Route 66%

That was an absolutely flawless performance. Unlike some other games against lesser opponents, the Lakers didn't relax after jumping out to an early lead -- they kept some semblance of defensive pressure going into the otherwise garbage-time third and fourth quarters.

Well done!

Turiaf please keep the Predator look.

Bynum , sure did love the game face last night. Anybody else think he might have taken the Boston game personal??

Critter will be the Secret Weapon we need in the playoffs.

Folks have you noticed Cook hasn't played in 10 games. Read that Orlando is upset with his conditioning. This Ariza trade was a HEIST!!!! It is about time we came out on top in regards to a trade. It's clear Lakers got the best player.

MikeT- still in prison blogging?? Your boy Kwame Doo Doo Brown looked horrible last night.

After watching both Phoenix games again Nash must have nightmares of Fish. Amazing from Smush to Fish. It's clear why coaches love Vets especially ones with Championship Experience. This small little transaction has been a huge key to the Lakers start. Long Live Fish!!!

BD

Yea..it was a good game. I wudnt call it flawless though (lol..66%..im just funnin') but ill take a 30pt win while keeping the oponent under 99pts anyday of the week..(including that day the government will create in a few years to make up for raised taxes by having us work an extra day) We got Indiana next..and I bet a bucket of chitlin's and a pan of Lumpia (yum!) that we will harbor a 20pt lead at some time between the 5/16 and 15/32 mark going into the half! Hahaha..

Hey whats up laker nation that was a flawless victory and one that we needed from the train wreck that was the celtic game. I have always liked Turiaf in the starting line up or really a big line up to start with. Fisher Bryant Odom Turiaf and Bynum. How formidable is that line up. Turiaf can guard the opponents better post player Odom can play his more natural position and if Chris can ever get health enough him and Brown coming off the bench will be perfect. Your second unit will be Walton Jordan Chris Brown or Ariza Vlad Rad Vurijac we will and right now are a hard opponent. Thank you laker nation. Just my opinion.

Damn! The price of milk went up from 3.99 to 4.50 a gallon in just a couple of days. That's crazy. No cereal for me!

GO LAKERS!

Now if you'll excuse me I have to design my blog pages.

mike

What...no praise for Kwame? The man compiled an NBA rarity last night...a 4x4. In addition to his 4 assists, he had 4 turnovers, 4 personal fouls and 4 points. Not a bad return for $9Million a year. How long, Kwame? How long? If not now, when?

Anyone see this link? I always like to hear comments from the other team.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20080105_Lakers_win_a_laugher_over_Sixers.html

When was the last time an L.A site posted "A laugher over Lakers"? That Philly media is harsh!

The Lakers are 7-3 in their last 10 games..Bynum started in all of them. They will be 8-2 on Sunday.

Im telling you, if these guys can stay healthy, we are getting out of the first round:

1) Kobe
2) Bynum
3) Odom
4) Fisher
5) Kwame Brown
6) Farmar

Kwame is an overweight sack of crap. When is this guy actually going to lose weight and start earning his paycheck? How can he watch the growth of a young Bynum and witness the fruits of his efforts first hand and STILL BE A LAZY PUNK. Doesn't that make Kwame feel worthless? It should.

KWAME BROWN IS A BUM.

ALSO, THIS BLOG WOULD BE BETTER OFF IF WE BANNED IGNORANT PRISON JUNKIES......I'M NOT NAMING NAMES, BUT REMOVING THE PRISON JUNKIES WOULD GREATLY ENHANCE QUALITY OF THE BLOG.

I HAVE NO RESPECT FOR THE OPINION OF THOSE THAT AREN'T INTELLIGENT AND DECENT ENOUGH TO STAY OUT OF PRISON.

Cheers!

actually, except for some occasional bone-headedness, i thought Kwame did an ok job overall against Phillyl, he even caught a few hot passes under the basket and turned them into points or nice passes for points. he's a good backup. 9mil is too much, but how much is Dalembert making?

there's no need to hate on this year's team. they are playing hard for the most part and seem to be learning the important lessons. i know we're not quite elite yet, but pray for continued improvement and overall team health and we're the team no one wants to play in the playoffs, come playoff time.

Good game last night. Hopefully the Lakers don't nose dive for the rest of the season.

We need to stop being so harsh on Kwame Brown. Sure he's not worth 9 mil, but it's not his fault he got that money.

Kwame has a place on this team, and I hope he's on the Lakers next year.

Sure Bynum is a better scorer and shot blocker.

Kwame Brown brings a different look. I'm happy he's different than Bynum..Kwame brings another big body and that will help the second unit dominate the game with his defensive toughness.

He's not worth 9 mil, but you know what? He's not the worse big man in the league and it's nice to have another defensive big man with his size and speed.

I still think this was a good gamble by Kupchak...Kwame just needs to stay healthy and I think he will because he will get less minutes with the emergence of Bynum.

Having a healthy Kwame on the floor gives the Lakers a nice advantage believe it or not.

Bynum is still a better offensive player and rebounder because of his freakish arms, but Brown can push people out of the way and send messages. I like that too.

You have to realize that Kwame Brown is not going to be a good scorer or rebounder. He is what he is and he gives some toughness that not a lot of teams have. Dallas to name one.

Kwame Brown is not the key, but he is part of the championship puzzle. The Lakers and Mitch have not done as bad a job as everyone thought.

KWAME SUCKS,

I think Phoenix would be an ideal trading partner for Kwame. We could get Raja or Barbosa and one filler.

Starting lineup:
PG: Fisher
SG: Kobe
SF: Bell or Barbosa
PF: Lamar
C: Bynum

zen,

Kwame is worth 4-5 mil at most.

I agree about laying off of Kwame ...The guys that hate him are just saying all the crap they want to get off their chest because they make $8 an hour and hate their wives. They seem to have little understanding that a team is comprised of many different elements, and for one, needs toughness and depth. With Bynum out there a team is just two fouls away from no center at all. Brown is a legitimate backup who made a number of sweet passes last night, who makes steals, and who doesn't back down. In my view he is a luxury, but the kind of luxury a team needs if it is going to go anywhere. You may not agree with his salary, but you aren't paying it, so give it a rest..

I like Kwame and I agree with Zen, there is a place on this team.

It would be great if we could steer the blog away from the subject of Kwame Brown because, for whatever reason, he is either touted as the second coming of Bill Russell or the worst Laker ever.

Neither is true.

Let's just try to diminish the hate for a little while, okay?

GO LAKERS!

zen,

Great points. Totally agree except for "he gives some toughness that not a lot of teams have". Kwame big and strong but he aint tough.

it's always amazing how some people on this blog will express their hate for a laker because he feels he is not a very good player...then propose an absolutely idiotic trade scenario for a player that is a major piece on another team.

as if wishing that the front office of that team would be at least half as stupid as they are.

fkillah,

There's no way Phoenix would trade either of those two guys for Kwame. It's been well documented that D'Antoni thinks Kwame sucks. And we don't need either of those guys and they're too small to play SF for us anyway.

p ang,

Did you see him take down that Phoenix player two years ago in the playoffs and do a "stare down". That's what I want from Kwame Brown. Kwame Brown can hurt someone. I don't want him too, but he can send messages that no other Laker has the ability to do.

When it comes to his injuries, he ain't tough..But I dont care about that! I want him to stay healthy, play good post defense, and send messages to guards in the lane. I think he's capable of doing that.

Yeah there is a place for Kwame in our team....
as BODYGUARD for our players ...

Xodus,

D'Antoni knows Kwame doesn't suck. He's not going to show his "respect" during a playoff series especially when he's the starting center. Kwame has his uses. He's not a focal point starting center. He needs to be used for his abilities and not based on his draft selection (not his fault) and money (again not his fault).

He is simply a big body who can defend and has quickness.. Only Shaq had those qualities as a starting center because Shaq could score and had good hands. Not to mention a better shot blocker too...

In a way, the Lakers were trying to patch up the loss of Shaq with two guys instead of one - Bynum/Brown. Basically if you think about it, Bynum and Brown together would probably make a Shaq! Except this time, we have better free throw shooting and Bynum is way more skilled in the post.

