Long TIme Lurker here to post opinions on the lakers

[DMan101]

Yeah hello I used to lurk I love the Lakers & NY Knicks


Basically I want Lamar Odom gone we need Ron Artest starting for us if we can;t get Ron Artest I suggest going after Baron Davis because that deal would help both the Lakers & The Warriors.

We need a consistant tough threat and strong player to pair with Kobe the front court is set for 5 years but in order to combat The Blazers, Celtics, Spurs & Hornets we will have to get a 22 ppg scorer and or a top 5 NBA swingman defender that can shoot.

Lamar takes too much mental lapses and since he is not a shooter he would hurt us even more with Bynum and Pau playing in the front court

a 3-2 zone would expose us in the playoffs.

Do you think Mitch Will bring in another star or have faith in Lamar ?

[dockingsched]

im always amazed at how low people think of lamar and at the same time expect other division rivals to trade their best player for him.

[Tommy Trojan]

im always amazed at how low people think of lamar and at the same time expect other division rivals to trade their best player for him.

[Erik Eleven]

Welcome to the board, man.

Lamar does hold a great value to this team, but with Bynum and Gasol in the post maybe the fit of his skill set (trade value) is greater on another team — a team that might offer us a better fit based on our current needs. I've been defending Odom for years, but arguments against trading him are running thin with the current make-up of our roster.

[DMan101]

im always amazed at how low people think of lamar and at the same time expect other division rivals to trade their best player for him.

Artest can opt out and The Kings are rebuilding around K-Mart, Udrih and Salmons

Peopl ehave to realize not everyteam is trying to win the most games possible

[Rox_Nix_Nox]

How do you balance your interest in two teams?

[DubaLakers]

How do you balance your interest in two teams?

I agree Rox...He's a NYK fan who wants to follow a winner, so he picks a team on the left coast that he likes to appease the bleeding. He's not going to pick a east team that beats up on the NYK 4 times a year. If it came down to a NYK/LAL final I guarantee he would no longer be a Laker fan. I don't buy it.

[kno]

a 3-2 zone would expose us in the playoffs.

I disagree with this statement.

I actually think a 3-2 zone would be doing teh Laker team a favor.

A 3-2 zone requires three players to stay at home at their spots on the perimeter. WHat is a team going to do one Bryant gets past that first defender? There will only be two people down low (one at each side of the rim). Thats not enough to contain Bryant, especially with Bynum (who has amazingly soft hands for a big man), Gasol (who can also catch almost anything, and is a great passer), and Lamar flashing the lane.

Or, if they help out on the perimeter, you got Vlad/Fish/Sasha with the open corner three.

Or if everyone stays at home, you give Bryant the free lane, which you never want to do.

It would be pick your poison IMO>

[Slava]

Thats supposed to be the theory Kno but so far if there's been a defensive scheme thats always troubled Kobe and taken him out of the game, its been the zone defense, right from the time the Pistons used it in the 2003-04 playoffs. His insistence on testing his fade away on a zone has been his fallacy for quite sometime.

[tlifeset]

Erik Eleven, I always like your replies. Well thought out and concise. Here's the deal with Lamar ... let's be perfectly honest--he's not going to be able to play SF against elite teams. Yeah, Lamar at SF is nice against the Bobcats in December. But it won't work against the Spurs in May and June. It just won't. So, the Lakers FO has a decision, can they keep Lamar to play primarily as a 6th man and somehow replace Radman with a real SF that is finals caliber. Ariza might be that guy, but it's a real roll of the dice for a team that's ready to win now. Artest is a good example, if he opts out and then signs with the Lakers (and their fine with the luxury tax hit) then you can keep Odom and everything can be peaches. But if that doesn't happen then this team has some serious decisions. And that's not just because we're not sure if the Lamar experiment will work or not, but mostly because Lamar is a FA after this year and you have to seriously examine this offseason (not during the season) how much and how long you're willing to give Lamar to stick around or if you're okay with him walking away and getting nothing in return. Quite frankly, I'm not okay with either of those situations. I don't want to give Lamar 5 years at 10-13 mill a year (his value) and I don't want him to walk away because that is the death of championship contenders. Here's the other thing, it just so happens that there are quite a few talented SF that would fit perfectly into this system and have similar contracts to Lamar: Richard Jefferson and Shawn Marion. It's just a perfect storm to trade Lamar. I like the guy. It's purely a business move--it's as much about the future of Lamar than it is about next year. Period.

[DMan101]

Well the Lakers are w contending team and the Knicks are rebuilding so of course during the draft and summer I will focus on the Knicks more and I watch more Knicks games since I live in NYC.

If it came down to it yeah Imma Knicks fan first and foremost my favorites on the Laker team is not even Kobe It's guys like Farmar, Bynum, Ariza and Sasha so I'm not a bandwagon fan by far.

It's pretty easy to balance rooting for 2 teams actually.