Lakers Thread

[NovU]

Now only if you guys signed Jeremy Lin...

[Fluke32]

The Lakers offered him a spot in last years summer league. He chose to go with the Golden State Warriors because it's his hometown. If he chose the Lakers at that time, I'm sure he would've ended up with the LA D-fenders. But alas, the lock out came and went, then Houston beat them to the punch, they then waived him, now LAL already had a full roster... =.=

[Andrew]

Do the lakers still have what it takes for another run?

Can't rule it out I guess, it's not as though underdog teams haven't made the Finals or even won the championship before. Right now, it's looking unlikely though.

[Lamrock]

The way the West is, seeds 2-9 is extremely close, and I think the Lakers have a very good chance to make the WCF with a 2, 3, 6 or 7 seed. Thunder should vaporize them barring trade or injury though.

[Fluke32]

Lakers Hoopsworld insider Eric Puncis has penned an article about a possible Pau Gasol for Rajon Rondo deal, in which keys in this latest NBA.com interview with Mitch Kupchak: http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/120202_m ... pdate.html, wherein Eric Puncis has found subtle hints that Mitch is possibly dialing in on trading for a 25-year old "Ball-Handling Point Guard". Now if there's anything the Celtics would like from LAL besides Andrew Bynum, it'd have to be Pau Gasol.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-2-rondo-f ... possiblity

The article also points out that Bynum has been quoted that changes might possibly happen if the current road trip doesn't show any signs that the current roster could work.

[Andrew]

Gasol for Rondo? It could work, a little better for the Lakers than it would the Celtics. Gasol hasn't been himself for much of the season and to make a massive understatement, Rondo is a huge upgrade on Fisher. I'm sure the Celtics wouldn't mind having Gasol, likely starting him alongside KG and Pierce in the frontcourt, but then that leaves them without a backcourt leader and they seem pretty keen on handing the team over to Rondo with their Big Three winding down their careers. I don't think it happens.

The way the West is, seeds 2-9 is extremely close, and I think the Lakers have a very good chance to make the WCF with a 2, 3, 6 or 7 seed. Thunder should vaporize them barring trade or injury though.

The way they're performing on the road right now, I think they absolutely need to have home court advantage to go deep into the Playoffs. That's not to say they can't or won't kick it into high gear, as underdogs or otherwise, but right now I wouldn't be shocked if they were ousted in the first round. Probably not in a sweep, but in five or six.

[Fluke32]

Gasol for Rondo? It could work, a little better for the Lakers than it would the Celtics. Gasol hasn't been himself for much of the season and to make a massive understatement, Rondo is a huge upgrade on Fisher. I'm sure the Celtics wouldn't mind having Gasol, likely starting him alongside KG and Pierce in the frontcourt, but then that leaves them without a backcourt leader and they seem pretty keen on handing the team over to Rondo with their Big Three winding down their careers. I don't think it happens.

The way the West is, seeds 2-9 is extremely close, and I think the Lakers have a very good chance to make the WCF with a 2, 3, 6 or 7 seed. Thunder should vaporize them barring trade or injury though.

The way they're performing on the road right now, I think they absolutely need to have home court advantage to go deep into the Playoffs. That's not to say they can't or won't kick it into high gear, as underdogs or otherwise, but right now I wouldn't be shocked if they were ousted in the first round. Probably not in a sweep, but in five or six.

Based from what I've seen in twitter conversations between beat writers, team insiders and analysts, it seems that the ever famous "sources" cited that Celtics management have had problems with Rajon Rondo's "attitude". I dunno what that exactly meant but It seems that this was the main precursor as to why he was in the trading block in the first place.

Anyway, if Boston gets Pau Gasol's contract, there is a high chance that Boston's rebuilding process will start to show what direction Boston decided to take after 2-3 years. Pau Gasol's $18.9M contract's expiration year coincides with Paul Pierce's $15.3M contract, so that would mean By 2015, Boston would have 34.2 M off their salary by the that time if they decide to not keep Pau Gasol and Paul Pierce... It also maybe possible that Boston would let go of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett after this season, unless they can convince both players to re-sign with them for smaller salaries and for about 2 years.

[Andrew]

A couple of weeks back there was talk of the Celtics breaking up the big three while handing the keys over to Rondo. Perhaps there has been a falling out behind closed doors but it seems more likely they'll try to rebuild around Rondo than trade him away as part of said rebuilding effort. Nevertheless, if there is any truth to the rumour, he'd be quite an acquisition for the Lakers. Of course, that leaves them quite thin up front and hoping that Bynum can make it through the season without a significant injury.

[Stress Fracture]

The Lakers would have a surplus of PG if that happens.

[Fluke32]

I believe what would happen is Boston would have to part with Rondo and a big with a relaively large contract. So it's between J.O. or Bass. Meanwhile LA will probably also send another player along with Pau Gasol to make room for the other contract LAL will be receiving since they're already at 15 players.

[Jackal]

At 14 since they cut Caracter.

[JBoom_LALALAND]

Will they win over Boston?

[Stress Fracture]

At 14 since they cut Caracter.

I thought Caracter was injured?

[Bruce]

At 14 since they cut Caracter.

I thought Caracter was injured?

Caracter was back from injury, and the team sent him to the d-league before being cut.

I does not make sense to me though why they cut Caracter. If they traded Gasol for Rondo + Bass or O'Neal, I would think the Lakers would want to have more players in the PF spot. I guess we'll just have yo wait and see.

[Fluke32]

At 14 since they cut Caracter.

I thought Caracter was injured?

Caracter was back from injury, and the team sent him to the d-league before being cut.

I does not make sense to me though why they cut Caracter. If they traded Gasol for Rondo + Bass or O'Neal, I would think the Lakers would want to have more players in the PF spot. I guess we'll just have yo wait and see.

