Jason Whitlock: Kobe's narcissism ruined Lakers

[OrangeDW]

Kobe signed the extension after he got hurt; if they wanted to get rid of him prior to that they could have just not extended him.

[QUOTE="OrangeDW, post: 1739369, member: 2458"

Kobe had zero negative effect on these last 2 years, IMO. Nobody good would take their money anyway(they tried for Carmelo, Lebron, etc.), so they filled out their roster with cheap, short contracts, and basically gave the rest to Kobe, and sucked bad enough to get some high draft picks. Now they've got 3 very promising young players in Randle, Russell, and Clarkson and even Nance looks like he's got some potential. Plus they'll have a high pick this year, as long as it doesn't fall outside the top 5. They're in decent shape going forward, provided a couple of those guys develop into all star type players(I think Russell and Randle both have a pretty good chance of that).

I agree on Russell, I assume they can keep Clarkson this summer, but I don't think much of Randle. He shot 43% from the field this year, and I don't think his game translates very well to the current NBA landscape.

Their pick is only top 3 protected this year.[/QUOTE]

Randle still averaged a double double, which is not something many guys do in the league. His problem is he tries to finish everything left handed. If he learns to finish with his right and improves his 15-17 footer(he's got a decent stroke and touch, no reason he can't) and he should be a 18-20 ppg guy. He faces up and blows by guys who aren't even respecting his jumper yet, and he can use his strength inside if they put a quicker guy on him.

I also think he has potential as a ball handler/passer for a PF, like an Anthony Mason. He can handle it and pass, he just got tunnel vision a lot this year. He's very young though.

 

[Knicks411]

I agree on Russell, I assume they can keep Clarkson this summer, but I don't think much of Randle. He shot 43% from the field this year, and I don't think his game translates very well to the current NBA landscape.

Their pick is only top 3 protected this year.

Randle still averaged a double double, which is not something many guys do in the league. His problem is he tries to finish everything left handed. If he learns to finish with his right and improves his 15-17 footer(he's got a decent stroke and touch, no reason he can't) and he should be a 18-20 ppg guy. He faces up and blows by guys who aren't even respecting his jumper yet, and he can use his strength inside if they put a quicker guy on him.

I also think he has potential as a ball handler/passer for a PF, like an Anthony Mason. He can handle it and pass, he just got tunnel vision a lot this year. He's very young though.[/QUOTE]

His rebounding is pretty impressive; I'll give him that (4th in the NBA in defensive rebounding %, I would not have guessed that in a million years) but I think he's going to struggle to score with any kind of efficiency in the NBA