What Exactly Is The Issue?

[EArl]

Nash is suppose to be playing that personality.

[LA_Sports]

Nash is suppose to be playing that personality.

Yeah, who knows though... Maybe even though Nash and Dwight were their former team leaders, they just concede to the will of Kobe due to the fact he has been here so long and won so much.

[DEEP3CL]

Rookie poster exposes that he's a Clipper fan, that was the only reason for this post. Plus he doesn't realize the difference between mentor and peer. How can Fish be Kobe's mentor when they came in the league together ?

[Jaykoolzboy]

Rookie poster exposes that he's a Clipper fan, that was the only reason for this post. Plus he doesn't realize the difference between mentor and peer. How can Fish be Kobe's mentor when they came in the league together ?

It has nothing to do with age. It's the personality.

Back to the topic, IMO Lakers can't be worse than they are right now, maybe bring Fisher back will make a difference. Imagine Fisher point his finger to Kobe and Dwight, I don't think they will have problem with that. Lakers need someone like that.

[DEEP3CL]

Rookie poster exposes that he's a Clipper fan, that was the only reason for this post. Plus he doesn't realize the difference between mentor and peer. How can Fish be Kobe's mentor when they came in the league together ?

It has nothing to do with age. It's the personality.

It still wouldn't make Fish Kobe's mentor......more like allies. Some need to define mentor.

[EArl]

I agree with Deep. The only mentor Kobe has had are his father, Phil Jackson and possibly Jerry West.

[LA_Sports]

I agree with Deep. The only mentor Kobe has had are his father, Phil Jackson and possibly Jerry West.

Yeah I agree... Kobe seems to respond best to older guys that have been to the top of the mountain many times. He seems to listen and respect the past greats of the game the most.

[bballfanatic81]

hungry vets the lakers are not.

except nash, he's awfully hungry

i hope for nash's sake the lakers move him after the all star break, once it becomes clear rebuilding is their best bet moving forward..

[bballfanatic81]

This blaming Jim because he didn't hire Phil needs to stop. Phil cannot cure old age, he cannot cure old feet, and he sure cannot cure a bad back.

Sure we can trade Pau for a younger player and trust me it won't be an all star talent since Pau's value is about as bad as it will ever get, but in the end we'll still be old on the perimeter, and there's simply not much the lakers can do about it over the next couple of years.

the team is still awfully similar to the team that was swept by dallas a few years ago. phil knew it wouldn't work, so he jumped ship. the lakers would be best served to unload everyone for draft picks, including kobe. blasphemous and unthinkable to most here i would assume, but strategically the best option moving forward. i wouldn't build around dwight either, as nobody is sure how his back will hold up...

[SaveTheHens]

The issue is Kobe. Honestly when Dwight came to LA Kobe should of given him the team if he really wanted the best chance at a championship.

Kobe's shot over twice as many shots as Dwight. Even Artest has a few more attempts than Dwight. I don't get it. This guy's the best C in the league and the Lakers are treating him as if he's Chris Bosh behind two other stars. Kobe needs to get over his own pride, and start getting Howard involved as early in the game as possible.

Only after Dwight get's going should Kobe start looking for his own offence, or on nights when Dwight's in foul trouble. Any other time Kobe's gunning for 40 is a lame attempt at bumping up his scoring numbers. This kind of behaviour by Kobe will only lead to Dwight leaving in a year, and no 6th championship for Kobe.

Time to focus in and exert some self-control. Kobe should be averaging 8 assists a game instead of 30 points.

[Kilroy]

The issue is Kobe. Honestly when Dwight came to LA Kobe should of given him the team if he really wanted the best chance at a championship.

Kobe's shot over twice as many shots as Dwight. Even Artest has a few more attempts than Dwight. I don't get it. This guy's the best C in the league and the Lakers are treating him as if he's Chris Bosh behind two other stars. Kobe needs to get over his own pride, and start getting Howard involved as early in the game as possible.