Shaq and Rick Fox brought that toughness before.

Rodman brought it for the Pistons and Bulls

Also, I read some of the posts from Mike T on the previous threads!!

He is naming the Spurs and Celtics as the teams the Lakers can't beat with Bynum.

Mike...Mike....Mike...

Your talking about Kevin Garnett!
Your talking about TIm Duncan!

Two hall of fame big men!

EVERYONE in the league has trouble with those guys!

You can't really expect a 20 year old (no matter how BIG his base is) to dominate these guys!

There is also one other flaw in your "fools gold" season: It's a long season.

Do you really think he's not working on his base during the season? I bet he is.

Your talking 6 months from now (if they meet in the finals). You can improve your base a lot in that time frame.

I'm no mathametician, so can somebody explain to me how Hollinger's playoff predicitons have 10 teams having a 52% or higher likelyhood of making one of the 8 playoff spots?

zen,

Kwame is capable of anything he wants to do. Guy has too much inate athletic ability. Sending messages though is not one of them. Purposely knocking down a single player in his entire 6/7 year nba career as PF/C? In posttions which are suppose to be the where tough big and strong (and mean) players live?

Again, I agree with you on all your points. If we want toughness though my money's on Turiaf and Ariza.

zen,

I agree that Kwame does have his uses, but I think D'Antoni would strangle Steve Kerr if he traded Barbosa for Kwame. And he'd probably be pissed if lost Bell in exchange for Barbosa as well.

Curious - in your first sentence - are you using "notwithstanding" to mean its opposite? "Easy access..notwithstanding" means "despite easy access". If you actually mean that confirming numbers are easy to access, you needn't go out on a limb, right?

i know the answer to the problem.

tell kwame that he's playing basketball and NOT hot potato.

j. d. hastings,

I'm no mathematician either but it doesn't take Gauss to figure out that 3 teams could each have a 50%+ chance of making one of 2 playoff spots.

However, I would like to know how the odds of each team winning the Pacific don't add up to 100%...?

Who can give us the answer to the MAIN question?
Will KB stay or will he live? So far , he clearly stated his intention to live , regardless of the outcome of the 07-08 season. No playoffs or the championship, KB said he is gone after this season.
Now the real question . May be we are better off without KB , if we can get 2 legit superstars for him and some high draft picks. Bynum's recent play , Farmar and Crits progress prove the fact what we could look really good in couple of years.
I am big Kobe's fan , but if he wants to go then there is nothing we can do , but capitalize on his decision and make the most out of it.
The only thing I worry is the Timberwolves fate , getting 25 players for KG and being the worst team in the NBA , so I guess the players they got were not very good , except for Al Jefferson.
Looking at Mitch track record in trades , we might get screwed , he messed up on the bunch of them , slightly redeeming himself with Ariza deal.

JeffGrotke
I agree on your assessment on Kwame , the only thing I got against his is the prize tag. Its kind of high. If we can resign him after this season there is sure plenty of use defending Duncan , Dirk and Amare (at least trying to , he is too quick for Kwame).
Who knows what king of treatment will Adrew get in the playoffs.
He might get whistled for a few quick fouls and it will put us in the Mihm disaster.

j. d. hastings and McGarnagle,
the total doesn't add up to 100% because the odds listed are for each team individually, not as a group.

imagine 5 people looking to get 3 spots via a coin flip and the first two to lose a flip are out. each person has a 50/50 chance of winning their flip.

David-

Good point. It's not a very well constructed sentence, looking at it now. I was using it in the "in spite of" context, meaning that in spite of having no easy access to confiirming numbers, it's a safe bet that most teams that shoot 66% win. But the opening phrase isn't entirely clear.

I'll forward this one on to the English professors, perhaps.

BK

Kwame doesn't get a free pass to a place on this team. HE HAS TO EARN IT. He has become a worse player every year he has been a Laker. He continues to gain weight and doesn't show a willingness to work hard and contribute. We all wish Kwame could be a power house power forward next to Bynum and we pay him like that is what he is. BUT HE CONTINUES TO DEMONSTRATE THAT HE IS NOT A HARD WORKER. HE DOES NOT EARN HIS PAYCHECK. JUST LIKE SHAQ, KWAME HAS NO PROBLEM GOING THROUGH THE REGULAR SEASON FAT AND OUT OF SHAPE. WE NEED WINNERS LIKE FARMAR, FISHER, BYNUM, AND KOBE THAT ARE GOING TO WORK HARD AND TRULY DEDICATE THEMSELVES TO THIS TEAM.

SHIP KWAME OUT UNLESS HE LOSES 30 POUNDS AND STARTS WORKING HARD TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS TEAM.

zen-

I agree. I've written a few times that it's important to understand what Kwame provides the team. You can make a very solid case that Bynum should get more minutes at this point (they're a much more dynamic team with him on the floor) but to say Kwame has no value isn't accurate. It's important not to get so wrapped up in the things he doesn't do well (there are many, and they can be frustrating) that what he does do well gets lost. He can have a positive impact defensively in a very different way than Bynum. Less by blocking shots and rebounding, more by muscling guys around.

Kwame will never be a guy worthy of number one pick status. Nor will he be a guy who seems like a value at nine mil. But that's beside the point. It's easy to get caught up in black and white, all or nothing debates over players, but that's not how it works on the court. Instead of always focusing on what he isn't or what he doesn't do well, sometimes it's constructive to find his value. He's a role player, and in certain situations can be pretty handy to have around. (That said, I wouldn't bring him back next season unless a) he was willing to take a substantial pay cut, and b) he was willing in every way shape and form to be a backup.) If people sit around and wait for him to be a star, or someone who seems "worth the money," they'll always be disappointed. But it's not his fault he got paid, it's management's.

The good news is between Bynum and Brown, the Lakers are strong and diverse up the middle, which is a very, very good thing. It's not one or the other, it's one with the other.

BK

BK,

I agree with what both of you said, I'm just saying there's no reason why the Lakers would trade Kwame for Barbosa or Bell (especially not so we can play either one at SF) and there's no way in hell the Suns would trade those guys for him.

Xodus-

I didn't realize that was the context of the debate- I can't think of a big that fits in worse with what the Suns do offensively than Kwame. Nash would break his nose with a pass by the second half of their first game together. Can't see that trade happening. An interesting one, floated I believe by Hoopsworld's Eric Pincus, would be for Kurt Thomas. Financially, it's a wash, but the theory is the Sonics would do Thomas a solid by moving him at the deadline, since he's been a good soldier this year. I'd make that deal in a heartbeat, especially since Thomas is solid defensively and can slide into the PF spot.

BK

Xodus-

I didn't realize that was the context of the debate- I can't think of a big that fits in worse with what the Suns do offensively than Kwame. Nash would break his nose with a pass by the second half of their first game together. Can't see that trade happening. An interesting one, floated I believe by Hoopsworld's Eric Pincus, would be for Kurt Thomas. Financially, it's a wash, but the theory is the Sonics would do Thomas a solid by moving him at the deadline, since he's been a good soldier this year. I'd make that deal in a heartbeat, especially since Thomas is solid defensively and can slide into the PF spot.

BK

Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | January 05, 2008 at 07:39 PM

BK,

I would love to see that deal happen if we could get it done. Thomas would definitely be great at the PF spot and could play backup at Center spot as well. He's a proven post defender and according to former teammates is a great character guy. The only downside is he's older than Kwame and has been prone to injury as well.

By the way BK, we had a chance to watch Drew show a few post moves last night against the Sixers. His footwork was excellent and he seemed aggressive from the opening tap. My question is since you have access to the players and the practices, what type of post moves is Drew working on? Is he still practicing the skyhook? Is he practicing a face up or turnaround jumper a la Ewing or Olajuwon? I think if he had a shot similar to Rasheed Wallace or Bill Cartwright(hopefully not as ugly)where he releases the shot from the top it would be impossible to block because of his long arms. I'd like to get your thoughts. Thanks.

Can you believe that the Celtics beat the Pistons 92-85?

That's amazing! For the Pistons to allow only 92 points and still lose? That must of been an intense game. I didn't see it.

