Season ending thoughts

[TruSkool]

Alright here we go--

First and foremost, a big thank you to derek fisher for standing up for the players as president and getting this season started. this could have been a complete lockout season, but we got to see some good basketball.
The lakers actually didn't go over or under my expectations. they stayed put. I was expecting them to win in the first round, but i wasn't expecting them to beat out the spurs or thunder, so i think we ended the season where we were supposed to end it.
Mike Brown was an "average" coach for LA. he welcomed the pressure of coaching this team, and he passed. in my opinion though, he's not a good fit to coach this team as constructed. my first offseason move would be to let him go and work on signing Rick Adelman, Jerry Sloan, or possibly bring back Phil Jackson. that said, mike brown did what was expected of him. he beat the bad teams and lost to the superior teams.
as far as the organization goes, i think that's where most of our troubles lie. Sorry to say, but Jim Buss is single handedly making a U-turn with this franchise. He's stubborn, and he has it his way..and its not good.
as the offseason went by, everyone and their mother knows David Stern robbed us of a deal (cp3) that would quite possibly put us at the top of contention. but what's done is done. its time to look forward to this coming offseason.
Mitch Kupchak (granting he stays in LA) has his work cut out for him this year. it will probably be one of the most active off seasons since the pau gasol trade. The Pau Gasol/Andrew Bynum has failed to work IMO. Both players are too good and demand the ball too much to be effective at the same time. Especially Bynum. Im expecting one of the 2 players to be traded this offseason, probably gasol. Ramon Sessions won't be starting next year, thats for sure. LAL is going to go hard after Rajon Rondo or Deron Williams this offseason.
I also think they'll look into the Bynum/Dwight swap again. Looks to me like orlando would be the underdogs in this trade and would be willing to give up a package built around dwight/hedo.
The biggest surprise player for me this year was obviously andrew bynum. this was his best year as a pro. also a big shootout to Ramon Sessions and Jordan Hill. They're both SOLID players. Jordan Hill is young and a wonderful backup PF for us. Ramon Sessions will get solid minutes with LA, i just don't think he's starter material. (but he's the best PG we've had since gary payton)
metta world peace has done a great job especially after march. I'm expecting him to end his career in los angeles. we need a player that has his fire. he's solid for us.
Lastly Kobe Bryant. This guy is a freak of nature. STILL! There's no slowing him down. Next year is the last year of his contract. I'm sure the lakers will lock him up for another 3 year deal. he needs help. he'll never be the "team leader" michael jordan was, and thats what really separates the 2 players. but he is the 2nd best SG the league will ever see. laker for life.
the lakers are just 1 or 2 tweaks away from being a favorite again. their 1st priority should be to get a player who can create his own shot. next, they need to get a better coach, someone who's mentally tough. the FO needs to get back to the scouting boards and pick up some young talent this offseason.
all in all, it was a "fair" season for the lakers. we got what we were expecting. nothing more, nothing less.
looking forward to the 2012-2013 season. GO LAKERS!

[LAKESHOW]

excellent write up. the situation i wanna focus in on however is dwight or deron. this is a city of stars. and we need more STAR power talent to regalvanize our team and march on to our 17th.

[GoldenKnight]

Bynum to the highest bidder, keep Pau.

[dunleavyjr]

Bynum to the highest bidder, keep Pau.

Pau = 32 yrs old
Bynum = 23 yrs old

You're telling Mitch Ketchup to keep Pau and trade Bynum? Wow!

[kobeaki]

Bynum to the highest bidder, keep Pau.

Pau = 32 yrs old
Bynum = 23 yrs old

You're telling Mitch Ketchup to keep Pau and trade Bynum? Wow!

abso-fukking-lutely...pau and kobe are the stars of this team, pau is untradable, andrew stock is as high as it likely ever be, especially with dwights drama...

andrew is not committed to being an nba star(though some of that, or alot of it may be brown, regardless)...trading him gives exponentially more option than pau...

[LAFan24]

Bynum to the highest bidder, keep Pau.

