Tougher Future Situation: Celtics or Lakers?

[smith2373]

...in this thread the thunder made the finals because of Kendrick Perkins

Isn't it obvious? Perkins carried Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka & Sefolosha to that Finals appearance.

[FlashKing]

There's no telling how Mayo would have performed in Boston. We know how good and how deadly Ray Allen was under Doc Rivers. The Celtics were a dominate force and won a title with him,KG and Pierce. Boston so far has been a .500 basketball team without him.

The Thunder having more finals appearances has absolutely nothing to do with them, not Boston, having Perkins. Besides, Boston had two chances to meet them there last year

Keep telling yourself that.

So Kendrick Perkins is what got the Thunder past the Spurs and prevented the Celtics from getting manhandled by LeBron and being knocked out by the Heat two years in a row? Btw, I'm not a Celtics fan[/quote]



When did I say that? All i'm saying is that Boston is a tougher team defensively with a guy like Perkins patrolling the middle. FYI, lets not act like OKC didn't become and better team defensively when he arrived.

[Stolen Team Fan]

The Lakers will rebuild the way the Knicks and Heat did. Start with an All-Star caliber player (Dwight), attract 1 or 2 more big-name FAs, draft great athletes in the late first and second rounds, attract vets who will take MLE to play for a contender. They just need to get Gasol off their books and dump Metta.

Shazaam! New era.

Kobe's contract is a much bigger albatross than Pau's contract. $50M tied up in 2 players is absurd. If Kobe was so intent on winning, he would renegotiate the rest of his contract. That right there (and finding a new home for Pau) would help the Lakers tremendously.

I believe the new cba made it so players can't restructure.

What a bunch of crap. Which side decided to throw that gem in? It seems like it would be beneficial to both owners and players to have that option.

[spearsy23]

...in this thread the thunder made the finals because of Kendrick Perkins

Isn't it obvious? Perkins carried Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka & Sefolosha to that Finals appearance.

He went ham that whole spurs series, to the tune of 5pts and 6boards goat.

[spearsy23]

Kobe's contract is a much bigger albatross than Pau's contract. $50M tied up in 2 players is absurd. If Kobe was so intent on winning, he would renegotiate the rest of his contract. That right there (and finding a new home for Pau) would help the Lakers tremendously.

I believe the new cba made it so players can't restructure.

What a bunch of crap. Which side decided to throw that gem in? It seems like it would be beneficial to both owners and players to have that option.

The idea is probably to keep guys from taking a pay cut so other superstars can leave their original team to come play with them. I don't like the rule, but I can understand the thinking. It'd be nice if these guys played in one place their whole careers, not that I fault them for leaving really.

[FlashKing]

...in this thread the thunder made the finals because of Kendrick Perkins

Isn't it obvious? Perkins carried Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka & Sefolosha to that Finals appearance.

:facepalm:

So because I pointed out that the Thunder have been to the finals with Perkins and the Celtics have not, that means that i'm implying that he was the man to carry them there? Boston was a better team defensively and rebounding when Perkins was there. OKC also became a better team defensively when Perkins arrived. At the time, everyone was knocking that trade. Jeff Green hasn't exactly lit the world on fire in Beantown.

[smith2373]

When did I say that? All i'm saying is that Boston is a tougher team defensively with a guy like Perkins patrolling the middle. FYI, lets not act like OKC didn't become and better team defensively when he arrived.

The Celtics were the #1 defense last year...

And after starting off terribly defensively this season, they've been rising up in the rankings and have went from being a bottom 5 defense to being a top 10 defense in the span of like 3 weeks. They're also the #1 defense when KG's in the game, just have to fix the defense when he exits the game. But we'll be fine, just like we were last season. And once Bradley, one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA returns for us, the defense will improve even more. You're overrating the hell out of Perkins.

OKC did become better defensively when Perkins got there, but you also have to remember when Perkins got there, Ibaka became a starter and their starting center prior to Perk was Nenad Krstic. So it's no surprise that a team that went from a starting frontcourt of Jeff Green/Nenad Krstic to Ibaka/Perkins got significantly better defensively.

Also the Celtics have been a terrible rebounding team for years now, with and without Perkins.

[DEEP3CL]

Lakers.. It's all bout Kobe breakin the points record I doubt they will make the playoffs again with Kobe and Dwight on the same team.. Celtics will be good until pierce and Garnett retire

You gotta be the.....

[FlashKing]

Question: Is Boston better off without Perkins at the moment and the future than with him?

[spearsy23]

Question: Is Boston better off without Perkins at the moment and the future than with him? please answer me this.

At current contract? Absolutely! At current level of play? ABSOLUTELY!

[smith2373]

Question: Is Boston better off without Perkins at the moment and the future than with him? please answer me this.

At current contract? Absolutely! At current level of play? ABSOLUTELY!

[King Of The 4th]

Question: Is Boston better off without Perkins at the moment and the future than with him?