Can you believe that the Celtics held the Pistons to 85 points?

Garnett, Allen, and Pierce only scored 15, 9, and 19 points.

But Davis scored 20 points off the bench for the Celtics.

That's defense!

When the Lakers lost to the Celtics they only shot 354 from the field.

When Celtics beat the Rockets, in their last game, they held them to 422 from the field.

The Celtics just held the Pistons to 392 from the field.

In theory the Lakers have a better offense than both the Pistons and the Rockets. But in the 2 games the Lakers played the Celtics they scored only 92 and 91 points in those games.

In the first game the Lakers only shot 422 from the field and scored 92 points. Then last week the Lakers only shot 354 from the field and scored 91 points.

The Celtics are playing steady ball. While, in my opinion, the Lakers are playing the wrong philosophy of ball.

I say that because Kobe Bryant said the other day that what happened in the Boston game last week was just a bad day for the Lakers.

I don't think that's the case. I think the Celtics defense is the real deal.

It'll be interesting to see how the Spurs do in Feb. and March. That's when they usually their game together.

These are 3 serious defensive teams. The Spurs, Celtics, and the Pistons.

Serious defense!

mike

It's not Kwame's fault that he gets paid 9 mil a year. However, he should be playing like a player who wants to earn their paycheck. That's my issue with butterfingers.

j.d. hastings and McGarnagle,

Although I don't put any weight in Hollinger's analysis' and projections and PER etc., statistically it makes sense. Since 8 teams can make the playoffs, collectively all the percentages should add up to 800%, which they do give or take .1%. If you look at it this way, then all 15 teams (in perfect parity) could have a more than 50% chance of making the playoffs. In perfect parity each one of the 15 teams would have a 53.3% chance of making the playoffs -- 800% / 15 = 53.3%.

And Mcgarnagle, did you notice Golden State has a .5% chance of winning the division adding up to 100%.

GO LAKERS! Beat the Pacers

Mike, Are you a Laker fan? Seriously. You might be the biggest troll in the history of blogging. You constantly praise every team except the Lakers. Please go back to developing your own blog, so the rest of us don't have to read your nonsense praise of every other team and player.

Mike, I'll just as civily as possible put a call out to others on the blog to not let you off for your behavior last night. We don't want to hear from you. We don't care what you have to say, it's not enlightening, but more importantly you're just boorish.

No one here cares to hear from you anymore.

BK,

I'd do that trade in a second, but I don't see why the Sonics would do that other than to do Thomas a favor. I think Thomas' contract is expiring too so they wouldn't be getting financial relief either. It'd be a great move on the Lakers part tho.

Yeah, I'm a Lakers fan. That's why I'm scouting the Celtics, Spurs, and the Pistons.

That's what real fans do. They do their homework. They look at the Lakers weaknesses verses the top 3 teams strengths.

That's only logical. You're attitude is as if though me posting what I just did is an offense to you.

Are you so shallow not to look at the enemy in face? That's just outright foolish. And then to get upset when a real fan does?

It doesn't make sense.

What I write just shows you what's coming and it seems to make you uncomfortable as if though your dreams are being interupted or something. As if your ideas of how the Lakers are doing or will do against those teams is something you don't want to look at because it shatters your interpretation of what you think is best for the Lakers.

mike

Laker for Life,

Do I really care that you don't want to hear me?

Having you all been saying that for 2 years now?

Now all of a sudden I'm supposed to take you serious? And my "behavior" is always based on how you people respond to me. You talk crazy to me then when I respond you act as if I violated your trust. Please!

mike

Hello Room......It has been a while since I've been on. Frankly, I lost interest in this blog back before the season started and have been spending a little time on the ESPN blog.

I do find it quite comical that after 2 months of basketball the same people are on here still pushing the same comments and thoughts. Crazy as it is, some people seem to be convinced that if they talk long enough, perhaps eventually their comments will become believable or come true.

I can't resist the urge to at least comment on the resident Kwame Brown Number 1 Fan.....Mike T.

My comment is simply this.......If having Bynum in as the starting center means that the Lakers will make it to the WCF or the NBA Finals only to be beaten by the Spurs or Celtics, I will happily take that outcome this season. Considering the fact that the Lakers were predicted to potentially be a lottery team in preseason, just the fact that they could possibly make it that far in the playoffs is a successful season this year. I do find it quite interesting that someone would criticize a player and strategy that they evidently consider good enough to at least advance to the conference finals if the not the championship.

It is interesting that with each passing month of the season, the number of "Elite" teams is dwindling. It is as if the further we get into the season, the cover is being lifted off of the teams that have been perceived to be the teams to beat. Utah, Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston were considered to be Elite teams before the season began. Now people are saying that those teams are very vulnerable with Utah and Houston even being questionable as playoff teams. Phoenix has been exposed for being vulnerable to teams with active big men. By the way, New Orleans just beat the Suns. Funny thing is, Tyson Chandler has a limited offensive package yet, he is effective with getting dunks and put backs.....

Like I said early in this post, I will take the Lakers beating everybody but the Spurs, Celtics and Pistons this season. I can patiently wait to beat those other teams next season.

Michael Teniente,

Do you realize that the Lakers have not been past the first round of the playoffs since 2004????? Yet, now you are upset because you believe that starting Bynum will ONLY get the Lakers to the WCF orto the Finals with a loss to one of those 3 teams. Are you serious????

This is not even about Kwame Brown as far as I'm concerned. It is about the Lakers team. IF this team makes it to the WCF and then loses to the Spurs, I doubt that many will be overly upset with that outcome. Instead, they will walk into the summer intent on cleaning up the few mistakes and trouble areas with the goal of getting even farther next season. Bynum will get even stronger over the summer, and Mitch will sign a FA big to replace Kwame Brown and get the team the backup big that they need. I just can't understand how you see things so differently than that.

BK....That deal of Kurt Thomas for Kwame was proposed at least three weeks on the blog. I think the posters were "alex" and "Charles". It prompted a good debate. I thought that it was a great idea then and I still do. AK probably handled things that day, so you may have missed it.

After watching tonight's game between Boston and Detroit, it seems that the trend and tweaking of the rules towards offensive basketball is losing its steam. That game was a pure slugfest, "sludgeball", if you will. Any team that intends to make a deep run into the postseason had better amp up the physicality and intensity. Kurt, as a seasoned pro, would definitely help in those areas.

Some bloggers seem to think that Kwame bashing is getting out of hand. I agree with most that we, as Laker fans, want to see Kwame do well and lend his services to a successful season. The bashing comes from a sense of disappointment of seeing a guy with so many physical gifts being unable to maximize his potential and carve out a consistent, positive role for himself on this Laker team.

The Lakers are looking better than anyone expected and the blog is cranky.
Totally insane, but not boring.

Yeah, I realize that but I pointed out that the Lakers had a 3-1 lead over Phoenix and PJ wouldn't switch Parker from Nash in favor of George. That would have won it for us. That's what Dallas and San Antonio did over the last 2 seasons. It was the logical thing to do. But for some reason PJ is above that thinking.

And to make matters worse Pat Riley kicked Parker off his team after signing him for a 2 year contract. Why? Because he saw Parkers weaknesses and dealt with them quickly. But PJ rode Parker against Nash in the playoffs when Parker was getting killed through and through.

Then last season the Lakers jumped out to a 17 point lead in game one. Then PJ pulls Kwame and the Suns pull within 2 points. So what does PJ do? He puts Kwame back in the game. Then Kobe hits three 3 pointers and the Lakers pull to an 11 point lead at half.

Then in the 3rd quarter the Lakers and the Suns are battling. The Suns are playing out of a halfcourt set but they're hitting all their shots. Then PJ pulls Brown because D'Antoni pulls a couple of screens off the ball to make Brown bump into his own teammates. By right before he did that he inserted Barbosa into the game.

When PJ pulled Kwame the Lakers we're still leading by something like 7 or 5 points. I forget the exact number. Then PJ pulls Kwame for Bynum and Barbosa goes off on a lay-up drill. He scores 15 out of the next 18 Suns points and the Suns pull away.

