BIGRICK,

>>>2. The areas of assists and steals is where they are the
>>>weakest stastistically.

Huh? The Lakers get 24.4 assists per game, which is 4th
best in the league.

They also get 8 steals per game, which is 8th best in the league.

I think you may be focusing on the PGs a bit and not realizing
something. The triangle deemphasizes the PG position. The
assists on a triangle team tend to be more distributed throughout
the team.

And since next season the Lakers won't have to have their
center drop the ball for half a season (thanks Kwame), their
assist totals should be even higher.

Jon K.,

I don't think Confucious would be impressed. I tried to spell check it even, but typepad isn't very worldly and the joke needed to go.

Long Time Laker Fan

Not sure what the espn.com reference meant but I'll take it as a compliment.

I don't know why you even bring up the Houston Rockets. There is no way they are giving up Joey Dorsey for anything involving Vlad Rad. Dorsey is cheap potential as a Reggie Evans or better type of banger, rebounder and shot blocker as a bonus.

Houston has nothing for us, now if you're coming from the angle of give Vlad Rad away so we can be true Mid Level players again next yr then ok.

I think Reggie Evans gives us a physicality that we were missing against Leon Powe, PJ Brown, Glen Davis, James Posey, and Kendrick Perkins. I think he would have mixed it up more than Rony. I don't think Vlad Rad's shooting is more valuable than the toughness we could get from Evans who took on the physical Pistons during this playoffs to the tune of a 2-1 lead and a halftime lead in game 4.
Evans is what we wished Kwame Brown was from a heart standpoint as a physical specimen.

LakerTom

I gotta give up props to the fact that you simplified all of our frustration in stating the obvious that we were 2 games from a Championship without Andrew Bynum.

To respond to the positive push you try to give Luke and Vlad Rad, the problem with both of them is that you get NOTHING out of them if they are not 100% healthy especially Luke. I'm tired of Luke roughing it hurt. He lacks the confidence or game to hang.
Vlad Rad is the same way and we know that from his first yr here.

I was surprised at your defense of Vlad Rad vs Reggie Evans who could help us against the Piston type teams of the East that stockpile BIGS like NFL teams stockpile linemen along with the Boston Celtics guys like Leon Powe, Kendrick Perkins, PJ Brown, Glen Davis, and James Posey who plays big.

Reggie Evans would have mixed it up more than Turiaf who I love but did not bring his heart to the court in an aggressive manner.

I like what Reggie Evans stands for and brings to the court. He brings what we wished a physical brute like Kwame Brown would have brought to the court.

The Sixers sure could use a tallen Kyle Korver and they have Brand as a backfill for what Reggie Evans does.

AN IMPORTANT ITEM THAT HAS NOT BEEN ADDRESSED AND IS VERY CONCERNING

1. What are the Lakers going to do about our approach to defense?

2. Will Phil Jackson or someone else teach the defensive funamentals and discipline that Greg Popovich teaches consistently in practice??

3. Will the Lakers grab a disciple of the Van Gundy way of defense and cut one of our Triangle architects in training as an assistant???

4. Will the Lakers sign a brute like Reggie Evans or Ron Artest to offset the fact that NONE of the 3 above items will be executed??? I figure if we change the personel to address what's not coached we as a LakerNation can get what we want. A team that defends with ferocity and discipline.

LakerBake,

"What are the Lakers going to do about our approach to defense?"

I don't know. Hopefully sign Kwame Brown and Quinton Ross, but I don't know if they can afford them now.

I'm not sure what's going to happen.

GO LAKERS!

THE LAKERS WANT YUE
by Janis Carr for OCRegister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/
draft-lakers-aba-2086975-foot-point

I somehow missed this excellent article about Sun Yue. Includes a great review of why the Lakers like this guy. A potential starter at 6-9 as a point guard or true small forward version of Lamar Odom. My apologies if it was posted before.

And this excerpt about Yue from the Daily Breeze article on Sasha:

“The team has had ongoing conversations with the agent for Sun Yue, the second-round draft choice from 2007 and Kupchak affirmed that he expected Yue to be with the team in training camp. Yue just needs permission from his team in China to come to the U.S., and his agent said that process has already begun.”

http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/ci_10003015

Tom

Hi Sasha, Sasha, Sasha ...

Eastern Europe is back in the building baby!!!! I love how Kupchak handled business here and brought back a key player; things are looking good. Here is a good piece on why the Lakers brought Vujacic back! http://www.hoopsvibe.com/nba-blog/kobe-bryant-s-boy-or-valuable-super-pest-why-did-the-l-a--lakers-re-sign-sasha-vujacic-ar48689.html

Benjamin,

>>>I thought Karl wasn't a guaranteed contract.

