The Lakers, Hollinger style
There are folks who dig the numbers-centric take on NBA roundball by ESPN's John Hollinger. There are others who think the stats monger can stick his PER where the sun don't shine. And then there's me, who takes his results with a grain of salt but typically finds them interesting, even when I disagree with the oft-numbers-based conclusions. In particular, I enjoy his annual PER projections opus before each season starts, in large part because of the breakdowns for every player in the L. Which, by definition, includes every Laker.
Unfortunately, the individual player profiles are accessible only to ESPN Insider account holders. While I'm not big on the "pay for certain material on an otherwise free website" concept, I'm also not down with the Internet version of shoplifting. I also understand what hits and clicks mean for a web scribe. Thus, I can't in a good conscience just cut and paste Hollinger's breakdowns wholesale. However, his across-the-NBA positional rankings are gratis to all. Thus, I'm laying out where each Laker ranked for PER at the 1,2,3,4 or 5 (the average PER is a 15.00), along with a snippet of Hollinger's analysis. If Hollinger projected a PER of "not available," it's because the Laker in question is either a rookie or played so little last season that an educated guess couldn't be formulated.
Point guards
Jordan Farmar (projected 2008-2009 PER of 16.55, 14th-PG): "Defensively, Farmar is a work in progress. He cut his tendency to pick up silly fouls in the backcourt and did a decent job pressuring the ball, but in the half court he had trouble staying in front of his man and wasn't much of a factor in help situations. His quickness did help him to the 10th best rate of steals among point guards, and he should eventually be quite good as he gains experience."
Derek Fisher (projected PER of 11.91, 44th-PG): "Fisher cashed in 40.6 percent of his 3-pointers and hit 50 percent of his long 2-pointers for good measure. Overall he had his best shooting percentage in six years and very nearly set a career high. However, there's a reason his name is "Fisher" and not "finisher." He shot only 41.6 percent on shots in the immediate basket area, the second-worst mark in the NBA, and that continues a pattern he's shown in recent years."
Sun Yue (Projected PER N/A): "The 2007 second-round pick from China signed with the Lakers, but should expect to see nearly all his action at the D-League level this year. The 6-9 lefty is a good ball handler and passer for his size and has a passable outside stroke, but his defense and general athleticism are major question marks and he's quite thin."
Shooting guards
Kobe Bryant (projected PER of 23.83, 1st-SG, 6th-NBA overall, 1st-European jersey sales): "Bryant was named first-team All-Defense, the basketball equivalent of a
player winning a Gold Glove with his bat. He's great one-on-one down
the stretch of games, no argument there, but he'll also coast for
three-and-a-half quarters to save his energy for offense. Even while on
cruise control he's not bad because of his smarts and physical skills,
and he was a much more aggressive help defender last season than in
previous campaigns."
Sasha Vujacic (projected PER of 14.09, 25th-SG): "Vujacic also did a solid job defensively. Though his lateral movement isn't fantastic, he's tough and hustles, and at his size he's an obstacle for opposing guards to shoot over. He's also a good enough dribbler to play the point in a pinch, although he hardly ever gets into the paint and isn't much of a distributor."
Coby Karl (Projected PER N/A): "Karl only played 69 minutes as an undrafted rookie, but actually played them quite well. His 17 games in the D-League told a less encouraging story, as he showed a solid 3-point stroke (41.1 percent) but had a very high turnover rate and didn't create a high rate of shots."
Small Forwards
Trevor Ariza (Projected PER of 16.90, 12th-SF): "Offensively, Ariza isn't a shooter but is a terror in transition, where he can fly up the wings to get dunks. He's also an active player off the ball who can find buckets off of other players' penetration or take it to the bucket himself on occasion. The only problem with the latter scenario is that his defender is usually playing 10 feet off of him."
