hhheehe:grin: there is a reason spurs played bad... for some players its enough to show up they dont have to have a great game in order to win...they draw attention and instil the fear or respect in the opponent... call it placebo or whatever you like thats what it is...go lakers i might even root for them in PO now the kobes out...
The Lakers aren't a true contender for anything but the 8th seed with or without Kobe. They won't win more than 2 playoff games if they get in.
Rolandsmartin twitter name and post went across Lakers debate on the show first take. You on Clutchfans? Get your 15 mins of fame
I know the future about as well as Vegas will on this one. I'll bet you right now that the Thunder in 6 or less won't get you good odds.
Vegas doesn't care about the real odds, only the public perception. The Thunder is a horrible matchup for the Lakers but if they draw the Spurs, there's a very real chance at an upset that wasn't present four days ago.
I'll bet anyone in here the Lakers don't win a series or make it past game 6 no matter who they play. Their chance at an upset got no better in the past four days.
I hope you're right. I hate the Lakers. :grin: I will not be surprised, though, if they play better after Kobe's injury. Kobe's ball hogging might be the culprit why the Lakers are not contenders. Nash, Gasol, Howard might become more efficiently used once Kobe's out. But, what do I know? I didn't really watch the Lakers this season. LOL!
If the Lakers play the Spurs I would normally take that bet, but I don't be here because of prior welshing.
Challenging somebody to a bet and then having them back down isn't the thank so and so kind of situation to me.
I don't really get this argument. I don't see any difference in the way Kobe played this year from when he played back in 2009/2010 when they were champions. So when I read something like this, it seems like you are saying that if Kobe wasn't a "ballhog" back in 2009/2010, then they'd be better than they were? Which is impossible, but okay.
You are kidding right? Kobe actually played good defense back then. For the last couple of years, Kobe's offensive production remains about the same but what he sucks big time on D. When you have one chucker on the team who doesn't play defense?? You know that team is gonna suck!
They didn't suck in 2011 but do you notice how the sucking seems to follow Mike D. And to be honest Kobe hasn't been playing good D for a real long time
Didn't catch it all but Colin Cowherd just said something about long term plans for the lakers going after LeBron, with Dwight too? Is that even financially possible with or without kobe?
If you watched you woulda seen Kobe regularly assume the PG role and rack up assists Biggest reason Lakers are not contenders is coaching. D'Antoni is only good with a half court pnr set and transition offense. Meanwhile everyone except Dwight Howard is too slow to run and his only pnr PG has been injured half the season. And when Nash is on the court, he defers to Kobe and lets him playmake. Unlike Phil Jackson D'Antoni also has no clue how to make 2 bigs coexist, which is why Pau ended up coming off the bench for the first time in his career. Coaching and FO decisions suck this year. Everything from thinking the Princeton Offense was a good system for this personnel to running Kobe into the ground.
It's very much possible. After this next season, Dwight would be the only contract on the books for them, basically. Pau, Artest, Nash, and Kobe would all be gone.
