crazyeights wrote:Interesting....can't wait to see them in action. Nash is going to do so many things for us, it's perfect really. IMO the biggest impact he'll have is in the locker-room.
Last year, after trading Lamar and then Fish we had a serious vacuum of leadership. Like Kobe told Nash about himself, he likes to lead by "cracking the whip".
When Fisher was gone, there was essentially nobody to step into the role of emotional leader. Pau seems to me like a great teammate, a kind, compassionate guy who genuinely cares. But he's not a true leader. He's not an alpha dog. He's too sensitive for that. What he is, however, is a great leader's best advocate. A guy who will follow a leader with genuine zeal, it's where he excels. To me more and more, Pau will step into the role of Lamar.
The emotional leader should be able to hold Kobe accountable as well, but Pau never commanded that sort of respect from Kobe. The balance was tipped. This lead to Andrew Bynum and Metta trying to step into some sort of leadership roles for the sake of the younger players, but as we saw with Bynum: it was the inmates running the asylum.
But now with Nash, I think we've got a guy who brings the team to an equalibrium. It let's Kobe slip into his natural place as field marshal. It let's Pau focus on his game, rather than having to be the guy to rein in Kobe. It gives Metta another guy to look up to. It brings another presence in to help Bynum pull his head from his ass.
There is once again, a balance in the force.
agree with all of this.
it was the mental side of the game that was the hindrance for the Lakers last year. some of that is Kobe living by the sword, some of that is the loss of D-Fish. i think you nailed it w/ Pau, Bynum and Metta stepping into 'leadership' positions. Pau is not an alpha, Kobe doesn't respect him, and he would never take Kobe on. that's how i see it, and that has been a
major problem for the entire team, IMO (i realise that this is also everyone else's opinion). Ron absolutely needs another guy to 'look up' to. he needs to be affirmed. we've all seen how he play when Kobe is mad it him. if he can play confident, in control and with an edge he can be a major contributor for this team (30+ minutes). Andrew is a brat, but he's extremely talented. i don't think he's a bad kid, but i do think he's immature and that he doesn't play hard enough on every possession (someone made a comment in another thread about him not getting back on defence - that alone is enough for me to want to give him up for Dwight). both these guys will automatically respect Nash. if he can engage any of these guys at a time when Kobe might previously have withdrawn, as well as holding Kobe accountable for his play on this offensive end (or just literally taking the ball out of his hands, ha), the pick-up would be worth it on that alone.
that and he controls an offence as well as anyone in the league, is a GOAT candidate shooter/playmaker blah blah etc. etc.
