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!