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Lakers

Discussion in 'NBA Dish' started by trowa, Oct 31, 2012.

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ArtV Member

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Lakers' mgmt are dumb if they keep it as-is. I think they will make the playoffs but they could do so much better by making a move or 2. So keep it the same and expect to spend a BOATLOAD to be "maybe if healthy" contender as your players fade with their hairline.

#1481 ArtV, Feb 4, 2013

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Dwight Howard interview w/ Stephen A. Smith

Part 1 | Part 2

#1482 J.R., Feb 4, 2013
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Did the Lakers really file complaints with the NBA that players have been fouling Dwight too hard resulting in an injury??

#1483 NL Rocket, Feb 5, 2013
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NL Rocket said: ↑

Did the Lakers really file complaints with the NBA that players have been fouling Dwight too hard resulting in an injury??
Click to expand...

#1484 magnetik, Feb 5, 2013
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Easy said: ↑

A 5-point play would have been better. The Rockets down by 4 points. Asik hits a 3pt shot with 1 second left and gets fouled. Asik misses the and-1 and Parsons flies in to make the put back dunk.
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Your internet win is superior to mine, good sir.

#1485 Jontro, Feb 5, 2013
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Why would Howard (or anyone) want to play with Kobe instead of Harden?

#1486 Mr. Clutch, Feb 5, 2013
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The_Yoyo said: ↑

They play the rockets in LA for the last game of the season...
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I didn't realize that, this is going to be a battle! we are 2-1 now, correct?

so if we are tied going into this, and let's say the Lakers win, the respective division records wouldn't matter and it would come down to Conference record if I'm not mistaken.

current standings

Lakers Conference= 13-18

Rockets Conference= 9-18

#1487 across110thstreet, Feb 5, 2013

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[...]

"This is a team that has the puzzle parts, but they might not all come from the same puzzle," said one respected NBA scout. "It shows that putting together a team is not always just a matter of getting the 'best' or the 'most best' players together. On one hand, you might have been able to get better results faster if you put Nash together with Howard and let them pick-and-roll everybody to death. When you're mixing in Kobe and Pau, guys who have played a different style in a different system, you're forcing things."

NBA.com's staffers spent the past couple weeks combing the league for analyses, opinions and possible fixes for the Lakers, exchanging anonymity for candor. Some of the responses focused on the most obvious and understandable: injuries. Nash's leg injury, initially thought to be a bruise worth two weeks, wound up as a fracture that cost him eight weeks. Gasol missed time with a head injury. Howard claimed deep into January that his rehab from back surgery should have sidelined him until, well, right about then. He instead came back in some mix of excitement, responsibility and a tooth for the spotlight. He's day-to-day after receiving treatment on his right shoulder.

But D'Antoni -- working without a training camp for the second straight season -- invoked some All-Star team imagery, too, noting how disjointed and "awful" the quality of play can be when parts don't form a whole. The Lakers haven't found their version of ubuntu, the philosophy of bonding that coach Doc Rivers sold to Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and the Celtics six seasons ago.

Said the scout quoted above: "That's not saying they can't work together, but it's going to take a lot longer. What the Lakers are going through kind of validates the problems that Miami had in their first season together. When they kept saying that it was matter of figuring things out, a lot of people just shrugged it off and said they were whiners. And even that was a team where the individual pieces of LeBron [James], [Chris] Bosh and [Dwyane] Wade fit together more naturally than the Lakers."

A lot of the insiders still just see pieces in purple and gold, with enough criticism to go around:

"People act like this is a Kobe issue and he's not the problem," an Eastern Conference exec said. "The problem is he's trying to do the work, at least on defense, of both guards. He's trying to guard the guy Nash needs to be guarding. And that doesn't allow the Lakers to play on a string defensively because you can't hide Nash. He's a defensive liability, same as he's been for years ... With the Lakers, his inability to deal with younger, more physical and more athletic point guards has been a huge issue."

Howard remains a big target, literally and otherwise.

