Lakers starting line-up could surprise people

[TaylorMonkey]

Just let things play out man. People have been underrating them all summer, and I like it that way.

Who's underrating them? The top 9 in the West (SAS, OKC, LAC, HOU, POR, GSW, DAL, MEM, PHX) are here to stay, while DEN & NOP are likely to be better than your team. Even if you assume that all your players are going to be healthy and won't miss any significant time, there are still lots and lots of question marks about your team. How much do Kobe and Nash have in the tank? Is there a single guy who's above average on defense on that roster? Who's going to play off-ball among those of Nash, Kobe, Lin and Swaggy-P (none of them can)?

Lastly, the situation with your bigs... They're terrible. Boozer, at this point in his career, is terrible on defense, and mediocre at best on offense (another guy who's likely to demand the ball to be effective), Randle is an unknown, but isn't exactly the next big thing, and both Hill and Davis are below-average players who are better suited to come of the bench for 15-20 minutes and play the role of a hustle big instead of defensive anchor.

Your whole roster consists of below-average role players and washed-up stars. If there's any hope of this team making the play-offs, then Kobe must return to his MVP form or something.

Every team has questions. You could go down all 30 teams in the league and do the same thing.

Except for half those teams, the worst case answer to their "questions" would be the best case Lakers.

[anarchy24]

I see a lot of people here dissecting the starting lineup and judge this team at each position. Yeah, they are bad. But remember the Dwight Lakers? They were supposed to be very good. What I've learned from that team, along with this years' Spurs and Heat teams, is that, you don't need stars at every position. As long as you put your players in a position that they excel at and within the team concept, you'll have success.


I don't think they'll be as good as the OP hope, but they won't be that bad too.

[engelbert321]

I'll be shocked if they win more than 25 games.

[tsherkin]

Quick reminder: if all you're going to do is insult the OP or post some smiley-only post, don't waste the time, or you're going to run smack into the GB rules for derailing/baiting. Discuss the topic at hand legitimately, or abstain from involving yourself in the thread.

Cheers.

[Dmanning2]

yeah yeah yeah go ahead get your jokes in now about the Lakers. I got my jokes in 2009-2010. But best believe the Lakers will be back SOON. We don't take 10-20 years to rebuild like some of other franchises *Cough* Celtics *Cough*

Go Lakers Go!

[Cloud777]

Lakers will suck. One things for certain Lakers will not lack the amount of TV coverage they will have this year.

I am a old schools Lakers fan. That being said they suck @ss now and should not embarrass themselves on National TV anymore until they get their @#$% together.

If they win 30 games I would be shocked

Well prepare to be shocked... Lakers can certainly win more than 30 games... that is a cake walk for Kobe Bryant... who dragged Dwight Howard's sorry arse into the Playoffs after the D'antoni experiment failed in its first year.

This team with Jordan Hill/Boozer/Randle is 10x better than the team with Dwight Howard/Pau Gasol and coached by Pringles... it just is. Give me one reason why that D'antoni/Dwight team can make the playoffs yet this team cant.

1 reason......

i'm waiting.

I'm not going to discuss whether the Lakers will make the postseason or not cause quite frankly I couldn't care less.

But what I will say is Kobe's defense (and everyone else's on that team other than Dwight, but mostly Kobe) was the main reason the Lakers were so bad in the first place. If he was even average the Lakers end up being a 2-5 seed. Dwight was the only piece preventing them from having the worst defense in the league and without him they miss the playoffs that year. This idea that Kobe "dragged" the Lakers to the playoffs is inaccurate and complete BS.

And how does making a Finals appearance equate to being a perennial loser? There were a lot of good/great players who've never even made the Finals.

[BobbySura]

Steve Nash
Kobe Bryant
Wes Johnson
Carlos Boozer
Jordan Hill

This lineup hinges way too much on the health of Kobe and Nash. I'm not sold on Nash's ability to stay healthy, and even if he COULD, he's still 40 years old, within months of turning 41 at the start of the season. Regardless of his health, he'll need to scale down minutes to be productive. The addition of Jeremy Lin lessens that blow and if Kobe is healthy he can (and likely will) spend most of the time as ball-handler without Nash.

Kobe will likely bounce back okay, but he's still 36 coming off two surgeries and only a handful of games in 2 years. He'll be rusty likely and they'll struggle early on. The team will struggle in scoring even WITH Kobe and will be miserable without him. No one on that team other than Boozer, Young and Lin averaged other 10 a game last year. Boozer hasn't been a scorer in years and if Young was going to end up a 20+ point scorer he would had done it last year.

So really, this team could be okay if everyone is healthy, and decent if Randle can develop quickly.

[Slava]

Steve Nash
Kobe Bryant
Wes Johnson
Carlos Boozer
Jordan Hill

This lineup hinges way too much on the health of Kobe and Nash. I'm not sold on Nash's ability to stay healthy, and even if he COULD, he's still 40 years old, within months of turning 41 at the start of the season. Regardless of his health, he'll need to scale down minutes to be productive. The addition of Jeremy Lin lessens that blow and if Kobe is healthy he can (and likely will) spend most of the time as ball-handler without Nash.

Kobe will likely bounce back okay, but he's still 36 coming off two surgeries and only a handful of games in 2 years. He'll be rusty likely and they'll struggle early on. The team will struggle in scoring even WITH Kobe and will be miserable without him. No one on that team other than Boozer, Young and Lin averaged other 10 a game last year. Boozer hasn't been a scorer in years and if Young was going to end up a 20+ point scorer he would had done it last year.

