They have no depth. Their stars are old or coming off injury. Gasol and Howard have conflicting games. They don't have the speed to play transition defense. But mostly, they were built for a Mike Brown, defense-first, Howard as DPOY candidate to shut down the paint. And Kobe/Nash creating efficient shots on offense. Whether it's Howard not playing well, or defensive rotations sucks as Dwight claims, their defense has not worked.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...eal-article-1.1234685?localLinksEnabled=false http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-bolch-lakers-20130107-13,0,3897526.story http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-fyi-20130107,0,4833654.story http://www.slamonline.com/online/nb...reamed-at-kobe-bryant-about-his-poor-defense/ http://www.sportsgrid.com/nba/dwight-howard-kobe-fight/ It's several things coming together for a nice toxic stew: Bryant doesn't give a crap about anyone but himself and his shots. As far as he's concerned, Howard's just the latest guy that needs to shut up, rebound, and set picks for him. Kobe seems like he's gone all the way back to 2005-2006 mode. Most of the roster is stuffed with older vets that no longer feel that they need to kill themselves defensively or dive for loose balls D'Antoni was a terrible fit for a team that needed to be refocused defensively and integrating two big men. Howard hates playing with Kobe Gasol hates playing with all of them Jamison hates D'Antoni Nash was a defensive liability to begin with
They've played 6 full games under Mike D with all four stars and they are 3-3 in those games. Five of those games were against playoff teams. They are under performing but we have not seen nearly enough of them at full strength to come to any kind of real conclusion.
I know that he's coming off an injury too but it occurred to me the other day that Howard is facing better competition in the west. It may be one of the reasons his numbers are down. We know from watching him against Yao that he struggles against size.
I have to say, I'm enjoying every moment of it. The best conclusion to this season would be Howard leaving them high and dry!
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jZZvEYh_O_Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If they dont make the playoffs, it's going to be interesting to see who gets thrown under the bus. It's been really quiet though, I dont see too many Lakers fans online these days. I wonder why
We were having these same conversations when the Heat were struggling during that first half of the first season with LeBron, Wade and Bosh together. The difference is that in the west you won't get those gimme games every other night. If they fall a few more games under .500 they may be looking at a situation where they basically have to pitch a shut out the rest of the season just to get an 8th seed. What Rocket fans know all to well, you practically need 50 wins to get into the playoffs in the west. There is a good possibility that by the end of the week (they're facing SA and OKC in the next two games) they're sitting at 15-21 with 46 games left. That means you need to about a .750 winning % (35-11) over the last 46 games JUST TO GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS. There is nothing about this team that makes me think they are capable of that kind of turnaround.
This. Jerry Buss's kid wanted to make a name for himself by NOT going with the coach that his father has won many titles with, so he picked D'Antoni. Jackson was the only logical choice for a team with Kobe and a handful of other superstar egos that all need massaging. D'Antoni is a very good coach if he has the right roster. He'd probably do pretty well with the current Rockets team, in fact. But for this particular Lakers team, Buss couldn't have made a worse choice. Ha! Nash looks like he's looking for the exit. "How the hell do I get out of this mess?"
I love watching Kobe time and time again gamble on defense trying to jump the screen and get a steal...but he fails and his guy moves to the open spot and nails a three
Apparently the decision to hire D'Antoni was unanimous among Jerry Buss, Jim Buss, and Mitch Kupchak if you read the stories from that time.
50 is a bit of a stretch for this season. 46 will probably get you in. If they lose those next two they will have to win about 66% to make it in.
They could probably have 10 first round picks over 3 years if they mortgaged their entire team. Nice beginning. Don't see LA doing this though. The fan base would implode.
