Everything Derozan

[Barolt]

Actually those games occur starting in late October.

All 82 games regular season games matter as well.

They don't give out rings for winning the regular season. No-one ever talked about how great it was to win games in October in a Hall of Fame acceptance speech. No-one dreams about being a team that won games in January.

[Wild-ling#1]

Without knowing what drives Demar, that might not be a concern. Perhaps restoring one of the most prestigious teams in history is a draw. Until Demar signs and speaks, will be impossible to predict what matters to him.

Agreed. He's not going to say "I'm leaving" now.

Still ... he's really set us up for a fall if he does go. He's said a lot. Didn't have to. It'd be tough to take.


[Edit: It'd be tough to take ... for some. ]

[Barolt]

Agreed. He's not going to say "I'm leaving" now.

Still ... he's really set us up for a fall if he does go. He's said a lot. Didn't have to. It'd be tough to take.

See, this is the thing. Saying all the right things right now is the easy thing to do. He stays, he looks loyal. He leaves to go home, he gets a nice story there too. The more he says the right things, the easier his options are in the summer. It's either how he feels or it's great PR advice. Hard to tell the difference.

[JWash]

They don't give out rings for winning the regular season. No-one ever talked about how great it was to win games in October in a Hall of Fame acceptance speech. No-one dreams about being a team that won games in January.

Regular season sets the tone for how your playoffs are going to go in so many ways. Learning how to play against and beat top teams, establishing your seeding, building team chemistry and towards the end of the season, gearing up and doing your best to roll into the playoffs cooking (something the Raptors failed miserably at last year).

Yeah playoff games matter MORE obviously because it's elimination best of 7 with your season on the line, but that doesn't mean that regular season games and record do not matter, they absolutely do.

How about we take the attitude that regular season games "don't matter", rest the big 3 (Lowry/DD/JV) for 20 games, go into the playoffs 41-41 and the 8th seed and then you let me know how well the playoffs go after that?

Take a picture of Jonas teeing off at the 6th for me too if you don't mind.

[Mess]

They don't give out rings for winning the regular season. No-one ever talked about how great it was to win games in October in a Hall of Fame acceptance speech. No-one dreams about being a team that won games in January.

#ringzzzz

[mcHAPPY]

His old locker?

But seriously, legacy, torch; all that type of stuff which doesn't really matter on the court but may impact how someone feels about a situation.

I'd be shocked if he left.

But no doubt DD was a Laker fan growing up.

Who wouldn't want to play for their fav team?

[Barolt]

Regular season sets the tone for how your playoffs are going to go in so many ways. Learning how to play against and beat top teams, establishing your seeding, building team chemistry and towards the end of the season, gearing up and doing your best to roll into the playoffs cooking (something the Raptors failed miserably at last year).

Yeah playoff games matter MORE obviously because it's elimination best of 7 with your season on the line, but that doesn't mean that regular season games and record do not matter, they absolutely do.

How about we take the attitude that regular season games "don't matter", rest the big 3 (Lowry/DD/JV) for 20 games, go into the playoffs 41-41 and the 8th seed and then you let me know how well the playoffs go after that?

Take a picture of Jonas teeing off at the 6th for me too if you don't mind.

Regular season matters because it sets up the playoffs, for sure. But it's playoff success that determines legacies. You can't talk about Tracy McGrady without hearing that he didn't make it out of the second round. Or Chris Paul without talking about that he's never been to the Finals. Same thing with Carmelo.

The regular season matters... but not to players when thinking about their legacy and what winning means.

[JWash]

See, this is the thing. Saying all the right things right now is the easy thing to do. He stays, he looks loyal. He leaves to go home, he gets a nice story there too. The more he says the right things, the easier his options are in the summer. It's either how he feels or it's great PR advice. Hard to tell the difference.

Uhhh no, how is that a great PR move? It would be better to shut up and not say anything if you're trying to make leaving easier.

Saying how much you want to stay with a team only makes you look like a backstabber and someone who goes back on your word when/if you leave.

I guarantee you that if DeMar leaves, people are going to be extra-pissed because of how often DD has been singing the praises of the city and organization. In that way, it will feel worse than when Bosh left, because with CB you always kind of had the idea he was outta there anyway.

[JWash]

Regular season matters because it sets up the playoffs, for sure. But it's playoff success that determines legacies. You can't talk about Tracy McGrady without hearing that he didn't make it out of the second round. Or Chris Paul without talking about that he's never been to the Finals. Same thing with Carmelo.

The regular season matters... but not to players when thinking about their legacy and what winning means.

You said regular season doesn't matter, that was why I responded. You are now saying the opposite (see bold). So I rest my case.

Obviously wins in the regular season don't establish a player's legacy, but they put you in POSITION to establish that legacy in the playoffs. They do matter, that was my point because you said games don't matter until April which is simply not true.

[Barolt]

You said regular season doesn't matter, that was why I responded. You are now saying the opposite (see bold). So I rest my case.

Obviously wins in the regular season don't establish a player's legacy, but they put you in POSITION to establish that legacy in the playoffs. They do matter, that was my point because you said games don't matter until April which is simply not true.

You're right, I misstated. The intention of my post still rings true though, if we don't win at least a round in the playoffs, we don't look like nearly the winning team that people want to believe the Lakers won't be.

[SkywalkerAC]

Don't look now but DeMar is now over my 31.5% 3-point shooting mark

[JWash]

I also want to point out that Aldridge did not go back to his hometown, nor did he go back to the city where his favourite team played.

In fact, did Aldridge even consider signing with Dallas (that's where he's from)?

This is like a dude from Ottawa signing in Toronto. It's not the same city, it's not where he grew up.

[Wild-ling#1]

But even that's a stretch.

Truth is, every player will make a FA decision based on the combination of money, opportunity to win, team usage, roster fit, location, marketing ability, family's opinions/influence, plus a million additional factors. And each player will weigh these factors differently.

Sure, DeRozan to the Lakers is a possibility. But so is DeRozan to Boston, or DeRozan to Sacramento, or whatever.

I'm just highlighting that we're pretending to know what motivates DeRozan. But in reality, we have no idea.

Hate to admit that, but you're right. Still, after all that's been said ...

(fuck.)

[JWash]

Don't look now but DeMar is now over my 31.5% 3-point shooting mark

More important to me right now is the 40% from the corners. Knew that percentage would pick back up it was terrible early on.

42% on catch and shoot threes, not sure that's going to maintain over the course of the season, but he definitely looks confident taking those ones this season.

[Wild-ling#1]

Don't look now but DeMar is now over my 31.5% 3-point shooting mark

And not just settling for corner threes (as some tried to insist).