What a nice pick up for the Lakers. Josh Powell is just as serviceable as Turiaf. He can hit the 15 footer, he can bang a little bit, he's young. I think he had a few 20/10 games when Elton was injured...

With this, losing Turiaf doesn't hurt nearly as bad. I actually think Powell is a better matchup than Turiaf is against a guy like Leon Powe.

Great deal for the Lakers.

Go Lakers!

"They drafted a PG, signed Yue who they drafted last year a PG, signed Karl last year another PG so why five PG's?"
Posted by: Edwin Gueco
5 PG's??

1) Derek Fisher
2) Jordan Farmar
3) Sun Yue

Coby Karl is a shooting guard, during trash time they put Sasha on point guard. And Mitchell? He's another combo guard along with Joe Crawford. Dunno where you got 5 point guards.

If they can get only trade piece I would like to trade away is Mihm since I never really liked him playing center since 2004-2005 season. Too much foul prone. Lakers get a center who can be a good backup to Andrew so be it. I would think a C/PF since they would need a Power Forward in the future. Perhaps next year we can get a quality Power Forward in the 1st Round to develop.

Laker Tom,

Only Kwame I know of is Kwame Kilpatrick the Mayor of Detroit. And I did heard that the other Kwame from the 49ers was another failure too.

Here's what defines Kwa-MAY Brown: "A bonafide (soft) scrub, he can't play, no disrespect whatsoever but I'm sorry to tell everyone the truth the man cannot play the game of basketball. He has small hands, he can't catch the ball, he's got bad feet he can't really move, even though he's mobile he doesn't really know what's he doing, doesn't have a post move he puts in memory that he can't do 2 times in row, he has no game whatsoever, plays NO DEFENSE, doesn't have the heart, passion or anything that comes along with it, and you are asking me that if they gave up too much? Please!"

LOL! For once Stephen A. Smith was correct on ESPN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5-A8Ao47nU&feature=related

Derek Fisher=JOHN Paxson

Posted by:KL | August 15, 2008 at 05:22 PM

/fixed

hhahahahahahaha

Let's go C's!,

BTW, I thought the Mike & Mike Show early this morning with PP was quite INTERESTING! Mike Greenberg REALLY placed the TRUTH on the spot, especially with questions regarding KB24.

In front of ESPN2 viewers and radio listeners NATIONWIDE, he said that Kobe (the one player you love the most and dream about OFTEN) is, in his book, one of the top 25 players to ever play in the NBA. Now, coming from the TRUTH, that is a heck of a complement and sure very well may be a BIATCH slap to anti-Kobe people like you (wait a minute..KB24 fanatic!). Darn, that must have been HARD for him to say and for you to hear! In the face of media pressure, he had no choice. Which brings me to this very question: Should one question his comments as being sincere based on the notion that he is a man of great CHARACTER? I'm sure that he was well aware of the risks of exposing himself outside the court of public opinion. He sure got my attention and I'm sure everyone else's. If you ask me, I think he was quite honest. PP talked about how he loves Team USA's overall play and their commitment to defense, especially KB24's. Man LGC's, isn't that SO ironic! A great day for sunshine, a great day indeed......your arguments are quickly fading into the sunset thanks to the TRUTH!

For the sake of being lighthearted, let's look at this scenario for a moment. If the TRUTH did in fact LIE, he will find himself in more trouble than anyone can think. I think he is smart enough not to SCREW up anything at this point as a recent Finals Champion and MVP. What goes around, comes around baby! I sure hope for his sake, he does not get his hand "caught in the cookie jar" so to speak. Remember, he spoke to many viewers and listeners NATIONWIDE. Blatant LIES will kill his reputation on and off the court. As a new father, he should know better! I guarantee that Kobe has learned from his mistakes as well because he too is a father now. The are getting too old for BS!

In review, if he chose to lie thinking that the public is naive as a whole (which I HIGHLY doubt), there goes his PRETTY Celtic boy image! I thought that the part about meeting Beyonce at a very YOUNG age was hilarious! TMI sir!

Just to let you know I've always been a GOOD SPORT, PP played lights out this past year, especially throughout the playoffs and the Finals. Like I've told you many times in many ways, Boston won the Title outright. Not a problem! However, your pessimistic nature in posting has gotten you into trouble with fans on this blog. Remember, you are posting on a Lakers fan site, not a Celtics one. Therefore, be expected to be nailed continuously by FACTS or get "STARVED" homey. Either way, I'm sure you don't mind. Like you've said before, take what you dish out baby!

Furthermore, he was asked by Greenie about who he considered to be the hardest player to guard in the league. He said King James which I DEFINITELYagreed with because of his size, strength, athleticism and youth. This is the TRUTH.

