"O ya Charles,
Laker fan 4eva"

Posted by: Fire32 | August 27, 2008 at 10:49 AM

Let's hope that's real dog. Maybe change your user name as the "Artist Formerly Known As Fire32."

Best,

Vman,

Damn, and I was about to post a list of trade machine results for the blog to debate. I'll never get those 4 hours of my life back.

Charles / Xodus

As long as a haiku fest doesn't break out... uh oh, now I've done it...

No trollers, no trades
Purple and gold perfection
Can I get an OMMMMMMMM?

Xodus

Trades? You mean Lamar for Lebron? The Chris Paul for Vlad, Luke, Farmar trade? Or the Mihm for Marc Gasol?

Charles,

All of the above, but I also had deals that would bring us Deron Williams for a Sun Yue, Vlad and cash considerations.

thekobebryantblitz,

you wrote: I *SPECIFICALLY* stated Lamar is nowhere talented as Pippen and yet you go out of your way to compare them. Very poor response.

my response:
The reason why I addressed the comment about Lamar
and Pippen is becaused you focused on different
attributes. The whole conversation started with
defense and quickness. It went off on a tangent about
shooting and you brought up Pippens shooting. I brought
it back to the defensive topic. I thought it was actually
a good response.

you wrote: I also stated that Lamar played good defense on Lebron, Josh Smith, when he was a Small Forward back in 05-06.

Yes, you did. I remember that and have given you
credit for it. Lebron is much better today then he was
in 05-06 and I would suggest that Josh Smith is too.
Given what you've seen of Lebron last year and in the
Olympics, do you still believe that Odom will play good
defense on Lebron. I don't.

you also wrote: Ariza's defense, while solid and improving, is not *YET* on par's with Lamar's.

my response: I don't believe that I have said the Ariza's
defense is better than Lamar's. I indicated that Ariza is
physically quicker "AND" *IF AND ONLY IF* he works out
over the summer and improves ..... I also suggested that
I believed he would.

you wrote: We must be talking about 2 different things. I'm not talking about foot speed, i'm talking about quickness and NO they are not the same.

my response: I **EMPHATICALLY** disagree with you!
I am a former sprinter as well as a practicing martial
artist. I have **NEVER** met someone who was quick
who didn't have good foot speed. NEVER! Every sprinter
I've ever known, male or female, at the high school or
college level was **QUICK**. The difference b/n quick
and fast has to do with stride and smoothness of gate.
Fast applies to a race. Quick refers to the initial movement.
Quickness is based upon reaction time and fast twitch
muscle fibers. Reaction time is perception of stimuli &
initiation of movement. Initiation of movement comes
back to fast twitch muscle fibers.

you wrote: Lamar has great footwork not to mention lateral quickness.

It is my understanding that upon the exit interviews one
of the things that Lamar was *GOING* to work on was
lateral quickness. Lamar has *GOOD* footwork not
great footwork. Lamar moves *VERY* well for a
big man. Lamar does *NOT* move very well when
compared to Lebron James or Kobe or CP3 or Magic
(as I recall). You can *NOT* teach quickness. You
can develop fast twitch muscle fibers, but you cannot
increase the number of fast twitch muscle fibers. It's
genetics.

you wrote: Lamar's long arms is also a big advantage to him.

my response. I have *NEVER* disagreed with this.

you wrote: Sasha's short wingspan is a disadvantage to Sasha despite his intensity plus Sasha's lateral quickness is still below average and he was picked and rolled he was beaten quite frequently. Ariza has good footwork but still not laterally quick as Lamar.

my response: I don't disagree that short arms are a
disadvantage. I disagree with your view on Sasha's
lateral quickness just as I disagree on your view of
Lamar's lateral quickness. It seems that getting beat on
pick and rolls is not about quickness, but about
technique. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Stockton and
Malone used the pick and roll to death. While Malone is
one of the greatest player ever ... there were people who
were quicker. They weren't as skilled or as dedicated.
How many championships did they win? 0.

you wrote: I repeat, Sasha didn't break out until 2007-2008 season.

I didn't disagree with you. That does *NOT* mean that
he wasn't better in 2006-2007 then he was in 2005-2006

you wrote: Plus I repeat, Phil did not play him as much as he did later on until both Mo Evans got traded and Ariza got injured.