Luke Walton (Projected PER of 11.91, 44th-SF): "Walton's passing ability is truly remarkable. Although he rarely penetrates off the dribble he posted the second best assist ratio among small forwards and ranked third in pure point rating. He's only average as a scorer, however, as he's a borderline 3-point shooter (33.9 percent career) and doesn't get to the line often. Additionally, he's never created a high rate of shots, and even in his career year in 2006-07 only averaged a point every three minutes."
Power Forwards
Pau Gasol (Projected PER of 20.89, 4th-PF, 18th-NBA): "Gasol didn't seem terribly interested in defense during the Memphis
portion of his season but dialed up the effort a bit once he got to
L.A. He's notoriously shy about contact around the rim and works best
with an enforcer playing next to him, but he's also a long shot blocker
who can contest drives. He's not a strong rebounder, especially from
the center spot, and bigger centers can easily muscle him out of the
way on post-ups or the offensive glass. However, his quickness makes
him a strong pick-and-roll defender."
Lamar Odom (Projected PER of 15.93, 24th-PF): "For his size, Odom is one of the best ball handlers in basketball. The
left-hander excels at taking opposing power forwards off the dribble,
especially going to his left, and if help defense comes he's an
excellent passer. Odom is below average as an outside shooter, however,
with a line-drive release, and he's not an explosive athlete, either,
so he sometimes has trouble finishing at the rim."
Vlad Radmanovic (Projected PER of 12.25, 43rd-PF): "It seems an accident of history that this guy started every playoff
game for an NBA conference champion. Radmanovic's other numbers were
below average across the board and his defense was mediocre at best.
The Lakers seemed fascinated by his combination of size and shooting
ability, much as the Sonics and Clippers were before, but Luke Walton
and Trevor Ariza both were better."
(Note: Hollinger cited Vlad's "other numbers" in comparison to his three-point shooting, which improved. His true shooting percentage was 58.3, eighth best among small forwards.)
Radmanovic had surprisingly good assist and turnover numbers for such a
weak dribbler, as he found the open man when he was covered on the
perimeter and didn't try to force the action. Although he's a truly
awful ball handler in the open court, he's learned this and rarely
pushes the ball himself anymore.
Josh Powell (Projected PER of 10.09, 54-PF): "Pressed into service as the Clippers' backup center, you wouldn't
exactly call Powell's season impressive. But despite giving up inches
and pounds at 6-9, 225, he banged bodies, held his own on the boards,
and made enough shots to keep defenses somewhat honest. In doing so,
Powell showed he can be a useful fifth big man at the NBA level."
Centers
Andrew Bynum (Projected PER of 20.71, 6th-C, 20th- NBA): "As a defender, Bynum is great around the basket because of his size --
he can block shots, controls the defensive glass and is difficult to
post up against, though one would like to see him throw his weight
around a bit more. However, he struggles to defend the screen-and-roll
and opponents typically seek to attack him that way."
DJ Mbenga (Projected PER N/A): "Mbenga's job is mainly to defend, as he's mobile for his size and has
the bulk to battle against big centers on the blocks. He can fill that
role fairly effectively in short stints off the pine, but his lack of
skill is a major impediment to his moving up the big man food chain.
Mbenga has trouble converting anything longer than a dunk and is mostly
asked to stay out of the way."
Chris Mihm (Projected PER N/A): "Mihm has the size of a true center and rebounds well, but isn't a
physical presence in post defense and struggles to defend the
screen-and-roll. He does have nice timing on shot blocks, but he may
not have the explosion to get up for them in the wake of his ankle
problems."
AK
LakerInBC,
That being said, I don't think the Blazers will finish ahead of the Spurs though.
Posted by: Eric M. | October 09, 2008 at 07:10 PM
Anyone have a link?
Posted by: Xodus | October 09, 2008 at 07:11 PM
bobie,
I found a link. Go to my myp2p.eu
Posted by: Xodus | October 09, 2008 at 07:23 PM
PJ actually prefers the Lakers to lose as many games as possible in the preseason.
