RealGM

Hey posters,

First of all, I'm sorry the Lakers fell to Boston in six. I wrote a rather lengthy piece picking L.A. in six, so I feel your pain as the C's made me look rather dumb. On the other hand, I was jealous of the Finals appearance because my P's stink right now.

I put together a ton of these on the NFL forums heading into the draft and they were wildly successful. I hope for the same here, and I know the population of these boards will lend itself to many responses.

Editor Chris Reina and I have put together these seven questions for you all to answer, with the best answers making it into posted pieces on our main page. The only thing that I ask is that you please limit your responses to two sentences per question. Please try your best to heed that request, it makes the Summits easier to read and quicker to put together.

Thanks gang, and best of luck in the Draft.

1. What could the team have done differently to win the NBA Title?
2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
7. Who would you like your team to select?

1. they could have given andrew bynum's knee steroids.
2. the kobe/sasha death duo
3. derek fisher had the best season of his career, eat that steve blake.
4. luke walton, he was injured though. he'll comeback, i hope.
5. gasol for kwame/picks, no more needs to be said.
6. someone who doesn't intend to play in the nba anytime soon.
7. see answer 6.

1. Take vlad out of the starting lineup, and make some adjustments on defense

2. offense is general is a strength, passing

3. Bynum, Sasha, Lamar (after the gasol trade) Farmar (before the gasol trade), Fisher, oh and a shoutout to my man Mitch

4. luke and vlad (don't know how much of a surprise it was), the whole team in the finals, they didn't play very well at all

5. fairly confident i think Mitch moved in the right direction this season, i'd say 7.5 out of 10

6. well we only have the late 2nd rounder, but a backup center and something needs to be done at sf

7. boy i don't have any idea who would even be there - i'll wait and see who everyone else says

1. What could the team have done differently to win the NBA Title?
Prioritize defense over offense, substituting Ariza for Radmanovic, and use Ariza's length and anticipation to roam off Rondo, which would allow Kobe to guard Pierce throughout the series. The Lakers also should have defended the high pick-and-roll better and stayed with three-point shooters or closed out on them more quickly.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Passing, ball-movement, perimeter shooting, high post play, and Kobe's ability to read the defense and do whatever is necessary to win.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
Sasha Vujacic came out of nowhere to become one of the best shooters in the league, The Machine, and he demonstrated defensive strengths as well.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
There were worse Lakers, namely Radmanovic, but Walton's ineffectiveness was more surprising considering how well he played for the Lakers a season ago. Luke Walton, whom Phil called the "yeast" of this team a year ago, was more like a yeast infection this year by comparison, plagued by inconsistent shooting and perpetual nagging injuries.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
Not very, considering the luxury tax. The Lakers have generally been conservative in the offseason, and Mitch Kupchak is notorious for blaming injuries for everything.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
A big, all-around defensive guard, a sharp-shooting defensive swingman, or a big man enforcer. However, if the Lakers could obtain a quality veteran role player by trading the pick, they probably should, given the general youth and inexperience of the team which was exposed against the veteran-stocked Celtics.

7. Who would you like your team to select?
DeMarcus Nelson, for his 4 years of experience (he's 22.5 years old) under Coach K, for his all-around guard skills, including long-range spot-up shooting, rebounding, passing, and attacking the basket. Most intriguingly, he has Rajon Rondo-type length that promises great defensive potential, and his weight and strength will help him from being backed down on the NBA level.

1. What could the team have done differently to win the NBA Title?
controllable things would include: using a smaller line up to penetrate with speed against an older slower C team. Better player subs in general.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Passing, endurance, and length

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
Sasha, Farmar, Fisher

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Turiaf

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
on the one hand: They kicked plenty of ass and Mitch deserved a nod for exec of the year. On the other... are teams scared to deal with us post Pau?

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
a foreign player who can come over after developing abroad for a while. Nothing on floor next year.

7. Who would you like your team to select?
it's gonna have to be a project or surprise slipping of a player, so I don't know their name.

1. What could the team have done differently to win the NBA Title?

the Lakers needed to make defense their priority and learn how to feed the offense off the defense and not the other way around.


2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

the offense fed their defense (see first quater game 4 and 5). they had that as their biggest strentgh, but it was not enough for the srtong defensive Celtics.


3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

Bynum and Farmar were a surprise and were effective the first half of the season. Gasol and Odom were a surprise and were effective the second half of the season. Kobe and Fisher were no surprise, but they were effective all season. my vote goes to the machine. he was a very pleasant surprise and was effective the whole season.


4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Walton, although he was playing injured most of the season he was surpringly ineffective.


5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

if the opportunity presents itself, I am very confident that they would do what ever it takes to make it happen, however, I am not confident that they would look for that opportunity on their own because they may see Bynum as the only missing piece.


6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

we really don't need anything from the draft, we have enough youth already.


7. Who would you like your team to select?

with the 58th pick of the draft the Los Angeles Lakers select....who cares!

1. What could the team have done differently to win the NBA Title?
-Communication on defense and Vlade out of the starting lineup. The Lakers have the ability to play great defense, but are never consistant, NEVER.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
-Kobe/Gasol screen and rolls, pick and rolls, pick and pops; Ariza/Turiaf's hustle/defense; Bynum/Kobe screen and rolls, alley-oop!
3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
-Fisher... wtf! where'd he come from?!

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
-Luke... after last season's career year, this year was a career flop.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
-After a Gasol trade, Ariza trade I learned I had to just be patient. I now know if the right scenario comes across the front office, they will jump on it.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
-The Lakers do not need the draft, especially the pick that they have.

7. Who would you like your team to select?
-Rose! Duh! ... no really, we don't need the draft.

1.Speed up the pace, running the Celtics would have allowed the Lakers to beat the Celtics defense down court.Using the post game of the Triangle with more then just Pau./b]

2.[b]The front line depth and the depth of the bench.

3.Sasha Vujacic

4.Luke Walton, he has to except that he's a role player from the bench.

5.Well it won't be anything like the last that's for sure. I think Mitch knows where the teams weakness is now, he should make finding a complete small forward his top priority.

6.Truthfully the team is not going to find anybody in this years thin draft. The 58th pick is a guy lucky to be picked anyway.

7.Once again there is nothing of any value at 58, that's just the bottom line. The team will probably be better off finding a rookie free agent much like Coby Karl last summer.

Thanks gang, I'll use those responses...

Best of luck making the Finals once again...

1. A commitment to team defense. Although the Lakers are a better defensive team than what people give credit for, the effort this year was obviously not enough. Getting back Bynum could have helped, but the team has to understand there's only so much you can gamble on steals and blocks before you get burned by uncontested layups and 3s.

2. Passing. With the exception of Utah this is probably the best passing team in the league. Having a guy named Kobe Bryant also doesn't hurt.

3. Sasha. Although I can claim I was one of the few who didn't view him as a 12th man before he got inserted into the rotation.

4. Walton. Even if last season was a fluke it is amazing to see him do nothing positive on the court.

5. Very confident, since for once Kupchak can spend more time golfing than making phone calls on where he should deal Odom and Bynum.

6. We still have a draft pick?

7. I think the Lakers should go after a PF. Both Gasol and Turiaf had to deal with recent injuries, Odom was also injured last year and the year before, so I think getting a PF would be a better insurance than any other positions.