Only after Dwight get's going should Kobe start looking for his own offence, or on nights when Dwight's in foul trouble. Any other time Kobe's gunning for 40 is a lame attempt at bumping up his scoring numbers. This kind of behaviour by Kobe will only lead to Dwight leaving in a year, and no 6th championship for Kobe.

Time to focus in and exert some self-control. Kobe should be averaging 8 assists a game instead of 30 points.

You haven't watched a single Laker game this season. Not one.

[leeprettyp]

The issue is Kobe. Honestly when Dwight came to LA Kobe should of given him the team if he really wanted the best chance at a championship.

Kobe's shot over twice as many shots as Dwight. Even Artest has a few more attempts than Dwight. I don't get it. This guy's the best C in the league and the Lakers are treating him as if he's Chris Bosh behind two other stars. Kobe needs to get over his own pride, and start getting Howard involved as early in the game as possible.

Only after Dwight get's going should Kobe start looking for his own offence, or on nights when Dwight's in foul trouble. Any other time Kobe's gunning for 40 is a lame attempt at bumping up his scoring numbers. This kind of behaviour by Kobe will only lead to Dwight leaving in a year, and no 6th championship for Kobe.

Time to focus in and exert some self-control. Kobe should be averaging 8 assists a game instead of 30 points.

You haven't watched a single Laker game this season. Not one.

I want the 2 mins of my life back that i used reading that wrong explaination of whats wrong with the team.

[madmaxmedia]

That post was BS, but...I think Kobe's high shot totals are symptomatic of an overall problem. In any given game, Kobe is having to carry the team for it to have a chance to win. If they were at least slightly over .500 with Kobe's great season that would be one thing. It can also be said the main problems are on defense, but I think the Lakers thought they were giving up some defensive ability for great offense with this roster. Instead, it's totally reliant on Kobe.

In the short term, this is achieving its purpose (winning the game) almost half the time. In the long run, it won't achieve the long term purpose (winning a title.) If it was going to come down to this, the Lakers could have just traded all the big names for a bunch of blue-collar defenders and rebounders around Kobe, like the Sixers did with Iverson at one point. We'd be getting the same offensive production from the non-Kobe players, but with much better defensive capability.

You haven't watched a single Laker game this season. Not one.

[madmaxmedia]

Think your making it too complicated. The Lakers can't defend anybody off the dribble. They have a coach that defense is an afterthought. SVG was a great defensive mind in Orlando. Even though they weren't great on the perimeter defensively they had guys like Pietrus, Richardson, Lee, Qrich, Barnes, etc over the years to provide some resistance. Add in they slowed the game down so they weren't getting killed in fast break points.

The Lakers perimeter defense is horrible. Kobe is just a bad defender now. PGs just got to a spot and shoot over Nash. Artest isn't slowing down elite scorers anymore. The guys that come off the bench are maybe even worse on defense. The Lakers should be playing a slow it down go inside to the bigs and keep teams out of transition type of offense. What they do on offense hurts what they are doing on defense because they lack the athletes to play such a fast game.

I agree with everything you say, I guess I was just expecting that Dwight would have gone a long way towards counteracting these deficiencies. But it's not like he can play 1 on 5 either.

Normally with a guy like Dwight in the middle the perimeter guys funnel drivers into the paint, and the center can handle it if he has some help from the wings. The Lakers need to slow the game down, but they are not good even in the half court. The perimeter defense is horrible, even the interior defense is routinely giving up easy baskets. Bad perimeter defense leads to this, but even then there are too many breakdowns- that's why I started thinking about Dwight.

[LA_Sports]

Until there is a fundamental change and a true refocussing on defense, starting with, but not limited to the backcourt things will be the same. Just imagine if the Lakers could just old their opponents to under 100 points a night. They would be winning games hand over fist. They have lost so many close games, that if there was determination on defense by the whole team every play those loses would be easy wins.

After this happens then the Lakers might be able to starting thinking of some offensive tweaks with the players or system.