Lakers season thread

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Originally Posted by jbruin152

Yes, I do think the Warriors were, by the playoffs, a better team--they completely revamped their roster midseason and had a much better record than the Lakers after that. They also matched up much better against Dallas than the Lakers do against Phoenix. Dallas and Golden State both play the up-tempo, not much post game style and Golden State just got ridiculously hot in that series.

I still have no idea how the Lakers took Phoenix to seven games two years ago.

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I'm just speaking to the ability of the players on those teams. Not who was playing better at that time. In fact, I'd say that's the crux of all of this talk. Kobe's teams don't play well as a team. Is that his fault or theirs? I'm sure you could guess how I feel, but it's just an opinion.

By and large I don't think there is much of a difference in terms of overall team talent there. The main difference (in my eyes) is that the Warriors were playing very cohesive basketball at that time. Something the Lakers haven't done for years.

And I answered that question already, that Golden State with their roster come playoff time was a better team. And their record post-trade showed it. Harrington and Jackson were a huge upgrade from Dunleavy and Murphy. Biedrins and Ellis also emerged as very strong contributors, and they were 20 and 21 respectively last year.

Also, to not assess how and why those matchups worked out the way they did and look at it simply as "this team got a round farther" is quite disingenuous.

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Originally Posted by SmytheKing

Excellent article on the Kobe trade situation by Chad Ford:


Point #1 is something I've thought about for many years and the reason I said they should have traded him a couple years back.

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I'd rather have a 30 yr. old Kobe (with the milage) than a 29 yr. old (no milage, and there's a reason for that) Nowitzki any day of the week. Done!!!

Kobe isn't gonna be too happy with that column. heh

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Originally Posted by jbruin152

And I answered that question already, that Golden State with their roster come playoff time was a better team. And their record post-trade showed it. Harrington and Jackson were a huge upgrade from Dunleavy and Murphy. Biedrins and Ellis also emerged as very strong contributors, and they were 20 and 21 respectively last year.

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Better, fine. THAT much better though? I mean, they wallopped (first time I've ever used that word so I might have spelled it incorrectly) Dallas in that series. I'd say the trio of Bryant, Odom, Walton is better than Davis, Richardson, and Jackson. On any given night those teams are equal in talent. Again though, team play is the difference here. Golden State was playing very well together and the Lakers never got it going again after the injuries hit.

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Originally Posted by jbruin152

Also, to not assess how and why those matchups worked out the way they did and look at it simply as "this team got a round farther" is quite disingenuous.

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Of course it's not fair to do that, but it's really the only barometer there is. Break down the bottom three playoff teams in the west and the three that followed them. Is there really a significant difference between them all? Outside of the Big 3 in the West, I'd say that the Lakers could hang with any of them in a 7 game series and probably win most of them. I personally refuse to blame everything on the Lakers "sucky" bench when one guy is taking 45% of the teams shots on a lot of nights. It's like complaining about how awful the 4th line of the Kings was last year and how they aren't contributing offensively.

Not that I necessarily think it's still a possibility but the Bulls lost again tonight. That's a helluva bad start! And I'll bet the front office in Chi-town is hitting happy hour talking about Kobe.

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Originally Posted by SmytheKing

On any given night those teams are equal in talent. Again though, team play is the difference here. Golden State was playing very well together and the Lakers never got it going again after the injuries hit.

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I strongly disagree. GS just happened to draw the one team in the top tier that they had a chance of hanging with, because Dallas' defense was the weakest of the top teams and GS just got hot offensively.

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Originally Posted by SmytheKing

Of course it's not fair to do that, but it's really the only barometer there is. Break down the bottom three playoff teams in the west and the three that followed them. Is there really a significant difference between them all? Outside of the Big 3 in the West, I'd say that the Lakers could hang with any of them in a 7 game series and probably win most of them.

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Again, disingenuous and irrelevant. It's the only barometer only if you fall prey to simplistic Plaschke/Simers-type arguments. It just isn't that simple. I never said Golden State was a far superior team, I'm saying I think they're a little better but that's not saying much.

You can keep dancing around it all you want, but Golden State just simply matched up better with Dallas. They wouldn't have beaten Phoenix, San Antonio, or Utah if they drew them in the first round.

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Originally Posted by SmytheKing

I personally refuse to blame everything on the Lakers "sucky" bench when one guy is taking 45% of the teams shots on a lot of nights. It's like complaining about how awful the 4th line of the Kings was last year and how they aren't contributing offensively.

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Your analogy is bogus. Nobody expects the 4th line to be your offensive firepower, but I do expect guys getting 15-35 minutes a game to be much better than they are and to actually play defense.

Kobe's supporting cast doesn't just mean his bench and guys who play marginal minutes. There are/were a ton of minutes going to starters who are just not very good (Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, etc.). And that's why Kobe takes so many shots.

I'm also not sure where you're getting this 45% figure. Kobe takes just slightly over 25% of the team's shots.

"We call this a 'Brokeback Mountain' game because there's so much penetration and kick-outs," Phil Jackson said. "It was one of those games."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...adlines-sports

Phil is the man.

Lakers looked like garbage last night.

Let's get a win tonight against the Rockets

Nice win tonight. Let's see if this team can string a couple of these together.