Because they are the favorites this year (despite what Hollinger imagines), PJ wants to make sure the Laker players still play with the determination of an underdog.
PJ does not want to show his card yet. His biggest card is the Bynum/Gasol combo.
Posted by: LakerinBC | October 09, 2008 at 07:26 PM
Link?
http://209.44.113.149/cgi-bin/link.pl?l=kqjcyMfg
Posted by: Fatty | October 09, 2008 at 07:28 PM
Bynum comes in for LO.
I told ya, the Lakers coaching staff is setting it up as a competition for PT between Bynum and Odom.
We all know what the answer will be on that one.
PJ is 5 or 6 steps ahead of Lamar.
Posted by: LakerinBC | October 09, 2008 at 07:30 PM
Here's a link for anyone interested:
http://209.44.113.149/cgi-bin/link.pl?l=kqjcyMfg
Posted by: Chris H | October 09, 2008 at 07:39 PM
Wow its preseason I know, but things defensively are not pretty. Wide open jumpers left and right to the opponent, slow rotations to open 3 point shooters, and sloppy rebounding.
ugh brings back bad memories.
Posted by: Tej | October 09, 2008 at 07:40 PM
The Lakers look pretty terrible in this game.
Posted by: "Pig" Miller | October 09, 2008 at 08:03 PM
MMMMMMMMMM. BODY LANGUAGE!!! TREVOR DOESN"T BELONG IN STARTING LINEUP!!!! AS SOON AS WALTON IS HEALTHY PLEASE HAVE PHIL REPLACE TREVOR!!!! Trevor is a situational type of player I believe.
Good starting lineup:
C-Bynum
PF-Gasol
SF-Walton (exept against Celtics, maybe Trevor on Pierce)
SG-Kobe
PG-Fisher
Posted by: johnny | October 09, 2008 at 08:06 PM
odom better improve as the season gets closer
Posted by: HAHA | October 09, 2008 at 08:09 PM
We're playing sloppy on both ends, but especially defensively. We looked pretty good when Bynum was in because his length bothered guys. We're not very crisp on either end, but remember how terribly we played in the pre-season last year.
Posted by: Xodus | October 09, 2008 at 08:18 PM
Say, what's the score in LA?
The SUNS put the defensive screws to the jazz in Salt Lake, then rained down some threes to soundly thrash them in their house.
Neither Amare or Leandro played, which is something. The win bespeaks of the power of this new, powerful SUNS bench. Barnes went 21-11 or something sick like that. We enjoy having this UCLA playa in a SUNS uniform.
Posted by: BUTLER | October 09, 2008 at 08:45 PM
does anyone have direct tv nba league pass ... couldn't see the laker game anywhere on there
Posted by: taliq | October 09, 2008 at 08:45 PM
You mean you're clamoring for Walton to start to save the team? Okay...
The lakers are suffering the post-Finals-loss slump. Their motivation is nil, their passion for the game is nil, and Boston doesn't even have their rings yet. It's normal in the NBA to take a dip in the season following a big loss in the Finals.
Meanwhile, the rest of the West is hungry as alligators. Such as the Clips.
Posted by: BUTLER | October 09, 2008 at 08:52 PM
I hope they don't make this a staple kind of sloppy performance. It is annoying to see them play so uncoordinated. Geeze.
Posted by: Lakergurl | October 09, 2008 at 08:52 PM
Man we suck!!!!!!!! Too many players, rotations are not set...so yeah, Phil he's doing his job in the preseason. We'll get it together.
I do think we need a shooter at the three, Lamar and Ariza are not the guys. We might just need to look to Vlad again, hate to say it.
Posted by: wow | October 09, 2008 at 08:53 PM
Rockets might struggle. T-mac has said that his left shoulder is arthritic, so that means it is going to be painful for him to play on it.
Posted by: richard | October 09, 2008 at 08:55 PM
Man...I go to work the Dodgers are up by 2, work a 15 min shift, drive straight home to find the Dodgers lost. That is very un good.
