Yikes - The Laker Bench is Better !!!

[Gomes3PC]

Leon made sure that when they were sent to separate foster homes that each of his siblings remained in contact with each other, whether by phone or writing letters to each other. Leon has been a man since he was about 9 years old.

[tombattor]

This is like the old days....the East teams would battle and beat the **** out of each other while the Lakers would sit back and chill. Means nothing....D wins we will see when the ball gets tossed......

You got 1 guy you can REALLY count on
We got 3........

Well, the Lakers have Gasol. Most of you guys probably didn't see him play before he went to the Lakers, but Gasol is a guy you can put among the other super stars in the game. He just has been playing for the Grizzlies all those years.

And the way Ray's been playing this playoffs, even with the last 2 games, I don't think you can put him in the "REALLY count on" category. He and Odom are both 1/2 at this point.

So the Lakers and the Celtics both have 2 1/2 guys that can REALLY count on. Kobe gets the edge in his matchup with PP, but KG gets the edge in his matchup against Gasol.

I think the 2 teams are really evenly matched, top to bottom. But the Celtics have a much better D and they have enough offensive firepower to match the Lakers, although you just can't count out Kobe at the end of games.

It'll be a good series, but I think the Celtics win in 6. I think we win the first 2 at home, then steal one of the 3 in LA because it really is very very hard to win 3 games in a row at home in the finals. I think there have been only a few teams that have swept the 3 games at home in the finals, ever.

[Gomes3PC]

Gasol is NOT a superstar. 18 points, 8 rebounds, a couple of assists, and brutal defense is not superstar caliber. If so, then Al Jefferson would be All World.

If you can half count on Ray Allen, then you can 1/4 or 1/8 count on Lamar Odom. I am still waiting for the day Odom calls for and takes a big shot down the stretch of a game. He disappears in big moments and he plays like garbage whenever he faces Garnett. Meanwhile, Ray Allen HATES Kobe and will do everything humanly possible to beat his nemesis. The motivation for Ray to drain 3s all over the Staples Center is there, and I expect him to shoot a torrid clip in several games this series. Kobe isn't going to tire himself chasing Ray around all game on D; they'll stick a guy like Vujacic on him and Ray will lose him with ease on the baseline and around picks.

I'm not saying Ray is all world either, as I think Kobe is bound to light him up on D, but I expect Ray to be shooting for 17-25 points throughout this series. His moments of trepidation where he wasn't sure of himself are gone- you can just see it in his eyes. And the Lakers suck on transition D from what I have seen, which is Jesus' bread and butter for open 3s.

[tombattor]

Gasol is NOT a superstar. 18 points, 8 rebounds, a couple of assists, and brutal defense is not superstar caliber. If so, then Al Jefferson would be All World.

You're still concentrating on just rebounding and scoring numbers. Same idiotic reason you all thought Al is the best player in the league. This year, Al averaged more points and rebounds than KG, so I guess that means, he's much better than KG, right? Or that if we had Al instead of KG, we would have won 80~82 games during the regular season, right?

Do you ever try using that thing behind your head?

[ParticleMan]

The KG-Al comparison is stupid. KG does so many other things on the court, defensively, passing the ball, spreading the floor, etc. Al can't come close to that.

But Gasol? He's a mediocre at best defender, is an ok passer but nothing special, and is an OK rebounder. A superstar? um, no. He's a 7-foot version of Ray Allen, a very good allstar caliber complementary player whose primary skill is scoring, and is solid but nothing special at everything else.

[GonzoLays]

Worst. Thread. Ever. Created. In. The. History. Of. RealGM.

[tombattor]

The KG-Al comparison is stupid. KG does so many other things on the court, defensively, passing the ball, spreading the floor, etc. Al can't come close to that.

But Gasol? He's a mediocre at best defender, is an ok passer but nothing special, and is an OK rebounder. A superstar? um, no. He's a 7-foot version of Ray Allen, a very good allstar caliber complementary player whose primary skill is scoring, and is solid but nothing special at everything else.

Of course Gasol isn't KG, but if we're talking about Ray Allen as one of the super stars in this series, Gasol belongs in the conversation as one.

He's been very consistent as the Lakers' undisputed #2 and he is putting up 18-9-4 in the playoffs. I'd say that's getting it done. I know people concentrate on triple doubles and think it's easy to get 10 assists, as some moron on another thread said Lebron's 7 assists a game is nothing, but averaging 4 assists a game for a big is a lot of assists.

[Gomes3PC]

-= original quote snipped =-


You're still concentrating on just rebounding and scoring numbers. Same idiotic reason you all thought Al is the best player in the league. This year, Al averaged more points and rebounds than KG, so I guess that means, he's much better than KG, right? Or that if we had Al instead of KG, we would have won 80~82 games during the regular season, right?

Do you ever try using that thing behind your head?

Did you just read what I wrote? I said that if points and rebounds were all that matters Al Jefferson would be an All World player. I was a big fan of Jefferson's but I knew he was nowhere near KG's caliber because he didn't make his teammates better.

Pau is the same way. He gets his 19 and 8 but he doesn't make anyone better. Case in point is that his Memphis squad was 13-33 pre-trade and 9-27 afterward; a difference of just 3% despite getting literally nothing back for him right now (Kwame Brown is less than nothing to me). You'd think that their record would PLUMMET like Minnesota's did after trading Garnett, and yet they were basically the same team before and after Pau was there. Funny.

I'd still like you to explain what, exactly, Gasol does outside of his solid 18 and 8 that makes him so special. 3 assists a game is not superstar caliber- Garnett when playing as many minutes as Pau puts up 4-5 assists. Gasol is BRUTAL defensively, basically playing a young man's Zydrunas Ilgauskas defense- stand with your hands up and make sure you don't foul. He runs the court well, especially for his size, but he is Charmin soft as a finisher- his own coach said he was taking WAY too many "weenie" shots (in Jackson's, not my words).

Gasol is a very good player. He was just what the Lakers needed- a consistent 2nd scorer. They don't need a superstar, since they have one in Kobe. Gasol needs to just get his 19 and 8 a game and they are better than before because Odom and Bynum are too variant from game to game- Odom is just always like that and Bynum is still young.

Please, please stop calling Gasol a superstar. Just off the top of my head, I'd rather have a healthy Garnett, Stoudemire, Duncan, Howard, Boozer, Nowitzki, Bosh, and then perhaps Jamison, Jefferson, and David West. When you are arguably the 8th-best big man in the NBA right now, you are not a superstar. Superstars are regular 1st-team All NBA players. Star? Probably, but even that I argue because he is just really bad defensively.