Ennis leads the Lakers over the Spurs

[Fly Rodder]

He's won't turn 23 until this summer, is three years in and has shown he can play solidly at this level as a second unit or deep bench guy. Plenty of NBA team will have interest in that sort of player.

Last month+ he's averaging 15.5 mpg and 18/6 per 40 while shooting 40.5% from three. That should get someone's attention.

 

[Melancer46]

Regarding the lottery, I personally don't think the system needs fixing. If they did want to tweak it, the idea that I would propose would be drawing a ping pong ball for all 14 lottery picks rather than just the top 3. You'd still have the worst teams picking towards the top more often than not, but at least then you wouldn't guarantee the worst team a top 4 pick anymore.

Most of the proposed changes to the lottery just move the goalposts of which teams would tank. For example, having the bottom 5 with even odds just means that teams would tank to try to finish in the bottom 5. A team around the 10th spot could easily decide tanking to get to the bottom 5 is better than pushing for the 8 seed in the playoffs and suddenly they have a very realistic chance at getting the #1 pick. Having all non-playoff teams with even odds would just mean there would be a frenzy of teams trying to miss the playoffs. And then the tournament idea is simply telling the worst teams that they can off and just pray that they draft well in the middle of the first round. The NBA doesn't want its worst teams to be stuck at the bottom of the league; they simply want to help them while simultaneously not encouraging them to be bad. A tournament solves one issue while greatly exacerbating the other.

 

[OrangeDW]

wait a minute...Ennis is on the Lakers???

He was traded to them at the trade deadline.

 

[shandeezy7]

Not gonna lie, his jumper looks pretty good and he's showing some aggressiveness that we haven't really seen from him, even at Syracuse. Hope he is able to latch on somewhere as a free agent this offseason.

 

[PauliePeppas]

Gonna have a very long career being a back up pg similar to Hart. As long as your not turnover prone and can facilitate/ hit open jumper you'll b fine as a backup

 

[Cusefan0307]

The Lakers jumped out to a 40-14 lead in this game with San Antonio starting everyone except Danny Green(Leonard only played 14 mins, but did start) and once they took the lead Walton benched Nance/Ingram/Clarkson to try and lose, but the young guys were able to pull it out with the Lakers trying everything to lose the game.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Some solutions for the lottery is that the bottom 5 teams all have the same odds so bottom teams don't have incentive to tank.

All non-playoff teams have the same odds.

Having a tournament of the bottom teams for the picks.

The reason is the Lakers winning last night was bad for their franchise.

Last year was the first time in 20 years the 3 worst records got the top 3 picks in the lottery.

If the Lakers finish 3rd in the worst records that lottery night will be nerve wracking for Lakers fans.

I'd include every team that doesn't make the playoffs in the lottery odds, with odds weighted in favor of the teams that didn't make the playoffs by record order, and have the lotto selection for all picks 1-14. After that the picks will go by record.

You could disincentive tanking by spreading the lotto odds out more, and you would also see circumstances where a good team lucks into a better than expected pick and has a chance to become even more competitive.

 

[BlackSquirrels]

Going into last night's game, the Spurs were almost locked into the #2 seed because all the Warriors needed to clinch #1 was another win or two.

Thus, if you're running the Spurs, wouldn't you prefer that the Lakers lose their draft pick to Philly to delay their rebuilding? SA also had an incentive to lose that game.

 

[orange2win]

I believe this is the first game he has ever started in the NBA. Played 39 minutes. Somebody has successfully lit a fire under him. Well done Tyler.

 

[OrangeDW]

I believe this is the first game he has ever started in the NBA. Played 39 minutes. Somebody has successfully lit a fire under him. Well done Tyler.

He started some games in Milwaukee last year.

He actually played ok last year. Then he went to Houston and got buried behind those veteran guards this year. The LA trade has been very good for him. 3 seasons, 4 teams but he's still only 22.

 

[jncuse]

The ping pong ball system is such a joke. Only thoughts I have. Consistently teams end up in basically the order they are already in coming into it. Completely rigged, and a farce. Lakers will probably be fine, if the league deems it so. Just go by record. Not much you can do about tanking.

But, you can't tell me the ping pong balls magically bounce in similar order to records. It's all a joke. The NBA just does it to decide who they want to have where at times.

The ping pong balls are only used to determine the top 3 picks. Everything else in the "lottery teams" from 4-14 is based on record.

 

[JLine]

The ping pong balls are only used to determine the top 3 picks. Everything else in the "lottery teams" from 4-14 is based on record.

Hmm, never knew that. I watch every year, and always thought that the 14th team had a shot to get the number 1 pick, hah. They make it seem like any team has a shot with all the suspense. Makes more sense now. If it's just top 3, then I don't see the point.

 

[jncuse]

Hmm, never knew that. I watch every year, and always thought that the 14th team had a shot to get the number 1 pick, hah. They make it seem like any team has a shot with all the suspense. Makes more sense now. If it's just top 3, then I don't see the point.

