Lakers will start winning consistently when Nash returns but they still won't be championship contenders. Unless injuries fell the Grizzlies, Spurs or Thunder, they are already playing for 4th seed in the West (they have 7 more losses than OKC who is 3rd). If they slip much further behind the Clippers, even the 4th seed will be out of reach. In the playoffs, they have almost nil chance in a series against OKC or Memphis and probably the same with the Spurs. Lakers need another miraculous Pau trade to go to another level. That is their only hope for a championship. They are too old and their bench is too sorry. Lastly, D'Antoni was a terrible hire. Like Mike Brown but in a different way, he is a very poor fit for their roster in addition to not being a very good coach. Dreamin, IMO, the real story with the Lakers this year is whether Dwight commits long term.
I agree but.... I think Nash is a legit concern. He's nearly 40 years old, even in PHX he was playing limited minutes and they were doing all kinds of mess with him just to have him playing well. It's a real question IMO if Nash is going to save them. His defense (which was already bad) is even worse. I think at best they finish 5th.
I'm with you totally that 5th seed is the Lakers likeliest finish. It's doubtful they catch the Clippers but I wouldn't rule it out just yet. Indeed, it's possible Nash never gets quite right this season or plays such limited minutes their offense never finds a consistent rhythm. If so, the Lake Show is one I will enjoy watching.
I agree, dwight wants to be loved and being in the pressure cooker in a big media market with the hack-a-howard in full force would be killing this dude's ego.
So if they are giving up this many points without Nash how bad will the defense be with him? I guess they can just try to outscore everyone?
I'm not so sure. It's not like 2010 where everybody had cap space. I mean, I'm sure someone would pick him up, but he'd probably have to forgo quite a bit of money or settle for being the only star (unless he makes dramatic improvements, he will not win a championship without another all-star on his team, at least in the current NBA climate). Looks like it. The Lakers really need to re-tool the team, but until Kobe retires they won't be able to.
If he wants to leave the Rockets can and will offer him the max in a heartbeat and he will be playing alongside Harden. The problem is: the Lakers can offer him about 30 million more than we can - and after Pau and maybe Kobe, the Lakers will be big players for some more stars like Kevin Love. He won't leave the biggest team in basketball. He will be the centerpiece of the new Lakers in 2 years.
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8724580/los-angeles-lakers-dwight-howard-shuns-free-throw-pointers-kobe-bryant-sees-root
So... he's basically too lazy or too stubborn to work on his free throws with one of the greatest free throw shooters ever? Guess it won't matter when Stern changes the rules.
it doesn't even make sense to bring him off the bench. What would that achieve? They are giving Pau backup 5 minutes one way or the other, they are giving him some minutes at 4 one way or the other, benching him changes nothing. So I don't see any point to bench him, that's just extra drama.
Agree with you. There are only 10-12 minutes each game for Pau to be on the court when Howard is resting. So unless they plan on cutting Pau's minutes dramatically, they have to figure out if both guys can play together for most of the game. The bottom line is Pau, Howard or Kobe must sacrifice offensive touches in order for them to function well together. Until now Pau has done all the sacrificing. IMO, Kobe needs to sacrifice 1st half FGAs to get the other guys going. This means he has to lay his ego down and give up trying to be a top 5 scorer. Instead, he expects even more FGAs when Nash returns.
