Give Vlad a break...

[Dexmor]

He looks pretty good out there I got to say. He is doing things I didn't think he could do or would do I should say. Didn't he have like 3 dunks last game? He is a decent 5th man.

[hermes]

Sheesh, some of you need to wake-up from dreamland...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDDB0cRZ ... re=related

hey man quit rocking the boat

[semi-sentient]

First off, regular season success doesn't guarantee postseason success. Dallas and Phoenix were formerly among the league leaders every year in reg season wins.

But what happens in the playoffs? Whole 'nother story.

I wasn't implying that regular season success and playoff success were tied together.

Sure, blame the last few games on the reserves, but guess what, that issue won't nearly be as important in the playoffs. The rotations will be shortened.

You're right, it won't be as important, which is comforting since our starters have been mostly getting the job done, but it's still important as the same bench guys that have been blowing leads will still get PT in the playoffs. It's also important in terms of playoff seed positioning. We can't afford to lose games right now as Cleveland and Boston are playing just as well as we are, if not better, and quite frankly I think our chances of winning it all increase significantly if we have homecourt advantage. Our bench simply needs to come in and play smarter so that games are closed out properly, and that's all I'm really advocating.

And those opponent stats regarding Vlade are completely misleading. We don't play strict man defense this year, not with our zone that we use so frequently. How many switches do we have in the course of the game, and how many times does Kobe decide to guard Rad's opponent? None of that shows up in the stats.

Again, I'm not a moron in that I believe those stats tell the whole story. I can't possibly look at game logs and determine when a switch was made or if pressure from another player led to a turnover, etc., etc. That is part of the reason that I posted both game quotes and statistics because there is a correlation, not to mention this is what I've observed over the course of the season. I don't expect us all to see things the exact same way so there is obviously going to be some difference in opinion and that's fine. If none of us had these differences then RealGM would be quite a boring place.

Bynum and Pau have provided basket protection that's buoyed the baseline of defense. Radamn's opponent last year was PER is 17.0 and 18.7 at the forward positions. This year, 14.3. He's improved defensively, but that much? He's benefited from the same team defense that guys like Pierce and Allen, two guys never known for their defense, benefited from by playing with elite help defender KG and bruiser Perkins and a balhawker Rondo. Ray Allen went from 15 something in Seattle to 12 last year, 9 this year. Yes, his opponent shooting guards have an average PER in the single digits. Ray Allen for DPOY? No, zone defense.

Exactly. Team defense, which happens to be a responsibility of more than just one player. I was thinking the same thing with regard to Allen and Pierce (they were never known as good defenders), so there's no reason to believe that if we get our act together guys like Fisher and Radman shouldn't benefit the same.

Unfortunately we don't have a "real" defensive coach (Rambis? Come on...) nor do we have an anchor the way Boston does, but we've played well enough that team defense has helped hide some of our deficiencies, which is what it's designed to do. We have quite a while to work things out, so I'm glad that we're at least making defense a big deal and pointing out when we do bad (even if it results in a win).

So please, let's look at these stats in the appropriate context. And as much as Radamn has improved, zero defense to somewhat below average, that's worthy of a clap and even a hi-five, but if we're aiming to win a championship, that deserves a "who cares?"

Right, zero defense to below average. Can you show me that he went from zero defense to below average defense besides just making a blanket statement? I went through great lengths to support my argument so you'll have to excuse me for not buying into this line of thought.

We're so close to winning a championship, I have very little patience with things that seem like a dead end. What are we waiting for? Until it's too late? Because guess what, will anybody be surprised if Radamn and/or Fish shoot inconsistently in the playoffs and their lack of defense is exposed?

When Radman starts playing consistently poor defense, then we might consider calling it a dead end. Right now I don't see how we can draw that conclusion based on his play through 19 games which I illustrated earlier. Also, I am not looking entirely at what happened last year and just expecting the same thing to happen this season. We did not put any emphasis on defense last year. Not by the coaching staff, and certainly not by the players. This year we clearly are, so that changes everything. The result is that we have improved, but just how much and will it continue are the real questions.

What we haven't changed though is how our bench plays. I do not like the pace with which they play at one bit. It's so, uh, last season. They are a fun bunch to watch and they give us all reason to go on the General Board and brag about how awesome they are, but that type of play is not going to get it done in the playoffs. They need to slow it down and play smarter, not try to re-incarnate the failed Phoenix Suns strategy over the past few seasons. That being said, I would like to see Walton in there with the 2nd unit to slow things down. I can't stand when Farmar and Sasha push the ball after every rebound or inbounds play, as all that does it puts us in a "who can score more points" contest with our opponent. Whether you see it or not, this is why we have been losing leads so fast. With these guys it's either hit or miss, and if they have 3 possessions in a row where they run down and take a poor shot it leads to more transition opportunities for the opponent, and that has been a glaring weakness for our defense this year. If we slow the pace, those opportunities start to disappear as guys are in position to recover after a miss. I guess this is a whole 'nother topic though.

