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As we all know Kobe Bryant plays better on the wing. I say letsgo after J.R. Smith. I know a lot of you say he doesn't play defence but out of all the defenders trown at Kobe Martin ans Smith were the best ones.I was think of some like this.

SF:BryantAriza/Walton
PF:Gasol/Odom/Radmanovic
C:Bynum/Brown/Turiaf
SG:Smith/Vijacic
PG:Fisher/Farmar

The Kwame is coming back? Noooooooooooooooooooo!

DubaLakers wrote:The Kwame is coming back? Noooooooooooooooooooo!

Laugh Out Loud, he's not all that bad, we really could have used him in the finals

J.R. Smith
Denver Nuggets
Position: G
Height: 6-6 Weight: 220
High School: St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, NJ)
Player file | Team stats

2007-08 Statistics
PPG 12.3
RPG 2.1
APG 1.7
SPG 0.8
BPG 0.2
FG% 0.461
FT% 0.719
3P% 0.403
MPG 19.2

Getting JR Smith wouldn't move Kobe to the wing.

A capable ballhandler/passer would.

milesfides wrote:Getting JR Smith wouldn't move Kobe to the wing.

A capable ballhandler/passer would.

hmmm, luke walton & lamar odom come to mind...

if your statement is all that is required to move him...

Should have I added that they can't have a debilitating weakness to their game?

Odom isn't a capable guard in the triangle offense because he's not a good halfcourt passer/playmaker. Walton is, but he's such a offensive liability that teams will play off him and force him to be a scorer, which he has done miserably.

I thought the implications were obvious, but OK:

In order for Kobe to move to the wing/high post/kill zone/high-percentage scoring position, the Lakers need a capable ballhandler/passer in the halfcourt to execute their triangle offense, to replace Kobe's role as a primary facilitator. Said ballhandler/playmaker must not have major offensive or defensive deficiencies in his game.

I like to say "capable ballhandler/passer" and assume the rest is understood as obvious.

And here's the current candidates on our team, why none of them can assume the role of primary facilitator, and why Kobe has to do it out of necessity for the team, even at cost to his individual effectiveness at the wing:

Radmanovic: fails in almost every aspect of the role except for shooting
Odom: struggled with decision-making and halfcourt passing, shooting is inconsistent
Walton: offensive liabilities prevents his passing skills from coming into play
Fisher: essentially a pure shooting 2-guard in an overmuscled, point guard body
Farmar: sixth man scorer
Ariza: nowhere near meeting the required ballhandling/passing skills
Sasha: playmaking role has been reduced to almost nil - almost exclusively a spot-up shooter
Karl: haven't seen enough of him

Just need Odom/Vlad/Ariza in some weird science experiment to become 1 person: Outside raining, defensive intense, transition flying, ball handler with nice interior touch and great rebounding abilities.

How hard is that?

Damn. Sounds like Pippen.

jr smith would cost the MLE.

Kobe plays alot of 3 already.

Smith hmmmmm I'd rather go for Magette, but neither bring the tough minded D. Both are probably better in most peoples opinion than Posey, but he is a better fit. Also, I wouldn't count out the ever developing Sasha.

joe.linnen wrote:
I know a lot of you say he doesn't play defence but out of all the defenders trown at Kobe Martin ans Smith were the best ones.

lol. Did you miss the 50+ FTA per game Kobe had against them? Did you miss the finals?

And Miles, youre convincing me. These past few days youve been talking about that lightning quick ballhandling guard that would facilitate everything for everyone. Youve sold the idea on me.

As long as I remember, for the past 2-3 years at least since I've arrived here, milesfides has been saying the same thing over and over:

Point Guard.

We need a point guard this, we're getting killed at the PG position that, etc.

He's been more specific as time has gone on, and it's about time we get one of all-star caliber quality playing next to Kobe soon.

Because it doesn't matter who holds the ball, but rather who makes the shot.

Doesn't have to be lighting quick and doesn't have to be the flashy guard of the mode of Monta Ellis or Barbosa. We need a good soild PG, that can facilitate the offense, play defense, make his shot and be very safe with the ball. I look at players like Hinrich or for that matter any experienced PG who has run an offense fitting that criteria.

Look at the impact Rondo had on the Celtics in the playoffs with his assist to turnover ratio even reaching 6 to 1 at some point. Thats the caliber of guards that we need. Fisher meets almost all the conditions except for the creativity with the ball. At best he's a 4 APG guard.

j-far wrote:Doesn't have to be lighting quick and doesn't have to be the flashy guard of the mode of Monta Ellis or Barbosa. We need a good soild PG, that can facilitate the offense, play defense, make his shot and be very safe with the ball. I look at players like Hinrich or for that matter any experienced PG who has run an offense fitting that criteria.

Look at the impact Rondo had on the Celtics in the playoffs with his assist to turnover ratio even reaching 6 to 1 at some point. Thats the caliber of guards that we need. Fisher meets almost all the conditions except for the creativity with the ball. At best he's a 4 APG guard.

Actually, I dunno.

I wouldnt want a point guard who the defense;s strategy against him is to leave him completely open out at the 3pt line since he cant hit a shot.

Everything else, I wouldnt mind having.

I hear you, miles. But I don't think he needs to be lightning fast. He just needs to be extremely smart, play hard nosed defense and knock down the three. Odom and Radman/Luke for Billups and trash? How many more times can I beat that dead horse? Bilups is the perfect fit, Billups is the perfect fit, Billups is the perfect fit... Four years later, no Billups. Actually, Tyronne Lue would be a very good fit.