When it came to the question of guarding Kobe, he kind of hesitated, which I found interesting. I guess he watched his backside on that one. Honestly, I saw no reason why he should have. After all, they beat the Lakers. That's right, he lives in LA! Ooops...Watch what you say PP. The hood is watching and listening carefully. You may be a homeboy, but KB24 is loved in LA baby!

Getting back to the HEART of the matter, Kobe has played in so many MEANINGFUL games in his star filled career that TRUE injuries have plagued him in the past 6 years ranging from knee sprains, knee tendonitis, ankle sprains, strained back, TORN pinkie ligament on his SHOOTING hand and MANY others. No excuses for him, just the reality of the situation. KB24 is a 29 year old guy who has 35 year old legs based on hid total body of work in the NBA. OF COURSE you can guard a guy of that many injuries successfully. OF COURSE!!

If KB24 is anywhere around 100% healthy (which will never happen most likely based on the aging process) and continues to make adjustments to his play as he gets older in playing years (which he has done quite well this past year as the league MVP), the Lakers will be even more dangerous. A HEALTHY Kobe will not be good for any NBA team wanting to win a championship. Not good at ALL!

PP should not take his health for granted if wants to continue to win at a high level. Because of less MEANINGFUL games, PP should be fairly healthy at his stage of his playing career. However, I'm still skeptical about the knee he hurt in the Finals. Hmmm...Get my drift homey? You as a Celtic fan should be grateful for that. Pray for the TRUTH on that one!

Just to make this interesting for all fans, KB24 should be invited to speak on the show and tell his side as well. I'm SURE ratings will skyrocket. KB24 has nothing to hide at this point of his life. His resume speaks for itself!

Finally I give PP major props for his demeanor and willingness to answer TOUGH questions on the show. As long as this lifelong Celtic didn't LIE, he is cool in my book. BTW, don't worry, the infamous WHEELCHAIR didn't cross my mind at all, for NOW that is! Life is great in Lala land dear lad! Life is great....

Laker pride through adversity baby! Peace!

P.S.- Ray Allen should be careful not to call or insinuate that the owner of the Celtics ("Wyc" Grousbeck) is a "liar" on national TV and radio. According to the Celtics owner during the show, he beat RayRay in a game of golf the other day. Ray Ray, however, had a different take on what happened later on and said HE won straight up. What the heck! It figures. RayRay for the selfish fool he is.....True to form! The owner should have no reason to lie. Hell, he's paying that man! I'm curious to find out about the TRUTH on this one as Greenie said would like to investigate himself. You never bite the "hand that feeds you!" NEVER!!!

Powell will be a rebounder and a descent scorer off the bench. I loved Ronny's energy and hustle yet kinda think he got beat up way too much playing center and relied too much of jumpers. And Ronny's post defense skill was only slightly better than Kwa-may's. Ronny at the very least got the blocks.

Laker Tom,

I agree with much of your analysis. Kwa-may though in the 07-08 season got bullied around by Yao Ming, Amare Stoudemire, and Tim Duncan which a few times Kobe had to help out on defense with amazing blocks (2 on Duncan and 1 awesome one on Yao). Kwa-may's defense is overrated, you are correct in saying he is physically talented but once the big men spun around him or got close enough to the basket, they usually scored over him.

Edwin,

Here's my take on the young guards.

Sun Yue's statistics from Olympics so far:

vs USA: 8 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 blk, 1 turn, 37.5% FG
vs Spain: 2 points, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 blk, 3 turn, 25% FG
vs Angola, 11 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turn 100% FG (4-4 shooting)

So far Sun Yue has averaged 7.0 ppg on 54.2% FG, 2.3 apg, 1.3 stls, 2.0 turn on 27 min per game. This is a solid numbers so far though turnovers should be cut down. And these are the Olympics which while isn't the NBA which is more tougher than any other league in the world (save playground ones where the old style of knocking guys on the ground is still being played) still is a tough place to play, heck Team USA back in 2004 could only win the bronze and they had professional stars like Duncan and Allen Iverson. My feeling is that Sun Yue will probably have a great shot at getting a roster space for the Lakers.

Coby Karl has been in the Lakers for a year and has the experience in the system that Sun, Mitchell, nor Crawford doesn't know too much about. He is a good spot up shooter and with more time can develop into a very good shooter, Phil did say he was a very good shooter in practice. Had a mediocre summer league but he was playing out of position as a point guard and wasn't the go to guy in there.

Joe Crawford had a solid summer league but I would say he probably won't get a spot on the roster but have a chance to develop in D-League, the guy has some potential indeed but he was primarily the scorer in summer league and might have made Coby look a little bad.

