Lakers Just Became the Best Team in the League

[floyd]

Everyone keeps bashing Wallace. This is pretty clearly a financial deal. I'd imagine the owners had a big say.

[Kroublees]

This is so great for the League
We'll see you in the FINALS

[Dirty Water]

my opinion

fisher >= rondo (Laker slight advantage)
kobe >> allen (big Laker advantage)
odom <= pierce (slight Celtic advantage)
Gasol < Garnett (Celtic advantage)
Bynum >= Perkins (slight Laker advantage)

key bench players

Ariza, Farmar, VladRad > Posey, house, TA, powe

advantage Lakers

odom<<<<<pierce *

[The Rondo Show]

This is so great for the League
We'll see you in the FINALS

Detroit and San Antonio may have a thing or two to say about that, but it sure would be an exciting matchup if it plays out the way you mention.

[MVP16]

Lakers certainly got better, but to say that they are the best team in the league is an overreaction. For one, comparing teams by position doesn't say anything. Players don't play one on one, they play as a team.

The Lakers, when healthy, look potent offensively. But defensively, they are very suspect. Lamar Odom can't defend the elite sfs like Pierce and Gasol can't defend the elite pfs either. Bynum is an ok defender, but he is young and is still going to get schooled by the Duncan's and KG's of the league.

The Laker's might be best served to look to trade Odom for Artest to balance out their team.

[Rocky5000]

I HATE THE LAKERS. So much so that when I saw the purple and gold in return2glory's avatar I cringed before realizing that it was big baby. The trade makes little sense for Memphis considering what should have been available. I think Gasol must have had a lot of say in his destination, perhaps he didn't want to go to the Bulls due to their recent slide? I don't see how the Grizz intend to hold onto Navarro now that Gasol is gone. Maybe the fact that they can bring Marc to the NBA next year will be enough to keep him happy.

[Lakers05]

I think you guys are greatly underestimating Bynum to say that he's only a slight edge over Perkins. Yes, he had trouble with Perkins, both times, but that's only because the Boston's Big Three overwhelmed their own defenders and Bynum is not a good help defender, yet(if you've been following Bynum all year, you'll see that he actually has more trouble when his man is a bad instead of good player, that's because when we're playing a team with a great big man, he receives the help, whereas when we're playing teams with weak big men(which naturally means they have great guards, otherwise, they'd be a really really bad team, which doesn't exist), he has to provide the help, and that can put him in foul trouble.

I guarantee you that the Bynum you'll see in June won't be the Bynum you saw against you guys in the two games. Before Bynum went down, he was simply playing at an unbelievable level. It was at a point where I expected him to make every shot he put up. In addition, he was grabbing boards at a Howard-esque pace. Other than soft-man D at times, he appeared to have virtually no weaknesses.

Before Bynum went down, I really thought that we weren't going to lose(which I'm sure you guys thought the same about your team at some point). With Bynum, I'm shocked that a team is able to stay with us for even 2 quarters.

Now? Well, you're seeing how bad our team is looking without him. No way we could have beaten a team like Dallas, like you did without KG. It appears that Bynum was the reason that our so-called depth looked so good. I was hoping for a 4-5 road trip, and even that looked shaky.

Fortunately, Gasol is coming to save the day.

[sam_I_am]

ReturnTG is definitely getting a little overreactive.

Memphis just gave Gasol away for garbage. There is a reason.

It may very well be like Vince Carter to NJ in that LA might not get any better at all.

Fundamentally, with Kobe you want to build a team like Cleveland has with a bunch of hard working, solid defenders who don't mind going games without shots.

If Gasol isn't scoring.... which he won't with Kobe hogging shots.... what else does he do?

If we never traded for KG and still had Jefferson, Gomes, and Telfair our roster would look a lot like the Lakers. And we would be 3-4 games over 0.500 right now.

To say LA is now the best team in the league is a joke. Their front court isn't even close to being the best.

[The Rondo Show]

The Laker's might be best served to look to trade Odom for Artest to balance out their team.

Now THAT's a move that would scare me.