Pau = 32 yrs old
Bynum = 23 yrs old

You're telling Mitch Ketchup to keep Pau and trade Bynum? Wow!

Bynum = high value (for now)
Gasol = low value

Kobe/Gasol are responsible for those 2 previous championships, not bynum. Plus, Bynum could provide us with a good PG/shooters,

[Kobe System]

I agree. Keep Pau, trade Bynum. AND GET A REAL COACH!

[kobeaki]

Bynum to the highest bidder, keep Pau.

it seems yr for getting rid of pau in another thread, amirite?

[Wile E. Coyote]

I wouldn't sign Kobe to a three year extension. Not at $30M a year. I'd treat him like the Bulls treated Jordan during the late 90s. One year contracts.

[That Nicka]

I'm not sure about keeping Gasol over Bynum.... What if we get rid of Bynum and Gasol continues to average 13/8 on 48%TS in the playoffs? People are saying he is playing poorly because he needs to be a C now... but it's 2 post seasons in a row now, under different coaches, and even when Bynum is out of the game.

What if that's just the player Pau is now? If that's the case we'd be getting rid of a much better player in Bynum... Unless it was Dwight Howard or Deron Williams coming back, I dunno that it'd be worth it.

[Jetset]

Gotta blow it up.

[picc]

Bynum to the highest bidder, keep Pau.

Pau = 32 yrs old
Bynum = 23 yrs old

You're telling Mitch Ketchup to keep Pau and trade Bynum? Wow!

**** Bynum. If we can get an allstar PG for him, i'll drive to the airport.

[Edrees]

Bynum to the highest bidder, keep Pau.

Pau = 32 yrs old
Bynum = 23 yrs old

You're telling Mitch Ketchup to keep Pau and trade Bynum? Wow!

If you trade bynum for another 23 year old player, then why not?

We're not gonna get anybody good and younger than 29 for Pau. Just not happening

[Jajwanda]

You could, you would just have to take a chance of a young player. I like Michael Beasley at PF more than most, I feel he could be a 20 ppg scorer a night with average defense at that spot, spreading the floor for the rest of the team to wreck havoc in the paint.

[The Hypnotoad]

You should try to sign back Lamar Odom for a vet minimum, keep looking for a starting point guard cause Sessions had flashes but wasn't the guy. Try to trade Steve Blake. Get a team of psychiatrists for Ron artest, cause a regular psychiatrist couldn't even help him. He needs to go to, like, Vienna or something. He needs to get involved at the university level, like where Freud studied, and have all those people looking at him and checking up on him. That's the kind of help he needs. Not the once-a-week for eighty bucks, no. He needs a team. A team of psychiatrists working around the clock, thinking about him, having conferences, observing him like the way they did with the elephant man.

Don't let the media bate you into trading Pau or Bynum. Keep them both. That is key.

[Jajwanda]

Taking the chance on Dwight is the first goal for the off-season. Win a title and I doubt he leaves no way.

[Father Time]

Curious as to what microfib's thoughts are on Kobe's recent comments about management.

[AnaheimRoyale]

I don't think Dwight is interested in coming here, or he'd be here by now. Nor do I think the Lakers have great assets compared to other teams. But then with the way Dwight has acted, he could change at the drop of a coin.

[TruSkool]

dwight isn't a priority, hes more of an option. i hated to see odom leave and ill hate to see gasol leave but i think its inevitable.
I'm pretty sure bynum's going nowhere, considering the FO man-love.

we'll see how the celtics fare this post season, but if it doesn't pan out for them, i can see gasol/sessions going to boston for rondo/bass.

other players I'm done with are barnes, mcroberts, and murphy. from them, mcroberts probably has the most value..get rid of them for a decent backup SG.

some BIIIGGGG SPLASHES are gona be made this offseason, I'm sure of that. this year the lakers will decide between gasol and bynum..one of them is leaving for sure, probably gasol but hopefully bynum.

[The Laker Kid]

Can we get Shaq back?