Dwyane Mitchell I'm intrigued by. On one hand he has great statistics in the D-League, on the other hand he is more slashing penetrating point guard. He had 16.0ppg on 52.2% FG as a guard which is really good but his free throw shooting was horrible at 59%. His 3 point shooting (which is important for a guard) is bad at 25.0% He is a good player.

Conclusion: I would say Sun Yue at point guard and Coby Karl at shooting guard makes the roster. If Luke Walton gets switched to the power forward slot with Radman then maybe put Sun Yue as small forward and add Dwyane Mitchell on point. Joe Crawford will probably be cut and be placed at D-League.

Remember that the Lakers sign guys and see how they fare in training camp. They will usually cut guys so I'm not surprised they are signing people. Coby has a team option (which they will decide after training camp), Joe Crawford hasn't been offered a contract really while Sun Yue and Mitchell has offers. Once training camps starts we will see how this all works out.

This is my analysis on how the guard/small forward situation works out.

Can you imagine holding players like Yao and Duncan so far away from the basket that one of you teammates HAS ENOUGH ROOM TO COME FLYING BETWEEN THE ACTION AND THE RIM TO SWAT A SHOT AWAY? That's how strong Kwame is. That's what Perkins did to Gasol and Bynum when the Lakers played the Celtics this year. Perkins is strong enough to push Bynum and Gasol away from the basket so they didn't get all their easy baskets and the Celtics killed the Lakers.

Easy baskets? Yeah, EASY BASKETS because in the regular season 97 percent of the teams don't play defense, including the Lakers. Against Boston where were all those EASY BASKETS? The Celtics pulled the mask off of the Lakers offense and showed the rest of the NBA how to beat the Lakers.

Take away the EASY BASKETS and Bynum doesn't get all those alley-oops. Those are EASY BASKETS based on poor to terrible defense. Boston doesn't have that problem and that's why they beat the Lakers.

Gasol didn't have a chance against the Celtics defense. Gasol and Bynum were getting EASY BASKETS against terrible defensive teams. That translates to nothing when the Lakers play good defensive teams. What that means is this: People actually picked the Lakers to win in 5 or 6 based on the Lakers SCORING EASY BASKETS on 97 percent of the NBA teams who play no defense?

It's like playing basketball with a bunch of college teams and you beat them and you beat them then in the finals you get a real NBA team and you get killed.

You get killed because the real NBA team played like men and no fancy entertainers.

Everyone who picked the Lakers to win it all failed to acknowledge this: Yet, they know basketball? I think not!

To get excited over your team scoring a bunch of points against defensive weak teams is like having your head in the sand. Oh yeah, oh yeah but the Lakers in 5 or 6...NOT!

Boston in 6 and it would have been 5 had Perkins played in game 5. And Boston had injured player afte injured player. An INJURED Boston team took the mighty Lakers offensive team out in 6 games. And did it in a way that shocked the EXPERTS.

I mean: How ignorant can people really be?

mike t.

MAMBA24,

I actually don't find Shaq's reconciliation with his wife to be something to ridicule. As I understand it, Shaq really does love his kids and whenever kids are involved, you want the best for them, and a reconciled marriage is usually a lot better for the kids than it is a divorce.

Anyhow, we should celebrate Shaq! He's busy destroying the Suns from the inside right now. Thank you Shaq!

GO LAKERS!

All the experts who picked the Lakers to win in 5 or 6 games should really be quiet until they pick it right in the finals. Until then they should say: I don't know what's going to happen because in the regular season 97 percent of the teams don't play defense. So it's hard to say who'll come out on top in the finals unless there's a absolute dominate defensive team playing against a offensive philosophical team like this years Celtics/Lakers finals. Then it's a no-brainer. CELTICS ALL THE WAY!

mike t.

AK,

A request. Which Lakers seem like the nicest guys? (I'd also like to know which Lakers seem like the worst thugs, but I'm fine with keeping it positive.)

GO LAKERS!

WITH 3S FINALLY FALLING, US DROPS SPAIN IN ROUT

BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. men's Olympic basketball team has clinched first place in its group and remained unbeaten in the Beijing Games with a 119-82 victory against Spain.

LeBron James scored 18 points Saturday for the United States (4-0), which will be the No. 1 seed from Group B in the medal round and face the fourth-place team from Group A in Wednesday's quarterfinals. Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony each scored 16 points.

The Americans made 48 percent of their 3-pointers (12-of-25) after hitting only 29 percent in their first three games, turning the game against the reigning world champions into a rout.

Tom

Thoughts of Dwayne Mitchell...

http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/
080815gettingtoknowpowell.html

Sounds pretty good. I particularly like his work ethic and positive attitude. I'm not sure we need MORE offensive firepower, but the guy likes the Triangle, and that's a good thing.

GO LAKERS!

