Seriously this year Western Conference, I will say only OKC ans SAS are locked for their spots. Teams like LAC, GSW, MEM and DEN are all very shaky. Others like Rockets, blazers, Wolves are too young. I can see Mavs and Lakers take 7th and 8th spot at the end of the season.
It doesn't matter if the Lakers are 8th or 12th. They are going to get smoked in the playoffs if they make it. They'll be completely gassed and going up against either the young, athletic Thunder or the extremely deep Clippers or Spurs.
anything can happen i wouldnt be surprised chemistry develop between la stars and they win the title....
it doesn't matter how long you live, you are gonna die. this is just bull**** opinion. so, only those few teams play the NBA, and all other teams should not even try ? how about Rockets? are they gonna get title this year? NO? then why bother to play? and if YES? really? how about KD or WB get injury and out of the season all of a sudden? i am not cursing them to get injury, but anything can happen. Spurs was great like hell before they met Thunder in the WCF, and then what happened? and Thunder won over 3 championship teams in the WEST, and then they played really bad against the heat. if everything is set 100%, then what's the fun to watch? what's the fun to watch the spurs play teams like hornets, 76ers as we all know spurs will win at the end...
Exactly. The real question is which is better: The Lakers missing the playoffs entirely or watching them get steamrolled in the 1st round? I can't quite decide.
I dont want any more kobe quotes man. How about he stop taking so many shots before he points anything else out.
That's the point. The best player and most well-known player on the team publicly doesn't follow the coach's game-plan. That's why the team is in disarray. They have the players; their coach just doesn't know how to be flexible with the players. New Yahoo article from Woj that's pretty damning: tinyurl.com/a559ncb "Obviously, this isn't working," Bryant told Yahoo! Sports. On the issue of Howard's belief that the ball simply doesn't go through him enough on offense, Bryant rejected the premise. "I've tried to go out of my way to get him the ball," Bryant told Y! Sports. "Sometimes I end up looking like an idiot, because I get up in the air, I've got a shot, but I try to find him. But he thinks I'm going to shoot, so his back is turned. I'm trying to think about getting him the ball a lot – take care of him as much as I possibly can. It takes me out of rhythm a little bit, but I'm fine with that. If that's going to help our team, I'm more than willing to do that." "I've constantly tried to help him out, tried to talk to him," Bryant said. "Two o'clock in the morning, three o'clock in the morning. Texting him. Sharing reading materials. Anything to try and help him. "He's coming off a major surgery in a market where it's just merciless; where there's demands and responsibilities of athletes. It's been tough on him." This speaks to D'Antoni's inability to cultivate an identity for these Lakers. Bryant wouldn't come right out and declare D'Antoni's system a failure, but he did speak to a need for the coach to find ways to flex everyone's strengths. D'Antoni has a long, stubborn history of forcing talent to fit into his system, and right now that is clearly playing a part in the unraveling of this season. "We need to go back to basics," Bryant said. "We need to put guys in positions to do what they do best. We need to strip it down. Steve is best in pick-and-roll. Pau is best in the post. I'm best from the free-throw line extended down. Let's go back to basics. "We've got to evaluate what's going on. Management is looking at it. The players are looking at it. I'm looking at myself. I'm shooting a low percentage right now, and I've got to look at that. It's on me to make shots, but I'm having to make tough shots, getting the ball 30 feet from the basket and [expletive] like that.
Its not that he doesn't know how, he doesn't want to. This was known well before they hired him though. Kobe okay'd it because he knew he could shoot however he wanted to. He's never going to accept a coach that will tell him to stop chucking. Mike Brown was a huge scapegoat, and now D'Antoni is being the guy who is the end of the blame finger along with Pau... The chucker can't have bad games and just say I'll shoot better next time while telling other players to put on your big boy pants... He's at the stage now where he's going to start his leadership skills of throwing people under the bus soon enough.
After 41 games the Lakers are in 12th place and Kobe and Dwight are still talking AT each other publicly. What a wonderful season! :grin:
Before the hiring, LA people (on radio especially) stated that D'antoni would be very flexible on both ends. And the main reason he was hired over Phil was b/c of his ability to score points and get the bigs going (b/c of Nash). Right now, he's not even using Nash correctly on offense. Kobe okay'd it b/c he did not respect Brown. Nobody did on that roster or in the organization. Kobe's changing his style of play will help, I'll agree with that. He has to shoot less, and play more off the ball to space the floor for the bigs. Let Nash do everything else. But look at how Pau is utilized. Look at how he can't get Howard the ball. Look at how Nash is simply a spectator at times. All these happen even when Kobe isn't touching the ball much or on the bench. Obviously, Kobe's rep will diminish, as all of those star players on that team. But these are FOUR hall-of-famers here. Not one, not two, not three, but 4. You're not going to get anybody to blame the players when you have damn good players on your team. The coach has to make all this talent work. And obviously he can't. And yes, Kobe throwing people under the bus is typical Kobe act. He did this when they struggled as a team in 05. But he has the resume to do whatever he wants. D'antoni is going to be canned soon.