And this PER thing is mostly a waste of time. I say this not because it's totally useless, I don't think that, but as a featured ESPN writer Hollinger is going to get a certain amount of front page space and I don't want see this PER thing taking up that space. Too little content. Same for fantasy football or baseball or whatever. And garlic and deviled eggs and mint chocolate chip ice cream. I don't want 20 pounds of this stuff on my plate and I don't want to hear more than one or two sentences about the PER per month. Pardon the pun.
It's like the friend who swears he has the most beautiful baby ever created. Well, yeah, the PER is cute, but it also looks like a miniature astronaut whose helmet came of in outer space. So, please, put it bed. Napie time.
Never mind.
Is there a Laker game on?
Wes
Posted by: | October 09, 2008 at 08:58 PM
Okay I totally liked the second unit towards the end with Mbenga, Farmar, Radman, Ariza and Coby. These are going to be our bench mob part 2 with FARMAR leading the charge. Farmar will be our future starter for sure some day!!!
Posted by: johnny | October 09, 2008 at 09:02 PM
Ariza is showing the starters (Odom especially) how to hustle.
Posted by: Xodus | October 09, 2008 at 09:11 PM
Ugly.
The only thing beastly about this preseason is the turn over stat.
Posted by: Vman | October 09, 2008 at 09:29 PM
Which lesser evil would you choose, watch the Lakers w/ a floor seat or acquire 500 shares of GM stocks? That's how bad are both comparison, Lakers followed the path of the falling stocks while GM is no longer the No. 1. Lakers are out of sync and no chemistry at all. Do they have any organized play or just standing around? We go back to 2004-05 Tomja team, way too many T/O's. They played good a hearty basketball for few minutes then go back to the habit of lackadaisical T/O's, you can say Farmar, Vlad & Ariza were active but who are the Clippers on the floor Taylor, Novak and Skinner. last night it was brevin knight, ronnie price. Yes, it's just preseason but where is the pride of being the runner up team just months ago and the favored team this year. Somebody kept of reminding us that we're in the era of the beast, I see no beast out there, I see a bunch of chihuahuas running around recklessly. haha!
Posted by: Edwin Gueco | October 09, 2008 at 09:51 PM
Based on the two pre-season games that I've watched the Lakers will not be a playoff team at all. They are the 2008-2009 N.B.A champion on papers only. The way they play right now will surely alter the odds in Las Vegas on who will bring the bacon this season. I don't see them being in the playoff at all the way their playing. You will say it's only exhibition but if you will look at the previous two games, there's nothing to be excited about this team They can be compared to the present New York Yankees who have an almost all star line-up and yet did not made the play-off. If they will continue playing like this they should be called the LOS ANGELES YANKEES!
Posted by: dacsila | October 09, 2008 at 09:52 PM
Trade Odumb + Space Cadet + Puke = 2008-09 Champ
Lakers Outgoing Players: Lamar Odom , Vladimir Radmanovic, Chris Mihm
Lakers Incoming Players: Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden
Bulls Outgoing Players: Drew Gooden, Kirk Hinrich
Bulls Income Players: Lamar Odom, Chris Mihm
Heat Outgoing Players: Shawn Marion
Heat Incoming Players: Kirk Hinrich, Vladimir Radmanovic
Posted by: Phil | October 09, 2008 at 09:55 PM
Odom's crashing like the Dow. I hope he snaps out of it soon.
Posted by: dave m | October 09, 2008 at 10:31 PM
ARiza and SunYue are both long and athletic, what everyone has been wanting for a long time is now here!
Kobe just got help in the perimeter.
Odom, Vlad and Luke are done..
Posted by: Staples 24 | October 09, 2008 at 10:34 PM
I did not get to see the game. But I have to say, all you freaks declaring that the Lakers won't be able to even get to the playoffs this year need to take the fattest pill you can find.
We shall overcome. Don't give up hope yet. 2 down 90 to go. Ye who pass thorugh hear and give up all hope SUCK.