You go Mike, tell the unbelievers to repent and believe in the Kwame. When he posts his career best of 6/6 in 28 mins, they'll see the truth.

You think Kobe kind of prepped his USA teammates about what to expect from the middle that has Gasol as one of thier bigs?

"James and his teammates were ready to go."

"And that was with Bryant missing most of the period in foul trouble. He flattened Pau Gasol, his Los Angeles Lakers teammate, while trying to run through a pick 2 minutes into the game, then collected an offensive foul with 5:50 remaining."

Kobe Bryant TOLD his teammates what to expect and Kobe showed them what is was all about when he FLATTENED his Lakers' teammate Gasol 2 minutes into the game. Kobe intimidated GASOL, 2 minutes into the game, in front of his USA teammates to show how to go at a team with weak big men. I wonder where he learned that. Oh yeah! The Boston Celtics taught him that one.

That Kobe...he's a smart guy.

mike t.

Laker Nation,

First things first, keep on posting guys especially the Magnificent T and the Optimistic Tom, well the K-Bros are again in danger, there is a new Sheriff at LA Times, he might bring in his DirectV blog people and replace our haterade brothers. Censors could be more and Mike T. could be expelled for life. We don't want that to happen.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-publisher16-2008aug16,0,6915781.story

KB Blitz,

Are you sure you are not the younger brother of LTLF? you're up to date with stats even in the Olympics. I think you make sense on your analysis on guards and Yue as a forward. Although, I would experiment both positions and see where he is effective. A tall guard in the high post could lessen the headaches of the power forwards and Center in the low post, I mean with his long frame he could distract those small guards from shooting on the perimeter, that's the advantage of being a tall guard. On offense, he could see who is free compared to Farmar and Fisher where they have to lob the ball just to execute a succesful pass to Drew or Vladdy on the corner. If there are no openings, Yue could apply his long range shooting. The disadvantage of him being a forward 1). he is not used to that position and he needs some time to learn the intricacies of the triangle 2). His tall frame is small compared , needs to consume more American burgers to bang with power forwards like Boozer, Posey and Perkins. He might get discourage and would not play for the second year. 3) LO as guard is not that effective, he gets into foul trouble of forcing through. LO should learn to work in the shaded area, catch and shoot, rebound and follow-up and work along with Bynum and Gasol. When LO is a guard, he has a tendency to try his perimeter shooting which normally brick and/or result to high rebounds, he is not a shooter but more of a slasher. By this time, he should also be aware the team expect him to be a defensive minded player.

Lastly, KB blitz some bloggers here were uncomfortable on the losses of the Lakers to our old nemesis, Celtics. Of all teams, this is the team that Lakers should dominate even in their dreams. Oldtimers find our team lost its steam during the Finals, maybe it was combination of Kobe's pinkie, absence of Drew, recovering from injury of Ariza and Mihm while some played with a little heart and others played with a little brain. There are no excuses when it comes to Lakers vs. Celtics, oldtimers don't accept No.2 lasted to 6th game, that's nothing baby all we got are mustard and ketchup, we need the beef, the bread and everything. Lakers can lose to the Spurs or to the lowly Clippers but not to the demogogues Celtics, there'd always be Let's Go C in every generation, smell of that filthy smokin' leprechaun raised from the grave therefore we are always uncomfortable with such losses, no ifs and buts nor silly excuses, we just plain suck to the bone in the last concluded Finals. I hope young Laker fans would understand that traditional Laker sentiment.

FLATTENED!

A freaken guard FLATTENED Gasol.

Which way did he go? Which way did he go?

LOL!

USA TEAM: Kobe, how do we go at Gasol?

Kobe: He's seriously weak. We intimidate him by pushing him around.

HOWARD: I don't want to get into foul trouble, Kobe!

Kobe: Don't worry about that. I'll just FLATTEN his butt to open the game and then just steamroll the rest of the way.

USA TEAM: How early into the game do you think you can FLATTEN Gasol?

Kobe: Within the first 2 minutes. Just be ready to steamroll right after. I say we'll be up by double digits in the first 8 minutes of the game.

USA TEAM: If it's that damn easy...heck, we'll probably score something like 120 pts.

Kobe: That's the plan. Did you see the Celtics score 131 pts on my Lakers team in game 6? They did that by pushing Gasol out of the lane. Just wait and see, I'll FLATTEN him 2 minutes into the game and we'll score something like 120 pts. I promise you that. Believe me I know first hand.

USA TEAM: YEAH!

mike t.

REPORT! REPORT! REPORT!

"Ignoring early foul trouble to Kobe Bryant and Anthony, the Americans turned to top reserves Wade and Chris Paul to ignite an early 13-3 spurt that gave them a 13-point lead late in the first quarter, and Spain never made much of a dent in the deficit even while shooting 58 percent in the first half.

