The Perpetual NBA Thread

[theveed]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...=Lakers-080618

The danger in that thought process is the Celtics beat the Lakers twice in the regular season with Bynum. And the supposed savior has only played about 40-50 really good NBA games in his career. And we've yet to see how he does in June, when the games matter most. And, oh yeah, he's coming off a knee injury.

Bryant said Bynum could solve a couple of the Laker issues: rebounding and shot-blocking. But could he single-handedly make up for the Lakers' 48-29 deficit on the boards in Game 6, in which they didn't get a single offensive rebound in the first three quarters?

Stats like that -- and a 65-49 offensive rebounding advantage for Boston in the series -- indicate that the problems go deeper.

Bynum ang pagasa ng LAL? hehehe what a joke.

[theveed]

Off Season na!!!!

News/Rumours

Marion staying or not?

Suns dangling Barbosa/Diaw for draft pick

"Celtics play too rough" - Vujacic Awww... Boo hoo

[ans_lim168]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...=Lakers-080618



Bynum ang pagasa ng LAL? hehehe what a joke.

Even with Bynum on the LA lineup...the Lakers will still be beaten by the Celtics...and if Bynum was not injured then will Mitch Kupchack (LA GM) trade for Gasol?...Bynum has promise but is slow and is still a project in the Laker roster...what the Lakers should realize is this:

1. Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Derrick fisher are 0-2 in their last 2 finals appearance (04 finals and 08 finals).

2. Bryant was a disgruntled soldier in the LA fold last summer and even demanded Kupchack to trade him.

3. Phil Jackson once labeled Kobe as "uncoachable"

4. Losing a finals game by 39 pts. and coached by a 9 time champion (Phil Jackson) and a roster led by the regular season MVP Bryant is not an excuse ...they were humiliated and obliterated by the Boston Celtics .

Kupchack got his hands full...he has to contend with an even more disgruntled Bryant in the off season...what if they trade Bryant instead?...he is good for 3 players plus a draft choice?...maybe then there's hope for LA.

[theveed]

Good point hehe...

Or how about Lamar for Shaq :rofl01:

[shadow]

trade Odom....

[vito corleone]

kupchack,

keep the current roster for another season and hire a good defensive coach. . .if those pillow-soft players don't improve, trade them . . .nakakadismaya panoorin

[shadow]

trade Odom for someone who can be a REAL back up to KOBE....his contract is expiring anyway....

[[archie]]

trade Odom for someone who can be a REAL back up to KOBE....his contract is expiring anyway....

get rid of odom. heck even a 38 year old pj brown can box him out with no problem.

[theveed]

Personally, I can't push all the blame to Lamar, he worked hard and was reponsible for the Laker's regular season success... Playing 2nd fiddle then third later on. The whole LAL bench should bear more blame than Lamar alone. He's responsible on playing 3 positions depending on matchup, none of the other Lakers has that responsibility.

I just don't think it's fair to pin this on him.

Did Kobe ever get to his MVP level of performance? Heck no, he's nowhere even close to what LBJ shouldered during the BOS-CLE matchup. He was too complacent and too gung-ho about this whole situation as well. He went back to Kobe against the world right after Game 2. He's the leader of the team, and if he changes teh way they played the whole 90+ games before the finals, he should be the one criticized more than a 3rd string/option player like Lamar.

The Lakers signed Gasol purely for offensive purposes, it worked out well, but Jackson never worked their only rough-defender into the rotation, Ronnie Turiaf. Ronnie played excellent D and had great hustle and energy that none of the Lakers front court had. He's like the David Lee for NYK or Varejao of Cleveland. Phil ignored and shuffled his bench around like how D'Antoni worked his bench. His starters were great, and forgot about the bench until garbage time.

LAL is now another DEN/PHO/MAV/GSW team...

As Magic mentioned after Game 2's loss... Where's the bench? Where's the bench that played well throughout the regular season? The starters alone can't win playoff games, ask Nash... Jackson toyed with the bench's playing time and not trusting any of them, how can you expect any of them to have confidence when they face a defensive team?

Detroit could've beaten the Lakers.

On a lighter note...

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...t&lid=tab1pos1

[theveed]

Personally, I can't push all the blame to Lamar, he worked hard and was reponsible for the Laker's regular season success... Playing 2nd fiddle then third later on. The whole LAL bench should bear more blame than Lamar alone. He's responsible on playing 3 positions depending on matchup, none of the other Lakers has that responsibility.

I just don't think it's fair to pin this on him. You can't dismiss what someone has done over 90 games for a 5 game collapse, that's bandwagoning to the nth degree. Just as Kobe can't win it all by himself, Odom can't screw it all up by himself as well.

Did Kobe ever get to his MVP level of performance? Heck no, he's nowhere even close to what LBJ shouldered during the BOS-CLE matchup. He was too complacent and too gung-ho about this whole situation as well. He went back to Kobe against the world right after Game 2. He's the leader of the team, and if he changes teh way they played the whole 90+ games before the finals, he should be the one criticized more than a 3rd string/option player like Lamar.

The Lakers signed Gasol purely for offensive purposes, it worked out well, but Jackson never worked their only rough-defender into the rotation, Ronnie Turiaf. Ronnie played excellent D and had great hustle and energy that none of the Lakers front court had. He's like the David Lee for NYK or Varejao of Cleveland. Phil ignored and shuffled his bench around like how D'Antoni worked his bench. His starters were great, and forgot about the bench until garbage time.

LAL is now another DEN/PHO/MAV/GSW team...

