2012 Los Angeles Lakers Thread

[Kevin Greene]

Put a 2005 Steve Nash on the Lakers roster healthy this entire year and then what would you have?

Metta is over the hill on the down side.

Pau playing like crap.

Nash has only played in 16 games.

Kobe and a rehabbing Dwight are the only consistent players on this roster.

Antonni needs to realize that and change the teams style to fit it's strenghts.

Or, they can keep losing badly trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

[teeray]

Put a 2005 Steve Nash on the Lakers roster healthy this entire year and then what would you have?

Metta is over the hill on the down side.

Pau playing like crap.

Nash has only played in 16 games.

Kobe and a rehabbing Dwight are the only consistent players on this roster.

Antonni needs to realize that and change the teams style to fit it's strenghts.

Or, they can keep losing badly trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

They are 5-11 in the 16 games Nash played in. 5-10 if you discount the game he got hurt in and only played 16 minutes.

Truth is, Kobe needs to adjust his game to fit the coaches proven offense. Not the other way around. Unless they go to a triangle offense or something similar they are going to struggle until there is more balance.

Basketball 101 will tell you that the number one killer in most offenses is lack of ball movement. If the ball stays on one side of the court it becomes extremely difficult to get good shots. Kobe can make tough shots, so it doesn't really affect him. Who it affects are the other 4 guys on the court.

[Kevin Greene]

The Lakers simply dont have the players on their roster to be more than marginal in Antonni's offense.

Too much age, too slow, not enough shooters.

Dwight Howard is the future of this Franchise. There is no one else on this roster 2 or 3 years out you'd expect anything from.

Kobe still has a couple good years left.

The Lakers are currently showing Dwight no reason to want to stay in LA going forward this year.

Either Dwight will be gone next year and they'll have a lot of cap dollars to spend or Dwight will re-sign and the Lakers better build this roster around him.

Either way the 2013/2014 Lakers will look quite different.

You make a lot of good points teeray, I just think unless Antonni adjusts to maximize the strenghts of what he currently has on the roster this is a lost year as the Lakers dont have the right talent to adjust and make his system look good.

[teeray]

The other thing I would like to see the Lakers do if they keep D'Antoni, since obviously they aren't going to trade Kobe unless Kobe asks out. Is to trade to get a true stretch 4. Get a guy like maybe Charlie Villanueva who wouldn't cost much to get, but you can stick out in the deep corner and run that high pick and roll with Howard and have the middle of the floor wide open and have Kobe and MWP spotting up or slashing back door to the basket.

Gasol needs to go for his sake and the Lakers sake. He can stretch the defense some to maybe 15-18 feet, but in order for this offense to work you need a 4 who can shoot the three and unclog the middle.

The triangle offense is perfect for Kobe. If they do fire D'Antoni and keep Kobe they need to find a coach that can run that offense. Getting Kobe the ball at the elbow extended or in the high post on the wing is lethal. And you can run cutters off of him and if nothing comes open you have Kobe one on one at mid range and still having his dribble. That may also force a double team and gets other guys better shots.

I always felt Kobe is at his best when he is scoring through the offense organically. He is at his worst when he is trying too hard to create his own shot.

[YoungPanthers89]

lol

[Kevin Greene]

Latest Laker rumor:

Dwight Howard for Josh Smith straight up.

:lol:

[GamecockSmitty4]

lol @ Lakers

[ZB1224]

Hopefully the Lakers do trade Dwight... I can't stand him. He hardly ever tries. For some reason he demands the ball in the post just so he can get fouled and miss both FT's or get stripped. He's at his best when he's setting screens and rolling to the basket or catch lobs. His defense has been pretty awful this season as well. We thought that Bynum got lazy at times last season.... welp.

[thatlookseasy]

Dwight is the guy to trade. He's got the most value, and I never got the idea of rebuilding around him anyways. He is already 27, and do you really think a guy this unskilled will age like Kareem?

Lets be honest, the Lakers have a 2-3 year title window with the current roster, I just dont see how they will rebuild quickly after Kobe, Nash, and Gasol are gone and 30 year old Dwight Howard is your only good player.

[ZB1224]

Dwight is the guy to trade. He's got the most value, and I never got the idea of rebuilding around him anyways. He is already 27, and do you really think a guy this unskilled will age like Kareem?

Lets be honest, the Lakers have a 2-3 year title window with the current roster, I just dont see how they will rebuild quickly after Kobe, Nash, and Gasol are gone and 30 year old Dwight Howard is your only good player.

Yeah I agree about the whole building around Dwight thing. His ENTIRE game is built off having superior athleticism; from blocking shots to scoring. He has 1 post move and it is largely ineffective (faceup, drive to his right). He really needs to be surrounded an elite PG and 3 other elite shooters. He has to have space to operate, because when he doesn't... he just gets stripped and/or shut down. You also have to run the offense through him or he won't even attempt to try to play defense or get in good post position... he's a quitter when things aren't going his way. I do not want to build around him, and quite frankly I don't even want him on the Lakers... give me back the infinitely more skilled Bynum.

[Kakarot]

Seen that Mike Conley was having a good game against the Lake Show. Opposing PG's probably get happy as hell knowing they're about to face Nash. Dude is horrible on D.

Stick a fork in the Lakers, man, they're done

Another L.

[Kevin Greene]

Agreed, Lakers are done.

Howard went out again with a bum shoulder.

This after the big team meeting today and everyone saying how things are going to change.

Antonni simply has no clue how to make this roster work, the players are pissed off and it's probably going to get real ugly real soon.

Should be an interesting 2nd half of the season to watch as the Lake Show plunges into the Draft Lottery.

But apparently they wont get the pick!

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/11/sports/la-sp-ln-lakers-2013-draft-picks-protected-20121210

Aint much Blue Sky in Lala land.

I hope Jim Buss is having a good time, he's created this mess.

Maybe he'll have a good time watching CP3 kicking ass in the Playoffs and dream about what might have been....,,

I mean if Dr. Buss was still running the Lakers and Phil was on the bench,

[teeray]

I can't figure this fugging team out. I am not a big Kobe fan, but I am a casual fan of the Lakers and these guys plain suck. I thought they may struggle a little early as the all got acquainted with on another. But I don't think I have ever seen a team put together 2 MVPs, probably the best center in basketball, the most skilled post player in the NBA, and MWP who is an all-star. And just flat suck.

Struggle yes. Being around 4th or 5th in the Western Conference is where I saw this team at worst by this point. But they aren't struggling, they are terrible.

If they don't start winning and winning soon, they shouldn't just trade one guy, they need to become wholesale sellers. Sh!t maybe even trade Kobe at this point.

They have mortgaged their future on this team and traded away several of their draft picks over the next few years to put this team together. If they hang on too long they will become irrelevant for several seasons in the post Kobe life, much like they did in the years following Magic's retirement.

The scary thing is, outside of Kobe, Dwight Howard may be the only real valuable tradeable asset the Lakers have.

What a fugging mess.

[teeray]

By the way, Dwight's shoulder injury tonight was the biggest bunch of BS. That is a guy trying to get the fug out of there. 10-1 he is faking.