No offense. But I think the time for Wafer should be reduced. And Battier did it well on defending Kobe.
Come on, Wafer has been struggling all series long. His shot selection is just horrible and he NEVER PASSES.
I partly agree only because Kobe will get his regardless. However, the problem with Wafer guarding Kobe is the tendency to allow Kobe to drive and get And1 calls. What Battier does is make Kobe take low percentage shots, if he makes them so be it. But if you put Wafer on him he will abuse our offense much worse than he is right now.
Well..I understand the OP's point. I wanted to start Von all year with Ron at the 3 and make Battier the 6th man...after Tmac went down for good that is. We all know that Von ain't that great on defense to put it mildly, but his ability to take it to the hole or hit the open three or get 8 to 10 points in a 4 minute stretch keeps the opposing defense off balance. Sure, he hasn't played that way in this series as a whole, but his minutes have been sporatic and he can't get into a rythmn I guess. Battier coming off the bench would be a matchup problem for the lakers on offense if he would post up, and him guarding Kobe when Kobe is a little tired and he is fresh might help to slow Kobe down better towards the end of quarters when Kobe always creates a 6 to 8 point swing to close out the quarters. If we did start Wafer, WHICH WILL NEVER HAPPEN, then I would be all for he and Ron doubling Kobe everytime he got the ball to get it out of his hands completely. Nice dreaming though...RA would NEVER do this.
This is a good idea. You guys see Battier with his hand in Kobes face and think thats great defense, and maybe it is on a normal person, BUT IT DOESNT AFFECT KOBE AT ALL. Kobe puts up more points on Battier than he does anybody else in the league. Also, just because you start wafer doesn't mean that wafer has to guard Kobe. Artest could switch over and pick up kobe. Battier is such a liability when he is out there the entire game and doesn't create his own offense at all. Especially if Yao isn't very effective. We need other options for scoring!
Geez some of you act like Kobe had some amazing game yesterday. Kobe shot 11 for 28! That's less than 40% from the field! For those who don't know, that isn't good.
I guess that couldnt be due to the rockets game plan of letting Kobe shoot all he wants and shutting down the rest huh....
wafer is a defensive liability at this point. keep shane on kobe, he consistently has kept him from the lane and is always in his space. Kobe's just making tough shots. Out of 3 games, Kobe's only had one good shooting game, we've killed ourselves with turnovers and poor offensive execution.
LA knows Wafer better than any other team because they had him for a year. They have the matchup against him........Vujacic. Vujacic is a tad quicker than Wafer and is giving him fits, forcing Wafer to operate a little out of control. And Wafer cannot defend Kobe. So, you cannot replace Battier with Wafer. If you are going to insert Wafer with the starters, then you should change replace Scola or Artest with Wafer and let Battier start the game on Kobe and Wafer start the game on Ariza. That is the better matchup for Wafer. Of course, this would also require that you change out Scola for Hayes as Scola cannot defend Odom and Odom will get him to the bench with 2 fouls in the first 5 minutes. So, I am not against starting Wafer. I actually think it would work out better for us. But it has to be accompanied by sending Scola to the bench in favor of more defensive quickness against Odom. That would mean that you have Scola and Artest coming off the bench along with Lowry and Landry. I like the balance of that lineup also. The whole idea is to speed up our defensive quickness and lengthen our offensive attack so we force LA to have to defend for longer stretches. Artest and Scola coming off the bench should be great for that. I do agree that if LA keeps this same starting 5 that for us to have a chance in this series,we have to change up our starters. I can't figure out why it is taking Adelman so long to see this. It is obvious that our starters do not have the speed and quickness to stay with their starters as they are starting a speed lineup. As long as LA is going to sit Bynum and not play Bynum and Pao in the twin towers configuration, then we have to sit one of either Yao or Scola to get quicker. The only chance we have to win this series is to realize the matchups and what is not working. Ariza is a run and gun 3 point shooter/slasher just like Wafer. Wafer is a little smaller and a little faster/quicker. In a run and gun style, smaller and faster wins. So, if we get underneath Ariza with a little speed and quickness, we will negate a portion of their break. The next portion of their break we have to negate is Odom getting loose and running down the court. Enter Hayes. I keep saying it. We've got to downsize/downsize/downsize. Of course, we could go with Artest at the 4, Battier at the 2, and Wafer at the 3. I would go for that too. That would give us more perimeter based offense, with more slashing and more speed and quickness in the lineup and would be a much better matchup than having Scola and Yao plodding along. Scola and Yao are great. But we need more speed and quickness against LA's starters as long as LA is sitting Bynum. Come to think of it, I really like these guys as the starters against LA's starters: Brooks/Battier/Wafer/Artest/Yao.
say what? kobe had how many layups? he was forced into jump shots, that's good d, von wafer can not stop kobe from getting into the lane, shane can. von wafer was 2-10 last night, he does not pass, he is turnover prone, his d sucks...what the hell are you thinking? von wafer does not deserve to start, he is too immature and way too streaky this isn't even worthy of discussion tbo w/ you
Wafer cannot and should not start. As Jopatmac mentioned, the only way this could be feasible is conceding a few inches in size by matching him up with Ariza thereby making Artest Kobe's primary defender. Something we should not allow. While we're on the topic of adjustments, i'm a little perplexed on how many minutes to give the Chuck Wagon. Games 1-2 he was an absolute terrorist on defense. His +/-'s were through the roof, he was a one man zone and the Lakers didn't score much when he was in the game. The result? 1-1 and two games of being outrebounded. Game 3, Adelman elected not to use Chuck much but instead moving Artest around while giving heavy minutes to Scola and Landry? The result? 0-1 but we KILLED them on the boards in a game that would have been much closer if the Lakers weren't hitting every shot they took. I know it's not fair to pin a stat like that on one player alone and one game is too small of a sample size. Still, I'll be keeping an eye on this pattern. If it has any legs behind it we would be wise to adjust accordingly.
See my post in the "ideas" thread. I am convinced Chuck should be getting around 20 mpg in this series, as long as the Lakers are going to go small.
I think Von doesn't have potential to be great. Great player must have above average basketball IQ at least, Von's basketball IQ is way below average. It's not like we didn't have Stromile swift before. well that stupit remeber kobe when he was young 5 rs in a row and missed them all and had 2 airballs and look at him now..........
I dont know if anybody has said this in this in this post i havent had time to read it all but, this is gonna sound crazy, but i like the line up of brooks, wafer, battier, artest , and yao. because they start odom so y dont we go small with them. plus we got super scoring that way... its a crazy idea even to me and im a huge wafer fan but its just an idea.
I do like AB and Wafer together, they did well together, but having Ron in there interrupts things cus he clogs the lane, rather have Landry in there. There was a lot of times in the reg.. season Von would drive in and sneak a pass to Landry for a dunk, Scola is getting his shot blocked in the post regularly after a pass. The lineup has to change somehow. I thought in the last game Ron should of went out much earlier for Von, only cus Ron was trying to force it like he sometimes does. If Kobe is hot, it doesn't matter who guards him.
I don't know if Wafer is the answer, but Battier's offensive impotence is definitely a problem because he plays so many mpg. Kobe is roaming and wreaking havoc or just not exerting energy at all on the defensive end. What Battier only fans need to understand is that he's basically a 20 mpg bench player, which is what he'll be next season when TMac is traded.
