pau gasol has really slowed down, hes the weak link on the starting line up. there bench sucks also. but thats to be expected as always with the lakers...
The problem with the Lakers is that they built their team antithetical to the way the NBA is moving. I really believe that athleticism is becoming a must in today's game, and the Lakers are just old and slow. Howard is a nice piece for the future but their problems are more systemic to the roster than people think.
Dwight isn't even near as athletic as he once was. He looks a step slower since the injury. Maybe he'll recover his athleticism, but there's no guarantee. He's still a very good player even now, but not the dominant top 5 force he once was.
Yep, totally agree. Dwight is a nice piece for the future if he can recover, but he seems just as old as the others out there right now.
You put Dwight, Gasol and Nash into any team instantly that team will make the playoffs. Kobe wankers' excuses nowadays have always been (1) The bench sucks. But you look at team like Spurs, outside of their big threes, they have nobodies like Green, Neal, Splitter, leonard etc. Why are these players having success despite their are no name players? Because teams like Spurs are playing TEAM basketball and not Kobe 'I shoot you guys rebounds, defense and hit open jumpers' type of basketabll. (2) New coach new system. Please, our Rockets basically having entire new team yet we have no problems learning the new system?No pre-season? Remembered the lakers are 0-8 in the pre-seasons. Where is the fierce competitor Kobe Bryant? I guess is Mike Brown's fault?? Anyway, to answer the question, yes, the lakers will make the playoffs because I like I said from the start, with Dwight, Gasol and Nash alone they will make the playoffs.
You have to think they will move Pau for youth if things don't pick up soon. He's pretty much useless if you are going to have him taking 3 pointers all game.
kobe has played the same way for 17 years, won 5 championships has only missed the playoffs once. last year kobe avged more shot attempts than this year and they finished 3rd in the west.
The bottom line is that they are too old and have a serious athleticism deficiency in their backcourt.
This, plus their bench is sorry and D'Antoni is the wrong coach for their group of players. I guess you could also say D'Antoni is the wrong coach (and end it there).
I blame it on Kobe, he takes some really retarted ass shots. if his team is struggling to win with him scoring so much, why doesn't he just pass the rock to dwight and gasol on the low block? i know Gasols a little b**** (don't want him on the rockets) but he still has that jumper and passing skills. Dwight seems to play fairly decent from coming back and needs the ball in the post to actually do some damage. He is not even that great of a center because he is not the type of center that tries to change the game by how he plays. There is not other center that can guard him nowadays other than freaking bynum who doesn't play. Dwight is just soft.
They need to trade Gasol and Artest. Let jamison start to spread the floor, get another big man and sf for gasol and artest that can do some damage doing other things on the floor.
Lakers last missed the playoffs in 2004-2005, when they went 34-48. (Rudy T/Frank Hamblen) Before that, 1993-1994 when they went 33-49.