GOOOooOOOO LAKERS!!!!!
Enjoy the rocky road to the finals SWEEEP!!!!
Posted by: JohnnyP | October 09, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Good evening Butler boy and Laker blogs.
This project going on at work is huge and dunno if I will have time to blog :(.
Any case positives (individually):
Kobe-individual defense of course shooting less than 7 shot attempts isn't going to help (heck its pre season)
Pau Gasol-He worked well with Andrew and defense inside wise increased.
Andrew Bynum-Once in the game there was a big difference at post defense Pau couldn't deliver against Kaman.
Jordan Farmar-Leader of the bench mob shows why he is the leader.
Trevor Ariza-When he came off the bench and joined with Jordan led the near rally of the Lakers. That's why I've advocated him on the bench with Jordan, so those things can happen. It seems when his energy is down, so is his game.
Radman in the beginning: At power forward backup slot shooting against the none starters really got him in a groove in his shooting.
Starter wise 3rd quarter: The defense actually was better and had the lineup been brought up from the 1st quarter, then the 36-30 burst would have been less.
BIG Negatives (Only the major ones):
Josh Powell: Was the Ronny Turiaf of the 2008 Finals. Very few rebounds and settled for jumpshots. Jump shooting is nice but settled only for them and like Ronny wasn't finishing well (Ronny only finished well when he had a clear dunk).
Chris Mihm-Is beginning to show why our post defense in 2005-2006 really sucked and why his 10ppg was deceiving.
Coby Karl-Is a reminder of Sasha Vujacic of 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.
Trevor Ariza as a starter-His energy wasn't there and he settled for way too many jumpshots in fact was 1-7 before coming into 3rd quarter and doing his game.
Bynum's off the block jumpers: Too many times settling off the block. The jumpers really must be closer to achieve a higher FG%, dont' want him to settle for shots like he is doing.
The "defense first" kinda attitude: It's fine to focus on defense, it's what wins championships. Here's the thing though: 25 turnovers. Clips scored 16 points off turnovers. Baron Davis shot less than 40% yet got 7 assists most of them in transition such as the dish to Thorton. Focus on the defense but:
"You cannot defend if you keep turning over the ball".
Execute the offense is needed regardless of "warrior" mentality.
Bummed up Clippers beat the Lakers in Preaseason?
112-96 the Clippers beat the Lakers in 2007 Preseason and then we had 22 turnovers!
Get this straight: IT MATTERS NOT WHAT HAPPENS IN PRESEASON (except for injuries like Tim Thomas).
Plus this is experimentation time when coaches can see "what works" and "what doesn't work". They don't have that luxury in the regular season. And do people forget other teams have scouts also watching? Run regular plays and use starters and basically give them your game plan.
Mike Taylor scored 20 points against Heath, does that mean no playoffs?
It's laughable to think that.
In the end it's the regular season what counts and trying to project performance from the preseason alone is likely a foolish endeavor.
THE TRUTH!! OUT!!
-blitz
won't be back till late night again, this project is huge :(.
Posted by: thekobebryantblitz | October 09, 2008 at 11:36 PM
dacsila,
Go back and look at our records and stats from last pre-season. Pre-season play means absolutely nothing. Heck, we even played terribly in our season opener against Houston. Rotations aren't set, there are guys who are playing who either won't be on the team or won't play at all, and Odom has lost his mind. Not to mention that Sasha has yet to play.
Our best lineup is likely to be Farmar, Kobe, Ariza, Pau and Gasol and I don't believe we ever got those 5 guys on the court.
Posted by: Xodus | October 10, 2008 at 06:02 AM
kobebryantblitz,
Good post. Problem is anyone really willing to write a team off because of a preseason loss isn't going to care that you say preseason doesn't matter. One guy actually said the Lakers won't make the playoffs.
Posted by: Xodus | October 10, 2008 at 06:06 AM
Ugly game.