They still have Murphy and Josh McRoberts. I think the Lakers would trade for Rondo + Bass and they'll send Pau+Morris, then probably use whatever trade exception they have left and the last roster spot for a cheap body.

[Jackal]

He was injured indeed, he was averaging around 17 points orso in the D-League after 4 games then got cut.

On another note, I dont get why Murphy is getting more minutes at the reserve forward spot instead of McRoberts. Murphy looks like an old man on defense. I get the whole spreading the floor with Bynum but they pretty much abuse him on the defensive end. It's sad to watch.

[Fluke32]

It's all basically because of the weak-ass Strong Corner Offense Mike Brown is implementing. It a 4 out 1 in set where 1 Big is in the post, and the other one is in the perimeter. McRoberts doesn't have the Shooting a Murphy has.

But IMO, you're right, Murphy is an old man who can't defend in transition, and I really think Mike should consider abandoning this stupid system. He has to learn to let go of this set he has kept on using coz there is no Lebron James in Los Angeles who can recover for a block in transition defense for him in this team. =.=

[Jackal]

The whole offense just annoys me. It was so much fun watching the triangle offense. I mean it's been there since Shaq was in town & it's just so much fun watching the big guys make such crafty passes.

The offense now is just stagnant. Iso's for Kobe & a high-low for Gasol/Bynum. It works I guess but it's not really fun to watch personally speaking. I kind of miss Shaw.

[Fluke32]

The whole offense just annoys me. It was so much fun watching the triangle offense. I mean it's been there since Shaq was in town & it's just so much fun watching the big guys make such crafty passes.

The offense now is just stagnant. Iso's for Kobe & a high-low for Gasol/Bynum. It works I guess but it's not really fun to watch personally speaking. I kind of miss Shaw.

That's actually not the Strong Corner Offense, they're the sets that work AND LAL don't turn the ball over. The set I'm talking about is the one where they Isolate Kobe on the top of the key, Bynum on the post, and Gasol on the Corner. I kept seeing Kobe losing the ball whenever they run that set. Teams double team Kobe and pressure him into a turnover, and then they get a SUPER EASY "not really fast" break points. No Bynum and Gasol, since they will be running so from so far away to contest a shot.

In defense of Kobe, all the turnovers must be because of all the pain killers numbing his hand so he can't actually feel the ball all that well. But IMO, it's precisely because of this that the Lakers need to get a PG who would deny Kobe the ball at times. Fisher can't do it coz he can't make his own shot, Goudelock fares a little bit better but isn't really a good defensive asset.

I blame the Buss for this mess on Mike Brown thing. They vetoed Mitch Kupchak's proposed hiring of Rick Adelman. I think he'd have done a much better work on the Lakers than Mike Brown. =.=

[Andrew]

What about Brian Shaw? Presumably he would've kept the triangle in place.

[Jackal]

I would've preferred they kept Shaw, teaching them a new offense is just a waste of a year of Kobe's career. The guy has always played the triangle, why go mess with it when his career's coming to an end?

[Fluke32]

What about Brian Shaw? Presumably he would've kept the triangle in place.

I believe the problem was that Jimmy Buss, new guy in charge from ownership standpoint, believes that the current roster is flawed, and decided that rebuilding on the fly was necessary, from the ground up.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2 ... black-mark
On the link above, Shaw describes his interview for the head coaching job became more like a bash Phil Jackson session for Jimmy Buss.

I dunno how out-of-touch the guy is, but he obviously didn't like Phil Jackson despite Phil's accomplishments. From a lock-out perspective, I think he really made a very VERY wrong decision to forego continuity and started his hairball idea of "rebuilding" durring a compressed season. =.=

[Andrew]

It seems like he's on a bit of a power trip, eager to assert himself now that he's calling the shots. He's looking to make "impact" decisions...whether it's a positive or negative impact is probably secondary to the fact he's getting to make the decisions.

[Jackal]

“People look at coaches and want them to pace up and down the sidelines, and bark instructions to the guys. That’s not Phil’s demeanor. That was viewed as a negative in my estimation.”

That was one of the, if not THE coolest thing about Phil Jackson. His team could be failing miserably but he'd just sit there looking like "hey, I'm the best coach in the world, you honestly believe my team won't get it together?" Phil brought a lot of that arrogance associated with the Lakers, he sort of viewed himself above the media reporters and toyed with them in a very sneaky way. From what I've heard he makes those sarcastic (yet true in most cases) remarks to rile up players so I wouldn't be surprised if it happened with Jim Buss too, him dating the sister and all.

Shaw is still my choice after Jackson though, he was very active whenever he was on the floor with plays and talking to guys, him & Chuck Person seem like guys who could/should coach a team.

[Andrew]

Agreed, and it's how he managed to keep teams together. In one of his books, Dennis Rodman talked about one of his first preseason games with the Bulls where he picked up a technical for throwing the ball at the shot clock after a bad call by a fairly inexperienced referee. Having come from San Antonio, where Bob Hill and Gregg Popovich were constantly trying to reign him in and discipline him, he looked over to the Bulls bench to see Phil Jackson's reaction and saw he was laughing. Rodman wrote that it was at that point he knew things would be different and that he could fit in and help the team. All in all, it worked out pretty well.

Now, Popovich is a fine coach in his own right and has enjoyed a very respectable amount of success, but more often than not players have to fall in with his philosophy and attitude. Jackson was better at managing different personalities and egos and melding them into successful teams. That's not to say Popovich never dealt with anything like that, he had a couple of headcases through the years and we don't know what went on behind closed doors, but it seems that he found success with players who could play for him, while it seems pretty much anyone could play for Phil Jackson.