Let's make something clear. The Lakers are horrible, cringe-worthy. Let's analyse it, putting our collective vendettas against Kobe aside for a second and pop some misconceptions: #1. "The Lakers have one of the best front lines in the L, and it's being underutilized." Their frontcourt is bad. I never bought into the hype for Howard, and always thought him as a super blue collar player at best. Now that he's injured, the lack of offensive guile, and bball IQ in general really shows. As for Gasol.. Lemme be ironic here..IS A SCRUB. HE CAN'T PLAY. Pau Gasol, god bless his soul, is a scrub. He's lost the heart of a winner, and I don't care what stats he might put up in the years to come if he's traded, because he's already mentally retired. Checked-out, gone. Watch the damned games if you don't believe me. #2. "The Lakers have so much talent" First of all, when Jordan Hill is the unanimous best player at your position, you don't deserve the reputation of being a great player. Second, when Javaale McGee clowns on you, you don't deserve the title of Superman. Outside their starters, which are playing average at best, their bench is horrid, and have all the wrong players at the wrong stage of their careers. Morris is a great add on IF you plan to play him 5-6 min per game, and use him ONLY for defensive purposes. Jamison hasn't been the same, and its probably the proverbial "big dip" of his career at this age. Outside of Hill, that leaves nobody that can effectively be taken up by a NBA team. tl;dr : No, they don't #3. "It would be so much better if Nash ran the whole show" Aside from the fact that Nash is already handling the ball most of the time even with Kobe and Metta on the floor, he's just too damned old to play significant minutes. When you have to keep up with the young PGs of today AND run an up tempo offense which only you can run, it wears on you quickly. So as awesome as that would be, it simply isn't possible, esp when quick perimeter players defend you pick and roll so aggressively. Finally, this team as its constructed right now can only beat a few teams. NOW some of those teams just happen to be the likes of the Heat and the Knicks. But other than that, any young, deep team is heavily favored against this squad. Being in the Western conference, that's a sentence of death.
Kobe really isn't the problem. He has been playing off the ball and Nash has been handling the offense. The main problem is that nobody else is doing anything.
This thread is obviously started by a Kobe fan who tries to take the Lakers problems off of Kobe's back. Is Kobe THE problem? No. Is he PART of the problem? Hell yes. Kobe is actually playing pretty well. But he being a non-leader as the best player isn't helping. BTW, Jordan Hill is balling, relatively speaking.
Well the point of this thread is to look at some other factors and dismiss some imo false views, instead of ragging on Kobe as everyone seems to automatically do upon talking about the Lakers. but w/e, I'm only one guy
If one has watched the Clippers game he'd know exactly what the Lakers' problem is. With 7 minutes left in the second quarter Clippers already dropped nearly 50 points. Their offense is rank 5 and their defense is rank 26.
Lakers make highlight reel plays, but that's about it. All glitter and no grit. Essentially the Dallas Cowboys of the NBA.
Bingo. These Kobe fans are so transparent. It's never Kobe's fault. Yet when Kobe sits out of games, despite all of the greatness he supposedly brings, somehow the rest of the team comes together and manages to win games.
Lol, Kobe fans are a special breed of nuthuggers. Kobe shoots 11-26, Dwight shoots 6-7. I agree, Dwight is totally the problem.
The Clippers are one of the most exciting teams to watch in the NBA along with the Rockets but I'm not sold on this team going deep in the playoffs. The Lakers on the other hand are not a highlight reel team. What's so exciting with watching Kobe jack up jumpers all day?
Terrible analysis. This is why youre on your couch and people with the talent of writing OR a true knowledge of the game get paid to do it. This isnt your personal blog.
How? Why are you authorized to pass judgement with one line responses while I actually put thought into articulating my views? I'm not a pro sports writer...and it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. But if you're gonna disagree, at least give me some arguments in your own right. Of course, I'm probably not worth your time, cuz I'm just a Kobe fan. I feel like I'm trying to make a case for Obama at a Klan rally. Kobe IS one of the greats, I don't know how you can deny that. To be fair, yes, he's a part of the problem, but quit acting he's the devil causing most of the teams failure. AND us Gin- I mean Kobe fans, DO HAVE sou- I mean knowledge and intellect!! :grin:
lol, Kobe haters are a special breed of people indeed The other night, Kobe shot 60% (38pts) as well as tallying in 5stls while CP3 shot 11/25. During the same night, Howard and Gasol combined for only 23 pts, while Nash and Howard combined for 8 turnovers (Kobe had 1). Also, Kobe's scoring around 47 48 percent this year. And just because Howard is supposedly the best big man in the league (I laugh at that, I really do), he's excused for his horrendous post game and late game brain farts because supposedly if Kobe wasn't playing he wouldn't need to be playing in close games. Why? Well, oh because Nash would run the show and they'd be getting buckets in pick n roll all day (see my point 3), and because the Lakers are talented enough to win games easily (see point 2). Arguably any team can fit that description, but Popovich isn't coaching every team in the L. In this system, Helll no. I don't know why I get all this crap for stating what I believe are plausible facts and opinions. It's not like I trashed you fav player or team to do it either. Just admit it, some of you out there just really hate Kobe Bryant to the bone