Championship 2008: the only acceptable option for Lakers?

[Sofa King]

Its the rings or nothing.

At least that is how I see Kobe's mindset this year.

[davidse]

i think this statment is true for 2009 - not 2008, once we've had a chance to gel, get healthy, and balance the roster by dumping odom.

do we have a chance to win it all this year ?
absolutly.
but wcf would also mean we're right on schdual...

[Sofa King]

i think this statment is true for 2009 - not 2008, once we've had a chance to gel, get healthy, and balance the roster by dumping odom.

do we have a chance to win it all this year ?
absolutly.
but wcf would also mean we're right on schdual...

I think that's what is called an acceptable expectation. If the Lakers just went as far as the WCF, the media and hype will brush it off and give the Lakers another chance the following year and that would be the end of it.

But for a team like the Celtics, if they don't win it this year, it would all be considered a failure with the age of their 3 super stars.

The same could be said about the Suns. If they don't at least reach the Finals, I think that team will be blown up.

[tsherkin]

Its the rings or nothing.

At least that is how I see Kobe's mindset this year.

By all means, let the players focus on the ring and have that mentality; I simply mean to say that as fans, we should have slightly more sedate expectations of the season and should be well satisfied as long as the Lakers win at least one playoff series.

[Erik Eleven]

Gasol's projected influence on this team might be under rated by some of us, myself included. Besides KG and Duncan, he's actually the best PF in the league. Adding him without giving up any rotation player (sorry Kwame) is a great leap in competitiveness.

Last summer, I used to say that his defense is soft, but I've watched him this year and he's actually quite the defender. Duncan, KG, Boozer etc won't look forward to playing us as much anymore. They know he'll force them to work hard on both ends, all game long.

Gasol is a very smart player, extremely good at reading and manipulating defenses. I expect him to pick up our offense rather quickly. Even if he doesn't, a tandem of Gasol-Kobe is enough to win games on pure talent until he gets it.

I expect us to go on a tear. Winning the west is not out of the question at all. Let's just hope that the injury gods will be nice to us...

[Tesla]

Gasol's projected influence on this team might be under rated by some of us, myself included. Besides KG and Duncan, he's actually the best PF in the league. Adding him without giving up any rotation player (sorry Kwame) is a great leap in competitiveness.

Gotta disagree with that. Healthy Brand, Dirk, and Bosh are better than him as well.

[snaquille oatmeal]

is anything besides a title this season acceptable to you?

i think we should at least make the Western Conference Finals.

please, change the tread tittle, the homer factor is off the charts. embarrasing

[Jajwanda]

Well think about it this way, if you have 2005-2006 Odom who put up plus ratings at SF due to his rebounding and assist numbers (I expect Phil to tell Odom work every day of the week on your D if you want to keep your playing time) you've upgraded over Luke Walton....

Duncan is a center basically.

1)Garnett
2)Dirk
3) Brand (not in the league for the most part this year so what does it matter)
4) Bosh


Gasol is somewhere in the top 5-7 PFs in the league. We've never actually had that in Laker history since Baylor and Worthy were SFs.

[Erik Eleven]

Gotta disagree with that. Healthy Brand, Dirk, and Bosh are better than him as well.

Brand is not healthy, so that's why I didn't count him. The other two, well, as stand alone players or franchise players, they might be better, but not necessarily better fits for this roster, in my opinion. I wouldn't put them above him as the best PF fit with our team. Equal, sure.

This would be my list:

1-2: Duncan/KG (it's a matter of preference who gets the nod).
3-5: Gasol/Dirk/Bosh (^)

All in all, Gasol's style of play fits well with the triangle (theoretically), his personality, lesser star status, greater humility, passing ability, defense fits us great, in my opinion. Besides Duncan and KG, I don't look at any other PF as a better fit, just different.

I'd of course take any of the three, but I'm not sure the other two are a better fit, all things accounted for.

[semi-sentient]

I thought tsherkin did a great job of showing why Gasol should be rated higher than Bosh. I have to say I feel the same way. I'd exclude Brand from any of the discussions at the moment due to his injury and the uncertainty behind how he will play once he returns.

See this thread for his analysis of the two...

[tsherkin]

I thought tsherkin did a great job of showing why Gasol should be rated higher than Bosh. I have to say I feel the same way. I'd exclude Brand from any of the discussions at the moment due to his injury and the uncertainty behind how he will play once he returns.

See this thread for his analysis of the two...

Thank you, semi.

