OT: LOL at LAL

[moqui]

five games into the season, and sports talk radio in Los Angeles is filled with calls to fire Mike Brown and bring Phil Jackson back from retirement.

they will remain older, slower, more injury prone and less athletic (at all but one position) than the squads that flamed out in the last two first rounds, regardless of who coaches them.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

five games into the season, and sports talk radio in Los Angeles is filled with calls to fire Mike Brown and bring Phil Jackson back from retirement.

they will remain older, slower, more injury prone and less athletic (at all but one position) than the squads that flamed out in the last two first rounds, regardless of who coaches them.

I watched the Lakers at Jazz game last night and they looked real bad. I know they are missing Nash, and maybe he can do something, but when they shoot 33% for the game they aren't going to win too many. Amazing how they can shoot 28 more free throws than the home team and still lose. Jazz really bottled up Kobe last night and the strategy worked great. Gasol, Blake and Metta World Peace were a combined 7 for 31. Not entirely sure that is Mike Brown's fault. Funny thing is that I have even seen Jerry Sloan's name thrown into the mix to replace Mike Brown.

 

[Gabjon]

I love hating on the Lakers and enjoy their loses like I just won money, but I would not put anything pass Phil Jackson and don't want him to come back for any reason!

 

[OrangeDW]

five games into the season, and sports talk radio in Los Angeles is filled with calls to fire Mike Brown and bring Phil Jackson back from retirement.

they will remain older, slower, more injury prone and less athletic (at all but one position) than the squads that flamed out in the last two first rounds, regardless of who coaches them.

They lost in the 2nd round the last 2 years, not the first round.

Agree that they are slow and unathletic on the whole. Letting guys like Shannon Brown go was a mistake. But Brown's rotations are often terrible. The combinations of players he puts out there often make no sense, and he's so inconsistent with their roles. He does not manage the game well at all from that standpoint.

I mean, he plays Devin Ebanks at the 2. That pretty much sums it up.

 

[moqui]

They lost in the 2nd round the last 2 years, not the first round.

Agree that they are slow and unathletic on the whole. Letting guys like Shannon Brown go was a mistake. But Brown's rotations are often terrible. The combinations of players he puts out there often make no sense, and he's so inconsistent with their roles. He does not manage the game well at all from that standpoint.

I mean, he plays Devin Ebanks at the 2. That pretty much sums it up.

thanks for the correction

the thing that got me was the near universal consensus in Lakerland after last season was that the team needed to get younger and more athletic . . . and then they went out and did the opposite, but everyone forgot about their earlier diagnosis and began planning for the next trophy parade.

 

[OrangeDW]

thanks for the correction

the thing that got me was the near universal consensus in Lakerland after last season was that the team needed to get younger and more athletic . . . and then they went out and did the opposite, but everyone forgot about their earlier diagnosis and began planning for the next trophy parade.

It's a fair point, definitely. I would never count them out in early November though. Howard is not nearly 100% yet and is still playing well, Kobe has been pretty efficient offensively, and they haven't really even had Nash yet. They still may put it together and make a run.

But they are a mess right now. Though I really do think Brown's utilization of the bench is the biggest thing that's hurting them. They may be old and slow at many spots, but they still have enough talent to win. Their bench kills them every night, but I do think that can be ironed out.

Not using Jodie Meeks at all baffles me - he can at least shoot and space the floor. Playing Devin Ebanks at the 2 baffles me - he can't shoot beyond 17 feet, doesn't have a 2 Guard handle, and is not quick enough laterally to guard 2's...he's a clear 3, and playing Jamison so inconsistently and out of position baffles me. He's old, but he's got more in the tank than this, he looks like a fish out of water out there. Even playing Darius Morris over Duhon is questionable...I understand maybe wanting the young legs out there and developing the young player with possible upside but he hasn't shown much game so far and Duhon(who I don't even like) would do a better job of settling things down and running the show as the backup PG.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Fair points. I don't think Brown really helps them though.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

I think we all just figure Kobe will be Superman forever... but the thing I tend to forget is... he is kind of one dimensional. He's a one way player that doesn't shoot a great percentage anymore. It's not like he crashes the boards or really wants to set up teammates. Nash can't defend anyone... Gasol is old and much slower than he was.

Howard is going to have to be a beast for them to win.

 

[Knicks411]

Moqui, was just thinking about your prediction for the Lakers, so funny you should bring it up.

I'll still think they will win in the mid 50's and be a really tough out in the playoffs.

 

[PoppyHart]

People are talking like their 100-1 against winning. They'll be fine.

 

[Gabjon]

Moqui, was just thinking about your prediction for the Lakers, so funny you should bring it up.