I wrote about those two series through and through. It seems you forget that when PJ pulled Kwame last season in that series...that's when the Suns ALWAYS attacked the rim.

I wrote about that so I can just bring it up as fact now.

We lost to the Suns for 2 years in row because of Phil Jackson...not Kwame Brown.

mike

Injuries aside, I'm crowning Boston, unless Mitch pulls off a Kwame, Luke, Vlad and pieces for LeBron and Duncan trade before the deadline. SA and Detroit are good but not that good. Money, luck and back room deals play a big part in a 5 man sport.

But is it really all about a championship? It used to be but in today's media, with 541 channels and endless internet options, isn't it just as much fun watching the Lakes grow or even a team like Portland blow a fresh wind into the sails of the NBA? The season lasts too damn long anyway.

Can you believe that the Hornets just beat the Suns without David West?

They say the Hornets are a serious team. They're 23-11. Chris Paul is no joke!

mike

Hornets seem to another team on the rise as they just beat the Suns in Phoenix without David West. Byron Scott is a good coach and he has the Hornets playing good ball. We can't stumble too much during the this stretch of games because we still play the Hornets and the Suns. We might be able to close the gap or get the division lead by the break. We can't overlook Indiana, Memphis, Milwaukee or Seattle because we've had trouble with struggling team. We need to take care of business and continue to improve one game at a time.

Celtic, Spurs and Pistons are the top teams respectively. We're 0-2 against the Celtics, 1-1 against the Spurs(they were without Duncan and Parker in our win) and we're 1-0 against the Pistons(Billups didn't play). Not bad, but we have a ways to go, especially defensively. We just need to continue to stay healthy, people fulfill their roles and play unselfishly. I'm confident that PJ will continue to iron out the wrinkles and crack the whip. Kobe and Fish will also keep the others in line as well. The positive is that our players are working hard to get better and better each day. Go Lakers!!!

I'm just not concerned with those other teams as they apply to this forum. I focus on upcoming opponents, and look at things from a pragmatic perspective. No dreams are shattered here Big Mike Effing T. Blog King.

"I'd do that trade in a second, but I don't see why the Sonics would do that other than to do Thomas a favor. I think Thomas' contract is expiring too so they wouldn't be getting financial relief either. It'd be a great move on the Lakers part tho."

Yeah, I don't see the Sonics doing that without something else thrown in. If it took a second, it might be worth it, not that there's anything wrong with keeping Kwame - for all his limitations, he does have some strengths. Not enough to be close to as good overall as 20 year old Bynum, but most backups aren't as good as the player in front of them on the depth chart. I'd say that there's a problem with Thomas not knowing the Triangle - but since Kwame's not a big part of the offense, that isn't much of an issue.

Is there a "Shun Mike T." Bandwagon?

UCLA's new head coach, Rick Neuheisel, is on tv right now. And he just said that the problems with a team is like a big elephant in the room. You just don't look away and act as if they don't exist.

I mean are you people the only people in the sporting world that actually looks away from the big elephant in the room?

It's only logical for you to look at the elephant and make plans to face that elephant. Not to do so is just mismanagement.

mike

I'm just not concerned with those other teams as they apply to this forum. I focus on upcoming opponents, and look at things from a pragmatic perspective. I'm not worried about what's coming. I'm living in the now, and right now the Lakers are playing excellent basketball. It's not even that you praise those other teams, it's that you have to undermine the Lakers in every post you make. Your comments are constantly negative, and provide nothing but backhanded insults even when there's praise. You should convert to watching the Suns, because all of their fans are just like you.

bronxlakerfan,

>>>What...no praise for Kwame? The man compiled an NBA rarity last night...
>>>a 4x4. In addition to his 4 assists, he had 4 turnovers, 4 personal fouls and
>>>4 points. Not a bad return for $9Million a year.

Just a wee bit different than Moses Malone's idea of a fo fo fo, huh?

Xodus-

Yeah, it would be for no other reason than to do right by Thomas. But that sort of thing does happen in sports, for sure.

Nemaia-

Hey. Far as I know, the answer is basically yes to all of that. I don't think they're necessarily trying to give Bynum a true face-to-the-basket post game (at least not yet), but certainly he's working on taking that eight footer when it's given to him in the high post. The sky hook is mentioned all the time around the facility and at games, and he hasn't broken it out, but I think it's something that they're working on. It's a brutally tough shot to master, though. He'd be better off walking before he runs, so to speak.

And damn, if Chris Paul wasn't a bad, bad man down the stretch for Nawlins tonight, right?

BK

>>>The Celtics are playing steady ball. While, in my opinion, the Lakers are
>>>playing the wrong philosophy of ball.

Mike T, Puh-leeeeeez. Get a grip.

The Celtics are doing better than the Lakers BECAUSE THEY HAVE 3 ALL-STARS
STILL PLAYING AT A HIGH LEVEL. It has nothing to do with "philosophy of ball".
Swap Kwame "big calves" for KG and Paul Pierce for Lamar Odom and I'll wager
the Lakers would be "playing the right philosophy".

I know you're all gushy because Boston is holding their opponents to 87 points
a game, and you think the Lakers suck because they're giving up 101 points
a game. But that's just pace. The Lakers defense is FINE. Boston holds their
opponents to 41% shooting, which is outstanding. But the Lakers hold their
opponents to 44% shooting, which is 4th best in the league.

So if you want to gush about the Celtics, go over and gush on the Celtics
blog. And while you're there, why don't you BEG them to trade Kendrick
Perkins to the Lakers for your buddy Kwame?

"It's only logical for you to look at the elephant and make plans to face that elephant. Not to do so is just mismanagement."

And of course, the Lakers have no significant way of improving on their roster for this season - except maybe trading Kwame.

Basically every neutral observer this season is gushing over how good Bynum already is - he's already an above average center, despite being just a few months past his 20th birthday. Nobody gushes over Kwame (except Mike T) because overall he is NOT an above average center. He has some skills, underrated by many but overrated by a few. He's a good physical presence - but he's not a god in the post on defense, and the difference in man to man between Bynum and Kwame is there, but is not as large as a few pretend it to be. Add in that Bynum is the better rebounder and better at blocking and changing shots, and the defensive difference is there but not huge. But the offensive difference IS large, and getting larger. And to win championships teams don't just need defense, they also need strong and BALANCED offenses.

The Lakers don't have a true #2 offensive threat - but they are much closer to having that with Bynum, AND they have a chance to have a well balanced offense with him in the lineup. Teams cannot leave him to help guard somebody else - having Bynum in the lineup opens things up in the middle therefore for slashers like Ariza, besides the offense that Bynum directly generates. Kwame does not get that respect from opposing defenses, and for good reason. With Kwame in the lineup the Lakers' offense is much easier to shut down.

The truth is - the Lakers as a team likely aren't going to be good enough to beat the Celtics or the Spurs in a 7 game series this season - but they are more likely to win such a series with Bynum getting most of the center minutes than with Kwame doing so. Realistically though, they are a year or so away. Bynum will keep on getting better, as will Farmar and Critter. Ariza might improve offensively too. And I think there is a real chance that a solid big man will be willing to sign with the Lakers as a backup for the MLE this offseason - because now the Lakers are looking like a team that is close to being a true contender for years to come. But a team with Kwame as center is not going to excite free agents, and for good reason.

Xodus & BK,

Maybe Seattle would do the trade if the Lakers threw in a draft pick Kwame
and their 2008 second rounder for Kurt Thomas. They might have to make up
the difference in pay as well - Kwame + 1 million + a 2nd rounder for Thomas.

It's like I've said before, if I felt confident that Kwame would stay healthy for the
rest of the season, then I'm all for keeping him around as Bynum's backup and
a spot defender for post monsters. But I'd just as soon ship him out for someone
who's almost as good and stays healthy. Kurt Thomas would be one option.
Maybe Malik Rose would be another.

"The Celtics are doing better than the Lakers BECAUSE THEY HAVE 3 ALL-STARS STILL PLAYING AT A HIGH LEVEL."

You have got to be kidding me. The Celtics won tonight with only 92 points. Allen, Peirce, and Garnett only scored 9, 15, and 19 points.