It's not, but they do have him under contract. If he's still with
the team on the first day of the season, then $100K of it is
guaranteed. And after some point in the season (December 15?)
it becomes fully guaranteed.

But unless two or three good veterans volunteer to sign
for the veteran's minimum, there's no real reason to waive
Karl. He already has a year in the system learning the triangle,
so if Machine or Farmar twisted an ankle, and went out for
a couple of weeks, he could fill in and I don't think he'd
totally suck. There'd be a dropoff, but it's not like they'd
lose any games because of his 10 to 12 minutes on the
floor.

Jon,

>>>>> Does anyone know how profound Sun Yue's mastery of English is?
>>>>>Kind of important in terms of coaching and team communication.

If Ding How can advise the Kambros without difficulty, I don’t think Sun Yue will have any problems with Phil. LOL. It’s a Zen thing, you know. Focus on those ephemeral aspects of the game that are universal: grab ball, shoot ball, block shot, defend rim, rebound ball, drive to basket, switch men, the KB special – pass me the effing ball. LOL.

Tom

ex,

I suppose their could be a situation where a team cares about the amount of a qualifying offer, when they think a player is overpaid but still want to keep them for a year, but in general, the figure is just automatically calculated to meet the minimum required by the CBA, which I think is 120% or, in a few cases, 125% of the player’s last year salary of the existing contract. That was the only point that I was trying to make – that it generally doesn’t really represent an offer and most players and agents understand that it is just the minimum the team needed to offer in order to preserve their rights to the player.

Tom

Lakers Tom

Playing for the Lakers? Fatty secretly reporting on his favorite team? I could do that.

Can you imagine how much fun it would be to scrimmage with the Lakers? Or just sitting at the end of the bench?

Getting into Kobe's face and yelling at him to pass more. Wait a second. Let's not get too carried away.

Go Sasha! Go Lakers!

zen,

>>>>>What the Lakers need is another guy who can score and not be taken out of
>>>>>the block and out of his comfort zone. That is all the lakers need!

>>>>>Bynum could be that guy..If we had a healthy Bynum last year, I would say
>>>>>no doubt we would have beaten the Celtics.. No doubt in my mind.

Excellent point, zen. I will admit that I was one of those fan who got fooled and thought we could beat Boston without Andrew, even though I had predicted consistently that we would have a tough time in the conference and NBA finals without him. We were just playing so well with Pau that I changed my mind and became convinced we could pull off the ultimate win. I think we got too complacent and lost our edge after beating the Spurs, winning the Western Conference championship, and becoming the overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Championship. Anyway, that’s my take on losing to the Celtics.

What I really liked about your post is the recognition that Drew will be our #2 scorer next season, not Pau. While I believe we will run more than ever before, I think you will see a lot more isolation plays for Drew out of the Triangle Offense and a big increase in pick and rolls to get him the ball at the rim when we’re in our half court offense. I think we will see Kobe averaging in the high 20’s and Drew the low 20’s with Pau around 20. These three guys will become the Lakers big three as for as putting the ball in the basket. Drew’s moves and advantages in the low post are too great not to be the primary focus of our half court offense, even if Kobe will ultimately get the most shots and points.

Tom

LakerBake,

>>>1. What are the Lakers going to do about our approach to defense?

Well, let's look at that, shall we?

During the regular season, Denver shot 46.99% as a team
During the playoffs versus the Lakers, Denver shot 42.66% as a team

good start

During the regular season, Utah shot 49.74% as a team
During the playoffs versus the Lakers, Utah shot 44.3% as a team

more than 5% below their average. even better

During the regular season, San Antonio shot 45.74% as a team
During the playoffs versus the Lakers, San Antonio shot 42,64% as a tean

I see a trend here. Do you see it?

During the regular season, Boston shot 47.50% as a team
During the playoffs versus the Lakers, Boston shot 44.40% as a team

The Lakers held EVERY TEAM THEY PLAYED in the playoffs to below their
shooting average from the regular season.

So please, LakerBake, explain to me why you think the Lakers defense is lacking.

Fatty,

>>>Did you read Mitch's take?

Nope. Link?

>>>We have 11 under contract and the 12 spot is between Sun - Karl - Crawford

Okay, maybe I'm wrong. I'm just going by what hoopshype and storytellers and
espn say. They all indicate the the Lakers currently have Coby Karl under contract
(non-guaranteed, but it is a contract) for the 2008-09 season.

mikey -

thanks so much for helping to further my understanding of fundamentals. i'm feeling kinda special now.

the obvious point of my post is that if there were major concern about bynum's knee, then there would have been further consideration to keeping turief for backup minutes and we'd be "actively chasing quality big men".. as in OTHER big men. get it? as in somebody who could START at center (seeing how you obviously think that bynum's headed for microfracture.

unfortunately, this is a logical line of thought and i know you're just not in that kind of place right now.

hang in there, someday the world will see your sheer brilliance.

