Gasol is comparable to the status of Bosh today at best, with one all star appearance and zero all nba team appearance before joining Lakers. And that's after 7 years in the league. No one would have him as a top 10 player at that point. Kobe needs a Bosh caliber player to win, granted. But he needs no Wade, as proven. No GM will trade Wade for the entire Lakers team minus Kobe/Gasol.
kobe can't get out of the first round by himself. that's a fact. lebron can, and can go far BY HIMSELF (just not win a ring yet). lebron most likely can win a ring with an amare stoudamire easily. he doesn't need wade AND bosh. but again, if you have seen lebron play and how he plays around with his teammates before games, you know this is a guy who wants to have fun while winning at the same time. and we all are seeing how close him and wade are. most likely lebron wants to win, and enjoy it with his best buddy at the same time. i don't think lebron cares if people discredit his future accomplishments, as long as it reads: multiple MVPs, multiple FMVPs, multiple first team all-nba and defense, multiple championships... i dont' think he cares.
LeBron had some quality role players, not CBA caliber players. Kwame, Walton, Smush, Cook. George. That's 5 of 7 Lakers main rotation in that span. They are all younger than Kobe and they couldn't get a contract now (OK, clippers had cook for min). LeBron would have trouble make playoff with that kind of team. We heard how an addition of Shaq would make that team win 70. How Jamison would be the final piece. And it's not like you and other LeBron fans, along with BSPN experts didn't predict them to win it all before the playoff started. And all of sudden after they lost in playoff, we started hearing how LeBron didn't have support. For one year it's fine, 2 years in a row it's getting old. And for the record, you are bandwagoning again but if Cavs lost in playoff, you'll start bull****ing how they don't have quality roles again.
you know you have support when you can shoot 25% in a game 7 and still win. that's when you have support. when we see lebron shoot 25% and his team still win a playoff game, then i'll shut my mouth about him not having any support. but mind you, he shot 3-14 and his team lost by 30. that's when i know he doesn't have support.
Gasol is considered to be one of the top big men in basketball. The Lakers have arguablt the best frontcourt in basketball. No, Kobe doesn't need a Wade. He just needs the best frontcourt in the league (he had the same with Shaq). Would you trade Gasol/Bynum/Odom/Artest for Wade/Bosh? I didn't think so.
If he does that late in his career, we'll see. That has a chance to be an impressive accomplishment, unlike winning a title with the Dream Team will be. I notice you left off '87 and '88? Any particular reason?
Kareem was no longer dominant at that point and the transition had clearly been made from him to Magic. However, LA still had top talent with Worthy (HOFer) and Scott, and if you can see that it was possible for Magic to eventually take over then why do you knock the possibility of a 25 yr old having that same possibility 5-7 years down the line? This is even assuming that he isn't the best player in Miami, and I don't even see signs pointing to that.
it is mind-boggling to me a 2-time MVP (this past 2 years) and generally considered as the best player in the league (by most people) is being demoted to 2nd best on his team simply for his decision to change teams. i didn't know you get demoted without even playing a single game, or to show that you actually lost some freakin' skills.
Gasol is considered to be a top big man only when he's in Lakers. He never made all nba team before. Which means there'd be 5, 6 bigmen better than him. And even he's in Lakers now, he only made all NBA 3rd team twice. Lakers have the best front court when they have a healthy Bynum. But that's not been the case 3 years in a row. They ain't better than Magic or Celtics or Cavs. Shaq dominated 2 regular season matches. Lakers won without Artest too, so don't drag that into equation. Also Fisher is a bottom 5 starting PG in the league, he hits clutch shots but he's below average most of the time. Kobe switched to defend Rondo and Westbrook. LeBron never had to do that. Bottom line, LeBron's decision is like Kobe joined Dirk and AI in their prime, not gonna happen. The old school players wanted to beat the first tier opponents, not joined them.
I don't have the numbers. But Lakers double team him every time he got the ball in the post. Fisher and Kobe taking turns. Bynum had 5 fouls and 5 points almost every game. And they went to him in clutch time. In game 4, Kobe had to foul him hard in closing seconds to prevent a dunk. On the other side of floor, Howard defended Gasol 1on1.
they doubled him some, but not very frequently. phil jackson never believed in double teams. and that was why howard had some big free throw games. phil knows big men, and he knows howard is very limited offensively if you limit his fastbreak points and block him out. here were his stats v. LA in the finals 2 years ago: 15.4ppg on 48.8%fg. he started game 1 with a 1-6 game. and the lakers' frontline isn't just dominant offensively, they are dominant defensively. they beat the celtics this year because of the dominant defense by their frontline, particularly by gasol, NOT OFFENSE. gasol stopped KG and rondo's penetration BOTH. so on BOTH ENDS, the lakers' frontline is dominant.
Total crock of *****. The nonsense u guys spew. First off, ur giving Lebron WAY too much credit. U take the 05 Lakers and put them in the east and they get out the 1st round easily. This whole "Lebron has done everything by himself" is ridiculous. The cavs gave Lebron a well capable team but the guy quit in the playoffs. He knew he was leaving Cleveland and used his elbow as an excuse for not competing at 100%. If Kobe's a amuck then lebron's a even bigger one. Stop making excuses for the man.
http://www.82games.com/0910/CSORT11.HTM for the myth that wade is more clutch than lebron. http://www.82games.com/0809/playoffs/playoffs.htm lebron was most valuable to his team in the playoffs http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm and lebron also leads the league in game winning shots just facts.
Gasol isn't the only player in your frontcourt. But either way, the insane winning started once he got there. Prior to that the Lakers were struggling when Bynum went down, and they were struggling until he emerged that season. They have been dominant since Gasol was traded there. Without a dominant frontcourt Kobe hasn't been able to carry a team past the first round. The LA frontcourt beat the Orlando and the Celtics frontcourt in the last 2 Finals. Sell that BS on another board please. No, Kobe switched and gave them space to just shoot open jumpers. The dominance inside the paint also keeps them from penetrating. Kobe's great defense is "let me sit back and let you take a jumper, while Artest chases around your best scorer and my bigs battle yours and prevent penetration". LeBron's new team isn't better than the team LA currently has.
This is completely untrue. LA beat Orlando because they refused to double Howard since he has no moves and they have actual size. This allowed Ariza and Odom to not leave their big shooters. The Celtics decided not to double him as well.
Haven't you figured out by now that Kobe fanboys don't care about stats and facts? Oh, by the way: "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to t_mac1 again."
Once again this is a another apples to oranges, stupid a**ed argument. The Miami Heat and the Toronto Raptors are two irrelevant losing teams that LeBron has never played in the playoffs. Kobe joining AI or Dirk in their prime would be like LeBron joining the Celtics or Orlando or even the Lakers today. You are making an argument about great teams not great players. The fact that you haters are judging him differently than Kobe, WHO HAS HAD HELP proves that the guy has done more with less and despite what you hope or believe, winning rings is pretty much going to cease all this hating bullsh**
so goodbug have you posted in any thread that is not lakers related?? Because thats the only place I see your name. you should go to lakersground.net and post there.