That's nothing! It took Davis to score 20 points off the bench and they still only scored 92 points...yet, they won.

That's philosophy all the way. It's called defense. Defense is philosophy. Just like the Suns run and gun...that's a different type of philosophy.

Heck the other day when the Suns were playing the Sonics the announcer finally admitted that Amare has defensive problems against Tim Duncan because he's really a Power Forward. Then he said that the Suns were probably going to have to get a center and move Amare to the 4 spot.

He said the only question was if they should do at the end of the season, which will be too late. Then he said...and how much do they pay a guy who can stop the likes of Tim Duncan?

Now why would the Suns be thinking on those terms? Because it's obvious that the style of basketball the Suns play isn't going to win a Championship.

Why is that? Because they can't stop a top tier team that executes from a halfcourt set. But what makes it worse is that the top tier teams play defense especially designed to stop the likes of the Suns.

Yeah, it's not a random thing that the Celtics, Spurs, and the Pistons are focusing on defense as their philosophy. They are gearing up to stop the likes of the Suns, Mavericks, Lakers, and any other team that wants to act as if their offense is going to win a Championship.

That's as clear as the Sun in the sky on windy clear day in Los Angeles.

That's not hard to figure out. What makes me wonder about your comment is how you can say with a straight face that the Celtics, Spurs, and the Pistons aren't playing philosophical ball. Are you serious?

And did you ever wonder why the Suns let Kurt Thomas go? I guess you didn't see the Spurs/Suns series last season. Amare couldn't handle Duncan so the Suns brought in Thomas.

Did you see Thomas guard Duncan? Thomas' idea of guarding Tim was to let him back him down in the post and Kurt's big defensive play was to try to swip at the ball away as Tim went up for his shot. Are you kidding? If Kurt Thomas would have did a decent job on Duncan...the Suns would never had let him go.

I mean all you had to do was look at the series. Kurt Thomas couldn't do anything against Duncan. All he did was knock the ball out of Tim's hands a couple of time when Tim was going up. What people don't seem to acknowledge is how Tim had backed Kurt so near to the basket that all Kurt could do was try to swip at the ball while Duncan was going up.

Again, had it worked he would still be with the Suns right now. Everyone knows that the Suns are a player, that can guard Duncan, away from getting to the finals.

You put Kwame on the Suns and the Suns will beat the Lakers because Kwame can stop Bynum with just body position. Then Amare would be free to abuse Lamar Odom at the 4 spot. Grant Hill would abuse either Walton, Ariza, or Radmanovic at the 3 spot. Amare would abuse Marion if the Lakers traded Marion for Kwame. Kobe would beat Bell. And Nash would kill Fisher.

You put Kwame on the Suns and Kwame can keep Duncan out of the paint. Then Amare would be free against their center.

The idea the Lakers would even trade Kwame is ridiculous because of how often bigs go down with injury. If Bynum goes down what will you have if the Lakers trade Kwame?

Getting a 5 that can actually play defense is rare in this league.

Kwame can stop Amare, Wallace, Duncan, and Garnett.

In Boston Perkins allowed Rasheed Wallace to score 6 points. When the Pistions played the Lakers Kwame stopped Wallace but good. Let me see...how does this work out? Kwame can stop Wallace. Perkins can't stop Wallace. But Perkins can stop Bynum.

You do the math. It doesn't add up to success.

mike

Mike T. Go cheer for the East teams since you always get excited over games that doesn't go above 90 points. Aside from the Spurs no teams out West qualifies your stanard aka looking at point allowed.

watch out steve kerr....mike t is gunning for your job and he's bringing kwame to finally get a title for phoenix!

Mike T.

Kwame didnt stop Garnett a week ago. So what's the argument? Kwame didnt stop Yao either. Dont over state Kwame. Sure he important on defense because hes a big body to have around, but that doesnt make him a defensive stalwart. Hes a heavier stronger more physically developed person than Bynum, but that doesnt mean he has great technique, or follows a philosophy. Also, what good is defense if you can't rebound?

Kwame is good as what he is...a back up center. Kendrick Perkins wouldnt be starting on any other team other than the Celtics or Spurs because they dont need a dominating center. Perkins is a speciality player, but the Celtics can afford to have him because they already have 3 go to players.

Heres a good old fashioned SAT analogy

Kendrick Perkins is to the Celtics

as

Luke Walton is to the Lakers

the rest of the players on the Celtics are so good that they hide the deficiencies of Perkins. Sort of like having Kobe and Odom hides luke walton's issues.

True great defensive players will be good defensive players no matter what. Think Andre Kirelinko who for a couple years was the team's only great player. He was playing legitimate D no matter what other lousy players he played with. Dikeme Mutumbo is another guy. Hakeem Olajuwan. Tayshaun Prince. Gary Payton was good on defensive until he no longer had Shawn Kemp or Vin Baker to bail him out for when he went for steals.

But Kendrick Perkins...Kwame Brown? But Kwame on the T-Wolves and you tell me how great his D is. But Kwame on the New Jersey Nets or the Atlanta hawks. Guarenteed he does nothing for them.

OOh, I just love that Mike T! What a stand-up guy!

Mike, you are just about the only optimistic thing going for me right now in my life.

Let's you and me do lunch sometime.

As a matter of fact I do think there's a power shift going on. Right now Boston and Detroit look like teams to beat in the East.

The Spurs you just can't count them out because they won too many time. If what I read is true, Avery Johnson isn't trying to win 60 games this season. He's pacing the Mavs. If that's true then I'll have to wait to see the Mavs pick up their game in Feb. and March.

I want the Lakers to win a Championship this season but I have to come to terms that their style of basketball isn't going to get it done.

But we will see. I mean you can cheer the Lakers all you want but that doesn't change the fact that the Celtics would kill them, probably in a sweep if they were to play right now.

You know the season is going quick. We'll see what happens.

mike

We will see!

mike

Hey, I thought everyone was mad at me. What happened to all that?

mike

Mike T,

What is the point of you arguing for Kwame? I really don't get it. Do you really think he gives us a better chance at winning every single game? Or you just want to prove to everyone that he is just better than Andrew b/c that is your opinion? Also, do you dislike Andrew? Did he steal your bike or something? If you were the Lakers coach, who would be starting? What philosophy/style of ball would you employ? Also, do you play ball at all? Just wondering so I can understand where you're coming from.

The Suns and the Mavs were the talk of the NBA just the past two seasons. Then you throw in the always deadly Spurs into the mix and the Western Conference was the power of the NBA.

Now that it's become clear that the Suns style of ball isn't going to win a Championship and with the Mavs not on pace like the last 2 seasons...the West isn't as powerful as it was just last season. The only solid thing coming out of the West right now is the Spurs. They've had injuries to Duncan, Parker, Ginoibili and they still have only lost 9 games.

That's scary! Ginobili has missed the last 6 games and the Spurs have lost 2 of those games.

Right before Ginobili went down Parker had just missed 4 games and the Spurs lost 3 of those games.

Check out the Spurs games from the beginning of Dec. to this present day. It's interesting:

Duncan

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3173/gamelog;_ylt=AkKCHqOGaYVP8U5dT9qggcmkvLYF

Parker

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3527/gamelog;_ylt=AkKCHqOGaYVP8U5dT9qggcmkvLYF

Ginobili

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3380/gamelog;_ylt=AkKCHqOGaYVP8U5dT9qggcmkvLYF

Starting with Duncan. Look at all the zeros. They climb until they get to Parker. Then the zeros climb until they get to Ginobili.

Can you imagine that? For the month of Dec. the Spurs lost 5 games and 1 in Jan. And all they have is a total of 9 losses.

The Celtics have only lost 3 games all season. Dang, even if the Spurs were healthy they wouldn't be that good.

And the Spurs still have the 3rd best defense in the league. Can you imagine that?

But the team to keep your eye on is the Hornets. Chandler, West, and Paul with Stojakovic on the wing to shot 3s? Then they have a 6'7 shooting guard in Mo Peterson?

Interesting!

mike

I have a suggestion. Why don't we all get together and open up a blog for Mike T. on blogspot.com? It's logical. He believes he owns this one, so he should be given authorial rights on his own site.

