Actually Knicks played pretty good defense when Melo was out, contrary to what you believe. It was Knicks defense which was the backbone of Linsanity. Without the effort by those scrubs on D, Linsanity wouldve never happened. Kobe wasn't playing D BEFORE D'Antoni got there. It was 2010-2011 season when he became a liability on D. Ironic, isn't it? I mean Mike Brown supposed to be a defensive minded coach. You just can't get Kobe or Melo playing good D even if the coaches wanted to. They are the franchise players who can ultimately decide the fate of coaches career. How did you think Mike B and Mike D got fired??
That's not contrary to what I believe. The Knicks were starting Chandler and Jeffries during that stretch which is a pretty good defensive front court. Mike D had no choice but to go with better defensive players because he didn't have anything else. The Lakers defensive wasn't a/the problem during Mike Brown's first year
No, I'm not. For some strange reason he was on the defensive first team, but I have no idea why because he wasn't that great a defender. He was certainly better than he is now, but not by that much. The Lakers aren't that much worse because of a slightly worse defensive Kobe.
Mike B got fired because he decided the best way to use this roster would be to have them run the Princeton, where instead of attacking off a pick, Nash would be required to pass to the wing, cut through the paint, and stare at MWP for 10 seconds because both of them somehow ended up in the same corner and neither wanted to move. That plus they lost every single preseason game and only won 1 of 4 to start the season. I don't know how you do that with a roster that's not in rebuilding mode.
Didn't you say sucking followed Mike D? Here is xRAPM for Kobe Year -- Off -- Def -- Def+Off/200 possessions ------------------------------------------------------ 2011 / 3.3 / -1.2 / 2.1 2010 / 4.1 / -1.3 / 2.8 2009 / 3.8 / 0.4 / 4.2 2008 / 5.4 / 0.2 / 5.6 2007 / 5.7 / 0.8 / 6.5 Kobe's defensive RAPM's last two seasons were almost as bad as Nash. You simpley cant have a good defensive team with two liability defenders at perimeter. This has nothing to do with who is coaching the team.
That just proves what I was saying. Lakers won the championship in 2010. And Kobe's defense statistically was at his worst in the seasons you listed.
If we could kick Lakers out of the playoffs, it would be an epic ending of the regular season. But it's highly unlikely
It has so much to do with coaching. If the Lakers had JVG I guarantee they'd be much better defensively. Plus Nash has missed half the season so you can't act like it's been a Kobe Nash backcourt all year.
Uh...no. The years I listed was the beginning year of each season. So 2010 is actually 2010-2011. Lakers won 2009-2010. That was also the last year Kobe played any kind of good defense. The stats for Nash are pretty easy to pull out instead of making a statement like that. Lakers W-L w/ Nash 26-24 w/0 Nash 18-14 <PRE> Team Oppo Diff Player Split MP ORtg ORtg ORtg Steve Nash On Court 1627 109.0 108.1 +1.0 Off Court 2271 108.7 106.6 +2.1 On Off 42% +0.3 +1.5 -1.1 </PRE> Nash becomes a liability if he isn't productive at offensive end. It has been like that since the day he entered the league.
They probably will with JVG but marginal. Lakers is a team with full of aging stars who lost a lot of their quickness. Some are just not capable of playing great D anymore.
Anyone else just get trolled? The banner on the top of the screen was from NBAStore.com and it said 'Gear up for the Lakers 2013 Playoff Run!'... wish I would've taken a screen shot. Rockets have no chance tomorrow if the Jazz win.
Lol, why would you put the stats like that man, you're trying to confuse people, haha. I still don't think Kobe's slightly worse defense is why the Lakers aren't winning as many games this year. I think the reason the Lakers aren't winning as many games as people thought is because the players just don't fit together. Too many clashing styles. Pau is also declining fast. If it were just Kobe, Howard, and good role players (not washed up stars) then they would have a better team this year.
Pulling out a true statement? You were saying that they had two liability defenders in Nash and Kobe and I pointed out that Nash has missed almost half of the season.
Were you playing word game? Nash missed 31 games vs played 50 games. Was this you were trying to point out that he "missed almost half the season?" When Nash was off the court, Lakers defensive rating (opp off rtg) is 106.6. When he was on, it was 108.1, for a net negative of 1.5. He was a liability on defense. Kobe was even worse. Lakers gave up 108.1 to 104.2 when he was on/off the court for a net negative of 3.9. <PRE> Team Oppo Diff Player Split MP ORtg ORtg ORtg Kobe Bryant On Court 3013 110.4 108.1 +2.3 Off Court 885 103.5 104.2 -0.7 On Off 77% +6.9 +3.9 +3.0 </PRE> http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/2013/on-off/
Yeh but he did make it ... depite being one of the worst defenders in the league. And now everyone is feeling sorry for him so he'll getthe pity vote. I hope you are correct and the NBA shows some integrity for a change, put they've been propping this overrated chucker for so long I have my doubts.
I wasn't playing a word game but trying to point out that the Lakers defense was bad even when they didn't have the second liability defender Nash on the court. Pointing to Nash/Kobe as the reason they have a bad defense isn't a good argument when they didn't have Nash for a large portion of the season and still played bad defensively.
Well only one easy victory but I hope you guys are starting to see how much bett the Lakers are when the bigs are the focus. Perimeter guys will always find a way to score points when the bigs are getting doubled, so you'll see them produce by committee. In this game, Blake stepped up. Some games, it'll be Jamison or Meeks. You simply don't need one guy dominating the ball to be successful. This Lakers team is now a darkhorse to come out of the West, especially if Nash returns.