So really, this team could be okay if everyone is healthy, and decent if Randle can develop quickly.

Whether or not Nash is healthy I think Lin will end up starting. Just to add some athleticism to the backcourt. So if Kobe is healthy, you are going to get above average production from 3/5 starters. The bench with Young, Ed Davis and Randle isn't bad and everyone has high hopes for Clarkson. So the squad isn't entirely horrible unless health is an issue.

That team if healthy can win 42 games but still doesn't get anywhere higher than 9th or 10th seed in the West imo.

[tsherkin]

Whether or not Nash is healthy I think Lin will end up starting. Just to add some athleticism to the backcourt. So if Kobe is healthy, you are going to get above average production from 3/5 starters. The bench with Young, Ed Davis and Randle isn't bad and everyone has high hopes for Clarkson. So the squad isn't entirely horrible unless health is an issue.

That team if healthy can win 42 games but still doesn't get anywhere higher than 9th or 10th seed in the West imo.

I think Scott, who has already said as much, willl start Nash, but that Lin will see his share of minutes. Starting doesn't necessarily equate to big minutes, right?

[Slava]

Whether or not Nash is healthy I think Lin will end up starting. Just to add some athleticism to the backcourt. So if Kobe is healthy, you are going to get above average production from 3/5 starters. The bench with Young, Ed Davis and Randle isn't bad and everyone has high hopes for Clarkson. So the squad isn't entirely horrible unless health is an issue.

That team if healthy can win 42 games but still doesn't get anywhere higher than 9th or 10th seed in the West imo.

I think Scott, who has already said as much, willl start Nash, but that Lin will see his share of minutes. Starting doesn't necessarily equate to big minutes, right?

There's always the issue of synchrony when you have to frequently alter your line ups and once you start Nash and he goes down, that messes up the rotations and mainly the pick and roll chemistry of the bigs and guards so I think Lin should start. I also have very low expectations from Nash minutes wise, the best he can hope for to stay healthy is no more than 15 mins a game.

I think of pick and roll as a quarterback - receiver combo, the more reps you get the better the play is.

[Run DLC]

I'd like to see someone posterizes Boozer, then push him to the ground like Shaq used to do to some players back then.

[EddieJonesFan]

Johnson is the only player who you could honestly call a defensive player, IMO, and he's no stopper. Hill is a solid energy guy on the boards and at finishing, and he can have his moments defensively, but I wouldn't say he's an asset there, especially at the C position. Their team is going to be garbage, how bad of garbage depends entirely on how well Kobe comes back from his injuries and lack of game-time over the last year and half. Even assuming Nash is able to play, he's looked like crap ever since he's joined the Lakers, and he has yet to show that he and Kobe can function well together. I think they can be good enough to pretty much have no shot at having their pick protected next year, but whether that's a good thing is up for debate.

[tsherkin]

There's always the issue of synchrony when you have to frequently alter your line ups and once you start Nash and he goes down, that messes up the rotations and mainly the pick and roll chemistry of the bigs and guards so I think Lin should start. I also have very low expectations from Nash minutes wise, the best he can hope for to stay healthy is no more than 15 mins a game.

I think of pick and roll as a quarterback - receiver combo, the more reps you get the better the play is.

I don't disagree, by Lin isn't a particularly special playmaker anyway, he's pretty much a linear penetrate-and-pitch guy who isn't very good in the PnR to begin with, so his synergy with Boozer is nigh-irrelevant at this point. The Lakers would be better off letting Nash develop that chemistry, and then working more on letting Lin replace Boozer as the scoring contributor once/if Nash goes down.

[Keller61]

This lineup will be hopeless defensively. I will be surprised if they give up less than 110 points per 100 possessions.

[PKABOOICU]

When a 40 year-old, hobbled Kobe Bryant is your first option you can expect a lottery pick next year.

big diff between 40 and 36 though

[Bank Shot]

That team is horrendous defensively. I do like Wes though. I wanted the Raps to take a run at him.

[Star-Lord]

Kupchak hasn't shown any ability to recognize talent in the draft and the Lakers cupboard is pretty bare of young talent.

This isn't entirely fair, considering how rarely Kupchak's Lakers have had even a remotely high pick.

[PopAGat]

Is this a joke?

Lakers suck.

Your Center, Jordan Hill is slightly above average but makes almost the same amount of money as Steph Curry and DeRozan.
Wes Johnson is a scrub who is only getting PT because the Lakers couldn't get anyone better.
Boozer isn't even good enough to play all 4 quarters (see last season as a reference).
Nash is has a bad back and hes 40. Did I mention he has a bad back?

We still aren't sure if Kobe will be typical 27 PPG Kobe.


See where I'm going with this?

[Catchall]

Worst starting forward rotation/front court in the west.

[og15]

For those saying the Lakers won't be completely terrible, please tell me who scores outside of Kobe? Or how they'll be able to defend the paint credibly with the likes of Jordan Hill, Carlos Boozer, Ed Davis & Julius Randle? Kobe is 36, not 28... he's not capable of dragging this group to any level of competence. It would be a miracle to squeeze 25 wins.

No low post defense. No perimeter defense. No scoring options outside Kobe. Is Magic going to cast a spell to get you guys in the playoffs?

I'm being real when I say the 76ers see the Lakers on the schedule and think that's a winnable game.

Nick Young and Jeremy Lin can score and create, I'd be more worried about how efficient their scoring will be and how they will defend as a team. 25 wins? Come on, if they don't have a terrible amount of injuries, they can win in the mid 30's.