Metta World Peace thinks Lakers could ‘surprise people’ this season
At his charity golf event the World Peace Classic, Lakers legend Metta World Peace discussed why the Lakers will be even better than what we’ve seen as the season continues.
LOS ANGELES - On Monday morning, Metta World Peace, formerly known as Ron Artest, held his inaugural charity golf event, the World Peace Classic.
This celebrity golf tournament — powered by XvsX SPORTS — took place at the Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, CA. All proceeds went to support his charitable cause for mental health & awareness and the charities supported are the NAMI GLAC (National Alliance on Mental Illness), YMCA and Artest University.
He took a moment prior to the event to speak with Silver Screen & Roll regarding all things Lakers. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, Metta had some interesting takeaways when discussing the team's potential to win a title.
"This year I think if they stay healthy, they could sneak up in there and surprise people because you look at the Knicks, they were an eight seed [in the 1999 NBA playoffs], they went to the Finals," World Peace said. "So it depends, but they have a good team. When they're together, it's hard to... people don't know how good they can be, but we know when they're together they look pretty good. So it's going to be interesting."
While pointing out examples of outliers can be encouraging, given the Lakers' current position at seventh in the Western Conference standings, we must point out that they're outliers for a reason. After 82 games, the best teams are usually near the top of the standings.
Even last season, when the Lakers were an outlier making it to the Western Conference Finals as a seventh seed, they lost to the No. 1 seed, Denver Nuggets, who went on to win it all.
The good news for the Lakers is 75% of the season is still left and besides potential trades that could improve the team, it's been well-documented that the team has yet to be healthy.
That's quickly changing with Jarred Vanderbilt back and Rui Hachimura cleared to play, so maybe just allowing another 20 or so games to pass will improve the Lakers' current position in the standings and the potential MWP sees will come to fruition.
"I think it's a real team," World Peace said. “I think they got a lot of great shooters. The three-point percentage… is expected to be higher with the players they go. They got a lot of scorers. So I think this year has got more and more scores."
He's right about the scorers. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and D'Angelo Russell have all scored at least 30 points in a game this year. Other players also have that potential, such as Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves. If the team can get closer to the league average of 36% from three, that should be enough to spread the floor a bit more, give them extra points and put them in a position to win a few more games.
It's too early to be standings-watching or declarative statements on what this team can or can not become. However, there is optimism that with players returning and the three-point shot eventually improving, the Lakers can surprise people and reach their maximum potential.
Metta certainly thinks so and that's a person who knows what it takes to win an NBA title in a Lakers uniform.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.