Win More Without Gasol or Without Kobe

[Benedict Miller]

Bulls fan here, my brothers are both Laker fans, and their favorite player is Kobe Bryant....With that said, I think they both think they could win more without Kobe, than Gasol... Is Gasol the best big in basketball?

[Sedale Threatt]

We're not winning anything of consequence without Kobe Bryant. It's fun to joke about trading or benching him, and rag on him for taking too many shots, but let's not get carried away -- he's still one of the top two or three players in the world.

Without Gasol we could roll with Bynum and still contend for a championship. Probably wouldn't win it, but we'd still contend.

[supaflash]

Considering we were still the best team in the league with Gasol out, Artest not comfy or playing his best ball, AND the bench playing like ass...

3 games is nice, and the effort has been really great to see, but give it 10 or 15 games, when that motivation starts laggin, when other teams game plan for the lineup without Kobe, when the bigger teams start getting physical, and the better defensive teams start locking down...

Then you'll understand why this team wins with Kobe.

[Sofa King]

Not bad. Only took 3 wins without Kobe for these threads to pop up. Imagine a Laker lose without Kobe and threads will pop out screaming for Kobe's return.

You know Bynum didn't play the last two and very little in Portland too.

[Edrees]

I think the team is just stepping it up because they know they have to try way harder without Kobe. I don't think the team steps it up when Pau us out, they just play with the same effort level.

I don't think its the fact that Kobe isn't playing, I think it's the fact that Lamar is playing with Pau.

[DEEP3CL]

I can't believe Kobe sitting out 3 games while the Lakers post wins without him, has completely twisted everybody's brains. It's like guys have gotten bitten by zombies or something.

[Magicontinues]

Bulls fan here, my brothers are both Laker fans, and their favorite player is Kobe Bryant....With that said, I think they both think they could win more without Kobe, than Gasol... Is Gasol the best big in basketball?

Ya'll need to lay off the crack pipe dood, serious

[TonyMontana]

Not bad. Only took 3 wins without Kobe for these threads to pop up. Imagine a Laker lose without Kobe and threads will pop out screaming for Kobe's return.

No ish............. Here we go again.

[KOBE_PAUER]

The lakers play better basketball when they run the offense around Gasol. Thats Fact. The Lakers were a weaker team in the beginning of the season when #16 wasnt out there. And now theyre playing great. Kobe is the best player, but the triangle offense runs around The Spaniard. I had seen the Lakers losing games with Kobe scoring 40+. I never saw the Lakers losing with Gasol doing a triple double performance. I love Kobe, but I think thats obvious. The frontcourt is the most important thing in this lakers.

[Speedlot]

The lakers play better basketball when they run the offense around Gasol. Thats Fact. The Lakers were a weaker team in the beginning of the season when #16 wasnt out there. And now theyre playing great. Kobe is the best player, but the triangle offense runs around The Spaniard. I had seen the Lakers losing games with Kobe scoring 40+. I never saw the Lakers losing with Gasol doing a triple double performance. I love Kobe, but I think thats obvious. The frontcourt is the most important thing in this lakers.

Lakers win when Gasol does great. IF the lakershow relies on Gasol Beasting it to win, 40 win team ( see grizz ). The logic behind, " when kobe scores 40 lakers lose blah blah " . "When Gasol scores 30 lakers always win " blah blah.

Give me a damn break. If Gasol could go 30 a night then he would BE (pay attention) a better player than kobe. THE fact of the matter is. Gasol IS NOT good enough to BE RELIED upon to take such a serious roll. Sure he can have his outburst (see: Odom) but that doesn't mean anything because they are in fact "Outbursts". If you want to argue about Outburst being great for playoffs series and all, we all know who is the most dynamic player in the league.

When our offense fails, Kobe takes most of those shots. It's called BAILOUT shot. With that in mind you have to realize that Kobe's low efficiency has to do with him bailing out the team all the time. Shooting game winners, Buzzer beaters. Casual fans don't see this but this is indeed true.

He may have his chucking spree.. It happens, but at times he makes it one after another. It's more often than not a worthy gamble.

Btw Houston rockets is a better team without Tmac and Yao.