But it's preseason, no need to worry about it. Lakers notoriously don't look good preseason. The one thing that did stick out to me is the fact that we're a very deep team. Very deep.
Guys'll start shaking off the rust, getting in the flow.
Gonna be a great year.
And as for Hollinger? He lost any credibility when he picked Utah to win the WC. I emailed him and asked if he was on crack. What a bonehead.
LET'S GO LAKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: longtimelakerlover | October 10, 2008 at 06:17 AM
Wow! What a terrible basketball game.
The problem? The coaching. These guys are not being taught defense. It's the same old thing year in and year out with Phil Jackson. You don't see this guys playing with any type of defensive philosophy as their main priority.
It's preseason and mistakes are supposed to happen. But those mistakes are supposed to happen within the context of what you're trying to implement. The Lakers aren't trying to implement defense.
From what I've seen...I have no idea what they're trying to implement.
Perhaps they're setting up Odom to be traded.
mike t.
Posted by: | October 10, 2008 at 07:10 AM
First off, I'd like to point out what is obvious. PJ is our coach. PJ hates the preseason. And, every year the Lakers won a championship under PJ, they looked AWFUL in preseason.
I think he does it to make a point about just how pointless preseason games are.
I mean, Shaq was always fat. Horry was always dragging his leg around. Fox would never be able to hit the side of a barn with a beach ball. Just terrible. Then, once the season started, everything would miraculously fall right into place.
Every preseason, this very blog would be talking about how we couldn't do it this season because of how bad everyone looked (except Kobe, of course).
Don't panic because the Clips wiped us out. The Clips will NOT be doing that when the games count, I can guarantee you that!
--Fearless
PS: Don't panic!
Posted by: Fearless | October 10, 2008 at 07:42 AM
I missed the game last night.
Well, the results were not what I expected.
Wow.
Thank God the Kamenetsky Brothers have called for calm. Now we'll only have 30% of Laker Nation screaming "The sky is falling!"
It's not.
Go Clippers!
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Jon K. | October 10, 2008 at 07:57 AM
Why is it that neither Yahoo nor the L.A. Times has the box score for the game last night. What the hell?
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Jon K. | October 10, 2008 at 08:00 AM
Fatty,
If Butt-ler is the Black Knight, then I want to be Brother Maynard - the keeper of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
"And taketh such, this, thy Holy Hand Grenade, and hurl it upon thine enemy, that he shall be blown to tiny bits...in Thy Mercy."
Posted by: karyanr | October 10, 2008 at 08:01 AM
Jon K.
I know you're on the East, and youobably missed the game, so I wanted to give you some of my prespective since you are our resident Laker/Clipper fan.
First of all, the Clippers are way better than what we all imagined. Or at least what I imagined. When they got Baron, I knew it was going to be big, and I'm shocked I wasn't this concerned before, because I shoulda been.
Baron has changed the whole landscape of that team!
That is a huge uderstatement Jon, and you will see what I mean once the season starts and you get a chance to see for yourself.
And Baron's not even the best player on he team!
Al Thorton is a bona fide star!! I see a true breakout season this year. Last year was good, but this guy i just a monster now!
And I never thought I see the day where I WISH THE LAKERS WOULD HAVE PICKED UP RICKY DAVIS!!!!!!
The Clippers are gonna be good this year, a little too good for my taste. They absolutely murdered the Lakers last night. Pre-Season yes, but did you know that Phil was playing Kobe A TON of minues? I'm telling you Jon, Phil did not want to loose that game. This is what scares me the most. He tried everything he could to get us back and couldn't. We got asses handed to us last night.
Check this out: We startted the first half trailing by 11. We had just given up 59 POINTS TO THE CLIPPERS IN THE FIRST HALF!!!
Phil goes in guns a blazin' with Andrew, Pau L.O., Kobe and Fish. It ends up not doing us any good and Phil had to scrap the idea later in the 3rd when Pau got into foul trouble.
