Take Kobe off the Lakers and let's say you replace him with an average serviceable guard - maybe in the range of a Mo Pete to a Mike Miller. Now keep everything else the same. Where would the Lakers have ended up this year? Next year?
Do that with any team and they likely suck. If you take lebron of the cavs that is the worst team in the nba. Take CP3 of the hornets they are in the lottery. I am suprised we did so good without yao.
I beg to differ. I believe that team you listed could make the playoffs with Pau Gasol as their main option and odom with a bigger role.
odom sucked when he 's a 2nd option... without kobe, lakers would end up somewhere like the kings this season
You never know. Last year when AI was dealt to Denver, nobody expected 76ers won that much. When MJ first retired, Bulls won 55 games and only was beaten by NY in 7 games.
Hypothetical Laker team: F - Lamar Odom (Vladimir Radmanovich) F - Pau Gasol (Lamar Odom) C - Andrew Bynum (Pau Gasol) G - Mike Miller G - Derek Fisher B - Vladimir Radmanovich, Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, and Ronny Turiaf 50 win 2004 Memphis team: F - Mike Miller F - Pau Gasol C - Lorenzen Wright G - James Posey G - Jason Willliams B - Shane Battier, Bonzi Wells, Earl Watson, and Bo Outlaw 49 win 2006 Memphis team: F - Shane Battier F - Pau Gasol C - Lorenzen Wright G - James Posey G - Chucky Atkins B - Mike Miller, Bobby Jackson, Damon Stoudamire, and Hakim Warrick West wasn't as tough then, but there's more talent on the current Laker team minus Kobe then there was on those Memphis teams that made the playoffs year after year, and they would be coached a lot better.
Bynum - C Gasol - PF Odom - SF Whoever - SG Fisher - PG And everyone else......they might sneak into playoffs in the East, in the West no way, that team could not beat Denver, GS, or Portland. Kobe is difference maker. LA better be think their lucky stars he hasn't faced injuries like some of the other superstars. The only teams that wouldn't face huge drop off without their main stars are: Winner: Washington Wizards - They were pretty good without Arenas (in fact I think they improved without him). I can't see them being much better, because that would mean they would've gotten to 2nd round of the playoffs and he wouldn't have helped them out that much. 1st Runner-up. Houston Rockets (they shown they can win, being with out Yao or T-Mac)...The Rockets were winning with Yao (no T-mac) or with T-mac (no Yao) or without both of them. 2. Detroit Pistons minus Billiups - You still have Wallace, McDyess, Prince, Hamilton (and they've won without him in past), without Wallace, they still have good enough to team to be 4th or 5th seeded in east. 3. Utah Jazz (w/o Boozer, they could become a run and gun type team with Williams or w/o Williams they might still be a fairly adquate playoff team but barely making)...I still believe the Jazz would be pretty solid team without one of them. 4. Boston Celtics (w/o one of the big 3, they still make it especially being in the East). Let's just Garnett and Pierce still a pretty good team in the East, just Allen and Pierce probably slight above average Eastern team, Garnett Allen see first pair. 5. Phoenix Suns: W/o Amare, they went to Western Conference Finals and w/o Nash, their lineup would look like this Shaq, Amare, Diaw, Bell, and Barbosa....the lineup should still be good enough to have decent seed in the playoffs. 6. San Antonio Spurs: W/o Duncan, I still believe the Spurs could make the playoffs, but Parker and Ginobili have to play out of this world and miss very few games. They both could average 20 ppg, and Popovich would keep them fairly decent on defense. 7. Golden State Warriors/Denver Nuggets: No Baron Davis.....they actually don't drop that much....they still can run and gun, but they do lose scoring punch ...they are still right where they are at now out of playoffs by a game or two...same thing with Denver not really all that much better without Melo or A-I, they might actually get better without one of those two. Winner of who gets the worst: Cleveland Cavs - At one point in time, I believe that they would actually have decent team, but after watching them in playoffs I seriously doubt they win more 25 games without Lebron. New Orleans Hornets: No Chris Paul is probably lottery year for them, but actually if they got another decent player .... the could sneak into playoffs, but the only thing is Chandler, West, Peja would have to stay healthy for most season. Toronto Raptors: No Chris Bosh, they probably fall behind to where Indiana finished. Dallas Mavericks: Without Dirk, Dallas probably doesn't make he playoffs, especially now, if it were 2006 or 2003, I might think other wise, because they had a pretty talented team in those years. Kidd is too old be what he once was and they would have no scoring on the front line. Then again, if they were an Eastern team could they beat teams like the Hawks or Pacers without Dirk. It's tossup. LA Lakers: Before the Gasol trade, they would've been near top of this list, but Gasol makes them somewhat more competitive and if something suddenly happened to Kobe they wouldn't be too bad...Miami Heat bad, but they wouldn't put fear into teams. No big shots in 4th quarter to worry about and no double teams. Average East team, no higher than 9th in the West. Orlando Magic: Dwight is pretty good without him, the Magic would have some decent talent, but it wouldn't be enough to win alot of games. Lewis,Turkoglu, and Nelson are good players, but they wouldn't win more than 35 games even in the East.