The Lakers talent is undeniable, but we've still blown them out twice (including on their home floor, w/o our starting PG, in what was our 4th road game in 5 days) and they still don't play great D. I also think we match up well against them for the reasons you mention; their weakest defenders are at the positions our best offensive players play. Odom will get dominated by Pierce and Gasol would likely be outplayed by KG rather easily.

A move like Odom for Artest would mean the Lakers have 2 elite wing defenders to cover Ray and Pierce and would be a great step towards getting them playing the elite D SA, Detroit and we play-- although they'd still need to learn the top notch team D aspect, which is the #1 reason we are so good defensively.

I do think the Lakers just went from a pretender (despite the great record, I wasn't very impressed with them) to a contender, I'm just not sold they are better than the Spurs, us or the Pistons.

[Al n' Perk No Layups!]

I HATE THE LAKERS. So much so that when I saw the purple and gold in return2glory's avatar I cringed before realizing that it was big baby. The trade makes little sense for Memphis considering what should have been available. I think Gasol must have had a lot of say in his destination, perhaps he didn't want to go to the Bulls due to their recent slide? I don't see how the Grizz intend to hold onto Navarro now that Gasol is gone. Maybe the fact that they can bring Marc to the NBA next year will be enough to keep him happy.

It might as well be a Laker's player.

[BrokenLeftyJumper]

[quote]If Gasol isn't scoring.... which he won't with Kobe hogging shots.... what else does he do? [code]

Exactly.

[P2]

The Lakers won't have anywhere near the defense the C's do.

Exactly. The Lakers have gotten better considerably, but there is still no team in the league as good as the C's.

[Mahoney_jr]

If Gasol isn't scoring.... which he won't with Kobe hogging shots.... what else does he do? [code]

Exactly.

You two guys are really underestimating an underappriciated player in this league. Give him a well-rounded team and he will absolutely beast in the low post. He's not Kevin Garnett but only one step below. Great passer, decent jump shooter, ballhandler, shot blocker and a very good team player.

[MVP16]

-= original quote snipped =-



You two guys are really underestimating an underappriciated player in this league. Give him a well-rounded team and he will absolutely beast in the low post. He's not Kevin Garnett but only one step below. Great passer, decent jump shooter, ballhandler, shot blocker and a very good team player.

Maybe Gasol is one step below Garnett offensively, but he's about 100 steps below defensively.

[Mahoney_jr]

-= original quote snipped =-



Maybe Gasol is one step below Garnett offensively, but he's about 100 steps below defensively.

Just wait. You guys are acting like those envious other fans who laughed about our bench or our PG/C-situation after we dealt for KG. Or tried to tell the world that KG is a loser because he didn't get into the playoffs two times in a row! Gasol is just that. A very good player who will absolutely thrive on a contender. A player like Kevin Garnett, who became underappriciated because he had a bad team.

[return2glory]

Remember one thing guys. I said when Bynum comes back, not now.

Bynum is one of the best big young centers in the league. Perkins shut him down in the 2 games but Bynum is still a very good player. The fact that the Lakers got a borderline all star in Gasol without giving up Odom makes the Lakers a better team than they were yesterday.

Either way you look at it, this trades makes the Lakers better than they were. They added Gasol, who is in his prime without giving up much.

[return2glory]

-= original quote snipped =-



Just wait. You guys are acting like those envious other fans who laughed about our bench or our PG/C-situation after we dealt for KG. Or tried to tell the world that KG is a loser because he didn't get into the playoffs two times in a row! Gasol is just that. A very good player who will absolutely thrive on a contender. A player like Kevin Garnett, who became underappriciated because he had a bad team.

Good point, Mahoney_jr.

[hiphop1]

If we get Cassell are we back on top?

[AWalkerREMIX]

People are overreacting. They had some more offensive firepower, sure. People are forgetting that this forces Odom to play the 3 and also that Bynum is still very young and raw. The Celtics are a far better team than them at this point. In fact, the matchup of Pierce vs. Odom is such a laughable one, that I'm willing to be that a Finals matchup vs. the Lakers would be a sweep.

[P2]

If we get Cassell are we back on top?

We are still on top. Cassell would really make us the clear favorites to winit all.