Belive it or not, this turned out to be "Comeback Crue":
Farmar
Karl
Ariza
RadMan
MBenga
Trevor Ariza was easily our MVP (if you can give a mvp to a loosing team) and I feel that by last nights performance alone, he won over that starting spot. The dude has skills!!
That squad brought us(Lakers) back from 18 points down to 5. I was impressed.
But I am concerned though, The Clippers are clearly the better team right now, and the Lakers need a ton of work. I thought it would be the ther way around, but I was totally wrong.
C.L.F.
Posted by: Concerned Laker Fan | October 10, 2008 at 08:03 AM
All rise!
Posted by: Charles | October 10, 2008 at 08:23 AM
To those who always make excuses for phil and think preseason doesn't count
Why must there always be EXCUSES for what phil can't do (actually coach-anymore)?
Why can't some of you here just go off of what you see on the t.v screen? I know it's preseason, but at the same time I don't see any preseason D, which is what we all expected with Bynum coming back, right. What have they been running at practice?
>>> PJ hates the preseason.>I think he does it to make a point about just how pointless preseason games are.<<
Posted by: Fearless | October 10, 2008 at 07:42 AM
Are you serious? There is a problem here. 2 plus weeks of training camp and 2 preseason games under their belts and the team doesn't look like they're up to par with the other top western squads.
PRESEASON COUNTS!!!
Posted by: Magia32 | October 10, 2008 at 08:23 AM
You guys need to tip your collective hats to the Clips.
I said yesterday they are better than what the Holingers and other so-called experts are saying. Even without Camby you could see the energy this team has.
Baron Davis won't just stand pat and let the lakers dominate Staples - he came home to play. His highlight steal of kobey and then that sick assist is a harbinger of the coming season.
The lakers may have a great team on paper, but chemistry and psychology following a Finals loss means the challenge is as much mental and spiritual as it is physical.
The SUNS bench looked great last nite in Utah. They'll have their off nights but the SUNS got some talented pickups this summer.
Posted by: BUTLER | October 10, 2008 at 08:24 AM
Fearless,
i TOTALLY agree with you. PJ does want to make a subtle point....well not so subtle for us fans...that he does in fact think that the preseason is a bunch of garbage..he would rather be practicing i bet...
regardless....easy everyone...so we lost...kobe didnt play half of the third NONE of the fourth...we had C.Karl in for 20+ minutes..i mean again PRE SEASON..doesnt matter...
we will be ready for portland at the end of the month.....trust me.
Posted by: Lakers4REalz | October 10, 2008 at 08:25 AM
Xodus,
" Farmar, Kobe, Ariza, Pau and Gasol "
That would be a good lienup, but personally, I would replace one of the Spanish twins with Bynum.
Posted by: exhelodrvr | October 10, 2008 at 08:27 AM
Lakers playes terrible last night, not enough spacing running the triangle, guys looked like they didn't know when to rotate or cut, leaving Mihm to go one on one like 5 times in the 4 quarter..what was that about.
I know it was our bench, but c'mon, like the guy said the celts don't slack off, not even in the preseason. Odom has to go!!! As soon as I get my NBA live 2009, I'm trading him for Marion before I start My season, hopefully Mitch & co. do the same thingm let's ge Marion in a laker uniform now so he can learn the offense.
At least we know he will give 15 ppg 10 rpg every night, and can be interchangble with Gasol or Bynum in case the lakers want to play fast ball. Let's do this and win big this year!!
Posted by: Showtime3000 | October 10, 2008 at 08:30 AM
Getting back to the chemistry thing...you never know what you're going to get. Camby and Kaman could click right away, whereas bynum and gasal could be one of those pairings that just never quite comes together.
It's too early to say anything with confidence, of course. But if one looks at how well gasal fit into the lakers when he came aboard, compared to last night's debut of the new team, it does finally shine the cold light of reality upon the mythical projections.
