New Thread moving on now fam...

Benjamin,

If you could email me, I'll be happy to address your post that has been a battle for so long. Get it from the kam bros if you like. PSLaker Fan, Laker Legacy, Jon K and Laker Faze all have my email too.

Regards,

I would have put Battier on the First Team ahead of Bowen.

Bowen: 2.9 rebounds, .67 steals, .27 blocks, 2.19 fouls.

Battier: 5.1 rebounds, .96 steals, 1.13 blocks, 2.45 fouls

But hey, the coaches are the ones voting here, so I'll defer to them because they see these guys with a keen eye and up close all season long.

Faith,

All due respect, but CP3 led the league in steals this year. You have to play some defense to do that.

LO's defense is so underappreciated, it's a joke.

I attribute that to the fact that defense (both help defense and man defense) just doesn't translate well to TV.

There is nothing that can describe the helplessness that is palpable live when Vlad is guarding Carmelo Anthony, and you see Lamar running over to aid him.

Kudos to Kobe for another well-earned accolade.

We're in a best of three series now, which is pretty damn exciting basketball. The Lakers came close to winning both games in Utah. I think they'll get one on the road there after a Wednesday victory over the Jazz.

Ball movement. Defensive pressure. Toughness on the boards. The Lakers are a better basketball team, and it's time for them to give the Staples crowd a show.

Go Lake Show!

hey AK/BK/anyone who knows:
i have a bunch of q's, so please bear with me.
first, i am seriously thinking of going to el segundo tomorrow to see the lakers practice. do they have practice tomorrow?
Do you know the address of the practice facility?
And most importantly, lol, will i be able to see the players practice or get any autographs?

Last week i went to the ARC at UCI to see Kobe, but he wasn't there :( i want to see a laker before the playoffs are over (hopefully we have until mid june)

thanks a lot

Last week i went to the ARC at UCI to see Kobe, but he wasn't there :( I want to see a Laker before the playoffs are over (hopefully we have until mid June)

thanks a lot

Posted by: pavloc | May 12, 2008 at 05:02 PM

Ahh, the ARC.

2.5 well spent millions. Loved swimming in that huge outdoor pool in the afternoons with maybe one other student in it. I didn't know Kobe practiced there. But it makes sense him living in Newport.

And, if you dig up all the trees lining the back of the apartments to the right of the front door, well, you'll find my ol' hamster Chubby.

Sniff, sniff, wipe, wipe.

He was a good ol' guy. Love tearing up the student housing carpet to make a comfy nap spot with. Oh, and who can forget how he'd pee in his wheel before running frantically in it, covering himself in his own urine?

A hamster after my own heart.

But what about these Lakers? Can we get a win on Wednesday?

I think so.

Wes

Faith,

All due respect, but CP3 led the league in steals this year. You have to play some defense to do that.

Posted by: Mac | May 12, 2008 at 04:26 PM

Not really. Smush did a good job of steals, but would you EVEN consider him a good defender? Steals are nice but when you miss(Kamakazi style), you can leave your teammates at a disadvantage.

The coaches who decide this one I trust, not a stat box.

Just like Kobe last year. Many here, who think they are smarter than the coaches at times(like me) felt he should not have been on the list.

But its they who study film, and they who know the game the best and was they, who had Kobe 1st team again.

Chris Paul is not a good defender. It's too bad I didn't post this sooner. From L4L on ClubLakers:

"Further, and perhaps more importantly, Chris Paul is a downright bad defender on the ball. Off the ball, he’s excellent and will get you an amazing amount of steals as many little guys seem to do. That said, his team gives up SIX less points per 100 possessions (a little more than the average amount in an NBA ball game) when Paul sits down. This off-sets two thirds of his offensive impact as the team puts up 15.4 less points per 100 possessions when he’s sitting (info here: http://www.82games.com/0708/07NOH1D.HTM). That is an incredible difference. In fact, we saw this problem manifest itself just last night when Jason Kidd hit him for a triple double and Jason Terry chipped in with 30 points of his own. Consider the following statistics: among the seven other Western playoff teams, in terms of FG% allowed, the Hornets gave up the 2nd worst FG% to Nash, the 3rd worst to Tony Parker

Charles,

I'll talk to AK/BK to exchange e-mails.

I don't have any long-standing resentment or issue with you. We disagreed about one thing, but it's in the past and it certainly doesn't bother me now. I guess it had to do with JWW, right? I mean seriously, I don't totally remember what it would be. That's how not big a deal it is to me.

That said I'm perfectly happy to talk with you about resolving any issues you might have.

I don't think Odom got snubbed this year from All-Defensive team votes. He didn't do it all season. In fact, I'd say his defense was only really good the last 20 games or so.

If you want to use that sort of numerical logic, Lebronze should probably have been on the All-NBA Defensive Team with 2 steals, a block and a half or so and 8 rebounds or so. While Camby has made it with his numbers and reputation, he was first in blocks, 2nd in rebounds, and high in steals. That's domination in a few stat areas in addition to being solid.

Paul got premature recognition related to getting the most steals, but I think he's a better than average defender. Hollinger thinks he really is a good defender despite his steals as opposed to AI. I'm not in love with Hollinger's computer reality, but he got the trend right, if not the weight on the trend here.

Let's face it, numbers just don't reflect great defense as a general rule, at least not individual ones.

While there's certainly reputation involved, the players that really bust their ass on D, make life difficult for their covers and make strong defensive plays are the ones that get voted onto the All-Defensive Team.

I don't always agree with who's on the first team, but I always agree the first team should be first or second team All-NBA Defensive every time.

That's just my take. But, I think it jibes well with the people that make the team as voted by the coaches. These are the guys that need to consistently make adjustments to deal with these strong defensive players.