Still, our most pressing need is a defensive dominating force at SF to take care of Pierce, LBJ, West etc. But to get that star PG, he will only come here via a big trade in which we need to trade a main rotation player or two. Unless it's Lue.

As for free agent signings:
My option 1) Posey for MLE, Chris Andersen/Didier Mbenga/Kwame Brown for the BAE
My option 2) Kurt Thomas for the MLE, Najera or similar bruiser for the BAE. It needs to hurt to cut to our hoop next season.

Kobe played SG/SF, and was basically contained. If the best player that plays in those positions was contained (including Lebron), I'm pretty sure JR Smith would not have better luck than Kobe.

We need someone to create (penetrate/slash/pass) with 3pt shooting from the PG position and/or a dominant low post threat. Sounds like Farmar and Bynum can be really good candidates. They are our future and the key to opening up Kobe's game by making the defense collapse on them. Ohh and ofcourse, we need better team defense.

We should have signed Tim Thomas instead of Radman back then. It would have been perfect right about now. I find a lot of similarities in TT's game with Posey's. Oh well..

I still believe we have the right pieces, but we weren't properly prepared.

Ehh.. Pierce killed us because Vlad and Luke was on him. They basically let him go the other way instead of pushing him to the paint where help defense is ready. I actually have big expectations of Bynum next year, and if he doesn't come through, I think that's as far as we'll go again: WCF champs.

If Bynum becomes a dominant low post scorer, we can open up the outside/inside game. We have the the knock down 3pt Shooters and personnel., Most importantly Kobe can concentrate on Defense (on Pierce) and showcase his NBA All-Defensive Team status since the offensive load is slightly off him now.

Why would we put Kobe in the 3? He is very perfect in the 2 and he is a killer in that SG spot. What we need is sign a guy by the name of RON ARTEST. Dr. Buss is just clever he waits for a good spot and then he will sign. We know Ron Ron hasnt opt out but knowing the Lakers we might just see a number 93 lakers running and defending and shooting the nights out at the staples. If RonRon isnt available then C-MAGZ should be sign in and oh we should give KWAME a chance poor Kwame he will not have a job if he cant hook up for the lakers....

Well, I want to clarify that I'm emphasizing ballhandling/passing in the backcourt.

EE, I don't want to imply that this guard (or forward) needs to be lightning quick and able to penetrate. Or, that he has to be Steve Kerr with his shooting. I just feel that ballhandling/passing is the number one priority for our team - has been for years.

I like Billups a lot, I just think he's pretty tough to get. But yeah, he would be awesome. I liked Steve Blake when he was a free agent - twice. Duhon was a good second choice - twice. I loved Calderon, and I thought we should left no stone unturned to get him last year, when it was reported Colangelo was shopping Calderon to participate in the 2007 draft. All these guys have in common? They're capable, some even elite, ballhandlers/passers.

The thing with these ballhandlers is that they allow the best players on the floor to be great. They allow them to do their thing by taking a lot of pressure off them. Brandon Roy is a terrific player, even might be a capable point guard himself; but having Steve Blake completely frees him to attack defenses.

If they have other skills, great, terrific. All of it can be utilized and accommodated in the triangle offense. In fact, the triangle offense allows even big guards and forwards to assume this role with varying degrees of responsibility, as Harper, Pippen, even Kukoc, Kobe, Shaw, attest to.

It's another reason why I've liked Kirilenko so much, because he's one of the best passing small forwards in the NBA. And unlike Odom, he handles the ball and passes very effective in the halfcourt, even playing point guard for the Jazz when Williams goes out.

But whether nominal position a player usually plays, point guard, shooting guard, or small forward, I think the real important question is, can this player handle the ball, facilitate the offense, make decisions, and free up Kobe to do what he does best - score? Can he feed Bynum? Can he find Pau Gasol in scoring position? Can he simplify the game for the other players?

Let's be real - Kobe's been playing both Pippen and Jordan's role on this team. The limitations of that were clear last month. Until Bynum becomes Shaq and we can just throw him the ball, the best offensive option is still Kobe, and unfortunately, the Lakers haven't exactly made it easy for him. We need to find a way to maximize Kobe's impact, Bynum's impact, Gasol's impact, everybody's impact.

Getting a real capable ballhandler/playmaker/decision-maker really is the catalyst that would allow this team to self-organize. Kobe takes higher-percentage shots. Pau gets more touches. Bynum will get fed. Kobe will have more energy to commit to defense and the 4th quarter. No more Kobe-watching. Everybody gets involved, and that's Laker basketball.

The inefficiency in our play is a painful contrast to the beauty and almost effortlessness of Laker basketball.

Thing is, against elite defensive teams, we can't play Laker basketball because these defensive teams know that our playmaker and our scorer is one player, and are capable of shutting him down, and thus our entire team shuts down.

"Cut off the head of the snake!"
"Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered."

Well, we need more heads on this team. We need more shepherds.

golden state would never do that...they value monta high rlight now..and they should

JR and all his tatoos can stay in Denver. All he wants to do is score and shoot and Phil does not like his players who do not play any D. Remember the first round. We won so easy due to the Nug Pups played like this was a summer league game and just wanted to know how high they could send the score up.