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Kobe Wan Kenobi wrote:

Steve Nash ballhandling skills are off the charts - one of the best Point Guards we'll ever see even at the age of 38. His IQ is crazy as well. Conley has great ballhandling skills too though, and has a nice stroke from the 3pt line.

Nash > Conley

I agree. but I think Conley's impact from the defensive end is also worth taking into account

Kobe Bryant is who he is, Tony Allen and Kobe had great battles against each other but we all know Kobe can do whatever he wants on the floor if he feels like. Tony Allen isn't much of a scorer as well...
Kobe > Allen

I agree here as well although if we were talking about a 7 game series, then there will be games where Kobe will struggle

Rudy Gay is a great talent though. All in all...he's not a leader yet. Metta can shutdown Gay if he plays focused.

Gay > Metta

Agree

Zach Randolph is a great player. But I still think Pau owns him both on D and on offense. He has the lenght to his advantage as well.

Pau > Z-Bo

How did the length of Gasol help against the 6'8 Kenneth Faried, who owned him on both end of the floor? Just saying.

Gasol is a younger version of Pau still growing - yeah...that says alot. But we have Howard shutting down the paint, Marc isn't that great shooting mid-range J's. Not as good as his brother at least. Howard is way more athletic than Marc Gasol.

D12 > M.Gasol

Marc is not too shabby defending the paint. He nearly averaged 1 steal and 2 blocks last season. his jumper isn't as good as Pau but it is better than Howard's. Marc is also a better passer and ball handler than Dwight so don't be surprised if it ends up being a wash

But the bench is something we have to be aware. Lakers bench still need another piece imo.

Yeah on paper, Memphis's bench seems to own L.A. The only player I like on L.A's bench is Jordan Hill. The rest do not scare anyone. On the other hand MEM has Bayless, Arthur, Pondexter, Selby, Spheights, Ellington, and Wroten

JustAwesome wrote:Pretty strong words to say that Howard would "completely overshadow" Gasol. I wouldn't be completely shocked if he were able to match productions in a seven game series.

JustAwesome wrote:Pretty strong words to say that Howard would "completely overshadow" Gasol. I wouldn't be completely shocked if he were able to match productions in a seven game series.

dockingsched wrote:

JustAwesome wrote:Pretty strong words to say that Howard would "completely overshadow" Gasol. I wouldn't be completely shocked if he were able to match productions in a seven game series.

i would be floored if marc freaking gasol was matching d12 over a 7 game series. this is crazy talk. howard would probably have double the boards and blocks, then he'd probably outscore him too quite easily. i'll give marc assists, thats it.

Stebo_SSK wrote:Alot of you guys are seriously overrating Marc Gasol. While he is a good player he is 27 and is who he is. He is a great role player but has never dominated anything on a consistent basis, especially not another all star Center. He avg 15/7 in 38 MPG against the Clippers. THE CLIPPERS, let that sink in.

stunnar0b wrote:with bynum it probably wouldve went 6 7 games, now with howard Memphis doesnt stand a chance i say it goes 4 or 5

miggs wrote:While Memphis is definitely one of those teams that could upset a major force in the Western Conference I think against the Lakers they'd run out of gas. Conley is a quality up and coming PG, who's really improved the last 2 years, however, in a playoff series I still think Nash does better overall since Conley won't really impact the game offensively, it's not in his arsenal, whereas Nash is going to be deadly with all the open looks he'll surely get.

Allen does a good job on Kobe, very good job actually. The problem here is that Kobe will no longer be carrying the heavy burden of the offense and that means less time dribbling, bringing the court up and trying to make a play since that'll be Nash's job. Kobe will have more energy to find his spots but also to play defense, making Allen possibly work twice as hard if Kobe keeps running around like Reggie Miller used to. I don't think Kobe will become a pure spot up shooter but I definitely expect him to very active out there looking for his spots or taking Allen to the post.

As for the forward position, I don't think Rudy Gay will fare well against MWP other than having agility on his side, however MWP has slimmed down so he should be quicker which will equal big problems for Gay as he doesn't have the body to bang with MWP for an entire series. Z-Bo is an excellent player and one who's revitalized his career, I think he will be the one to explode as he plays a very physical game which Pau doesn't like at all. Pau has great man to man defense, however, I think Z-Bo's power-based arsenal in the post will be huge if Marc Gasol can somehow bring Dwight out of the paint, which leads us to the next part.

Dwight should completely overshadow Marc Gasol, as their games are similar with Dwight having an advantage in agility, athleticism, however, Marc is a smart player I just don't know if his jump shot will be used enough to bring Dwight out of the paint. If they can't bring Dwight out of the paint it'll neutralize the game of Marc and Z-Bo, forcing Memphis to either go small which is bad as Dwight can surely run the floor and I think Jamison will do well in these situations off the bench. Memphis will have to heavily rely on Rudy Gay, and I just don't think he's a player who will do better in the playoffs.

The Memphis bench could pose a problem as they're young, athletic and love to run. However, I still think one of Dwight or Pau would always be out with either Jamison or Jordan Hill covering the front court, with Duhon, Meeks and Ebanks. I think the Memphis bench is better but don't think it's good enough to make up for beating coming from the Lakers' starting line up. In terms of coaching, i'm not too sure, I just think the sheer frontcourt talent of the Lakers will overpower the talented frontcourt of the Grizzlies. Rudy Gay would have to average 25+ ppg with at least two players chipping in at least 13-15 a game but I just don't see another player on that Grizzlies team capable of averaging those numbers over an entire series.



just my two cents, not trolling you nor do i think my team is invincible. Just that the advantages Memphis has, the Lakers are better at and the weapons what Memphis has (Rudy Gay) just isn't enough to turn it around.

miggs wrote:

JustAwesome wrote:Pretty strong words to say that Howard would "completely overshadow" Gasol. I wouldn't be completely shocked if he were able to match productions in a seven game series.

I feel confident in those words. It's the playoffs and I just don't see Gasol being able to impact the game more than Dwight, stats aren't the whole story, especially when talking about the playoffs. Marc may equal Dwight's PPG and have better AST numbers but I don't see him getting equal rebounds and blocks compared to Dwight. Also, won't be help that Marc has no way to consistently bring Dwight out of the paint, hence why I think Marc will have a real tough time getting his seasonal averages against Dwight in a 7 game series.