Posted by: BUTLER | October 10, 2008 at 08:35 AM
Allow me to add some perspective to the blog. We were 3-4 in the preseason last year and lost our first two games as well. Among those losses was a 16 point loss to the Clippers and a 21 point loss to the Jazz.
We had a 20 turnovers in the loss to the Jazz and 22 turnovers against the Clippers.
What's that you say? We made it to the NBA Finals and were two wins away from winning the whole thing despite our poor preseason play? Impossible!
Posted by: Xodus | October 10, 2008 at 08:40 AM
Xodus,
It was a really disheartening loss though. Maybe this team has too much hype, and people are expecting more than what is realistically possible.
Pre-season doesn't mean anything exept getting your feet a little wet in prepperation for the season.
There is this little thing called pride, that I believe you are overlooking.
I saw the game last night on KCAL. And the game was just about getting all of te X's and O's down, but there was a point when I was about more than that.
The Lakers were trying to win, that was obvious to see, but there was nothing that they could do. And when you read between the plays, and look at the grit and will of the players. you would be hard pressed to even consider these Lakers eligable to even be called players because players compete. A pre-requisite these guys didn't posses.
I saw no heart!
No soul!
I so I can understand the bloggers who are giving up so quickly. IF THEY WOULD HAVE FOUGHT, THER WOULD BE NO PROBLEM WITH A 27 POINT LOSS!
But they laid down. How can you root for that? I ask you.
Although, I do have to say that I also understand bloggers who didn't see the game, yet are confused by the rash of comments coming in by posters like me who are letting so much ride on one pre-season game. Crazy right?
I can see it from both sides.
Posted by: Joe SixPack | October 10, 2008 at 08:47 AM
HEY EVERYONE HOWS IT GOING?
DUDE ITS THE PRESEASON. PHIL JACKSON IS EXPERIMENTING WITH THINGS. EXPECT THE LAST 3 PRESEASON GAMES HE STARTS TO PLAY THE REGULARS ALOT MORE TOGETHER.
MAN THE MORE I SEE OUR POINT GUARD PLAY ON BOTH ENDS OF THE COURT THE MORE I SAY WE SHOULD MOVE LAMAR ODOM/CHRIS MIHM FOR KIRK HINRICH AND DREW GOODEN. TREVOR ARIZA IS A PLAYER AND ALWAYS PROVIDES A SPARK. WE NEED TO SHORE UP THAT POSITION AND KIRK IS A 2 SIDED PLAYER PLAYERS GOOD ENOUGH OFFENSE AND GOOD DEFENSE. THESE GUARDS KEEP BLOWING BY US AND LAST NIGHT WE COULDNT EVEN GET THE BALL UP COURT THAT WAS CRAZY AND THAT TAYLOR GUY AND BARON DAVIS WERE BEATING OUR GUARDS ALL GAME LONG.
FARMER WAS ALLOWING THAT TAYLOR GUY TO GET IN HIS HEAD SO WAS BRANDON HEATH OR POINT GUARDS CANNOT BE INTIMATED ESPECIALLY BY SOMEONE WHO MAY NOT EVEN MAKE THE TEAM WTH THE CLIPPERS BUT HE DID IMPRESS ME
Posted by: Paul Lee | October 10, 2008 at 08:49 AM
Its the preseason, there's an inverse relationship between the preseason and the regular season. The more you suck in the preseason, the better you'll be once the games start counting.
We just need to take care of the ball better.
Lamar = Laker for Life
GO LAKERS
Posted by: mrbarneydangles | October 10, 2008 at 08:50 AM
i really think LO should come off the bench and be the super-sub. and PJ always had that setup anyway, he has a starting five and the sixth man will finish the game with the other four starters.
ron harper - steve kerr / tony kukoc
samaki walker - robert horry
so now it will be ariza - lamar. but the only problem i see here is that lamar doesnt have the killer instinct or shot accuracy as those other names.
Posted by: lent | October 10, 2008 at 09:07 AM