Minge wrote:JustBlaze20 wrote:Is it a coincidence that Gasol's numbers improve and he plays better now that Kobe is his teammate? No, thats Kobe making the players around him better.
Kobe lead a team featuring Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, Luke Walton, Chris Mihm and Lamar Odom to the playoffs two years in a row. Do you want to examine that?
Smush Parker
*LAL '06: .447 FG% (career high), .366 3PT% (career high) on 10 FGA
*LAL '07: .436 FG%, .365 3PT% on 10 FGA
MIA '08: .315 FG%, .250 3PT% on 6 FGA
Kwame Brown
*LAL '06: .526 FG% on 5 FGA
*LAL '07: .591 FG% (career high) on 6 FGA
MEM '08: .455 FG% on 2 FGA
Luke Walton
LAL '06: .412 FG%, .327 3PT% on 5 FGA
*LAL '07: .474 FG% (career high), .387 3PT% (career high) on 10 FGA
LAL '08: .437 FG%, .345 3PT% on 6 FGA
Chris Mihm
*LAL '05: .507 FG% (career high) on 7 FGA
*LAL '06: .501 FG% on 8 FGA
LAL '07: Missed entire season with a possible career ending injury.
Lamar Odom
*LAL '06: .481 FG%, .372 3PT% (career high) on 12 FGA
*LAL '07: .468 FG%, .297 3PT% Played half the season with an injury.
*LAL '08: .490 FG% (career high), .264 3PT% on 11 FGA
Those five players had their career highs as Lakers in FG% and 3PT%.
Derek Fisher
GSW '06: .410 FG%, .397 3PT% on 11 FGA
UTA '07: .382 FG%, .308 3PT% on 8 FGA
*LAL '08: .459 FG% (career high), .414 3PT% (career high) on 9 FGA
Pau Gasol
MEM '06: .503 FG% on 15 FGA
MEM '07: .538 FG% on 15 FGA
*LAL '08: .651 FG% (career high) on 13 FGA In an eight game sample.
Andrew Bynum
LAL '06: .402 FG% on 2 FGA
*LAL '07: .558 FG% on 5 FGA
*LAL '08: .636 FG% (career high) on 9 FGA
Key: * annotes starters, started with Kobe Bryant.
Update: Smush Parker can't get off the bench in Miami. Kwame Brown can't get off the bench in Memphis. Both of their teams are in talks of buying out their contracts. Yet they were key starters on two playoff teams for the Lakers in '06 and '07.
I'll repeat myself:
Kobe Bryant is the only player in the NBA that is expected to win without any talent.
You forgot to add Brian Cook in that mix. He started instead of Mihm or Brown in 05/06. Here are the starting lineups of that 45-37 taking Phoenix to 7 games team: Laker's starting lineups for the 2005/06 season
Nice post overall, I just wanted to mention another ultimate scrub that started in 46 regular season games that year and shot .511 FG%.
The bench was equally impressive: Luke Walton, Devean George, Laron Profit, the then non-existant Vujacic, Bynum and Turiaf. Heck I remember when the Lakers signed Jimmy Jackson and we actually thought he'd help us win some ball games.
peace
p.s.: eveything being said, I think that having Smush Parker start in 82 games cannot be topped.
peace