The Spanish tried to slow the Americans with a zone defense, but crisp ball movement set up open 3-pointers—and the U.S. players finally made them. James and Bryant hit from behind the arc on consecutive possessions after Spain trimmed the U.S. lead to eight midway through the second quarter, and Deron Williams nailed another during a 9-0 burst that made it a 20-point game late in the half."

Early foul trouble by Kobe and Anthony? Lay the physical wood on their butts early. Then let Wade and Paul come in and cut them up going to the basket against their weak and intimidated middle. Then that'll force them to go zone. By that time the momentum will be flowing on our side. We hit a couple of 3s and it's a done deal rout style, that is.

"The Spanish tried to slow the Americans with a zone defense"

That means they were getting killed in the middle so they had to go zone. (The weak Gasol brothers)

mike t.

The key to fundamental basketball is the pic'.

Take away the pic' and you have up and down basketball, which, more often than not, is a losing brand of basketball at the Championship level.

Andrew Bynum or Gasol would never give themselves over to setting solid pic' because because they're score first type of players.

Setting solid pic's at the top of key or at the elbow throughout the season would take dedication to fundamental basketball.

Fundamental basketball ignores weak defenses and sets up their offense to perfect execution. The Lakers never practiced thier execution during the season because they were too busy taking advantage of weak defenses.

What Kobe did to Gasol agasint Spain by FLATTENING him was to disturb Spain's fundamentals. Once the fundamentals are gone, the pic's, it's open season.

After getting clobbered by Kobe I bet Gasol wasn't even thinking of setting solid pic's anymore. That's the name of the game.

119 pts for TEAM USA.

mike t.

Tom,
well, im not quite as old as you haha... I used to play for the alpine striders a few years ago. We had our own legendary coach in Tony Wong who has since retired from fulltime coaching recently, but yeah there were some pretty insane players that would come in and be hyper competitve.

-boba

"You go Mike, tell the unbelievers to repent and believe in the Kwame. When he posts his career best of 6/6 in 28 mins, they'll see the truth."
Posted by: p ang

LOL! First realistically Kwa-may Brown can average that, because his career average is around that. 7.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg. Should he be averaging that? NO! He is a 1st overall pick he should be tearing it up like Dwight Howard, Lebron James, heck even Andrew Bogut is having by far a successful career than Kwa-may Brown.

7.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg, and being a soft scrub equals bust.

"But he never would have had space to swat those shots if Kwame had not pushed Duncan and Yao so far away from the basket."

Had Kwa-may Brown actually pushed with his hands literally, he would have been issued a foul because of the hand checking rule. Had it been 10 years ago he had done that, then it would have been ok defense.

And please see those shots again, if you see the tape, Yao had Kwa-may to his right side before he attempted the shot, Kwa-may in no way could have interfered with the shot, Kobe was forced to rotate over. In other words, Yao was wide open for the shot at very close range, Kobe was very skilled enough to get between to block the shot.

And the Tim Ducan block? Well poor Kwa-may had his eye on Michael Finley and Finley passed over Kwa-may to Timmy and it was not Kwa-may who rotated over it was Ronny Turiaf to interfere with Tim (luckily Ronny didn't get the foul). Same damn thing happened when we played the Suns and Amare roasted Kwa-may Brown on a campfire.

Here are the blocks.
Tim Duncan block:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxpN4oKuDy4
Yao Ming block:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdaIf_sBRYY

"Kobe didn't get another block like that for the rest of the season, now did he?"

Kobe blocked Shawn Marion, and blocked an ally oop to Shaq. Oh and he blocked Tim Thomas as well and that was without Kwa-may Brown. And he blocked Boris Diaw as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f0eOhj6oSA

Cheers!

Mike T.,

Supposing Team Spain puts your Kwame in the middle, do you think they have a chance against Team USA. If ever, you will all Spaniards crying from Barcelona to Sevilla say "Adios patria adorada, si no puede falso jugador, Pobre Espana" LOL!

It is not Gasol's fault, Team USA is just superior when they put all their heads and game together. They lose when they become individualistic and play a lackadaisical defense but at this time, no team can beat them even a selection of Team World.

If ever there is any truth to what you are saying, mike T or what Rick Friedman had advocated and got into trouble, it is about Defense. In the Lakers '09 roster, they may have a healthy Bynum, a healthy Ariza, a healthy Kobe if the other two players do not play defense, we lose in a seven game format. Defense wins it all, I hope that becomes the No. 1 priority for next year. The story of this Olympics is good lesson about defense. When Vlad, Luke, Jordan, Lamar, Chris don't play defense, put them back to preseason retraining mode w/ Kurt Rambis until they show it in their game. Look at these players w/ Team USA melo, dwayne, james what's difference between their game in '08 vs. '04 under Brown, it's defense and doing the homework of scouting moves plus chemistry w/ teammates.

thekobebryantblitz,

Yes. Kwame Brown's defense against guards sucked, but he was able to play admirable defense against some very good bigs.

