I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your general point but that is a pretty selective choice of stats to show. In the first round, Brooks had 26 assists and 7 TOs. Lowry had 10 assists and 9 TOs. Overall, for the playoffs, Brooks had 44 assists to 29 TOs. Lowry had 32 assists and 17 TOs.
Shaq has too big a ego to be anybody's backup, even if that player is Yao. He respects Yao because Yao respects him more. But Shaq can change quickly if he feels he's getting disrespected, it's been proven time after time. And with 40mil at center position, Les won't sign anybody worth a damn to play SG.
Camby and Hayes should be good enough to handle that. Camby is a little overrated as defensive center, but he's a good player overall, better than Hayes.
I do not want nash. He's too old and his deficiencies on defense are too great. To get him we will probably have to give up landry or brooks in addition to a mcgrady. mcgrady can playmake fine enough for me and he rebounds better and his size can be an attribute on defense when he is healthy. Simply put, Nash isn't worth it.
We don't need a traditional SG. This team was good enough to contend for the title. Inserting Shaq into the bench lineup solves the biggest problem we had in the Lakers series.
It's still unsure what the Suns plans really are. Apparantly they have tried to trade Shaq, Nash, and Amare. Are they rebuilding? If so then Shaq and Nash are going to go. Are they retooling? If so then any of the 3 will be traded. I'm not sure if the Suns think they can add a player like Tmac, revive his career and that gives them the best chance. Or if they have given up on the Amare/Nash era and are completely rebuilding.
To get shaq we would probably have to give up landry who provides energy, scoring, and shotblocking off the bench. He can also rn the floor. He is young and he is developing a mid range game. We want to run and push the ball with the second unit. No way we get shaq to come in with them.
Yes, very selective. But still, it shows AB can't really handle the pressure defense Lakers applied, and failed miserably at ast/TO department. He played more like a SG, which is natural to him. Generally speaking, AB did outperformed Lowry in playoffs. We need an upgrade at that position.
It was his first year as a starter. He showed alot of potential. Sure he struggled in a few games in the lakers series, but cmon. We were without yao and tmac. The two stabilizing forces of our offense. AB is fine. He has shown me more than enough to justify his starting spot on this team. His speed and his shooting are the X factors for this team. Not to mention, he played pretty good defense and alot of people thought that was going to be his biggest problem..
I would love to have Shaq's personality on the team, but basketball wise it's an awful move. People are way overstating our need for a backup C. Sorry, but Yao's minute pattern won't change unfortunately. The backup C will only get significant playing time in specific matchups like Deke. Other than that, he'll be on the bench watching Yao play ball, on the way to another future stress fracture. Once Yao gets hurt, we're done, Shaq or no Shaq. Would be nice to have him in a Rockets uniform even for just 1 year, considering how this franchise has been blessed with so many HOF big man.
Without both Tmac and Ron, this team is not good enough to compete championship. Every hole needs to be plugged otherwise it will come back to haunt you in playoffs. Need a legit starting SG at least.
I can't argue with that. Any time the Lakers picked up the defensive pressure, Brooks struggled big time with his decision-making.
