Do Lakers have trouble against athletic players?

doremi · Post #1 » by **doremi** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 1:56 am

First time posting here.

From my experiences watching Laker games, I've noticed that many times athletic "scrubs" torch us so easily with lay-ups, dunks and any other easy gimmicks. In terms of athleticism, I'm talking about players who can jump out of the gym and run like a bullet.

I do believe the Lakers can play fine team defense, but sometimes they are just outmatched physically (I also don't believe the Lakers is one of the most athletic teams).

Or... is this just a lack-of-effort thing?

DEEP3CL · Post #2 » by **DEEP3CL** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 2:14 am

doremi wrote:First time posting here.

From my experiences watching Laker games, I've noticed that many times athletic "scrubs" torch us so easily with lay-ups, dunks and any other easy gimmicks. In terms of athleticism, I'm talking about players who can jump out of the gym and run like a bullet.

I do believe the Lakers can play fine team defense, but sometimes they are just outmatched physically (I also don't believe the Lakers is one of the most athletic teams).

Or... is this just a lack-of-effort thing?

I was going to jump you hard but I did the smart thing and read the post all the way through. Bottom line is name a team in the league that doesn't have a problem containing an athletic player ? Dude don't overreact to this game, and we do have some athletic guys on the team.

What you have to remember is we play a restrictive system which can very easily contain you. I don't know how old you are but if you remember that North Carolina team with Vince Carter and Antwan Jaimerson, but you would've thought Jaimerson was better than Carter. But when Carter got to the NBA he let loose all his true skills. Remember a system can hold you back a little.

microfib4thewin · Post #3 » by **microfib4thewin** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 4:47 am

The Lakers have never been an athletic team, but defending against good athletics is not the issue here. First, Bynum does not have a defined role on offense when Gasol is on court. It would help if Bynum focus more on defense and rebounding, but so far he hasn't shown a change of attitude. I would consider playing Bynum and Gasol less on the court together. The team doesn't improve defensively with Bynum, but the offense takes a downturn because they both operate down low. Second, I don't know what the heck went on, and I am amazed we turn from a good 3 point shooting team to an awful one in the span of a year. In the last playoffs, we were saved by Ariza and Odom's hot shooting behind the arc, but we are already having a problem now with the bench and the shooting, who is going to give us consistent outside shooting so we can actually get home court? I am serious, even though this team has great potential to improve I don't see how we won't struggle to get a seed with the way we've been playing. Simply put, the #1 defensive efficiency so far has been a facade, we played mostly weak teams and at home, the few times where we went up against true contenders we got demolished. The offense has been mediocre, and barring a Sasha or a Luke revival our outside shooting is not going to improve without making a move.

I hate to say it, but this team is not a title contender this year until they show a glimpse of better chemistry. At the beginning I thought Artest was going to make things difficult, and he turns out to be the least of our worries. As long as we can't figure out how to get Bynum and Gasol to play well together we aren't the favorites to win.

larry14r · Post #4 » by **larry14r** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 5:12 am

microfib4thewin wrote:The Lakers have never been an athletic team, but defending against good athletics is not the issue here. First, Bynum does not have a defined role on offense when Gasol is on court. It would help if Bynum focus more on defense and rebounding, but so far he hasn't shown a change of attitude. I would consider playing Bynum and Gasol less on the court together. The team doesn't improve defensively with Bynum, but the offense takes a downturn because they both operate down low. Second, I don't know what the heck went on, and I am amazed we turn from a good 3 point shooting team to an awful one in the span of a year. In the last playoffs, we were saved by Ariza and Odom's hot shooting behind the arc, but we are already having a problem now with the bench and the shooting, who is going to give us consistent outside shooting so we can actually get home court? I am serious, even though this team has great potential to improve I don't see how we won't struggle to get a seed with the way we've been playing. Simply put, the #1 defensive efficiency so far has been a facade, we played mostly weak teams and at home, the few times where we went up against true contenders we got demolished. The offense has been mediocre, and barring a Sasha or a Luke revival our outside shooting is not going to improve without making a move.

I hate to say it, but this team is not a title contender this year until they show a glimpse of better chemistry. At the beginning I thought Artest was going to make things difficult, and he turns out to be the least of our worries. As long as we can't figure out how to get Bynum and Gasol to play well together we aren't the favorites to win.

The problem is that we are so far in the luxury tax hole we can't do anything with going even deeper in the liuxury tax hole and remember the Lakers want to cut salary not add more.

Asianiac_24 · Post #5 » by **Asianiac_24** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 3:00 am

We should go after guys like JJ Redick or Daequan Cook, someone who could shoot but is cheap. Kirk Hinrich is too expensive. I don't know if a Vujacic/Farmar package would be good enough to net a guy like Kapono or Korver, but we should try

Post #6 » by **semi-sentient** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:21 am

This years Lakers look like last years Cavs. Great against the average/poor teams, but can't take care of business against the "contenders" (Dallas, Denver, Cavs).

Quincy · Post #7 » by **Quincy** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:23 am

They have trouble against quick athletic point guards(Fisher) and physical players at the 4 and 5 spot(Gasol, Odom, Bynum).

GasolsLakers · Post #8 » by **GasolsLakers** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:35 pm

We dont have trouble with any athletic players outside of the PG. We have athletic guards and good defensive guards. Ron Ron who can hold his on the perimeter and a very stout interior defense.

Optms · Post #9 » by **Optms** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:49 pm

GasolsLakers wrote:We dont have trouble with any athletic players outside of the PG. We have athletic guards and good defensive guards. Ron Ron who can hold his on the perimeter and a very stout interior defense.

Huh.. Are you serious, man?

So you decided to hop on the Lakers bandwagon, huh? Or just the Gasol locomotive express? Choo choo it on then. Long as you praise Bryant when praising needs to be praised. ;]

ROballer · Post #10 » by **ROballer** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:59 pm

Optms wrote:
GasolsLakers wrote:We dont have trouble with any athletic players outside of the PG. We have athletic guards and good defensive guards. Ron Ron who can hold his on the perimeter and a very stout interior defense.

Huh.. Are you serious, man?

So you decided to hop on the Lakers bandwagon, huh? Or just the Gasol locomotive express? Choo choo it on then. Long as you praise Bryant when praising needs to be praised. ;]

You don't believe that don't you??

He is LebronsCavs ,the biggest lebron troll,under another name

I caught him from his first post but he won't admit it despite trolling like usual and now to get rid of me he is pretending that he actually is a Laker fan even though he blasts kobe on the other boards

what a pussy