GO LAKERS!

AK/BK/LakerNation,

Who, in your opinion, are the best free agents still available DEFENSIVELY SPEAKING?

I'm not as cognisant as a I should be of who is still available or how they rank defensively.

I know Quinton Ross is still available, but are there any other super-bad defensive stoppers left?

GO LAKERS!

mike t.,

"I mean: How ignorant can people really be?"

Well, I don't know...you are the one preaching that we need Kwame back, even though when we had him we couldn't get out of the first round and without him we got to the finals.

Pretty ignorant, I guess.

GO LAKERS!!!

Edwin:

Here's my take on the defensive skills on the Lakers and their 1st backups

Center: 1) Bynum--excellent man on man defender and great shot blocker and good pick and roll defender (he improved since 2006-2007) 2) Mihm--descent shot blocker, too foul prone.

Power Forward: 1) Gasol--great shot blocker, underrated defender (held both Duncan and Garnett to 40ish% FG, one the greatest power forward (Duncan) and the other one who is in the top 10 (Garnett)). 2) Radmanovic--good at positioning himself, bad on personal defense.

Small Forward: 1) Lamar Odom--underrated defender playing with a good big man in the middle he can be even more aggressive at defending the perimeter than before. 2) Trevor Ariza--skilled and energetic perimeter defender, though post ups are a concern 3) Luke Walton--solid body to hold his own against post up but other skills are average

Shooting Guard: 1) Kobe Bryant--excellent defender and has multiple All-Defensive team awards to his credit. 2) Sasha Vujacic, developing defender, with increased playing time increased his defense. Can defend Shooting Guards much better than point guards (just keep improving is what Sasha needs)

Point Guard: 1) Derek Fisher--Good positional defender and can take charges, might be a bit slower in the next season due to age but can still take charges. 2) Jordan Farmar--Good ball thief but gets to be beaten up by elite point guards.

"Is there a white player you admire and respect?"

In basketball?

Bill Walton. That was the real deal. Larry Bird. The real deal. Kevin McHale as a player was the real deal. Who else? Kurt Rambis for the minutes he played was effective. Of course Jerry West. The logo.

Anyone else? There was Jack Sikma who was a pure shooter. Of couse Pistol Pete. Awwwh...I forgot Stumpy. Gail Goodrich! Pat Riley.

But don't put Luke Walton, Chris Mihm or Pau Gasol on these guys level. Pau Gasol isn't even white, in my opinion. He a special breed. Well, marshmellows are white.

mike t.

DAM, THIS MUST BE MY DAY!

"The U.S. players also defended. This time their focus was Pau Gasol, the Lakers center who had been burning up the tournament.

Gasol came into the game averaging 18 points, shooting 69%, having outscored Yao Ming, 29-11, in their meeting, posterizing him several times while making 13 of 17 shots.

Saturday night he didn't even get a shot off in the first quarter although he did have three turnovers. (Boston Series)

Posting up NBA-style, Gasol was like a human bull's-eye. The U.S. players have spent weeks adjusting to the international drive-and-kick game with its premium on three-point shooting. Post basketball is something they already know from the NBA.

So the U.S. players double-teamed Gasol as if he were Shaquille O'Neal in his prime. Just for good measure, they ran the offense through Gasol's man, usually Dwight Howard, at the other end."

Check this out: "Saturday night he didn't even get a shot off in the first quarter although he did have three turnovers."

Sound familiar? The Boston series? When Gasol was getting the ball stripped. And to add insult to injury they ran their offense through Howard. In other words: They attacked Gasol. Gasol was the target and TEAM USA scored 119 pts.

You think Kobe wasn't telling everyone about what happened to Gasol in the Boston finals?

Can you imagine that? TEAM USA threw away the International game and played a basic NBA style game to expose Gasol for the fraud he is. Gasol in the International game is different than NBA style of basketball.

"Gasol was like a human bull's-eye."

Gee, I wonder where they got that idea? Watching the Boston series? Or did Kobe tell them what to do?

mike t.

Long Time Laker Fan,

I agree, the NBA and FIBA are truly different styles with FIBA being more jump shooting skill like while the NBA is a bit more physical (even with all the rules like hand checking and defensive 3 seconds). Sun Yue looks to be a guy with good potential and we shall see if he will be the 1st good Chinese guard to succeed in the NBA.

Jon K.

