2004 Lakers vs 2010 Celtics -- All Players Peak

[uberhikari]

The 2020 Lakers absolutely smoke the '04 Lakers.

1. The '04 Lakers have a terrible fit, not just in terms of actual skill synergy but also in terms of ego. A 25 y/o Kobe wrecks this team by himself with his ego.

2. Not only do the '04 Lakers have no 3pt shooting (Fox isn't a volume 3pt shooter nor is he particularly), but they also have no space whatsoever. Payton, Malone, Shaq all on the floor at the same time? That's a disaster; the floor basically shrinks to 16 feet to the basket.

3. The depth advantage of the 2020 Lakers is truly bananas. The '04 Lakers have Fisher, Horace Grant, and Byron Russell. But that ain't enough. The 2020 Lakers: Rondo; LeBron; Dwight; AD; KCP; Danny Green; JR Smith; Avery Bradley; Alex Caruso; Dudley; Kuzma; McGee. The 2020 Lakers really go 10 deep.

The 2020 Lakers starting lineup should be: LeBron-Danny Green-KCP-AD-Dwight. Question: Who is Rick Fox guarding? Either Kobe or Rick Fox trying to guard peak LBJ would be a disaster.

AD/Dwight should do well enough guarding Malone and Shaq. They might lose those matchups but they won't get killed. And McGee is sitting on the bench for some extra fouls on Shaq.

Then you have Rondo, JR Smith, Caruso, Bradley, and Kuzma coming off the bench.

[drza]

Wait...are these teams playing in 2004, 2010 or today? Because if it's either of the last 2, aren't the Celtics shooting them out of the gym? First, I'm starting Finley and Perkins over Rondo and Sheed. Sheed would be 6th Man of Year and play starter minutes (and lead a killer second unit with Rondo) but I'd let Perkins use his 20-25 minutes and 6 fouls as cannon fodder against Shaq. Sheed would replace him in the closing lineup.

Ray Allen, (peaked at 8.4 3PA, 41.2 3P%), Pierce (peaked at 6.3 3PA, 40.4 3P%) and Finley (peaked at 5.1 FGA, 40.5 3P%) were all high-volume, high-efficiency 3-point shooters and outstanding all-court scorers in real time. The 3 of them on the court at once in this era is peak Warriors Splash-Brother territory.

Then, on defense, you could play around with similar levels of tools. Again, I'm content to throw Perk on Shaq and let Shaq go off. Perk can lean on him, make him work, foul him, and let Shaq get his 35 - 40 points if the Lakers run the entire offense through him. I might even explore with some 3-big lineups, featuring Sheed and KG at the forward spots with Perk (or Baby) on Shaq. Let KG defend Fox and be a rover, disrupting a bit of everyone. And that's not even mentioning the ability to throw Tony Allen on whichever is hotter of Kobe or Payton, again, just to make their lives irritating even as they produce.

The Lakers are chock full of all-history players, but in this type of All Star scenario...their fit is horrid. Especially in today's era. All of their best players have "scoring" as their best feature, both guards are ball-dominant, ISO scorers that operate heavily off the dribble. Malone would operate in the same spaces as Shaq. And Shaq didn't love not getting the ball enough when just with Kobe and role players...he's gonna be content to let Kobe, Malone AND Payton all be volume scorers? Or alternatively, they're all going to be happy as mid-level scorers expected to fill dirty work roles around the big dog? And on WAY too many possessions they're going to be swapping 2s against 3s, since their starting lineup just doesn't have any volume 3-point shooters optimized to play off Shaq and Malone.

Am I missing something? How is this not a blowout for the Celtics?