[TommyTheCat]

Lakers win when Gasol does great. IF the lakershow relies on Gasol Beasting it to win, 40 win team ( see grizz ).

i pretty much agree with most of the points you made but the gasol beasting comment is laughable. if gasol is beasting with bynum, odom and artest on his team it's a 55+ win team.............not comparable to the grizzle

[Kilroy]

Gasol maybe the most "skilled" big in basketball... Not the best...

I think when Dirk plays well, he may be more skilled... Same with Duncan... I don't think KG has as many diverse skills per se as those other guys, but when healthy and motivated, he's much harder to stop than any of them.

Right now, Howard is probably the best Big man in the league... Although he hasn't looked like it for the last couple weeks.

Over a long period, we lose much more without Kobe than without Gasol...

Sooner or later someone is going to slow us down or play even faster than we are right now, and our Kobe-less weaknesses will be on display...

I do really like how Pau, LO, and Artest seem to have gelled though...

[KOBE_PAUER]

The lakers play better basketball when they run the offense around Gasol. Thats Fact. The Lakers were a weaker team in the beginning of the season when #16 wasnt out there. And now theyre playing great. Kobe is the best player, but the triangle offense runs around The Spaniard. I had seen the Lakers losing games with Kobe scoring 40+. I never saw the Lakers losing with Gasol doing a triple double performance. I love Kobe, but I think thats obvious. The frontcourt is the most important thing in this lakers.

Lakers win when Gasol does great. IF the lakershow relies on Gasol Beasting it to win, 40 win team ( see grizz ). The logic behind, " when kobe scores 40 lakers lose blah blah " . "When Gasol scores 30 lakers always win " blah blah.

Give me a damn break. If Gasol could go 30 a night then he would BE (pay attention) a better player than kobe. THE fact of the matter is. Gasol IS NOT good enough to BE RELIED upon to take such a serious roll. Sure he can have his outburst (see: Odom) but that doesn't mean anything because they are in fact "Outbursts". If you want to argue about Outburst being great for playoffs series and all, we all know who is the most dynamic player in the league.

When our offense fails, Kobe takes most of those shots. It's called BAILOUT shot. With that in mind you have to realize that Kobe's low efficiency has to do with him bailing out the team all the time. Shooting game winners, Buzzer beaters. Casual fans don't see this but this is indeed true.

He may have his chucking spree.. It happens, but at times he makes it one after another. It's more often than not a worthy gamble.

Btw Houston rockets is a better team without Tmac and Yao.

I said Kobe is the best player, he is clutch. But Im saying the lakers play better basketball when they run the offense around Pau. Why?? Because this is a triangle offense with the best passing big man in the middle. Kobe can be the same clutch player but the lakers would be better if Gasol touch the ball every single posession. I think even Kobe would be better. And please....Gasol lead a team to 50 wins with Mike Miller James Posey and Shane Battier as supporting cast and he leads his national team which had won titles. Give me Odom, Bynum, Artest, Fisher and company and Gasol can lead a team to win this West.

[magic1fan]

great post speedlot i agree with everything. pau however skilled is not meant to be a top option. i mean the proof is in the pudding. why else would a team trade him? you can't teach height and for all his skills he had the grizz in the lottery before he came here. he has held it down in the absence of kobe and bynum but that should be expected with the money he makes. i just hope that when kobe comes back these guy play with the same edge and we get going on a strong run to finish the season.

[dula14]

I think there would only be a small difference in a Laker team minus Kobe or a Laker team minus Gasol in the regular season. The difference would come playoff time where play tends to get a lot tougher and more physical. A Laker team with Gasol only would be at a decided disadvantage in the "toughness" dept.--both mental and physical come playoff time. Kobe accepts challenges when guys are being physical and perhaps even a little dirty, whereas Gasol has had a history of coming up small against tougher more physical competition.

[Dr Aki]

lakers without kobe win more than the lakers without gasol - numbers dont lie

however, when it comes down to winning playoffs, no kobe = no wins, just ask the 50-win grizzlies

[verticalhops]

win more without Bynum. Kobe and Gasol = essential to winning