Just look at the bottom line. I think Bynum and Gasol can play KG and Perkins well, hopefully neutralizing that frontline. I think Kobe will outplay Pierce all things being equal, but the difference won't be massive, considering Kobe's playing in a team concept for the past two years. Ray Allen on the other hand, will far outplay Radamn, and Rondo, Fish. You can take that to the bank and cash it. And at the end of the day that's all that matters.

1. You might want to check the history of Kobe/Pierce, as there is no reason whatsoever to believe Kobe is going to outplay Pierce. Pierce has consistently won that match up. [click here for more on that]

2. Yes, I expect Allen to outplay Radman. If Ariza were starting I'd expect him to get outplayed as well. Allen is a tough cover, and if he's making his outside shots there isn't much you can do about it. But why is this about Allen outplaying Radman? Allen was Kobe's man during the Finals, was he not? Whatever the case, great team defense can hold these guys in check and that involves the right amount of contribution from everyone including Radman.

Sure, Phil Jackson has been playing the 2nd unit more this season and that's great for our veteran's legs.

But anybody with a bit of foresight can see that our team would still be undermanned in the Finals. We're so excited about everybody talking about all the talent on our team. Hey, only five can play at a time. And Boston still has a better record than us. Who's talking about all their talent? How about Cleveland?

I should point out that I'm not all that thrilled with our record as I do think we have fell off a bit over the past couple of weeks and I see a few problems with how we're performing. I've already showed how the decline in dominance is related (in large part) to poor bench play, so I'm not opposed to a few tweaks here and there. This is all Phil Jackson though.

[Sedale Threatt]

Good research, SS. I had no idea about the head-to-head function on basketball reference. While some context is needed there, that's pretty freaking cool.

The bottom line for me regarding Radmanovic is, I don't trust him (to play defense, to play smart, to take good shots) when the chips are down. He's shooting really well right now, and he certainly hasn't been as big a defensive liability as our point guards. And I agree that he's a better fit for the starting lineup than Ariza, who is a classic sixth man, especially with this team and our two 7-footers.

But again, I simply don't trust Radmanovic, especially not when the playoffs roll around, and grit is invariably rewarded. So yeah, I would certainly explore trade options, especially now that his value is high. Not for some pie-in-the-sky All-Star, but someone who can be counted on. Like a Rick Fox, another flawed and limited player, but who at least brought a rugged defensive presence on a nightly basis. I'd take that over what Radmanovic gives us any day of the week.

And regarding our recent defensive decline, our bench has certainly contributed to that. But I'd say you can contribute just as much to the facts that:

1. We have arguably the worst defensive PG tandem in the league. That's the initial phase of your defense, and if those guys are constantly giving up penetration and getting hung up on screens, you're fighting an uphill battle from there.

2. Beyond Kobe and Ariza, we have some pretty lackluster perimeter defenders. Reggie Theus said as much when we played the Kings recently, crediting those two but mentioning that we had other players that could be exploited. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that Radmanovic (among others, of course) is in that group.

3. Bynum's paint protection has really dropped recently. He blocked at least three shots in eight of the first nine games, then he didn't do it again for another seven or eight. He actually went to full games, a stretch of about 60 minutes, without blocking a single shot -- that is criminal. Not only do I think he's getting preoccupied with offense, teams are getting smart about pulling him out of the paint on p/r's and such. He needs to counter.

4. We've been getting absolutely murdered on the offensive glass lately, giving up at least 10 in something like five or six straight games. This is one of Gasol's fundamental flaws as he has a tendency to get muscled around, as he was by Troy Murphy. I also don't think Bynum has been as good on the glass as he can be; nine a game for him isn't acceptable. His size/length alone should get him 10, easy.

So, as much as I agree that the bench has been poor lately, there are many other contributing factors here (which I know you've acknowledged; I just wanted to point them out specifically).

And do keep in mind that nobody was complaining in the first few weeks when the bench was blowing games wide open between the third and fourth quarters, and Gasol and Kobe were getting their knees iced with six or seven minutes left.

I'm hoping that a few raps on the knuckles from our head coach, to get our bench and our defense re-focused, is all it takes. If not, I would certainly explore a trade or two, because right now, as it stands, I don't think we beat Boston or Cleveland in a series, especially not without home court. Lakers over the first two weeks? Absolutely. But not as we've been currently lately. No way. Not tough enough, not cohesive enough, not good enough, period.

