D'Angelo Russell (Photo : Twitter)
ESPN and Kobe Bryant are not the best of friends, and this year's Summer Forecast will not help.
When ranking the Western Conference, ESPN placed the Lakers 14th in the Western Conference beating only the Minnesota Timberwolves and ranked behind the Denver Nuggets, Portland Trailblazers and Sacramento Kings.
Kobe Bryant has yet to comment on the current forecast, but last year, he was notorious for his quote that ESPN's analysts are a "bunch of idiots."
Lakers Nation gathered reactions from the Lakers' side. Coach Byron Scott, rookie D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle were rather calm.
"It motivates me big-time. And I know how No. 24 (Kobe Bryant) is....and I hope it motivates them (the rest of the Lakers roster) too, because I think we're a lot better than everybody thinks we are," he said. "If we can stay somewhere close to injury free, keep Kobe on the floor, I think we can surprise some people."
Second overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, D'Angelo Russell agrees with his coach that it should motivate the team. He understands that the Western Conference is very competitive and that they need to improve.
"If we're the underdog, we're not doing something right, so we should know that we've got to come in and work everyday, prepared to be the best."
Julius Randle showed a hint of disdain but understands what criticism is about,
"It doesn't matter to me, honestly. When you go out there and play, you've got to prove that type of stuff. The official ranking will be at the end of the season, and that's all we care about."
Being professional basketball players, especially young ones, they need to give safe answers. But for the loyal fans who have invested years, even decades on their team, the reaction would be similar to the comment of "Bobby Digital" at Lakers Nation:
"For some reason, don't seem to realize how good of a team we have. The sad part about it is it's mostly Lakers fans. 14th seed? Really? 20 games in, all the idiots at ESPN, the haters and all of the unfaithful Laker fans will be singing another tune. And watch, when the Lakers prove everyone wrong, everyone will be on here talking about how they knew it all along. Ima be the first one to call them out too."
