They actually look like, well, a team! They're hustling like crazy and just playing all out, they look pretty good so far. I think Kobe's biggest challenge when he comes back will be to not try to take over and score 35ppg again, instead, may be he can focus a bit more on passing the ball, up his assists average from last season, involve the younger guys more early on during the season so that he doesn't have to shoulder that much of a responsibility, which is often done to the detriment of his own teammates' development as basketball players. Lamar, on the other hand, continues to be an enigma of sorts. The guy is absolutely capable of easily averaging over 20ppg, 10rbs, and 5asts per night. However, he seems to only do that when he is the 'alpha male', not when he's forced to take a backseat to someone else and play second fiddle. I don't understand it, but there is no denying that this guy is one of the more talented and highest IQ players in the league. The knock on him has always been that he's "lazy" or just doesn't care. But having watched the way he played not just these past couple of games, but also last season and the season before it when Kobe is out, I can't help but wonder about this guy. He obviously is an all-star caliber player/talent, but why doesn't he do it every night? Why not do it when Kobe is on the court? This team boggles the mind...
They're 2-0 so far. It's not a sizable sample, no, but one of those wins was coming from 19 down to crush the Phoenix Suns in the season opener. Again, no one knows, but they actually look better and more cohesive these past two games than I have seen them in quiet some time. That's my personal observation having watched the Lakers extensively last season.
Seems to me you need to work on your timing of the word not........NOT. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-Iy1Ar_j1g8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-Iy1Ar_j1g8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> Don't forget the pause! LOL.
Lakers are well coached and have good young players to surround Kobe. Phil Jackson realizes that if he can surround enough role players around Kobe-Lamar tandem then he has a good chance of doing damage in playoffs. Lakers youngins look like they have lots of confidence. When Fahmar made mistakes in his first game, Phil didnt pull him right out, but let him learn from his mistakes. Thats a great confidence booster for anyone but particularly a young player. It gives him confidence and experience at the same time. Something that JVG needs to learn from PJ. among lots of other things of course. You are right though. It will be interesting to see how the team reacts to Kobe's return. That is PJ's biggest challenge. How to integrate the two units together and make it look like one cohesive unit. All the Lakers have to do really is keep the game close until the last 5 minutes of game while still having Kobe fresh. Then let Kobe, the best closer in the game, do his thing. I do believe that the Lakers by midseason will be able to do both and they will be a dangerous team come playoff time.
phil jackson's still not travelling with the team, rite? still recovering after his surgery? all I know is i have Odom on my fantasy team, and I wish kobe was out for the season Pippen was able to thrive as the 2nd man of the team, Odom can't?
Consistency. Thats what seperates good players from stars and stars from superstars. In order to be a "superstar" you have to bring it every night and Odom only does that half the time.
Well it's always an incentive to play well and prove your worth when the star doesn't play, but Phil Jackson is indeed a great coach. There's no question about it. And what he's doing with rookies is fundamental to their developement. He'll get good tools out of them, minimum, maybe stars even, with such tactics. I mean you got them in the roster to play, right? It's not a one man game when it's at its best. I love team playing.
kobe may be a "number 1" guy, but he's not a leader. jordan not only took over but he made sure his teamates helped, not by passing the ball, but by calling them out, encouraging them, playing mental games with them. kobe needs to be more of a teamate not just on the court, if he wants to get the most out of lamar. it will only help him, and he could probably even keep posting his numbers.
From what i have seen the only way odom is going to be able to keep this type of play up is if Kobe plays off of lamar's game not the other way around. The ball needs to be in lamar's hands in the post so he draws double teams, that in turn will open up the game for every one else. But fat chance of kobe takeing a back seat to anyone lol.