Getting defensive players isn't a guarantee our defense is instantly fixed. Look at the Spurs, who could be considered a defensive player besides Timmy and Bowen? The only defensive players the Celtics had was Garnett and Posey. We already have a 1st all defensive team person (Kobe), a beast at Center (Drew), a solid shot blocker and can guard the mid range better (Gasol) and one who can guard the perimeter with less worry about the post (Lamar). People always take Game 6 as that we need more defense but did people forget that the Lakers had 18 turnovers which led to fast break points and easy scoring? True we need more defense but trying to find defensive players isn't the only answer. The triangle when executed properly with no turnovers guarantees at least two players will be in the back court to prevent easy points, but when turnovers happened, easy points can be attained, which just as easy as scoring on Kwa-may Brown. We just need to execute better so we don't get these silly turnovers which leads to fast break points or worst making Rondo pass to a wide open Ray Allen.

Jon K. one more thing,

Kwa-may wasn't going to be the answer anyways. Teams like the Spurs will simply have done this to Kwa-may Brown even if he was a backup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5g6KSlUP9w

I love to watch it everytime the Suns offense got stuck with the Big Mistake.

Account after account. It's all coming in now:

"For those desperate to see the U.S. even challenged, they should hope that Spain was working that tanking angle. Who could even tell the difference? The U.S. never gave them a chance. The Americans never let them breathe.

Near the start of the game, Pau Gasol tried to set a screen on his Lakers teammate, Kobe Bryant, and just got obliterated. The message was unmistakable and the Americans pounded it into the Spaniards’ weary bodies and minds."

THE MESSAGE? Obliterate the SOFT GASOL! The MESSAGE WAS UNMISTAKABLE!

Kobe's scouting report is written all over this.

mike t.

For those of you raving about Lamar's defense &
wanting him to play SF or SG,

In the Tex Winters article on hoops hype:

“It’s pretty hard to play defense against these quicker guards without touching them a little bit,” Winter said. “I think the officials are going to have to make an adjustment too. They can’t call all those touch fouls.”

A big issue for Winter’s Lakers is how the guards will play defensively. Traditionally, Phil Jackson’s teams have featured lots of ball pressure. That means the Lakers’ pressure style has to shift.

“I think you have to play more of a containing defense,” explained Winter. “You can still put some pressure on the offense. You can contain them and slow the ball up.”

But the new guidelines “change how you force turnovers,” Winter explained. “You can’t be as aggressive as you’d like to be with your hands. You can’t be ‘into’ the guy as much.”

-------------------------

With that being said I ask the question: Will the SG/SF's
with a quick first step be a problem for Lamar?

"For those desperate to see the U.S. even challenged, they should hope that Spain was working that tanking angle. Who could even tell the difference? The U.S. never gave them a chance. The Americans never let them breathe.

Near the start of the game, Pau Gasol tried to set a screen on his Lakers teammate, Kobe Bryant, and just got obliterated. The message was unmistakable and the Americans pounded it into the Spaniards’ weary bodies and minds.

Here’s the difference between No. 1 and No. 2 in this tournament: Thirty-seven points."

37 points between Gold and Silver?
39 points between NBA title and nothing?

What's the common denominator? PAU "THE MARSHMELLOW" GASOL being manhandled by opposing teams who play defense.

Do you think that's a coincidence?

mike t.

Edwin et al,

Sun Yue was drafted as a point guard and that is the position he will play for the Lakers. Eric Pincus’ latest article for HoopsWorld reiterated what I had posted earlier that John Black’s comments about Sun playing shooting guard and forward were “taken out of context” and that Sun Yue would be backing up Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar at point guard.

If you think about the situation logically, it was obvious that the Lakers envision Sun Yue as the perfect point guard for the Triangle Offense at 6-9. His best skills at this point of his career are his ball handling and passing ability, the primary requirements to play point guard.
Furthermore, the last thing the Lakers need at this point of time is another small forward. They already have 3 in Ariza, Radmanovic, and Walton plus Lamar sliding down from the 4 and Kobe sliding up from the 2. So stop all the useless analysis of how and why Sun Yue will play shooting guard and small forward. He is a point guard.

As Andrew Z said in his post yesterday, the Lakers are shooting for the moon with Sun Yue. The cost is minimal, just a second round draft pick, but the payoff could be huge. It may take some time but Sun Yue has the potential to become the Lakers starting point guard some day down the road. I think that his growth as a player has been inhibited by the restrictive nature of the Chinese game but that joining the Lakers will open a door of opportunity to be the first Chinese backcourt player to make it in the NBA.

Tom

"With that being said I ask the question: Will the SG/SF's
with a quick first step be a problem for Lamar?"

lol hobbitmage I posted that link about the death of defense in the NBA. To counter this, the NBA allowed more zone defense which is ok but still lowered the overall defense in the NBA.

