Lakers Depth... AKA: Thanks Mitch

[Kilroy]

I've been thinking about the 'holes' in our lineup lately, and the more I think about it... We don't have any....

1) Ok, we're a little light at the point with Fisher and Farmar as our primary guys...

But with a healthy Bynum and Gasol and Kobe on the team, we have so many offensive options that even if Farmar and Fisher are ineffective, Kobe can bring up the ball and Sasha can play SG. Or Sasha can bring the ball up... Sun Yue is not likely to play much but he might even have a roll in this..

2) Small Forward is an unknown...

Odom, Walton, Ariza, Kobe, Radman... Hell... Sasha, Yue...

3) Who's going to play PF?

Gasol, Odom, Powel, Mihm... Walton, Radman...

4) We have no center depth...

Bynum, Gasol, Mihm, Powel (DJ?) OK, we could use another body here but it's not that critical...

Shooting Gaurd is not a problem from any perspective...

Now, could our 3rd string guys in each position carry us to the finals? No... But that's not the point...

Of course we still have some questions...
How good will Odom play at whatever position?
Will Walton get his shot back?
How will Bynum and Gasol interact?
Where will Kobe play?
How will Sasha play after the contract?
How much will we pay Bynum?
Etc...

But so do all the other teams... And it's a long season.

If we focus on what we have... We have a VERY flexible team. We have multiple looks we can throw out there that can be compettitive with any team in the league. I think our skill level among our players may be higher than any team in the league.

All in all, we certainly have some questions to answer, but whatever percieved lineup problems we may have are relatively minor.

Thanks Mitch.

I think he's provided the coaching staff with the pieces they need to compete, now it's up to Phil and crew to make it work...

I don't want any more moves... I can't wait to see this team work.

...Now if it doesn't work by allstars... I say trade EVERYBODY!

[hermes]

[snaquille oatmeal]

what about the holes in our defense? thanks Mitch for letting Houston get Artest.

[Kilroy]

Thanks, but I don't think anyone needs to see any more pictures of Mitch...
Morphing into a surprisingly effective GM doesn't magically make you better looking...
Does he have a hot wife?

I should add that I've never had any confidence in Mitch as a GM. I always thought he was a yes-man to the Buss family and lacked the strength of character to take over for West. I still remember him as a player too...

But that being said, if he's going to be the guy you blame for the failure of the org, then he's gotta be the guy you give credit to for the success...

I think this team looks pretty good from a talent perspective and if this lineup doesn't work, it isn't because we haven't gotten good players. I think at this point, if the experiment fails, Phil might have to carry the blame...

[Kilroy]

what about the holes in our defense? thanks Mitch for letting Houston get Artest.

I agree that this team lacks D... It's frustrating...
We also lack heart, which is innexcusable...

But I keep seeing people screaming for different players while looking at the offensive side of the equation... I just think we're fine there...

I wanted Artest at first too... But I wanted him to come over for one aspect of his game... His tenacity and presence on D. But the more I thought about it, I realized that those things have become a relatively small part of what Artest brings to the table... The rest is mostly bad...

I now think that Artest would have been an abselute dissaster as a Laker. I think there's a good chance Houston got weaker with that move. Time will tell...

I think we actually have the players we need to be effective on D too. It's up to them to step up and show the HEART to play it though... That falls on the players themselves, the Locker Room environment... And probably most importantly... The Coaching staff...

I mean, does anybody actually believe these guys are incapable of playing Defense?

If that were the case, I doubt they would have made it to the NBA...

If they refuse to match Boston's intensity again though... Or any of the buising teams... Then I think changes must be made... Probably some pretty big ones...

[hermes]

Thanks, but I don't think anyone needs to see any more pictures of Mitch...
Morphing into a surprisingly effective GM doesn't magically make you better looking...
Does he have a hot wife?

he is from Hicksville, NY

[TylersLakers]

I still think we're lacking a big man who can get in the rotation. The 9 man rotation in my opinion will be..

Fisher
Kobe
Odom
Pau Gasol
Bynum

Fisher
Sasha
Ariza
(Powell)
(Radmanovic)
(Mihm)

We don't have a big man where we KNOW is going to come in and be solid. We're going to be in a world of hurt if Odom, Bynum or Gasol goes down for any extended period of time. Hopefully Powell can evolve into that player. I think he can, but it's up to the coaching staff to get him a ton of minutes in pre-season and early in the season.

[Asianiac_24]

i think we need an "enforcer" on our team. A guy who would come in and give a nice hard foul that would piss the opponent off and discourage them from driving into the lane. With Turiaf's departure, we also need our energy guy. Our team lacks heart, we need a guy to come in off the bench and energize our team up when we are playing like we don't give a ****.

[crazyeights]

I still think we're lacking a big man who can get in the rotation. The 9 man rotation in my opinion will be..

Fisher
Kobe
Odom
Pau Gasol
Bynum

Fisher
Sasha
Ariza
(Powell)
(Radmanovic)
(Mihm)

We don't have a big man where we KNOW is going to come in and be solid. We're going to be in a world of hurt if Odom, Bynum or Gasol goes down for any extended period of time. Hopefully Powell can evolve into that player. I think he can, but it's up to the coaching staff to get him a ton of minutes in pre-season and early in the season.

I could have sworn it was you, Ty who was jazzed we signed Powell...not even you thinks he'll crack the rotation?

[joe.linnen]

I'm happy with our team. I love our rotations for the front court and back court.

Front Court:
Bynum-C
Gasol-PF/C
Odom-PG/SG/SF/PF/C
Mihm-PF/C
Powell-PF/C
Radmanovic-SF/PF
Walton-SF/PF
Ariza-SG/SF
Yue-PG/SG/SF

Back Court:
Bryant-PG/SG/SF
Vujacic-PG/SG
Farmar-PG
Fisher-PG/SG
Ariza-SG/SF
Odom-PG/SG/SF/PF/C
Karl-SG/SF
YuePG/SG/SF