E

Hey, I thought everyone was mad at me. What happened to all that?

mike

Posted by: Michael Teniente | January 06, 2008 at 12:59 AM

it's repulsion, not anger.

Wes

If you were the Lakers coach, who would be starting?

I would start Kwame because it allows Fisher, Kobe, and Lamar to stay with their men a lot closer. The way Kwame and Fisher play the pic' 'n roll forces teams to adjust and readjust their offense, which throughout a game is automatically a lower scoring game for the oppenet.

Then Kwame has an excellent outside the paint defensive game.

When you combine the 2 techniques what you have is this:

On either side of the lane you have Kwame using his strength to keep the bigs out of the paint. Not every time but a good percentage of the time. All you have to do is look at the last Boston game. Remember when Garnett was backing Kwame down from the wing to the paint? Kwame got a foul called on him. But Garnett never got to the paint. He went up outside of the paint.

But that isn't the key. The key is the amount of time it took Garnett to work Kwame to that point and he still didn't get into the paint.

When a guy has to work that hard just to get into the paint....over the course of a game...that equates to lower points. Then combine that with how Kwame and Fisher play the pic' 'n roll. Well, that's what you call sealing the paint.

It works from along the either side of the paint and across to free throw line when you combine the two techniques. Combine both techniques and you have an extremely low scoring game for the opponent. That's why in the beginning of the season when Kwame was starting the 1st unit was holding the other team's starting until points pretty low.

When Kwame and Fisher are working the top of the key it allows Kobe and Lamar to stick their man tighter. There's no sagging to help out.

Anyway both techniques are based on footspeed and strength. Bynum doesn't have the footspeed to work the pic' 'n roll that way with Fisher. And Bynum doesn't have the strength to keep his man out of the paint unless they are unskilled and weak.

Combine the two things Bynum lacks in these two key defensive techniques and what you see is a game that will tend to be up and down. That would resemble the Phoenix Suns type of game.

When you see Kwame work the pic' 'n roll and the action along outside of the paint...that is what sets the tone for the game. When they work it right it makes teams like the Suns and the Warriors play out of a halfcourt set, which is their weakness. That the sign that you're mastering your defensive game. When you make weak teams play out of a halfcourt set when they want to run.

That's how you control the pace of the game. And that's something that Andrew Bynum can't do.

With Andrew the pace of the game is a bit faster and over time it will cost the Lakers because that style/philosophy is based on trading baskets and not defensive positioning.

With Kwame the Lakers would be able to master the defensive positioning of the game and set the pace or tone to their favor.

The Lakers right now don't have an identity. They are just a bunch of talented young guys who can score.

With Kwame working the outside of the paint and the pic' 'n roll with Fisher...the Lakers can build a defensive identity that can match both Boston and San Antonio.

I'm pretty sure we could get by San Antonio with Kwame as the starter. But Boston...there's no two ways around it...that would be a dogfight through and through.

But if the Lakers wait too long to get Kwame into the starting line-up it will be too late because it takes time to build a powerful defensive rhythm that is going to be effective when the going gets tough.

Bynum lack of these two techniques causes more of a collapsing type of defense. It works against weak team but has no chance at all against the Spurs and the Celtics.

And that's something Kareem Abdul-Jabbar can't teach Bynum to master because it requires footspeed and strength.

mike

Mike T,

Great! The Celtics will kill the Lakers! At least they made it to the finals! That's a successful season.

Seriously, do you think Kobe Bryant is making his team mates better ?

Is Kobe giving guidance to the other players ?

kwame has defensive toughness?........everytime i hear that It makes me laugh. Poor rebounder, poor shot blocker.......No intimidating presence for guards that just run lay up drills on him...............Get real.

Traid Bait.

One of Phils major weakness i've noticed since he's been coaching the lakers....is that he has a fascination with certain players no matter what.........kwame, Luke, Smush, Cook, Mihm........and on and on. He has lost games, just to make sure they play.

Mike think he's got it all figured out. It's useless trying to talk to him about anything that he's already set his mind on. He's not smart enough to flip sides on any argument, and the pessimistic thing really helps with trying to have a conversation. If only he would say something new once in a while.

Two interesting headlines today:

1. Bill Bradley endorses Obama. If you remember Phil Jackson backed Bradley's unsuccessful campaign in 2000 (just in the Knick of time, we might have been tempted to say if it had been successful). Does that mean he'll back Obama? And what is the basketball world's take on the possibility -- looking stronger every day -- of having our first black president? If a black could become president of the US, could the same thing happen in the NBA? One of these days Stern has got to go!

2. Floridians want to get rid of the Stephen Foster tune, Old Folks at Home (better known as "Way down upon the Swanee River") as the state anthem. Is that because of the poor performance and persistent injuries of old folks like Shaq and Mourning in their once lucky championship BB team?

Mike T,

"Hey, I thought everyone was mad at me. What happened to all that?"

We're not mad at you, we feel sorry for you and want you to go away.

Here's a nice little fact. In the 06-07 playoffs against the Suns, the only game we won was game 3 when Kwame had 18 points!!! We lost the series in 5, but won our only game when Kwame contributed something offensively. As far as stopping Amare, Kwame didn't stop him that entire series. Just look at the stats and you'll see that they speak for themselves.

As far as Kwame goes, all we have to fall back on unfortunately is the past two seasons where we couldn't get past the defenseless Suns. Even when Amare didn't play in 05-06 we couldn't get it done with Kwame in the middle. Coming close doesn't mean a thing if you can't get it done against Boris Diaw at center. I guess since the Suns beat us two years in a row means they played a little better than we did defensively, no? But we were supposed to be better then the Suns with Kwame in middle and with Suns not being able to play defense.

This is what makes our new lineup this year intriguing and somewhat of an enigma because we didn't have this lineup or sort of improvement from our guys last year. When this season is done, we can make a better judgment and assessment on how things played out. Don't get me wrong, I believe Kwame is needed by our team to make a nice run possibly deep into the playoffs. However judging by the concrete evidence of the past two seasons losing in the first round to the Suns with Kwame as the starting center, a change this year is refreshing and challenging. We'll see what happens the rest of the way. Go Lakers!!!

Watch tonight’s game live from 9.30pm E.T !!!

Here is the URL for the Pacers vs Lakers

http://s226606444.onlinehome.us/ujh/nba.php?x=http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=lp&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia-live/nba/9919/500_nba-league_pass_la_lakers_051201.asx&gid=497

Enjoy compliments of

Aaarrrhhhh!!

Angry_Laker

What a Joke, Andrew Z,

"Is there a "Shun Mike T." Bandwagon?"
Posted by What a Joke

I've been "Lurking" on this blog since the beginning of the season. Been a die hard laker fan for 30+ years. I enjoy "MOST" of the analysis even when I think they are completely wrong.

This is my first post because I can't stand Mike T. and his stupidity. Personally I think he just does it to be the center of attention, but he TOTALLY brings the blog down. This is the first and last time I will ever address him or his comments.

I just wanted to be the third member of WhatAJoke's "Shun MikeT bankwagon"
So far:
What a Joke
Andrew Z
Eric M

COME ON ALL! Jump on and let's get rid of this delusional fool.
Eric M.

Nemaia,

I was looking up last years series also and found came to the same conclusion. In the NBA you always have to take advantage of matchups. Always. Same thing against the warriors. Phil refuses to play small ball. Bigs should always win out(if they are skilled enough) To me, Kwame has two skills, and that is playng pick and roll D and being big. Against the Suns, playing that kind of ball doesn't work w/ this team because it is so restrictive on the players we have. LO is better being more free. His game being restricted doesn't help the Lakers. If you go back, when he was w/ Miami, he was more free and he and his team was successful. LO needs touches to be effective. How do we do that? We play looser, we run more and try and get easier buckets. The games we do lose, LO doesn't seem to be effective to a point when it hurts us. I feel, against Boston, we had a chance but Kobe played terrible. Kobe never plays terrible like that and because he did, it affected the whole team. Against Boston, the Lakers tried to play their style of ball. The result is evident.