As Magic mentioned after Game 2's loss... Where's the bench? Where's the bench that played well throughout the regular season? The starters alone can't win playoff games, ask Nash... Jackson toyed with the bench's playing time and not trusting any of them, how can you expect any of them to have confidence when they face a defensive team?

Detroit could've beaten the Lakers.

On a lighter note...

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...t&lid=tab1pos1

[ans_lim168]

^Detroit could've beaten the Lakers^...yep you're right there...my thoughts during the just concluded NBA finals is that the true NBA finals was the ECF between the Celtics and Pistons...both were defensive powers and were the league's 1st and 2nd rank team (based on their records)...even if the Pistons were the one who advanced to play LA...Detroit would have made short work of LA...even if Bynum returns the Lakers would have a hard time next season to advance in the tough western conference...if Bryant is still pinning his hopes on Bynum?...well Kobe you better realize that the other teams will scouting the free agency market this summer and chances are they are gonna get tougher and better....what you need to do is motivate your supporting cast and not scold them for an unsuccessful play...if you can't do this then you better search for a new home and let the Lakers move on.

[fourtheboys96]

since tapos na Finals, dun naman tayo sa NBA Draft 2008.

projected No. 1 is Derrick Rose of Memphis whose stock surpassed that of previous favorite Michael Beasley after the NCAA Tournament where Memphis played in the finals.

i haven't watched them really but only saw some clips.

beasley is a 6'7" scorer. he even surpassed durant's stats.

rose is a 6'2" PG. he's a winner and in the mold of d-wade (IMHO)

so who's your pick and why?

[theveed]

CP3, Deron Williams... case closed... premium PG will always be harder to find than forwards.

[theveed]

Juan Carlos Navarro leaves NBA for FC Barcelona

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/bal...?urn=nba,88987

[fourtheboys96]

CP3, Deron Williams... case closed... premium PG will always be harder to find than forwards.

yes its true and with the current rules against hand checking, players around the perimeter can do more.

but premium PG is not a must in a championship team (i.e. Celtics - Rondo (decent), Lakers with shaq - Fisher (ok), Heat - J Williams (Wade is not PG).

Of the recent champs., only the Spurs and the Pistons have a really good PG and they won it with defense really.

anyway, looks like the bulls will have the toughest job by draft night.

[theveed]

Hehe yup, not to mention having an absolute newbie coach handle a bunch of mentally fragile players... From their oldest (Ben) to their youngest (Ty/Joakim).

[Eismann]

^Detroit could've beaten the Lakers^...yep you're right there...my thoughts during the just concluded NBA finals is that the true NBA finals was the ECF between the Celtics and Pistons...both were defensive powers and were the league's 1st and 2nd rank team (based on their records)...even if the Pistons were the one who advanced to play LA...Detroit would have made short work of LA...even if Bynum returns the Lakers would have a hard time next season to advance in the tough western conference...if Bryant is still pinning his hopes on Bynum?...well Kobe you better realize that the other teams will scouting the free agency market this summer and chances are they are gonna get tougher and better....what you need to do is motivate your supporting cast and not scold them for an unsuccessful play...if you can't do this then you better search for a new home and let the Lakers move on.

I can't agree on this. Did you watch the conference finals? Boston was clearly lucky to have escaped Detroit(Billups injury) and Cleveland(no supporting cast) for that matter......while on the other hand, the Lakers dominated the competition out west. Did you see how classy the WCF was between LA and SA that it just leaves you breathless. If you have noticed the production consistency of Gasol and Odom in the series leading to the finals(UTA and DN series), you will say they were nowhere near that performance. So blaming Phil is also off. Blaming Kobe? I wonder how you can do that carrying his team all the way to the finals with a broken pinkie and finding 3 to 4 Celtic defenders go at you in the Finals. If I will balme anyone, it's Sasha who let go of Ray Allen in the game 4 closing seconds with the Celts only up 2. They shoulda won that frickin' game, man....and cruise to game 5 win for a 3-2 lead in the series....damn you Auerbach!

I completely lost myself there....he-he

[empy]

Derrick Rose is the real deal. not just the talent, but the work ethic and the leadership. i watched every single one of the Memphis games in the tourney, and the nationally televised regular season games. the guy is probably more NBA ready than Chris Paul was when he came out. IIRC Memphis only lost 1 reg season game and the final, both by the slimmest of margins and with him really being the coach on the floor (John Calipari is a very hands-off coach)

but the old-timers know that i've been pimping him since he was in high school

[empy]

Derrick Rose is the real deal. not just the talent, but the work ethic and the leadership. i watched every single one of the Memphis games in the tourney, and the nationally televised regular season games. the guy is probably more NBA ready than Chris Paul was when he came out. IIRC Memphis only lost 1 reg season game and the final, both by the slimmest of margins and with him really being the coach on the floor (John Calipari is a very hands-off coach)

but the old-timers know that i've been pimping him since he was in high school

[Eismann]

Derrick Rose is the real deal. not just the talent, but the work ethic and the leadership. i watched every single one of the Memphis games in the tourney, and the nationally televised regular season games. the guy is probably more NBA ready than Chris Paul was when he came out. IIRC Memphis only lost 1 reg season game and the final, both by the slimmest of margins and with him really being the coach on the floor (John Calipari is a very hands-off coach)

but the old-timers know that i've been pimping him since he was in high school

If I were Chicago, I'd also go for Rose then trade Kirk Hinrich and Deng for a veteran center(Elton or Rasheed). Beasley will also fit as a big 2 or a legit 3 but Deng and Gordon has to go somewhere this summer.