while the lakers have certainly looked nice, it's also how they looked late last season going into the playoffs. besides that, a) there's no doubt kobe made them better last year. it wasn't like he scored inefficiently and hurt the team with his points. his PER was huge, his PER differential was huge, his plus/minus was great, and the lakers offensive efficiency without him in the game was horrendous. 2 games doesn't change that, especially two games against two of the worst defensive teams in the league (at least i don't think i'm going out on much of a limb to suggest phoenix and golden state will have terrible D's this year). b) the lakers have added some people, including maurice evans, farmar, bynum (all who had big games against phoenix), and radmanovic that they didn't have last year. and somehow turiaf, who has basically never played in his career, went off for 23 last night against golden state. i didn't see any of it, but i assume that can't speak too well for their defense. c) odom plays aggresively when he's the man. kobe is better than he is and is never not going to be the man (kobe playing off odom would be foolish because he's the better player) so it's on odom to figure out how to play like these two games when kobe comes back. while kobe does have trouble balancing scoring and passing (whenever he does start trying to get people involved, he seems to lose all aggressiveness, which people like wade and lebron don't), he doesn't suffocate the lakers into not trying or not being enthusiastic or anything like that. they played hard all last year while he scored 35 and they needed him to do it. if odom steps up and the new additions provide some scoring punch, i would bet he will back off from the 35 ppg thing. even before the season i thought 29 ppg or so is what he would average. these 2 games make me think it'll be closer to that than 35.
I am not arguing that Kobe makes them worse, I am just wondering if he needs to develop a 'happy balance' between scoring and sharing the wealth with his teammates, forcing them to stay involved and not be caught watching him work his magic. I think the Lakers will have at least a couple of really good players from that farm of youngsters they have on the team. I am especially impressed by Bynum and Farmar and think these two guys will be more than serviceable players in the Lakers' rotation within a couple of seasons. I really don't think that they lack talent, they just have a bunch of players who lack experience. That's really a false premise. The Bulls were a team that frequently played off Pippen's point-forward abilities. This doesn't at all mean that Kobe would take a backseat to Odom, it just means that may be the Lakers could harness Odom's play-making abilities and involve him a bit more within the offense, alas how the Bulls maximized Pippen's role within the triangle. This doesn't mean that Kobe would be diminished to a second role on the team, but it might mean that he would have to settle for 30ppg instead of 35ppg. Believe me, the Lakers would be better for it, just like the Bulls shockingly improved and started winning championships when Jordan finally figured it out. Partly, yes, but not entirely. You're trying too hard to deflect any responsibility off your boy. I know where you stand, and I am not trying to say that it's entirely on Kobe, not at all. I am, however, suggesting that may be, just may be, Kobe could take the initiative as the undisputed leader of the team and tries to establish a better working relationship with Odom. It's really a sad, sad thing to waste Odom's enormous talent and not try to figure out the best way to apply his abilities for the betterment of the team. Having said that, however, I do believe that Kobe will find a way to make it happen. I really do think that he's growing into that role, and we saw glimpses of that early on in the Lakers-Suns playoff series. Again, I completely disagree with that premise. Odom might be reluctant to 'step on toes' and simply isn't willing to do that without Kobe's full support. As the leader of the team, HE needs to communicate with his teammates, he needs to let them know that he's behind them no matter what and what he needs them to do, that's what Jordan did with his teammates. He was tough but clear with them, he got guys like Luc Longley, John Paxson, Steve Kerr, and Ron Harper to deliver and believe in the team. The general has to make sure that his troops are willing to go above and beyond for him.
You mean he only seems to do that when he has the ball in his hands. Kobe ain't ready to give up the ball to Odom.
Gotta give credits to Phil Jackson, who is a phemononal coach. He made the triangle offense is sustainable even with Kobe out. This should teach Kobe to lean more on his teamates and less on himself.
forget Phil Jackson.. he is just a r****d who follows stars to win championships.. I bet you Jordan/Pippen/Rodman and Kobe/Shaq teams would've won the same number of championships, if not more, under any other coach.. the only reason why Lakers suck is because of Kobe.. he is a great player, I tell u that.. probably the most talented (individually talented, to be accurate).. but he is a ballhog.. and nobody likes to play with ballhogs.. actually, even if you dont have a problem with Kobe, it's an automatic respense that you dont put huge effort when you are playing with a ballhog.. it's non-voluntary.. I am sure everybody who played any kind of basketball (even drive-way b-ball) with a ballhog witnessed the same involuntary effect..
Interesting, considering that they only started to win championships the second Phil Jackson stepped in as the head coach. I wonder why they couldn't win beforehand when they had the same star players on the roster? But yeah, he sucks...