Mike T, saying that the Lakers don't have an identity is crazy. THe Lakers are succeeding in what Phil wants them to do. In the preseason, he wanted this Lakers team to go out and get easier buckets early. Meaning, he wanted to push the rock after defensive stops. He doesn't want the team to have to work so hard on both sides to accomplish their goals. He's doing this because of our personnel. It really helps the second unit. He's making the game easier for them. This Laker team is good at rebounding and scoring. This also should help Kwame because he doesn't have to work so hard getting down low preventing himself from injury. We do need Kwame; but he is useless if unhealthy. I'm sure the guy w/ 9rings knows what he's doing.

Go away?

Andrew Z,

Not going to happen until I'm ready.

You keep on thinking that the "majority" of the readers of the blog are those who comment.

Not the case. The biggest part of this blog is the readers.

The people who actually comment are the minority.

You seem to "feel sorry for me" because...why?

Because the way I spoke to BK, AK, or Stephan A. Smith?

Why? Because I told the truth about what I think? I broke a rule about being politically correct?

What got you angry? That I said that all AK does is put links? I mean that's what he does.

mike

Drefdeezy,

I wrote the Jackson Journal and describe what happened in the Phoenix series over the last 2 seasons.

All those lay-ups in game 1, 4, and 5 were went Kwame was out of the game. I wrote that in great detail after each game. All that stuff is still in the archeives on this blog.

Game 2 Kwame was as bad as the rest of them on defense.

I have all that documented. There's no way you can tell me that Kwame allowed all those lay-ups. That was when Bynum was in the game.

mike

I just wanted to be the third member of WhatAJoke's "Shun MikeT bankwagon"

LOL!

Newflash!

Those bandwagons are real!

You can get a petition and get a million to sign up and it still would be useless because you don't get to "vote" to get your will done on this blog.

LOL!

mike

if you don't want mike t around then just don't respond to his posts. as you can see by now, he's self-absorbed and just wants the attention.

But here's the good news for all you Bynum fans.

Bynum has improved greatly on his defensive game. But not to the point where the configuration of the defensive positioning, when Bynum is in the game, is going to be able to match-up with Boston or San Antonio.

The configuration of the Lakers' defense when Kwame is in with the starters is elite status.

I mean, Bynum has actually improved from the beginning of the season to this point. It was a rapid improvement because he went to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But whatever Bynum does well...it's still based on a collapsing style of defense, which is just survival mode and not elite status.

mike

>>>If you were the Lakers coach, who would be starting?

Well, for now it would be:

Bynum, Odom, Ariza, Kobe, Fisher

Then the first players off the bench would be Farmar at PG, Walton at SF or SG, Turiaf at PF or C, Vujacic at SG, and Radmanovic at
either F position.

Kwame would only get PT in situations where the opponent had a front court player that Ronny was too small to defend. For example,
against Houston, Kwame would play the bulk of backup minutes at C to defend against Yao.

Critter, Karl, and Mihm would only get minutes in garbage time, unless one of the bench mob were injured.

I doubt I would go with a "bench mob" type rotation. I would tend to do more rotations than PJ does with fewer players. For example,
I might let the starting 5 run for 6 or 7 minutes at the start, then put 2 of the backups in with three starters, then put back 1 of the
starters and another of the backups 4 or 5 minutes into the 2nd, etc. I would try to keep at least 2 of these players on the floor at
all times: Kobe, Odom, Walton, Fisher.

Every topic AK/BK brings up..always ends up a Kwame discussion. Every freaking day! Geeezzz!!

jef-

You hit it on the nose.

BK

Nemaia,

I was looking up last years series also and found came to the same conclusion. In the NBA you always have to take advantage of matchups. Always. Same thing against the warriors. Phil refuses to play small ball. Bigs should always win out(if they are skilled enough) To me, Kwame has two skills, and that is playng pick and roll D and being big. Against the Suns, playing that kind of ball doesn't work w/ this team because it is so restrictive on the players we have. LO is better being more free. His game being restricted doesn't help the Lakers. If you go back, when he was w/ Miami, he was more free and he and his team was successful. LO needs touches to be effective. How do we do that? We play looser, we run more and try and get easier buckets. The games we do lose, LO doesn't seem to be effective to a point when it hurts us. I feel, against Boston, we had a chance but Kobe played terrible. Kobe never plays terrible like that and because he did, it affected the whole team. Against Boston, the Lakers tried to play their style of ball. The result is evident.

Mike T, saying that the Lakers don't have an identity is crazy. THe Lakers are succeeding in what Phil wants them to do. In the preseason, he wanted this Lakers team to go out and get easier buckets early. Meaning, he wanted to push the rock after defensive stops. He doesn't want the team to have to work so hard on both sides to accomplish their goals. He's doing this because of our personnel. It really helps the second unit. He's making the game easier for them. This Laker team is good at rebounding and scoring. This also should help Kwame because he doesn't have to work so hard getting down low preventing himself from injury. We do need Kwame; but he is useless if unhealthy. I'm sure the guy w/ 9rings knows what he's doing.

Posted by: Drefdeezy | January 06, 2008 at 10:59 AM

Dref,

Thanks for the great post. I in agreement with what you said. I just wanted to point out the facts of the past two seasons. It's not a knock on Kwame, but it is what it is and therefore we've seen PJ make some changes. He's tinkering with the lineup from game to game to find the best chemistry and because of injuries. All I'm saying is we've seen for two years what the Lakers were and now we'll see if things can be different with a few changes this year. Change can be good, especially when it's for the better. All that matters to me is that we improve each game regardless of who starts. Whether Drew starts and Kwame comes off the bench or vice versa doesn't matter to me as long as we're winning and showing improvement from the past two seasons.

Kobe is the person that I'm keeping an eye on because he's the pulse of the team. He's the one that I gauge the progress of this team because Kobe is fed up with the mediocrity of the past two seasons. Seriously, if Drew and Farmar weren't playing as well as they are, Kobe would've been ripping the FO a new one and solidifying his case made during the summer. The other positive coming out from the changes is the preservation of Kobe's legs for a serious playoff run. There's still a lot of ball to be played yet, but if the guys keep working hard and producing Kobe who is their biggest critic will also be the loudest in speaking praise. Go Lakers!!!

"if you don't want mike t around then just don't respond to his posts. as you can see by now, he's self-absorbed and just wants the attention."

Here's the problem with that idea.

If you people were to actually ignore me then I would post straight basketball. I would have free reign to breakdown the game in perfect detail.

You could go for that. That's why you post because I breakdown the Lakers' weaknesses. And just watch them play out.

And I don't know how many times I've gotten into it with AK, BK, and others...continually! And over and over you people keep on saying...ignore mike t.

You people have been saying that for 2 seasons now. When are you going to actually ignore me?

I'll have free basketball riegn!

mike

Mike T...I could have sworn that you mentioned Chandler and Bynum as the same type of defender.....Then you say ..But the team to keep an eye on is the hornets..
???....still waiting for the big man journal...Can you explain who seals the middle for the hornets..????

AK & BK - By the way, thanks for your great blog. You're freakishly good at what you do (I mean that as a compliment!).

I think the energy, insights, and enthusiasm that you bring to this blog always make for an interesting read.

I haven't watched many Laker's games this season, but reading this blog has always kept me informed with the behind-the-scenes info that brings depth to the usual media outlets..

I'm just gonna state facts for the past two years. Here's the stats for the past two playoff series against the defensively challenged Suns.

05-06 7 game series against Suns:

Andrew Bynum:
1 game, played 2 minutes, had zeroes across the board. He only played two minutes the entire series.

Kwame Brown:
7 games, 32.1 minutes per game, 6.6 rpg, 12.9 ppg. We lost this series despite Kwame being matched up against 6'8 center Boris Diaw making the Suns even more defensively challenged without Amare Stoudemire. Big play of game 6, Kwame running past Tim Thomas instead of challenging shot that tied game and sent game into overtime. Bottom line, we lost even with the big advantage inside and so called elite status defense(If the Suns beat our elite defense with Kwame, where does that put their defense, above elite?)