As far as Gasol vs. Bosh in the triangle, I think Coach Mac said it best here:

He doesn't specifically talk about Bosh but he does mention a great deal about how effective Gasol is likely to be below the foul line extended (and he also acknowledges the value of Gasol's range and his face-up skills from the elbow and the top of the circle and blah blah) but he's talking about him as the weakside forward in the triangle and playing in the post, styles of play that are not suited to Bosh.

Chris' favorite plays are where the Raptors let him hang weakside around the foul line and catch a pass on the left wing off of a pick-and-roll/pop scenario between [insert forward/center here] and [Ford/Calderon] over on the right wing. He gets in position 17-20 feet from the basket and then he gets his classic face-up iso, where he can get his long J or blow past his defender. That's his favorite play. There are others, of course, and Bosh DOES do some work in the post but he almost never backs down, he almost exclusively turns and faces his defender because he knows damned well that unlike Gasol, he can't hold position for long and if he faces up, he denies the defender the ability to move him backwards without incurring a foul.

Gasol is the same height but a good 15 or 20 pounds heavier and a lot more capable at playing the post in the traditional fashion. He likes to be a Euro forward and move around but that suits the triangle just fine in the end, really, and what skills and abilities he does have in the way of playing in the post make him much more valuable to the Lakers than would Bosh be.

Chris is a higher volume scorer but traditionally speaking, he's also a little bit lower in terms of efficiency and he's not as good a passer, so that's another aspect of Pau's game that is a lot more readily suited to the Lakers' offense, because the triangle is of course an offense heavily dependant on ball movement.

Also, Chris likes to take a lot of the same spots for maneuvers that are a lot like what Kobe likes to do; Bosh would present a lot of the same problems Odom does (only he's a much more effective scorer) in that he occupies the same places on the floor to start his offense that Kobe does and that's not really conducive to good spacing or chemistry.

[Sedale Threatt]

Tsherkin is always on point. Even if you disagree, it's hard to ever say he's flat-out wrong.

Regarding this season, a championship would be outstanding -- aren't they always. But it's hard to add such a major piece at midseason and expect everyone to come together. If it happens, awesome. If not, it's not as if this team's window is in danger of closing in the very near future, a la Phoenix or possibly San Antonio.

In all liklihood this will be similar to what happened when we added Rice in '99. Provided we don't beat the odds, we'll at least have had a dry run to see what works and what doesn't, then an entire offseason to make the necessary adjustments.

[RJM]

Barring any more major injuries, my predictions;

1) Gasol gels instantly, is rolling within a couple weeks max.
2) Bynum gets back in early March, takes a few weeks to get going physically, starts jelling with Gasol by early April.
3) Lakers make playoffs as a 3rd seed, winning 57-60 games.
4) Lakers go 16-6 in the playoffs en route to NBA championship, defeating the Boston Celtics in 6 games.

Yes, it can and will happen.

I expect the first three...but the playoffs are unpredictable as hell. I believe we'll get past the first round though.

[EHL]

-= original quote snipped =-



By all means, let the players focus on the ring and have that mentality; I simply mean to say that as fans, we should have slightly more sedate expectations of the season and should be well satisfied as long as the Lakers win at least one playoff series.

Unless the Lakers face the Spurs in one of the first two rounds, I'd be dissapointed if they only won 1 playoff series. If they win 2 series and lose a hardfought battle in the WCF, I'll consider that a good building block. Anything less would have to be due to injuries/chemistry or incredibly bad play from Kobe.

But maybe I'm just a Lakers homer.

[tsherkin]

-= original quote snipped =-



Unless the Lakers face the Spurs in one of the first two rounds, I'd be dissapointed if they only won 1 playoff series. If they win 2 series and lose a hardfought battle in the WCF, I'll consider that a good building block. Anything less would have to be due to injuries/chemistry or incredibly bad play from Kobe.

But maybe I'm just a Lakers homer.

Nothing wrong with aiming high, EHL, nothing wrong with that at all.

But to me, there are too many variables to really legitimately expect big success this year. For example, say they face Utah at the 4/5 seed... who do you think they play next? The first seed (unless there's a Seattle/Denver, Dallas/Golden State thing happening), which is hardly a recipe for consecutive playoff series victories.

If they take first or second seed in the regular season, sure, then the WCFs are a lot more reasonable ITO expectations.

I guess it's a progressive prediction, right? I think it depends heavily on how quickly Gasol adjusts to the triangle and how quickly his new teammates adjust to him. What happens with Odom is another sub-plot to watch closely.