I didn't say we would be as good as the Suns...I simply said that there was a team in recent history who were relatively successful with a really small lineup. I completely disagree with you about Raja Bell being a better defender than Battier. If you notice, Kobe gets many of points from the foul line, and many times its not even on drives, just pump faking jump shots. Battier doesn't fall for those pump fakes. He is disciplined enough to stay on the ground and make Kobe make 15 jumpers to get 30 points. With maybe 5 free throw attempts. Raja Bell was the one who lost his head and nearly cost his team the series by getting suspended for Game 5. So I think Kobe won that "mind-game". Even when Kobe had that one great shooting night vs. Battier (40 points) Battier never lost his head, and stayed the course, and made Kobe work for everything...trash talking aint gonna beat Kobe and being a little physical (especially when your smaller than him like Bell was) won't either. Well defensively Chuck Hayes is almost the equivalent of Kurt Thomas (only shorter)...so I don't see how that really affects this argument. Thomas would hit a couple of jumpers per game, but he wasn't an offensive scorer to be worried about though. I wouldn't say Diaw could play all 5 positions...when he tried to play the SG in Atlanta, he failed miserably. He was also a terrible rebounder at the 4 or 5 (6 rpg) and he only averaged 3 free throw attempts per game... I think Scola would have that beat easily, plus Scola is a much better post up player, and thats much more important at the center position, instead of being able to bring the ball up and make nice passes. Diaw was a very good passer though, I'll give him that much. I know Aaron Brooks will never be a true point guard...at his size, its pretty difficult, but he can break down any defense with ease though to get his own shot. I think theres a slight chance that we can have some sort of success (making the playoffs) with our roster.
Are you frigging kidding me, What aspect of Morey makes you think that he is just satisfied with making the playoffs.
If there was any to keep Shane here without sacrificing a chance to improve our team, I would definitely do that, because I simply love the guy and the veteran leadership he brings to this team on and off the court. BUT, especially with the addition of Trevor now, I think Shane's role as a dependable perimeter defender have been devalued, even more so than when we still had Ron. If he was a bit more versatile on offense then I he would be a commodity but with our team in flux next season I think he might get shipped out.
Considering the fact that Yao is out, and Tmac will be out a good number of games, and that we lost Artest, making the playoffs would definitely be considered a success. With Yao and Tmac, its championship or bust, of course. I'm just saying for this upcoming season without our 2 best players, making the playoffs would be a success.
Morey's guys took the Lakers to the brink, not Yao, not T-Mac. What makes you think this year, he will just be satisfied with getting past the first round. Houston is hungry for something, and Morey will capitalize on that hunger
Are you being sarcastic in a demeaning manner against Shane? Sure, Shane might not be the most athletic or skilled, but he brings a certain calm toughness to our team, especially on defense. If Tracy somehow comes back healthy/or we a get a somewhat All Star caliber type player in return for him (his salary/value combination right now makes it hard to trade for another big time player in my opinion), I think he and Trevor can both coexist, even though they are very very similar players (except that Trever is much more athletic and skilled). I'm guessing you're not a big fan of Shane?
You have Trevor, someone who has the potential to be as good as Kobe and you want Battier to be his mentor. Are you serious. Battier is anti-kobe in every way possible
First of all, Trevor......Kobe???!???? WTF!?!? Kobe-douchebag-but the guy is a future HOF and top 10-20 players of all time. Enough said. Second of all, it never hurts to have two premier perimeter defenders. The Jazz start Brewer because of his athletic ablity and defense, similar to Ariza, except he has no in between offensive game, alongside with Kirilenko. That's one example off the top of my head. That's why I said if Tracy comes back healthy we can start Ariza and have Shane back him up. No losses unless you are looking overturn the team and trade Shane along with Tmac for some big time player.
The only reason we brought Battier in was because we believe he was the final piece to win a championship with Yao and Mcgrady. Now that the whole experiment has been termed a failure, LOL, Battier gotta go. It sucks but thats how life is. At least while Mcgrady bears all the blame, Battier will leave amidst immense love from the deluded fans
I'm sure the players value that more than anything else. The coaches and the players know what Shane brings to this team. Especially on a team with young players, a coach like Adelman and a player like Shane is more important than you think. Oh and Shane > Raja Bell...Shane doesn't need headlock takedowns to stop Kobe
You seriously have to explain to me how you even THOUGHT that Ariza can "develop" into anything near Kobe. He might have similar athletic abilities, but Kobe's feel for the game and skills cannot be duplicate so easily. Its God given and **** load of hard work You can also blame Tracy for his laziness countenance on the court and off too, but people forget that he struggled coming into the league too and had to work his way up to become the leading scorer in the league. Hell I'm Tmac fan but I sometime wish he wouldn't chuck up random shots and would work a little harder to improve himself or reinvent himself as he gets older. But you just simply compare a fringe star to a true superstar just like that. All the superstars have God given abilities, but their extra work into their skillsets is what separates them from the pact, particularly if you're a wing player. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Ariza doesn't work hard but you can tell when someones has put some work into their game-plus you have to have that feel for the game too. Ariza doesn't have that on the offensive side so I can't possibly see how you can even think that.
I sometimes wonder if ANY modicum of thought transpires before some people post. Nevermind the well known fact that Adelman specifically wanted Brooks coming out of college. Nevermind the (probable) fact that Morey surely conferred with Adelman prior to trading Alston away, effectively promoting Brooks to starting point guard. Nevermind all of those all too evident points. Did you say he's a ballhog and not a Adelman type player? Mike Bibby ring a bell?? Terry Porter?? Both were pgs that shot the ball a lot. Please enlighten us as to how Brooks isn't an Adelman player. Charles Oakley wasn't a JVG player either, I presume?
I remember looking up at one point in the post season, that Kobe's averaged 1.06 points per "true" show (including those that resulted in FTs) vs. the Rockets, and about 1.18 points per "true" shot against other teams in playoffs. Battier's hand in his face certainly had a lot to do with that. Yes, Kobe drained some contested shots (as does all players), but Battier's contest did lower Kobe's efficiency quite significantly. In fact, I'd think Kobe's efficiency with Battier guarding him is even lower than the 1.06 number given above... specifically, Ron took a run guarding Kobe, and generally, my impression was that the result was not as good with Artest instead of Battier.