I haven't disagreed with this statement either. I do
disagree with your interpretation of what this statement
means. I would suggest that he got rid of Mo Evans
because he had Sasha. I don't recall Ariza playing SG.
I do recall Sasha playing SG. The original conversation
was about Odom playing SF/SG. If Odom went to SG
Kobe would go to SF. Short of the second coming of
Christ there is no way I'll ever be a believer in Lamar at
SG so save yourself the effort. :)

you wrote: Ok so 81 points by Kobe is a lie and so is shooting over 50 points over 4 games is a lie too. That is what you are implying by saying Statistics is lies. Statistics are not lies, they can be misleading no doubt but they are NOT lies. When it's time for someone to step up no doubt Kobe is. Tell me though do you trust the ball in Ariza's hand then? Don't even say you wouldn't trust it in Lamar cause I wouldn't either and I'm not asking that either.

my response: 81 pts. is a historical fact. i.e. it happened.
How many of those shots were "Good" shots? the same
is true with Kobe's 50 pt games. He's taken a "number"
of horrible shots. That's one of the things that people
consistently harp on. He makes them because he's Kobe.
However, *EVERYONE* who is a Lakers fan or a Kobe
fan would prefer that he take *better* shots. Why? The
statistical probability of the shot going in is better. :)

and ... your focusing on offense again. Let's focus on
defense. The game is on the line. The miami heat have
the ball. Lamar is SG and D-wade has the ball. what
happens? Lamar fouls D-wade going to the rim.
D-wade goes to the
line. Drains his free throws. If Sasha or Kobe don't
make a 50 ft heave we're done. Flip it. "If and only if"
Ariza has worked out hard this summer, Ariza forces
D-wade to pass because D-Wade can't beat him on the
first step.

you wrote: Tell me how many defensive awards as Trevor won compared to Kobe? Trevor is a solid defender but he's no lock down defender. I will finish this conservation a bit later though I got work.

Easy. None. Zero. Zilch.

Here's some gospel for you:

http://tinyurl.com/6njxge

Mitch Kupchak says: “Another factor and maybe the biggest factor … we like Trevor Ariza. He brings us a dimension we don’t have, which is a defensive player at that position.

He also says: “I wouldn’t say that Lamar [Odom] is the type of guy that can be that lockdown defender at that [small forward] position. Luke Walton also has struggled a little bit with athletic small forwards.”

re: Maurice Evans and not playing Sasha. Mitch says
about Evans: I also felt that we had duplication in the backcourt. Although Maurice was a backup player, I thought he might not get the minutes he felt he needed.

re: Ariza not starting for Orlando. They signed Rashard
Lewis for SF.

re: Ariza as a lock down defender. The opening
paragraph on the tinurl is:

The Lakers got younger, shed some salary and hoped they added a future lockdown defender by acquiring rangy forward Trevor Ariza from the Orlando Magic on Tuesday for Brian Cook and Maurice Evans.

Did you see that phrase: "future lockdown defender" ?

In light of these comments by Mr. Mitch Kupchak, do you
*REALLY* want to keep talking about Lamar's defense?
[ BTW, reference my earlier statement: lies, damn lies, &
statistics. ]

To recap: Mitch seems to think that Ariza is a better
defensive SF than Lamar. I happen to agree with him.
Feel free to post your rebuttal.

AK,

"Until then, figure out another way to waste time at work for an hour on the company's dime."

You've been making lots of snarcky comments recently.

It almost seems like you no longer enjoy running the blog.

GO LAKERS!

OK, so when does Kobe (Mr. 45%) get his pinky sewn back on?
Hopefully he will not be back till after the start of the season. He needs a long rest and the rest of the team needs to learn how to play without him. But of course you know "Mr. Center of Attention" will come back too soon to reclaim his props on ESPN. It would be best for everyone if Kobe takes at least the first month off. The Lakers again have a favorable schedule to start the season and there is no reason to think that with a healthy Bynum plus improving players that they won't be a formidable opponent for any team.
For those of you who like to point out Michael Jordans shooting percentage to Kobe's, please consider this argument. MJ shot 50%, but when you're being guarded by arguably the weakest defensive guards of the modern NBA era (and the "Jordan Rules") you have to only imagine what Kobe would have done against the likes of Criag Ehlo, et al (even with hand-checking). Jordan did not have to face the NBA zone defense either. Also, if hand-checking were still allowed today, Kobe would be considered on-par with MJ defensively in that categorie. Again, who was Michael guarding back then? Compare then and now. Later in MJ's career, when the league got a heck more athletic, MJ couldn't guard sqaut. But MJ apologists will just say he wasn't in his prime.
As for MJ's Titles..... a watered down league, Jordan Rules, NBA ref conspiracy, Jordan's Global Marketing Power, a crooked (or hapless) commisioner. Need More, you really think Jordan took 2 years off to mourn his father's death and to pursue his baseball dream? (theme from X-Files now playing in the background). I want to believe.
Look for Kobe to win another championship and then seriously consider playing out his career overseas where he can get a 30-50 million dollar contract. Dr. Buss won't be able to afford him. The only likely way to keep Kobe is to guarantee him a head coaching position upon retirement.

