At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

Personally i didnt through all the controversy and trade talks i would have thought maybe about 42-40... thoughts?

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

i'll be honest..i had no idea what to expect, i knew we had the talent to do well, but with the offseason as rough as it was , i never had a feeling either way, i decided way back in september that this season i was going to enjoy for what it was and roll with what we got, and cheer for whoever was on the court...

that's one of the reasons i get fed up with all the lets trade this guy or that guy, or he sucks threads/posts..

everyone of these guys from the front office to the water boy put kobe's remarks behind them and came out with the best they had...
hat's off to the whole team

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

Honestly, I didn’t think we’d make the playoffs. Kobe was all but out the door at the time.

Got to appreciate how the guys worked hard this off-season to prove Kobe wrong. Also how Kobe didn’t boycott games like a little b!tch. And even Odoms foot for helping us become the most stacked team in the league when healthy (take that you damn Celtics!).

Seriously though, we’re lucky to be so blessed as Lakers fans. We’re capable of winning atleast 2 titles with this current lineup. I do expect 4, however. ;)

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

I thought without Kobe we'd be a 35-40 win team.

As long as Kobe was here I expected 50+ wins.

We had a good team in the beginning. Some people were drama queens and overreacted.

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

To be honest I wanted Kobe to be trade to the bulls. I thought we would do just fine without him. Glad everything worked out for us.

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

I've never been more frustrated by a team I root for....wait, This is the second team I've been really frustraded by (Raider fan :cry:. And I might add a Raider fan who understands his team has been an embaressment to the NFL since 2003).

I was so upset with Kobe for publicly selling out teammates and the organization and publicly demanding a trade during mabye the most important off season since Shaq came to the Lakers as a free agent and we traded for Kobe.

With Garnett ready to be dealt by the T-Wolves, Kobe comes out and kills any chance of Garnett coming to LA. So frustating.

I was against any deal sending Bynum out unless Garnett was coming back and I DID NOT want to trade Kobe at any cost and not because I give a rats ass about him. If a guy is going to sell you out and want to jump ship, screw that. I wanted to make him honor his contract, be miserable for two years, and then walk at the end.

I was prepared to dig in for two long miserable years of Kobe whining to get out and the Lakers not caving to his demands. Then Fish was signed and I though, mabye, just MAYBE he can talk some sense into that egomaniac. Still I thought that would only be placated him temporarly while and he would blow up again when the trade dealine came into view. I was prepared for the worst and prepared for an ugly battle as the Lakers tried to force the Bynum era while Kobe was still here.

As if you haven't figured it out the egomaniacs in sports just piss me. They get paid millions of dollars to play a kids game and do nothing but whine and cry and think the world revolves around them, but that is a whole other story for a different post.

Back to the original question. I thought they would be a bubble playoff team and if they got in, would get bounced in the first round easily. I was hoping they would just miss the playoffs all together and get back into the lottery instead of being a 6-8 seed with no chance to do anything.

For once all the stars lined up and one by one all the pieces started falling together and finally Kobe got it that the organization actually knew what they were doing and finally got on board.

Major props to GM Kupchack for not caving to Kobe's demands and not making a sideways trade just to appease him. Again another post for another time about the job he has done, :bowdown:

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

Well, again, I don’t condone Kobe’s methods of venting his frustrations but I do understand him.

The man was 29 with only a few years left of his prime, without a title, and still on a team seemingly in rebuilding mode. I think Kobe seeing Lebron go to the finals is what hurt him most. We all know how much of a competitor Kobe is and seeing the direction his career was going made him snap.

What I think is so magnificent about this story is how the team worked extra hard to become what they are now over the summer, just to prove Kobe wrong. It’s really a Cinderella story.

And I seriously think Kobe will retire as a Laker now. He knows this team is his best chance to win the title, and I expect him to lead us to one now. He wanted the support and he got it, so now it’s put up or shut up.

With all that said, remember- all we need is 3 titles to top Boston. ;)

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

imagine getting the call where someone agrees to trade you Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown

it doesn't make sense.

there had to be some backroom financial deal for the grizz owners.

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

blah blah blah... you are one of the whiniest people i have have seen...
go make another thread about it, evidently the first two didn't get it out of your system...
3 would certainly not be too many by the same poster on the same subject...

what you don't think we've all heard your opinon enough yet? lol

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

I certainly didn't expect the Lakers to be first or even in the top 3. I bet if I took the time to look back at the threads from the pre-season, I'd find predictions of people saying we'd be extremely fortunate to be 6th or 7th.

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

I think we need to dig up those pronostications from the beginning of the season.. because many (including me...) were saying that the lakers were going to have a 50 win, plus season... :D

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

in the beginning of the season i had no faith in mitch. i thought we would never dump kwame and cook especially the way we did plus picking up Gasol was just pure genius my hats of to kupchak. The best part of the trade was that gasol fit in right away and that didnt effect the Team Chemistry

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

I actually took a print out of the schedule when the season started and put a W or L on each game. Im exactly right on in regards to record, so yes I thought we would be this good...

Re: At the beginning of the season would you think we would be this good?
 

Well, I thought we would be better than last year and was expecting to win 50-55 games...and I justified that with the following:

1. Not having any major injuries
2. The youth: bynum, farmar, sasha would improve
3. Addition by subtraction: Add D.Fish, Subtract S. Parker (that alone adds 5-7 wins)
4. Devine intervention

But there is no way I could have imagined us being a contender, but rather just a 4/5 seed in the playoffs.

However, next year i'm expecting 65+ wins