Every team between 1 and 14 has a shot at the top 3 (although it is heavily weighted to the top half and especially the bottom three.

But say the balls say 1,8,3 are the first 3 picks... then the remaining picks would automatically go in the order of record starting with team #2. So Team #2 would get the 4th pick, team 4 the 5th pick all the way down to team #14 getting the 14th pick.

 

[JLine]

Every team between 1 and 14 has a shot at the top 3 (although it is heavily weighted to the top half and especially the bottom three.

But say the balls say 1,8,3 are the first 3 picks... then the remaining picks would automatically go in the order of record starting with team #2. So Team #2 would get the 4th pick, team 4 the 5th pick all the way down to team #14 getting the 14th pick.

Gotcha. Appreciate the explanation. For whatever reason I never felt like looking up the procedure after all these years.

 

[MSOrange]

Gonna have a very long career being a back up pg similar to Hart. As long as your not turnover prone and can facilitate/ hit open jumper you'll b fine as a backup

I think the Hart comparison is very reasonable, and if he would ever get to a team that didn't have an established PG already, he might be able to do better than that. Seems like he has been blocked each team he has gone to, but I may be mistaken as I'm not a really close follower of the NBA.

 

[chugg21]

Hmm, never knew that. I watch every year, and always thought that the 14th team had a shot to get the number 1 pick, hah. They make it seem like any team has a shot with all the suspense. Makes more sense now. If it's just top 3, then I don't see the point.

The teams outside of the top 8 have a very slim shot of ending up with the 1st pick, the bottom 6 are all under 2% chance of winning the lotto but it has happened. In 1993 Orlando just missed the playoffs in Shaq's rookie year and had like a 1.5% chance and won it. That's the year that they drafted Chris Webber and traded him for Penny on draft night.

 

[br801]

He started some games in Milwaukee last year.

He actually played ok last year. Then he went to Houston and got buried behind those veteran guards this year. The LA trade has been very good for him. 3 seasons, 4 teams but he's still only 22.

It's too bad there's not some way to actually confirm or refute all these things people say about players.

 

[kirbivore]

Killer win for the Lakers. They lost a lot of ping pong balls to Phoenix and margin for error to keep their pick.

This win hurt the Lakers a lot if one team jumped them in the lottery they would lose their pick this year and in 2019.

Laker fans should be pissed.

This was me the last two Laker games

 

[kirbivore]

Just like the Knicks, neither teams knows how to lose when they need to lol,

Players are never going to tank. Too much pride and they are trying to get a good tape since they don't know if they'll be there next year. It's up to management to make up fake injuries and call up the entire D-league roster and put them on the court.

 

[kirbivore]

That's not necessarily true as to how the lottery works, is it? The top 3 picks are all determined via the ping pong balls. So a team with lower odds than the Lakers could jump them, but the Lakers could still get the #2 or #3 pick based on the ping pong ball combination. Obviously they would like to have more combinations so the likelihood of them picking top 3 is higher, but one team jumping them does not necessarily doom them.

Yes if they finish 3rd worst record the Lakers need to draw a ping pong ball to keep the pick. If they were 2nd worst they could miss and as long as only one team 4th or better drew a ball the Lakers would slide to 3rd.

 

[shandeezy7]

Yes if they finish 3rd worst record the Lakers need to draw a ping pong ball to keep the pick. If they were 2nd worst they could miss and as long as only one team 4th or better drew a ball the Lakers would slide to 3rd.

They need to draw the right ping pong ball combination to receive a top 3 pick, since that's how the top 3 picks are determined. If their combination doesn't come up for any of the top 3 picks, then they won't be in there. Doesn't matter if they have the worst record or the third-worst record. There is no sliding in the top 3 picks, as each one of those picks is determined by drawing the ping pong balls.

 

[Tom K.]

The Lakers young players are playing hard, as they should. They're not trying to lose to let some draft pick take their spot.

I don't know that they're playing that hard. Certainly not playing bad. I think it's just a more subtle tank job than we are used to seeing in, say, Philly.
I mean, they started the season 10-10, a quarter of the season, and then lost 14 of the next 17.
Almost as if someone reminded them that they had a pick to keep.

 

[Knicks411]

Absolutely, they need to lose. But the players on the court don't care about that.

It's always a tough spot. A lot of the guys on the team may not even be on the team next year, or if they are, they don't want a draft pick taking their job.

But by the same token, it's clear how obvious it is the Lakers NEED to keep their pick

 

[Briancuse]

This was me the last two Laker games

View attachment 94501

No yelling on the bus.

 

[OrangeDW]

It's always a tough spot. A lot of the guys on the team may not even be on the team next year, or if they are, they don't want a draft pick taking their job.

But by the same token, it's clear how obvious it is the Lakers NEED to keep their pick

Exactly. But all of the Lakers active players are young guys that are trying to establish themselves in this league. The few veterans they have are mediocre players(Young, Mosgov, Deng). Those guys aren't even playing at this point.

Hard to tank with young, unproven guys fighting for their next contract to stay in the league, or trying to grow into a player deserving of a big second contract.