LakerBake,

>>>>> What are the Lakers going to do about our approach to defense?

I think what we will see from the Lakers next year will be a defense anchored by Andrew Bynum’s shot blocking ability to protect the rim, which will allow the Lakers perimeter defenders to play their men tighter, especially focusing on preventing open 3-point shots and pressing for steals and turnovers to ignite fast breaks and score easy transition points. It will be a combination of how the Spurs have always used twin 7-footers to anchor their defense and protect the rim, letting their outside defenders stay with 3-point shooters.

This type of aggressive defense will take advantage of Andrew’s ability to intimidate in the post and single handedly control the boards as well as the Lakers edge in team speed, length, and athleticism. It’s the perfect defense for Kobe, Lamar, Trevor, and Jordan. Look for lots of trapping and double teaming on pick and rolls and for the Lakers to constantly switch to keep Drew down low to protect the rim. I also think you will see the Lakers possibly look to hire another assistant coach like Michael Cooper to work with players on their basic defensive skills. Anyway, that’s my take on next year’s defense.

Tom

Is it possible for the Yankees and Bosox to both lose out and give the East to the Rays?

Now that would be something.

LakerTom, Zen

I have to respectfully disagree about Bynum being the #2 scorer next season. I just don't think it can or will happen that way. I love Bynum but I think he'll come off of the bench on a killer 2nd squad.

Ok, I know Bynum will be one of the top centers in the league but I don't believe the thing to do is to put him and Gasol in there at the same time. The first unit had pretty good continuity with DFish, Kobe, L.O.Pau, and Vlade - so I think they'll keep that together and let Farmar, Sasha, Luke Ariza, and Bynum play together mostly. Bynum could still play around 30 minutes per game and he'll still anchor the defense. The good part is the offense won't suffer at all.

Most imporantly, this is how we'll win the ring next year. By the way, if we win 67-72 games and Bynm gets his deal, it would all be worth it.

chuck23,
Very simple - the Lakers gave Walton what they thought it would take to keep him. He was a key contributor that season. Because they were over the cap, and thus were limited to the MLE for free agents, they did not want to take a chance on him getting away. Remember that Vlad had just come off a horrible season, and there was no reason to plan on anything from him. Had they let Walton go, and used the MLE on another small forward, they don't get Fisher. Walton got less than MLE, after a pretty good season. It was not a bad signing at the time. And if he rebounds from the injuries that plagued him last season, it will end up being a bargain.

THE original Ken & Others,

I wasn't really trying to make Bynum the #2 scorer. What I'm saying is the Lakers needed one more dominant scorer and then Boston or anyone would have a chance. Gasol will probably be the #2 scorer because he's a little more advanced offensively at this stage. What Im saying is Pao can easily be taken out of his game when they play boston because of their toughness. If the Lakers had Bynum, another guy who can create his own shot, Boston would have had problems against us. Gasol is not going to be a good matchup for every team but he matches up with 90% of the teams out there and that's OK. With Bynum in there, maybe Garnett can't roam around as much.

Getting Kwame won't solve anything. The Lakers didn't have problems stopping centers defensively.

The problem was having no one else after Kobe and Gasol who can create their own shot. Bynum showed he can create his own shot and I feel he will give teams more problems next year because they have to worry about Kobe and Pao as well.

Garnett won't be able to roam..The Lakers should have an easier time.

Hey Long Time Laker Fan,
the East coast went to sleep so I missed your post.

" The Lakers held EVERY TEAM THEY PLAYED in the playoffs to below their
shooting average from the regular season.
So please, LakerBake, explain to me why you think the Lakers defense is lacking.
""

Well let me explain, we out scored Utah in my opinion for the most part. We played some good game 6 defense along with key game 2 and 5 defense but Utah was able to catch where they wanted and trade buckets.
Boozer did struggle with our length.

We don't take anyone out of what they want to run.

Do you want a good stats defense or a championship caliber defense? I'm interested in the later.
With that being said, we need major improvements on our principles and philosophies for stopping penetration.

Paul Pierce walked and glided to the basket as if he was a gazelle.
Garnett went to the rim when he wanted.

Ray Allen went to the Rim and took game 4 from us. Why do we need Bynum in the game to play with good principles and pack in the middle of the paint to stop layups?

We have defensive problems.

LakerBake,

Thanks for your response. As usual, you made some excellent points. If I may, here is my take on some of the issues you raised:

>>>>>Yeah I think Bynum is going to naturally help the defense.
>>>>>I just don't like this idea of let Bynum be the last line of defense for everything.
>>>>>Funnel all defenders into Bynum.