In my opinion Lamar will be switched to SG to present more matche up problems for other teams. Most Shooting Guards aren't the driving into the lane type of guards like Kobe is. Kevin Durant is one and Brandon Roy is as well. The majority of shooting guards are Reggie Miller style shooters. Lamar's height will no doubt affect their shot since they will have to shoot either faster or higher to prevent their shot being blocked by Lamar. If they do dish and drive, Lamar being 6'10 could be kind of tough to drive against even without hand checking plus they still have to go throw Pau and Bynum which will be tough. If they do keep him at small forward, it will be a little harder but he can hang on with most small forwards, probably elite guys like Lebron and Paul Pierce could give him some trouble.

p ang,

I know you are being sarcastic but don't mind too much Mike T. too much. He's still trying to prove that Kwa-may Brown is the one player greater than Michael Jordan and Kobe. He is after all a Kwa-may Brown homer. And because it was Pau who got traded for his boy, he unleashes everything he can to discredit Pau even if it means wanting the Lakers to lose. He would do the same if it was David Robinson (a true post defender) whom the Lakers got for Kwa-may and would do the same if we got Kevin Garnett for Kwa-may. He's already been proven wrong about Kwa-may like that Kwa-may will flourish in Memphis and that Memphis will pull a trade with Phoenix to allow Kwa-may to be an offensive weapon and also that Memphis got Kwa-may for defense even they all they wanted him was for his expiring contract (though getting Marko was very puzzling even if it came with OJ Mayo). Plus there is solid evidence like I posted earlier that shown Kwa-may wasn't a good defender, especially when Kwa-may got beaten by Tim and Yao and made Kobe block their shots. So instead of admitting that he's wrong Mr. Teniente goes on to attack Pau which all he can do. Just leave him be, the truth hurts for him and even though some things are true about Pau, like that he's not a banger power forward and relies more on finesse, Pau is a much better basketball player than Kwa-may and he did admit Pau was a better scorer than Kwa-may, and gave the Lakers the inside presence they needed to even make the finals, something Kwa-may couldn't ever do.

"Gasol is damaged goods"

LOL! Mike T is really off on a tangent today. Only problem... uh... Pau's team was clearly inferior athletically. Have Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard switch teams and Team USA with Pau Gasol at Center DOMINATES Spain anyway so... there goes your theory...

LakerTom,

I have also envisioned of Sun as PG but was just commenting on KB blitz telling us all that there are only two PG's. However, he may also be correct because in the ESPN roster Sun was listed as F, whther that was a typo or Laker insider tips we're not sure. I have rationalized to play Sun as a PG. Well, LakerTom during our timewe don't have much specialization, all hoop players should be all around just like Team USA. The only distinction is the Center b/c he is the point man in the post but the rest should be able to shoot, dribble, pass and do everything. in this day and age we have somebody to inbound, someone toset up and everything and if they get out of position, suddenly we hear from this post oh he's a SG....no he's a SF, gosh! what's the difference let's play ball play D and win, that's the bottom line.

AK/BK - If someone were posting CONSTANTLY claiming that Francisco Elson was better than Tim Duncan, would you ever entertain the idea of cutting that poster off? After 100 posts? 500? 1,000?

This business with the idiot who thinks Kwame Brown is better than Pau Gasol falls in to the same category. It really takes a long time scrolling past this crap.

These posts could be used as evidence in a hearing attempting to have the "author" committed to a mental hospital, both for content and frequency.

duuude.. the Laker coverage in nor-cal sucks... even with d-tv and if anyone is asian they have to know about SGV/Monterey park

thekobebryantblitz,

Jordan Farmar is going to be the next Tony Parker (as long as we don't sign Shaun Livingston). Phil Jackson may be biased towards long, defensive-minded point guards, but he is by no means an idiot. He has the humility to adapt and he will with a weapon like that.

GO LAKERS!

Posted by: Jon K. | August 14, 2008 at 09:47 PM

=======================
Jon K,
PJ's inability to adapt and lack of humility is what precisely makes him an idiot imho.

As an add-on to what ATL Laker Fan said, Sun Yue actually
had a very good game against Germany. He played a lot better
on defense (of course, it's a lot easier to guard the German
no-name guards than Kobe and Dwyane), he had several blocked
shots, some rebounds, a made 3 on the one play they ran for
him, and a couple of assists late (one to Yao and one to Yi).

YO!
Yue passed to Yao and Yi
Yay!

Anyway, this win gets the Chinese into the elimination round.

Posted by: Long Time Laker Fan | August 16, 2008 at 01:17 PM

=====================
LTLF
Now that was funny. I agree and add a YEAH to that!