06-07 5 game series against Suns:

Andrew Bynum:
5 games played, 11.0 minutes per game, 4.6 rpg, 4.0 ppg

Kwame Brown:
5 games played, 26.6 minutes per game, 5.6 rgg, 8.6 ppg

We lost the series 4-1 and the only game we won was game 3 in which Kwame scored 18 points which helped boost his scoring average to 8 points per game. Amare averaged better than 20-10 for the series. No way can anyone say that the Suns scored all their layups during Drew's 11 minutes on the floor which is less than half of Kwame's starting minutes. Once again, if our defense is elite with Kwame in there then Suns who beat us again and is defensively challenged played better defense than we did. I'll point out again that it's not about Kwame versus Andrew, but team defense. Anyone who states that we're elite defensively with Kwame in the middle has to say that the Suns who play no defense are better defensively than we are if they beat us twice in the first round and easier and quicker the second time around. This is the bottom line despite all the analysis.

I'm not going to even speak about Boston, Detroit or SA because we haven't played any of them in a real meaningful game in three years. I'll just speak to our main nemesis over the past two seasons, the Phoenix Suns. In both the regular and postseason since the arrival of Nash, the Suns have owned us period!!! Keep in mind that this is the team that everyone says can't win a championship unless they play some defense and yet they're the team that we can't get past. If we're supposedly the better team defensively, than why do we lose to a team that doesn't play defense at all? Maybe because when we play them, they're better defensively than we are with Kwame in the middle. Hard to argue since they kicked our butts the past two regular and post seasons.

Fast forward to the present where we've beaten the Suns twice convincingly with the changes we've made. Drew has outplayed Amare in both games and the Suns have been unable to stop the Lakers which hadn't been the case the past two seasons. This is why I said that the changes PJ has made this year is intriguing because we need to make a run for our division first before looking to bigger things and the Suns are again in the way. Should we get to SA, Boston or Detroit it would mean that we've bypassed a Suns team that has held us down the past two seasons. When we get beyond the Suns, then we'll deal with the next level of beasts that await. Until then, go Lakers!!!

LTLF,
Your suggested lineup is good when those players are producing; unfortunately Sasha, Walton, and Vlad haven't been playing well lately. Having Kwame with the second unit doesn't do a lot. Not many teams have backup centers with a strong offensive game, so you get minimal benefit from his defense, but the maximum deficit from his lack of offense and poor rebounding. Those are covered up to some degree with the starters. But Bynum is so much better than Kwame now that it doesn't make sense not to start him.

I'll say over again and again that we have only the past two years of hard evidence to fall back on when it comes to analyzing our teams progress which went from a grueling 7 game series against the Suns(I don't know if we can count game 7 because we didn't even show up) to feebly bowing out in 5 games last year. The major difference in the two series was the return of Amare Stoudemire in the middle. The result was the series ended more quickly and wasn't anywhere near what it was the year before. If anything, we went backwards not forward, worse not better. The one game we won was when Kwame actually scored and made Amare work on the defensive end.

Even in the 7 game series that we nearly pulled out, Kwame was averaging nearly 13 points a game which shows how different the game can be come playoff time if our bigs can give us something on both ends of the floor. Anyone on here think that PJ and the Lakers wouldn't take 12 points and 10 boards a game from Kwame even now is out of their mind!!! When Kwame averaged 12 and 6 we stretched the Suns to 7 games, when he didn't we lost in 5(could've been swept, but barely pulled out game 3). Fact is when Kwame produced on both ends of the court we won or were close, when he didn't we lost. We can't even talk about the Spurs, Celtics or Pistons until we get past the Suns. Enter Andrew Bynum.

With Kwame and Drew splitting time and the addition of Fisher and Ariza, we should go further this year than we have the past two seasons. Like any other team, we'll need some luck as well when it comes to injuries and other issues that may arise. We'll see how things progress with these changes as the season goes on. PJ will definitely keep us on the edge of our seats.

If Kwame were so doggone good...then the Lakers would be great. Bottom line is that he isn't and the team is still a work in progress.

Anything new ? duh ...

Kwame vs Bynum .... bbbboooooooooorrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg

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Ey man ! How does this thing work ?

"Mike T...I could have sworn that you mentioned Chandler and Bynum as the same type of defender"

They are! You would want to watch the Hornets because of how they would play against the Lakers. That could spell trouble for the Lakers.

When I say watch the Hornets I kinda meant that they resemble the Suns in a way. By that I mean Chris Paul and Steve Nash. They operate a bit differently but they have the effect on the game.

What makes them different is that have Chandler in the middle, while the Suns have Amare. Now that is interesting!

Check out the last 2 Hornets games against the Warriors and the Suns.

Check out the Warriors game first:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=Ats0TzrjVsja4mqFy8RP8WSQvLYF?gid=2008010409

Check out the numbers for Chandler and Biedrins. Both score 20 points but look at the rebounds.

But then check the Warriors shooting percentage. It's like over 500 from the field. Then check out their 3 point shooting. It's 304.

The field goal percentage verses the 3 points percent tells you that the Warriors were getting a lot of points in the paint.

Then look at the Hornets shooting percentage. It's 483. That's not bad at all. But then look at the 3 point shooting percentage. 444...that's not a bad 3 point shooting percentage.

What it all means is that both team were allowing points in the paint. You know the Hornets with Chris Paul were killng Biedrins and the Warriors middle.

But the Warriors were killing Chandler in the middle, too.

This is what I mean by the idea of having no defensive philosophy. What they do is just go up and down and whoever is hot will win the game. That's a weak philosophy. What makes the Hornets interesting is where they were last season compared to where they are this season.

The Hornet are a 2nd tier team, in my opinion. They resemble the Lakers in philosophy.

Now check the Hornets next game against the Suns:

Look at the numbers for Chandler and Amare.

Chandler got the best of Amare for the same reasons why Bynum gets the best of Amare. Amare is really a power forward and not a center.

But Chandler wasn't able to stop the Suns from playing their philosophy of ball. Again, look at the shooting percentage of the Suns from the field. 532...that's excellent.

Then check out the Suns shooting percentage from the 3 point line. 333...that's where they lost the game.

Again, check out the Hornets shooting percentage from the field and the 3 point line. It's almost the same as it was against the Warriors.

What does it all mean? That Chandler isn't able to control the pace of the game just like Bynum can't.

In both of those games the Hornets scored very high or else they would have lost.

Again the reason to watch the Hornets is because they are practically the same as the Lakers. The difference between the Hornets and the Lakers is that the Hornets have a low post scorer in David West. The Hornets have what many are saying is the best point guard in the league right now.

But with all that I didn't say that the Hornets are an elite team. Just a team to watch.

Interesting enough is how the Hornets are 23-11 and the Lakers are 20-11. They play almost the same style of ball because their centers aren't able to control the pace of the game.

What's interesting about the Hornets is that their defense is the 4th best in the league but when it came down to it against the 2 best run and gun teams, the Suns and the Warriors...they couldn't control the pace of the game.

The difference between the Celtics, Pistons, Spurs and the Hornets is this:

The Celtics, Pistons, and the Spurs can impliment their defense to control the pace of the game against the likes of the Suns, Warriors, and the Lakers.

The Hornets who average 97 points a game had to score 116 and 118 points against the Warrior and the Suns. They weren't able to set their defensive pace that would allow them to win with 97 points in those games.

But look at the Hornets from Dec. 9th to Dec. 29th.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3930/gamelog;_ylt=AkKCHqOGaYVP8U5dT9qggcmkvLYF

Look at the solid wins. Look at the scores. Then look at who they played. Then go further down and look at the scores against Detriot and San Antonio.

Detroit beat them 91-76.

San Antonio beat them 97-85.

In the Detroit game look at Chandlers' numbers. Not bad! Not bad! But look at the shooting percentage of the Hornets from the field and the 3 point line. 347 and 267.

That's Detroit's defense. But then look at the Pistons shooting percentage. 412 from the field and get this 286 from the 3 point line.

What does that mean? It means that the Piston rely on their defense to win games. And their offense is based on pure execution. Chanlder can get his number but what good is that against a team that plays defense first.

Chanlder's rebounds in that game were 22. But the Hornets only outrebounded the