Designating Drew as your last line of defense does not mean we have to funnel players into him, although we will probably do that against certain teams. What I am saying is that our defensive philosophy and strategy for next year will be start with Andrew Bynum patrolling the lane and protecting the rim. That much is certain. How we play off that anchor is still something that the Lakers are probably still thinking about.

>>>>>I see foul trouble issues potentially if the full burden is on Bynum.
>>>>>Good teams will take it to Bynum and get him in foul trouble.

One of the big strides that Drew made as a player last year was to finally get what Kareem had been teaching him about avoiding contact and measuring the player and the play in order to figure out where to block the shot WITHOUT getting fouls. Remember how Kareem talked about Drew figuring all of this out over a 3-day period and suddenly no Laker could get off a shot inside. Drew is smart enough to know when to back off.

Counting on Drew to protect the rim also doesn’t mean that the other four players don’t have to still play solid man-to-man defense. What it does mean, however, is that the other four players will be able to play their man tighter. Knowing that Drew has their backs, his teammates will be able to play more aggressively and confidently.

>>>>>The whole team needs to have a no layup, pack it in, and reflex reaction
>>>>>when players enter the paint near the rim. The Spurs are masters at this as
>>>>>they come in and help Duncan. Horry swoops in from angles and others.
>>>>>It's not just blocks but being there with your body ready for contact.
>>>>>Form a WALL.

Here is where we probably differ. What you are proposing is really the Jeff Van Gundy – Thibodeau defensive strategy, rather than the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs count more on their twin tower 7-footers to protect the rim and like to stay with 3-point shooters on the perimeter rather than packing it in. The Van Gundy – Thibodeau defensive strategy is built on the premise of building a wall of players like you describe. I agree that the Lakers big men needed to do the same, which they didn’t, if we were to beat the Celtics without Drew. But that doesn’t mean that was how we needed to play with Drew.

What I dislike about Van Gundy – Thibodeau defensive strategy is that it discourages transition offense and turns games into boring half court battles. The goal of the pack-it-in offense is to turn the other team into a jump shooting team, which points out its biggest vulnerability, which is that it can be beaten by great shooting and patience in moving the ball and taking shots in rhythm, something the Lakers failed to do in the Finals.

I am hoping that the Lakers instead opt for a pressing and trapping style of defense on the perimeter trying to force turnovers and steals and get in the open court to score baskets in transition. I think that is the style of defense that the players we have are best suited to play. It is a gambling, aggressive style that takes advantage of our speed and length and athleticism rather than the more passive pack it in and hope they don’t hit their shots.

>>>>>Jeff Van Gundy, Mr. defense himself who schooled Tom Thibedeau himself
>>>>>says the Boston Celtics bigs look to take charges when players come in the lane
>>>>>where as the Lakers try to block shots.
>>>>>What happens is that referees call fouls on the shotblockers at a higher percentage
>>>>>where as BIGS getting position to take charges, get calls to go their way and
>>>>>frustrate opponents into not entering the lane.
>>>>>It happened to the 2nd best shooting guard of ALL time.

You’re right that the Celtics did a great job taking charges at the rim instead of trying to block shots. And I agree that the Lakers should have done the same, but only because they did not have Drew. The other players, who aren’t great shot blockers like Drew, should definitely look to draw the charge rather than futilely trying to block the shot. It’s a defensive inability that having a defensive coordinator would probably eliminate.

Bottom line, though, there is no bigger factor in intimidating the other team than great shot blocking. Look at what Zo did to the Mavs in Dwayne Wade Finals. And while Showtime was a run and gun bonanza, we won many of those championships due to Kareem’s protecting the rim and blocking opponent shots. With the size and length we have, I expect us to dominate the paint and protect the rim aggressively. But we also need to stand in and take the charge and not leave Drew to defend the rim alone.

Anyway, think about what I said. Maybe, we’re not that far apart in what we want.

Tom

long time laker fan

You have a hard time admitting when you are wrong don't you? lol
You said he was under contract and implied he was guaranteed when you listed the Lakers by name and had 12 players.

Its not a big deal, just semantics, and Mitch verified Coby is not guaranteed and has to battle for a spot.

What I find interesting for discussion is Mitch said maybe only one of those gets added.

And only 13 players, the min. is what he wants.

But there is room for maybe one more if we don't get a big?

I think if Karl plays decent he gets the nod, but Sun Yue might be the project guy he's talking about.

What's your thoughts?

JustaLakerFan,

Thanks for the support. You're a good blog friend and smart and knowledgeable blogger. Always a pleasure having you watch my back.

Tom