I'm just saying in the regular season, they would probably win some games without Kobe being there but in the long run, they probably wouldn't win the championship.
You have a team to win 60+ games in consecutive years and there's still no help? Maybe LBJ can sign minimum to Lakers next year and only then he'll have help.
The 08 Lakers also crashed the same Spurs that swept Cavs in 07 finals. And LeBron shot 35% in finals. Kobe did shot 40% in 08 finals, but LeBron was only 36%. LOL.
To win the conference you have to beat the best team. Is it harder to beat some good teams like Utah or Denver, or to have to beat a great team like Boston? You won't make the Finals unless you go through that team. So cinsidering the champs have been rotating for the last 6 years, don't try to sell me on how much tougher the West is, especially considering all of the injuries Western playoff teams have suffered over the past 3 seasons. Is Kobe playing? Is Odom playing? Is Bynum playing? Did Yao play? Did T-Mac play? How many games did Okur miss, or AK? Didn't Nelson play before the Finals? Don't try to sell me on how tough the West is when 2/3 of the teams fielded incomplete rosters last postseason. Sure the Jazz are a better team with Okur and AK-47. Without them, not so much. The same goes for the Rockets without Yao. If Kobe is on a better team, than exactly how is his path "harder"? This is all your opinion, but I would rather have those Eastern teams at full strength then the Western teams missing key players.
^ no one felt sorry for the Lakers when they went in without Andrew Bynum or Trevor Ariza in the 2008 run, so why should the injury excuse be used?
And the quality of teams in the West is much higher than the East. They'd have to battle a tough game every night its not a cakewalk like the East where only 2-3 good teams exist. Top to bottom 1-8 the West teams have been ridiculously strong
does not matter? Are we Rockets fans or Kobe fans? does that matter to us who is the greatest? You could argue all day. All we fans want are watching the Rockets reach the finals. If that's not possible then we hope for a thrilling 7 games between those two teams.
Actually I'm not. I'm saying don't tell me how tough Kobe's path was when 1) he is on a team with better talent and 2) the teams that he is facing in the postseason, at least last year, had big injury problems. And I could care less about Kobe's accomplishments. Why do you? Is he your cousin or something? How do his accomplishments impact your life in any way. If he saw you on the street would he even give you an autograph? :grin:
Denver was probably the 3rd best team last season behind Orlando. Sure seems like the West is much tougher when you have more competitive series' and the better teams are getting challenged by even injury riddled teams. Just because teams are injured doesn't mean they aren't great. Sure, they aren't at full strength... but if they win playoff games, who gives a flying ****? Kobe is on a better team but he plays harder competition. LeBron is on a ****tier team.... but he plays easier competition. It's easier to win games in the East when you have such ****ty teams as the Hawks, Bulls, Wizards (when they made the playoffs), and Nets. LeBron has beat 1 50 win team in his career.. 1. Sure, some of those teams in the East have had injuries too... but getting swept with those injuries is a true testament to how much they really suck. While here in the west, you have a team like the Rockets who can blow out the eventual champs... even without their best player playing. You can say all you want about taking the healthier teams... but don't discredit the fact that the teams in the west who had injuries played at a higher level than some of those teams who didn't have any injuries or if they did that they didn't play at as high of a level as the western conference teams. It's pretty clear that the west is way more competitive than the East. You had the Pistons and the Celtics. Both teams owned the conference when they won their chip... nobody was close to the level they were playing at when they won those chips in the East. Miami... like I said... was all because of Wade. I honestly don't think Miami was the better team in that series. You have the dynasties in the West, you had Shaq + Kobe for a number of years beating and sweeping 50 win teams... and then the Spurs who were dominating every other year against great teams... though the series' were competitive. Then now you have the Lakers back again on top and dominating but against tough teams like the Thunder and the Suns.
Probably....probably not. I would rather have the Cavs than Denver, and seeing how the Celtics took Orlando to 7 then maybe them as well. The Nuggets aren't really a stable group. Quite talented but quite easy to get in their heads. So this is your reasoning for teams missing their best players being as good as other teams at full strength? Um...ok.... I'll gladly take last years fully healthy Hawks squad over every team LA faced in the West. This is all opinionated but I don't think those injured teams were better than a fully healthy Hawks. Is it also not easier to win games when you are on the best team? It's not clear. The champs have alternated over the last 6 seasons. And the Thunder are Suns are tough West teams, lol....yeams no one even thought would be there. Yet the Cavs, Magic, etc aren't? 1-8 the West is stronger, but I think the East is more top heavy. In either case, only one team has had as much talent as LA over the past 3 seasons (Boston).....so I don't see exactly what Kobe had tougher, being on a squad that's better than everyone elses.
And whats wrong with having a little talent on his team? Is it wrong for Bird to have HOFers like Parish and McHale next to him? Is it wrong for Magic to win alongside Kareem and Worthy? Is it wrong for Jordan to win alongside Pippen and Rodman? NO one has done it themselves, same goes for Kobe And no need to take shots at me. Try to dismiss my points not try to throw a personal attack at me...people do that when they're losing an argument. I'm a fan of the game
Nothing is wrong with having help. The point is LeBron has never had that type of help. He has never played with a star player. Kobe hasn't had any success without one either. Most haven't. And I've been dismissing your points.
Mo Williams is an All star, Z was an all star, Jamison was an all star just 2 years ago. Shaq is still a top 10 big man. Varejao is second in the NBA in +/- (hustle player who provides rebounding and defense up front), with Hickson as starter they had a phenomenal record, how much more help do you need? He has enough help geeze
Lakers beat Magic, and if they'd win it all this year, the same Celtics. What more do you need for proof there? Every year, the 8th seed in east struggled to win 41 games. And that's not easier than the likes of Nuggets, Jazz, Thunders of last 3 years who won 50 games or close to 50 games?
thought this season's play offs agree with last year's hawks this year's hawks have been somewhat disappointing. Maybe JJ's free agent status could be the reason