Jon K... settle down!!

Keifo,

AK has totally not been fun recently. His comments are generally brusque and annoyed-sounding.

I know AK's statement was an ATTEMPT at a joke. I get that point, but he keeps making statements about people wasting his and other people's time. That's the language of a person who either thinks he is overly self-important, is stressed or burned out.

I don't think that AK thinks of himself as overly self-important.

I just think he's burned out, but I don't particularly enjoy the snarkiness.

He just needs a two week vacation somewhere within the next 42 days to be fresh for next year.

It's going to be a LONG season.

GO LAKERS!

Gooooooooooood Morning Laker Blog!

I drank too much scotch last night.

Boy there's a glas half full statement, it could be taken as more like 'Hey! I drank too much scotch last night! Paa-Zowie!'

Anyhoo, lively blogging yesterday, sometimes the blog posts pop up like fish jumping for skeeters on a calm lake. Good thing for fish I am vegetarian and have no need to consume my scaly brethern of aquatic lands. Some interesting posts, though, it would seem that we have mixed expectations regarding the long frontline of the Lakers, here are the issues as I've read them:

-How much to pre-injury form will we see Andrew Bynum return to?
-How will he and Gasol play together?
-Will Lamar, after years of playing at the 4 spot. be able to keep up with the quicker NBA small forwards?
-Do we have a good enough bench to get back to the Finals?

So, if these are our major concerns, what are our thoughts and opinions regarding possible solutions?

I think that Bynum will come back and play consistently as he did in December, not the monster that we saw in January, not all year. We'll get flashes of that player, but he won't have to play that way because he'll have a more offensive team surrounding him. He'll be sharing the paint. If you go back and watch old Chicago Bulls games (when PJ was coach) I think you can get a pretty good idea whereour players are going to be spaced in the triangle offence. Bynum will patrol the low post (baseline to the free throw line in the paint and a step or two outside of that) he'll be boxing out for offensive rebounds and tips, he'll play where Rodman played in the mid 90s. Gasol will play where Horace Grant played, now you might say that i just listed to power forwards in my spacing, but those two players played entirely different styles of power forward. In a way, it's almost better to think of them both as centers with a power center and normal center. I think most of Gasol's touches will start 15 - 20 feet out from the hoop because of his shooting range, plus he can take guys off the dribble. Also, with Gasol out from the hoop, that will leave Lamar lots of space down low to cut and slash, post up, shoot the 20 footer (which he isn't bad at, he was drilling 'em last year until Phil said that Lamar couldn't shoot, however, that was also when Lamar started going to the hole and became the player we fell in love with last year) and he'll be able to do some rebounding damage, too.

I think that takes care of the front court. The back court is solid, providing surgery goes well. But our bench...

Last year, Luke prtty much sucked, that is a hard thing for me to type because I am a Luke Walton fan. But he needs to step it up this year or we are in for a long season of close losses. If Luke can contribute positive play (10 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast/ game) without a lot of turnovers and not needing too many shots to get to that 10r so points, I see good things for Lakerland. But, if he shoots 41%, or whatever god-awful percentage he jacked up last year, it will be miserable. He will be on the floor with a weak rebounding team and he needs to make that his personal mission. He's the first guy off the bench to replace Lamar, at least until he loses that spot to Ariza, who, hopefully, will be able to return to pre-injury form, too. But I think losing Ronny will have the most effect on team chemistry, the dude brought mad positive vibes and that cannot be replaced and shouldn't be underestimated. Anyhow, that's my two cents, what about y'all?

Xodus

Trades? You mean Lamar for Lebron? The Chris Paul for Vlad, Luke, Farmar trade? Or the Mihm for Marc Gasol?

Posted by: Charles | August 27, 2008 at 12:01 PM

========================
No the better trade of Lamar for Lebron, CP for Vlad and Farmar, Mihm for Howard or Marc and Luke straight up for DW. LOL