On his current salary, yes we are. The Celtics biggest problem is their rebounding and Perkins averaging 5 rebounds a game while making 25M over three years would hinder us more than it would benefit us. We are perfectly fine with Garnett at center and aren't any farther from a championship than we would be if Perk was still on this roster.

[soxfan2003]

I'm a Celtic fan but the Lakers, despite mortgaging some of their future with the Nash trade, have moderately better future prospects since LA has a better ability to attract FA's and they have the best player since Howard used correctly at least is better then Rondo. The Lakers also have the major advantage of having more revenue so they can afford to pay more taxes for going over the salary cap.

The Celtics do have some edges over LA, however. Rondo is a player that doesn't hog the ball and is always looking to pass so I could honestly see lots of players wanting to play with him everything else being equal. Mayo did say it would have been great to play with Rondo and if I was a SG or SF that liked to score, I'd rather play with Rondo then a shoot first PG. The Celtics as of right now also have all of their picks and the Celtics have Avery Bradley who is a better young player/prospect that anyone on the Lakers. (I'm not mentioning Sullinger and Green since those players have a lot to prove before they are labeled anything above average). The Celtics have the better coach but I'd be surprised if Rivers stays for more then 5 more years unless the Celtics have turned themselves into a title contender in the post KG era.

The difficulty LA could be facing when they have cap room is whether or not their really will be top 5 caliber FA's willing to change teams. The pressure will be on LA however to nail their FA signings since they won't be able to afford to spend their money on a FA star who gets hurt and then isn't that productive. Given that the Lakers have traded away several picks, they are relying upon stars to lead the team.

[Walid]

Probably Celtics but let's not kid ourselves, these teams will always be in playoff contention and hunting for the championship.

[TheNewEra]

There was that thing that the Celtics never lost a series when all five guys with Perkins were healthy. The Celtics would of had the second title over the Lakers if Perkins never got hurt. Perkins have the Celtics better balance and toughness inside and was a strong presence next to KG.

Even still Perkins impact was much greater fit wise on the Celtics which made trading him strange.

[No-Man]

The Lakers have Howard, Kobe and tons of cap space.

The Celtics have Rondo, and money wasted in people like Lee, Green or Bass...

I mean, it's not even close, I'm a Laker hater, but the Lakers have the brightest future of any team in the NBA.

[702Celtics]

Celtics easily.

They were a mediocre team for 20 years before KG and Ray came along. Once KG retires, it might happen again unless they get a high lottery pick in the future. Lakers always find a way to reload to contend.

The Celtics had horrible management in the early 90s-00's. Ainge has a good track record; you're kidding yourself if you think they'll be bad for another 20 years after KG retires. Wishful thinking I guess.

There's no question it's LA. Kobe Bryant's don't grow on trees, Pau Gasol is all but done, Artest is in the same boat, Howard might not even re-sign, they have no first round picks, horrible coach.. Anything else?

[ITK9]

Celtics have the better young talent Rondo,Bradley, Green, Sullie, Melo
Celtics have all their draft picks
Celtics have the better coach

Lakers have Howard who is still more valuable to a team than Rondo
Lakers are Lakers.they will get some superstars without even trying very hard

[Ayt]

I'm confused as to how anyone can look at either roster and say the Celtics are in a worse position than the Lakers. Celtics have more young talent, one of the best coaches in the league, and they have their best player signed for another three years under a cheap contract.

Lakers on the other hand have no young talent on their roster outside of Dwight, a coach that doesn't fit their needs in D'Antoni, and a franchise player who might bail in free agency. Kobe might not even stick around with the team past 2014 unless they prove to him that they can still compete and if Howard does leave, they might be forced into full rebuilding mode.

Not saying that the Lakers won't end up having a better future than the Celtics, but from a pure GM perspective, the Celtics have the better assets and are in a better situation for a rebuild than LA at the moment.

The salary structures on the team are quite different.

http://data.shamsports.com/content/page ... lakers.jsp

http://data.shamsports.com/content/page ... eltics.jsp

The only guy signed past next season for the Lakers is Nash. They will be able to completely rebuild the team in FA if they want at that point which is pretty huge when you consider it is LA and they will probably have Howard and possibly still Kobe coming back again.

Boston has quite a bit of money still tied up through 2014-15 and that is without Pierce. If Garnett plays out that last year, and they extend Bradley, they won't have all that much room to make any major moves (assuming Pierce doesn't come back after next season) unless they can get out from under the contracts of Green, Bass, Lee, and Terry. They won't really have any room if Pierce is brought back for another couple years.

[Triple M]

the Lakers are a mess currently but they have more then enough time to turn around. The Lakers are far more likely in acquiring Stars but from a ownership, front office executive, head coaching, etc. I think the Celtics have a current edge as a group(Mitch is a capable executive but Buss Jr. has made some created some problems for him). Laker management and coaching has been lacking the last few years and it has hurt their status as a contender.