I'll still think they will win in the mid 50's and be a really tough out in the playoffs.

I think there is no way they win 50+ games, they can't guard the point Nash is worse than Blake. It put they defense behind the 8 ball every game. Utah is not a good team not close and they controlled the entire game.

 

[Gabjon]

Who here thinks these personalities will work well together?
Howard interview

Kobe interview

 

[br801]

I think we all just figure Kobe will be Superman forever... but the thing I tend to forget is... he is kind of one dimensional. He's a one way player that doesn't shoot a great percentage anymore. It's not like he crashes the boards or really wants to set up teammates. Nash can't defend anyone... Gasol is old and much slower than he was.

Howard is going to have to be a beast for them to win.

Kobe has shot around 45% or 46% from the field pretty consistently throughout his career. This season he is at 56% through five games. I don't know what that means, other than five games is too small a sample from which to extrapolate anything definitive, including how many games a team will win over the course of a season. How did the Heat do in their first 20 games last season?

 

[iLikeCallOfDuty]

ehh, Let them Gel.. I mean thats why i HATE Sports Analists hyping these things. They did it with the Heat and they lost in the NBA finals in the first year and they got called overratted and the very next year they won it all. Look at the Eagles, ESPN called them the "Dream Team" and so far there like 10-14 again.. Let them GEL! Look at some of some "SuperStars" Tim Tebow.. Dude got a press conference as a backup QB, Jeremy Lin.. 2 weeks of fame and now he is averaging 42835732948342095 T.O.'s a game. But im getting off topic now, give it a week or 2 and you will see Nash back lobbing it up to D' Howard and The Black Mamba. I think its going to be in the Eastern Conference Finals your gonna have the Heat vs ... THE KNICKS?!?!?!? and in the Western Conference its going to be the Lakers and Spurs and Heat is going to beat the Lakers in 6 games in the Finals

 

[SoBeCuse]

Artest, uh World Peace, shouldn't be a starting SF on any team in the league anymore.

 

[moqui]

it's a perfect storm: none of their starters can defend the perimeter anymore, and none of their bench players can score. they are the Hurricane Sandy of the NBA

 

[Knicks411]

it's a perfect storm: none of their starters can defend the perimeter anymore, and none of their bench players can score. they are the Hurricane Sandy of the NBA

Yeah their bench is really bad. I think their four stars will be able to overwhelm that in March. (really hope I'm wrong, btw)

 

[Gabjon]

it's a perfect storm: none of their starters can defend the perimeter anymore, and none of their bench players can score. they are the Hurricane Sandy of the NBA

and they have a 100million payroll 15million more than the next team!...very Yankeeish right now!

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Would you take Howard/Kobe/Pau/Nash over Lebron/Wade/Bosh/Chalmers for THIS season only if you were starting a team?

 

[br801]

and they have a 100million payroll 15million more than the next team!...very Yankeeish right now!

They better hope they turn out to be the 1998 Yankees and not the 1965 Yankees.

 

[MikeSU02]

Would you take Howard/Kobe/Pau/Nash over Lebron/Wade/Bosh/Chalmers for THIS season only if you were starting a team?

I would take the team with the best player on the planet over the team with a bunch of old, injured guys, one of which - Nash - can't guard a high school PG, let alone an NBA one.

 

[Knicks411]

Would you take Howard/Kobe/Pau/Nash over Lebron/Wade/Bosh/Chalmers for THIS season only if you were starting a team?

Miami's easily.

 

[Gabjon]

I would take the team with the best player on the planet over the team with a bunch of old, injured guys, one of which - Nash - can't guard a high school PG, let alone an NBA one.

And one team has Ray Allen coming off the bench the other team has no bench!

 

[JrodCuse]

Would you take Howard/Kobe/Pau/Nash over Lebron/Wade/Bosh/Chalmers for THIS season only if you were starting a team?

You couldn't pay me enough to take the Lakers lineup over the Heat. I've said it before and I'll say it again. As a Heat fan I am not scared in the least of the Lakers. They match up so poorly with the Heat it isn't even funny. Heat will run all over them in their 2 matchups this year. Scary part about the Heat is they aren't even close to as good as they will be in the playoffs versus how they are playing now. Their D is still rounding into shape and Lebron is still playing out on the perimeter and not in the low post where he is 100% unstoppable. AND he is almost getting a triple double on a nightly basis. The only thing that can stop the Heat from winning it all this year is a few very serious injuries.

The Heat went about things the right way this offseason. "What's that, we need a Center?" Ok how about we go sign Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis instead. Good luck guarding us with your traditional lineup. You going to put your center on Chris Bosh 25 ft from the basket? Enjoy that mismatch.

 

[Knicks411]

Yeah I really like what Miami did.