I still think Atlanta, Houston, and even Brooklyn had better packages and I am not a fan of Brook Lopez (but he is better than Afflalo and Harrington).  It was a terrible trade by the Magic because they just kept waiting and waiting.  They should have just traded Dwight to Brooklyn last year when they could have had a lottery pick and another 1st in the last draft as well as a bunch of future picks. 

Funny how quickly ppl forgot that the Lakers essentially GAVE away a couple games against OKC this year.  Add Nash and Howard and I think OKC has a tough out in the playoffs again. 

No I didn't forget that. What did I see? I saw Kobe failing big time in the clutch. And now he's a year older.. If he can't close games.. they can't win titles. Dwight has never shown it in the clutch.. Gasol tends to disappear at times.. It's gonna be on Kobe and Nash.. two guys that are a combined 72? 73? years old. Not sold

Phx has horrible last year yet Nash had them in the playoff race right up until the end, the Lakers are clearly the team to beat in the West this season.

Posted by logain on 8/10/2012 3:26:00 PM (view original):
No I didn't forget that. What did I see? I saw Kobe failing big time in the clutch. And now he's a year older.. If he can't close games.. they can't win titles. Dwight has never shown it in the clutch.. Gasol tends to disappear at times.. It's gonna be on Kobe and Nash.. two guys that are a combined 72? 73? years old. Not sold

um - to be polite -what you saw was Steve Blake 'running the offense' in crunch time with under two minutes to go and several possessions worth of lead wasting away

if you dont think Steve Nash makes a vast difference in that equation

and

if you dont think Dwight makes a difference in the first 46 minutes over a disappearing half-assed Bynum?

and

if you dont think Duhon-Meeks-Jamison-Hill is a vast uppgrade in the quality of the bench over last season's?

I just dont know what sense there is to talk to you

I am convinced the Lakers are better than they were. That is obvious. They will at least make the WCF. I don't think I'm alone in thinking Miami and OKC are still better teams.

Does anyone else think it makes sense to move Gasol for a handful of young talent (something like Lamb and two of their young 3/4 tweeners) from Houston at this point?  Gasol is at his worst when he has to share the paint with someone clogging it up, the Lakers need to cut salary and they get get a bunch of young guys to build up as Nash and Bryant fade.  I hate the Lakers and hope it doesn't happen, but it makes too much sense.

the lakers have 2 years worth of window before they have to rebuild around Howard (Kobe and Pau come off the books, Nash will be 40) - they are clearly all in now 

anything that doesnt improve their chances to win now makes no sense

Lakers have the best team this season, no doubt.

They do have two issues:

1) Injuries- Everyone else has to deal with injuries as well, but not everyone else has 6 guys over 32 that they are relying on. Plus their new center just had back surgery.

2) Mike Brown, but if Spo can coach a championship team, I guess anyone can.

I completely agree with stinenavy.  There is no one on paper that is going to beat the Lakers.  If I was going to be hyper critical I would say that strong perimeter teams could hurt them since they don't have the team speed they used to, but again that is nitpicking.  If this season ends in a Heat-Lakers final there is a chance that I won't watch.  Not out of apathy, but rather the self-inflicted bullet wound in my head.  My happiness for Nash and Hill will not be enough to console me.

On paper they certainly look strong.

Let's see reality, though.  Let's see Kobe play friendly with Nash & Howard on the floor.  You'd think that Kobe would take a step back, play off the ball more, and watch his efficiency skyrocket while adding years to his career... but this IS Kobe we're talking about.  I'd love to not see those 9/31 games where he just keeps chucking it up, but I'm afraid he won't change that much.

This squad reminds me of the '04 squad in the respect that we're talking about 4 all-stars coming together on one squad... can it work?  It didn't work before.  There's at least one major difference with this one, though... Nash is a much more team-friendly player than Glove, Howard doesn't need the ball as much as Shaq to make an impact, Kobe's more mature and Pau can play the mid-range game better than an ancient Mailman.

I still know I'm going to bang my head up against a wall at least a few times this season when Kobe goes on self-implode-mode.


I like Bynum & Richardson to Philly.  If anybody can get Bynum to fulfill his potential, I think Dough Collins is that guy.  I like Iggy with the Nuggets... I think he & Lawson make a fantastic dynamic that will win a lot of games (yet remain stuck in that 2nd tier of teams in the west).  Orlando... wow.  At least they got "something" for Howard, though they had better offers earlier.  That franchise was on fire once-upon-a-time (penny - anderson - scott - grant - shaq... yeah, they put that team together and it was fantastic) but the Finals loss pretty much sealed their fate.


I cannot wait for this season.

Miami is still the clear favorites to win the title.  I can't believe people are actually arguing against that point. 

Oklahoma City still matches up very well against the Lakers as LA has no one that can even attempt to guard Westbrook or Durant. 

And lets be real here, Dwight isn't even going to start the year.  Big men with back injuries aren't exactly things to take lightly.  Bryant is getting older which is showing in his efficiency.  Same with Pau (though I think a lot of his decline was Brown's system, but he still declined a lot).  Metta World Peace is still a nut case and is getting slower.  Nash will help the team a lot on offense, but he has never been able to guard anyone and that is worse the older he gets. 

Dwight not starting: Pau plays his natural position, Jamison or Hill starts - the Lakers have a ridiculously friendly schedule - as long as they hang around they'll be fine

Bryant had to play 39 minutes a game last year and basically play both the sg/pg roles - Nash will improve his efficiency and make his life on the floor easier and Meeks will make it hella easier to get him some rest and average closer to 33-34 mpg

Pau declined (18ppg 10rpg 3apg to 17ppg 10rg 4apg) because : playing out of position, moved to 3rd priority, new system/no pg - he will probably benefit from Nash more than anyone

Metta is still good enough to be the 5th guy - and he was good enough to be the second guy through most of the last couple months of last year

Nash cant be much worse than Fisher on D and Dwight makes up for many sins

Now Im left thinking about how many d-league all-stars it will take for Houston to fill out its lineup...now I'm getting ******.

dont get too excited about meeks....hes streaky as hell....poor ball handler and passer too...he does try hard on d but is too small for most 2s