 

I would love the Fakers to be on TV and lose every time 

It’s amazing especially while listening to Lebron fans twist and turn acting like they are buddy hield away from not being a disaster. It’s so good.

[gouki88]

Austin Reaves  SG
Lonnie Walker IV  SF
Patrick Beverley  PG
LeBron James  PF
Anthony Davis  C

Lakers projected staring line up tonight against GSW.  Blowout in the making?

Highly unlikely.  for as bad as the Lakers were last year, the Warriors still had a very difficult time guarding both James and Davis.

About that...

[Vermont Green]

Austin Reaves  SG
Lonnie Walker IV  SF
Patrick Beverley  PG
LeBron James  PF
Anthony Davis  C

Lakers projected staring line up tonight against GSW.  Blowout in the making?

Highly unlikely.  for as bad as the Lakers were last year, the Warriors still had a very difficult time guarding both James and Davis.

About that...

Westbrook ended up starting, right?  And they still got blown out.  There is no reason to give up on the Lakers.  Any teams will need some time to figure things out.  But I doubt there will be much patience with the players, the organization, or the fans.