RealGM

What do you guys think this team's offensive and defensive stats would look like, I'm hoping top 5 in both offensive and defensive ratings.

There is no reason we shouldn't have the #1 offense in the league. Nash led great offenses with much less to work with, so I'd be incredibly disappointed if we weren't in the top 5.

Defense is a tough one. Our guard defense, unless Kobe picks things up, is going to be amongst the worst in the league once again. Our bench defense is going to be all-time bad.

Still, Howard's defensive impact is enormous and I wouldn't be surprised to see us crack the top 5 this season. I believe the influx of talent is going to cause everyone to play harder than previous years, and if Kobe can accept a greatly reduced role on offense and play defense the way he's capable then we'll be in great shape defensively, particularly if Artest is healthy.

semi-sentient wrote:There is no reason we shouldn't have the #1 offense in the league. Nash led great offenses with much less to work with, so I'd be incredibly disappointed if we weren't in the top 5.

Defense is a tough one. Our guard defense, unless Kobe picks things up, is going to be amongst the worst in the league once again. Our bench defense is going to be all-time bad.

Still, Howard's defensive impact is enormous and I wouldn't be surprised to see us crack the top 5 this season. I believe the influx of talent is going to cause everyone to play harder than previous years, and if Kobe can accept a greatly reduced role on offense and play defense the way he's capable then we'll be in great shape defensively, particularly if Artest is healthy.

This.

But I have faith in potato head's defensive schemes. Hopefully he can work some magic (no pun intended) with D-Ho.

Wreckus13 wrote:
This.

But I have faith in potato head's defensive schemes. Hopefully he can work some magic (no pun intended) with D-Ho.

With Edie Jordan on the bench, Mike brown will have his defensive philosophy sharpened and well oiled for this particular stack of talent. Because if he can't get that part right, then he might as well give up the top job. The question is if these guys will buy in wholeheartedly. If they do, we're easily a top 5 D. if not, then we're in trouble. No matter who's on the roster, a team with mediocre defense is always vulnerable to elite opponents.

I hope MWP wont need the first dang half of the season to get his game together. As we've seen, he can help out with the guard situation in certain cases...

Top 5 Offense and Defense at least, and number one in rebounding

Lakers will never be efficient in offense with Brown as head coach.

The offense is going to come. Not worried about that.

Mike Brown is a defensive coach, the only thing he does exceptionally well, and we've got Dwight back there guarding the rim. We should be shooting for the top defensive spot in the league, or close to it.

I pray to the Lord every night, that Steve Nash is allowed to have free reign over the offense. This is all on Kobe seriously, if he takes more then 20 shots per game we should seriously riot.

Well the problem I have with this comments is this, Howard never had a great perimeter defender or inside defender next to him but lead his team to 3 consecutive top 3 DRTG and still we are arguing Nash-Kobe-Artest, he had Nelson-Carter-Lewis c'mon now.

We were stuck in the mud at times last year. The ball literally stopped and there was no cohesion offensively. Im looking for more of that to pick up this year. We must score points at a higher clip and must get more ball movement. Im not blamin KOBE either, our system of play must direct it.

When PJ was coaching we always win the close games. Brown always fcked up on close games. I've never seen Lakers lost so many close games in a season. He just doesn't know how to run an effective offense, especially under pressure.

frozt wrote:I pray to the Lord every night, that Steve Nash is allowed to have free reign over the offense. This is all on Kobe seriously, if he takes more then 20 shots per game we should seriously riot.

This. Potato head is terrible on the offensive end!

where we rank rebounding-wise will determine how far we go into the POs

Why are you guys so hard on Mike Brown? Like any first year non legend coach would have just come in and did wonders with this team? LA struggled in Phil's last season but no one wants to make him responsible for any of that but everything that went on this past year was Mike Brown's fault? What about the players themselves or just the fact that this team wasnt actually built to win it all? Is that a concept too hard to grasp? That maybe we just werent good enough no matter who the coach was.

Last min. fcked up is not acceptable for any coach in any year. Brown did the same thing in Cle, so its nothing new.

endless wrote:Last min. fcked up is not acceptable for any coach in any year. Brown did the same thing in Cle, so its nothing new.

Why is it just Brown tho? How do you know the players just didnt execute well? Where are all these last minute scenarios that he messed up in? If I can remember this past year with LA it was Kobe and Pau that made some awful plays in the clutch not Brown. Bottom line LA didnt have the personnel to compete at the highest level to begin with. Now if there are clear coaching issues this year then we can point the finger at Brown but dont blame this man when he didnt even get a training camp with a roster that had 0 outside shooters, a competent PG and bench.

Stebo_SSK wrote:

endless wrote:Last min. fcked up is not acceptable for any coach in any year. Brown did the same thing in Cle, so its nothing new.

Why is it just Brown tho? How do you know the players just didnt execute well? Where are all these last minute scenarios that he messed up in? If I can remember this past year with LA it was Kobe and Pau that made some awful plays in the clutch not Brown. Bottom line LA didnt have the personnel to compete at the highest level to begin with. Now if there are clear coaching issues this year then we can point the finger at Brown but dont blame this man when he didnt even get a training camp with a roster that had 0 outside shooters, a competent PG and bench.

Kids who don't understand the game are quick to blame the coach no matter the situation

No, Clevland had this problem when he was in Clevland and now one of the best closing games couldnt close out any game when he came, so there must something wrong with his offensive schemes if his teams had this problems for like 5 years or so, or he doesnt have any schemes than go ISO

Stebo_SSK wrote:Why are you guys so hard on Mike Brown? Like any first year non legend coach would have just come in and did wonders with this team? LA struggled in Phil's last season but no one wants to make him responsible for any of that but everything that went on this past year was Mike Brown's fault? What about the players themselves or just the fact that this team wasnt actually built to win it all? Is that a concept too hard to grasp? That maybe we just werent good enough no matter who the coach was.

I agree here. Our offense looked just as bad under Phil.

Surprisingly what fell off the most was our defense, which is sad considering that both Pau and Bynum were healthy all year. That is the one area that I expected improvement in. Shows how overrated our FC is defensively, and quite frankly I think that falls heavily on Bynum's shoulders for not showing up more consistently and accepting his role as a defensive anchor.

I think the biggest issue with Brown is his inability to make adjustments, offensively or defensively. He showed time and time again in the post-season with the Cavs that he couldn't adapt through the course of a series.

Aki wrote:where we rank rebounding-wise will determine how far we go into the POs

We shouldn't have big issues on that end. I mean we have the best rebounder in the league paired with a double-figure rebounder.