6 things we love about Lakers preseason

Remember back in the day when the thought preseason games being televised was laughable? Hell, remember back when regular season games weren’t televised? Those were dark times indeed, for us all. A time before push notifications and mobile apps. Thankfully we managed to claw our way out of that period of technological ignorance and evolve into the perfectly rational society we are today, where college spring games and Summer League gets premium airtime. My friends, this is truly an era of enlightenment. For we live in an enchanted place where as long as someone is wearing a jersey that says Lakers on it, there are at least 14 cameras en route to televise it.

With that let’s get to the preseason. We’re still technically a couple of weeks from the start of the regular season, but it’s never too early to get some wrong predictions down to make you look stupid later on. But predictions aren’t really my thing (mainly because I don’t like being wrong) so I thought we would go with another equally cheesy piece of #content for you today. So here goes nothing.

6 Things I’m Almost Positive I Like About the Lakers Preseason So Far

1. GIFs! GIFs! GIFs!

This team appears to be the most GIF-able squad in recent Lakers memory. See, here’s an awesome GIF from the other night:

And it’s not just one or two players, either. This team has 5-6 potential GIFs-in-waiting. Here’s a GIF of Mozgov doing something remarkably athletic:

Not only that, but this team can GIF it up on both ends of the floor. Here’s Huertas doing something impressive with a basketball.

See what I mean? We might be sitting on a potential treasure trove of Twitter gold this season. I mean, hell, even if everything else manages to go poorly at least we can get some retweets along the way.

2. Nick Young!

Okay. Admittedly, we’re not even to Halloween, but boy does he look like a different dude out there. It seemed like he was a guy on the roster that most people had written off, but he’s already proven his ability to contribute through the first few exhibition games.

Now, of course there’s going to be cynicism around a player like Young, who has had a semi-prickly time in Los Angeles. But, I think we might actually see this guy all season long. In fact, I think that for a couple reasons.

1. Nick has been a part of three tough seasons in LA, and with a seemingly brighter future approaching he realizes it would be foolish to waste those years he’s already invested only to depart once things seem heading in the right direction.

2. This seems like a fun team, and NY likes to have fun on the court. Hell that’s been one of the knocks on him in the past. In a free-wheeling offense like this is (expected) to be, a player with Young’s skillset could be featured well and prominently. Which brings me to my third and final reason.

3. Contract year.

Young doesn’t need to be the best three-and-D guy in the league to still have a positive impact on this team. He can quickly become a fan (and coach’s) favorite just by showcasing some consistent hustle, a few outside buckets and, if he’s feeling truly generous, a little veteran mentorship.

3. Excited Stu Lantz!

This one pretty much explains itself.

Noice!

4. Literally (Sorta) Every Player is Interesting and/or Worth Watching!

You know when you play 2K or Madden and you always have your two or three favorite players that you get all the stats for? You know, when you get mad at yourself for accidentally shooting with Wesley Johnson because you want someone like D’Angelo to have a higher point total. My personal favorite is throwing the ball four straight times from the 1-yard line in Madden because you want your QB to get more throwing touchdowns. You’ve done that before too. Don’t even try to deny it.

Anyways, with these Lakers I feel like we don’t have that problem. There are so many different and interesting aspects of this team. As a fan, you’re looking for development from a variety of different players, so seeing any of them make positive strides is generally received well. For the most part, it doesn’t matter who gets the minutes and shots – we just want to see the action.

Sure this team still has a long way to go in terms of competing at the highest level in this league, it’s fun knowing that we don’t have to judge this season on wins and losses, and that’s a fairly liberating feeling. We’re given the opportunity to sit back and play MyGM on our couch and just enjoy the show. (The show in question, by the way, is Access SportsNet, and it’s on before and after every Lakers game. At least that’s what I heard.)

5. Luke Walton Working the Referees Like a Seasoned Vet!

We all know this is Luke’s first season as head boss in Los Angeles, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that watching him pace up and down the sideline, getting in the ear of the officials.

He’s even got the walk down, and turns perfectly on his heel as the action shifts towards the other end of the court. The arm movements look very coach-like as well. I like to think he spent time practicing this. Admittedly, I might be looking a little too far into it.

6. D’Lo’s Soundbites!

Let me tell you something: I’m 28 years-old and I’m an idiot. When I was 19 I was even more of an idiot. Now, I’m not saying D’Angelo Russell is too, not at all. I think it’s quite apparent that D’Angelo and I don’t have a ton of things in common, so it’s likely that’s on that list. What I am saying is that we were all kids at one point, and (most of us) grew up and out of it.

And we didn’t have to do it as start point guard for the LA Lakers. I really liked what I saw from D’Lo last season. I thought his potential looked enormous, he just needed more development and polishing. You know, because he was f------ nineteen.

But as his sophomore season approaches, Russell is saying exactly what fans want to hear.

“I’m still learning my way into this league. So competing at a high level and trying to get myself going, and get other guys going and winning, is all that really matters.”

“I’ve got to look at film, and ask for a little more guidance.”

“I’m ready to go.”

Sounds good to me.

And on that note, we’ll push off to the weekend. Until next time, friends!