"Dwight is not the same as he was before that back injury," a West team's personnel man said. "He just doesn't get off the floor as quick as he used to. You see him play against guys he's dominated in the past and they are outworking him on the glass and beating him up and down the floor. There was a time when no big man in the league could match Dwight in those areas. That back injury has really put a cramp in his game. ... That's why you have to find a way to get him and Gasol playing off of each other. This idea that you bring Gasol off the bench as his backup is crazy. There's no way you play to your strengths by doing that."

A head scout from the East added: "This is about Dwight ... he's not totally committed to being there and playing in that system. Under Mike Brown, he was going to be a focal point. When you make the coaching change and move to the style of play D'Antoni prefers, it doesn't include making sure the ball goes through Dwight and back out in order to get the offense going. His effort has been comical at times. He wants the ball but has no intention of working for it."

One former NBA player, now an analyst for a rival team, talked of a mismatch between D'Antoni's preferred style of play. "Systems have to fit your personnel," he said. "It's fools gold to think that Kobe, Steve, at this stage in his career, can run the D'Antoni system."

The coach, in other words, need to adapt to his players, not vice versa.

"Dwight Howard is a low-post player, you've got to find a way to get him the ball inside," this critic said. "Pau, same thing with him. ... I don't know what they need to run, but Steve Nash is a pick-and-roll guy, half court, and you can't be discombobulated at this stage in the year as to what you're going to be running offensively. The game is instinct and when you go out on the floor and you're wondering what to do, you don't have a chance."

Said an East scout: "If you listed the 10 best offenses to run for the Lakers' personnel, the two they've tried to run -- the Princeton offense and D'Antoni's offense -- would be near the bottom. That's their biggest problem. Where, with Howard, Gasol and Kobe, Phil Jackson's triple-post offense would give them all sorts of options. But I guess for whatever reason the Busses [team owners] didn't want to go groveling to have him come back."

[...]
Click to expand...

http://www.nba.com/2013/news/featur...ult-but-their-own/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt3a

#1488 HMMMHMM, Feb 5, 2013
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Howard out tonight. Metta suspended tonight. Kobe is playing with a sprained right elbow. Hopefully the Nets handle their business tonight.

#1489 Icehouse, Feb 5, 2013
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Icehouse said: ↑

Howard out tonight. Metta suspended tonight. Kobe is playing with a sprained right elbow. Hopefully the Nets handle their business tonight.
Click to expand...

Hopefully we handle our business tonight.

#1490 J Sizzle, Feb 5, 2013
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I would not be surprise if they push Houston out of a playoff spot. I think they have a chance to steal one from either Houston or Utah.

We got a rough stretch ahead.

#1491 tor.rocks, Feb 5, 2013
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Mr. Clutch said: ↑

Why would Howard (or anyone) want to play with Kobe instead of Harden?
Click to expand...

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

#1492 jlwee, Feb 5, 2013
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jlwee said: ↑

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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And the fact that winning isn't that guys first priority. If it was Chicago would have been at the top of his list last year.

#1493 gmoney411, Feb 5, 2013

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jlwee said: ↑

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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I am sure Morey told Dwight about all the Chinese endorsements he would potentially get. It's not just about the $. It's the spotlight of Hollywood.

#1494 vcchlw, Feb 5, 2013
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So DWill sucks now?

#1495 gmoney411, Feb 5, 2013
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Lakers finish the game on a 10-0 run without Metta, Dwight, or Pau.

there is no other team I'm worried about as a Rockets fan right now

#1496 across110thstreet, Feb 5, 2013
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meh...

#1497 across110thstreet, Feb 5, 2013
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Plantar Fascia strain for Gasol. MRI in Boston tomorrow

#1498 J.R., Feb 5, 2013

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across110thstreet said: ↑

Lakers finish the game on a 10-0 run without Metta, Dwight, or Pau.

there is no other team I'm worried about as a Rockets fan right now
Click to expand...

That's because with them, they would have been outscored 0-10

#1499 clutch citizen, Feb 5, 2013
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Pau took off the walking boot and is awaiting crutches to leave the arena. He acknowledged possibility he is out awhile.</p>— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinDing/status/298999071023177728">February 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

#1500 redhotrox, Feb 5, 2013

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