[LLcoleJ]

Ok cynical geniuses, pray do tell what the Lakers should do? I presume you all are referring to 2 options:

1) Bench Radman, start Ariza
2) Package Radman, Ariza, or whomever it may take, to get a top notch defensive, 3pt shooting SF

So let's start with option 1-

Now we have someone that plays defense, but because he's a horrid shooter, allows the defense to collapse on the post on his side. Excellent. The 8 extra mins we give Ariza and take away from Radman will give us 8 mins more of less spacing and more missing.

option 2-

Hey, I'm all for improving the team, so let's hear it? What miraculous trade do the Lakers need to make for this ever missing defensive lock down defender that can hit the 3 (or just lock up Paul Pierce and Lebron James, right)? Let's see the offers? Exactly...

What it amounts to is a lot of "talkin' loud, and sayin' nothin". There is no magical lockdown SF that can stop Paul Pierce or Lebron James people. NONE. Especially not one that the Lakers can realistically obtain.

So we are back at option 1. Is giving Ariza a few extra mins a game (basically swapping places w/ Radmanovic) going to make that big a difference on an 18-2 team?

Sheesh, some of you need to wake-up from dreamland...

Whats overkill is your insults to people on this forum who dont share your views. You are going to have to learn to interact with people and reply to their posts in a civil manner instead of constantly insulting posters who dont see it your way. There are people in this thread expressing their views and not attacking you.Give it a rest.

[semi-sentient]

Sedale Threatt: I agree with just about everything you stated, and believe me, if we had an opportunity to upgrade the 3 spot I'd be all for it, even if it is in the form of a "Rick Fox" type player (who had his deficiencies but was important for us back in the 3-peat days).

Some of the other threads have mentioned exploring a possible deal to get AK47, so I wouldn't hesitate in packaging Odom/Radman (heck, or Farmar) to make something like that happen. Of course, I can't see the Jazz even considering such a trade, but it's nice to think about. At the end of the day I do hope we can figure out how to make what we have work on a consistent basis (I'd say 75% of the time we have), so we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.

[Slava]

If there was a chance for us to land AK 47, he'd be the best PG on our team already.

Having said that, there's no real possible way to land him as he's doing exactly what we expected Odom to do coming into this season, putting up solid numbers off the bench in Utah.

[milesfides]

SS, again, what's wrong with those stats regarding Kobe and Pierce? Well 20% of their total head-to-head matchups occurred in last year's playoffs, when the entire Boston team was geared to stopping Kobe, while the only person between Pierce and the basket was Radamnovic.

When I say Kobe would outplay or outproduce Pierce, I'm operating under the assumption that the nightmare that was last year's playoffs would not happen again.

In fact, I did positional comparisons (perkins/bynum, pau/garnett, fish/rondo) except when it came to Radamn. I chose to compare him with Ray Allen just to mitigate the ass-kicking he really got from Pierce.

Again, it's important to keep stats in perspective. There's a context, and considering the context helps understanding statistics appropriately.

=============

And to the person who posted the youtube video of Radamn making a good defensive play...are you serious? Smush Parker has a long list of youtube videos of brilliant amazing plays.

Nor is listing the posts from realgm posters who complimented Radamn on a defensive play. Sure, he has made a few good defensive plays. That doesn't make him a good defender. If he plays good defensive consistently, reliably, and at the highest level against the toughest competition, then he's a good defender.

But he isn't; in fact, he's a guy who apparently until this summer didn't realize defense was that important in basketball. That's a player you guys would bank on in the playoffs?

===

J-Far, we should have pulled the trigger for AK back when Larry Miller publicly implored some team to take AK off their hands.

I still think AK is still available at some level. For example, something like:

http://www.realgm.com/src_checktrade.ph ... id=4858093

Lakers give up Odom (Chi), Ariza, Farmar, and Radamn (all Utah), and get back AK and Hinrich
Bulls give up Hinrich (LA) and Cedric Simmons (UT), get back Odom
Jazz give up Kirilenko (LA), get Ariza, Farmar, and Radamn, and Simmons

Lakers lose two key bench players but shore up their starting lineup to a championship level. I think AK47 is a championship caliber player. Hinrich probably isn't, but he's the best available PG (when he comes back from injury of course).

We lose our bench strength, but we get back to running a consistent offense and the best possible defense. I'm not sure if we can get a better defender at SF and PG than Kirilenko and Hinrich.

And it'll be a team built for the playoffs.

(Bulls jettison Hinrich's contract, or they have the option of keeping a quality PF)
(Jazz jettison AK's contract, save a lot of money, shore up the bench, Ariza will replace Kirilenko, Farmar would be a terrific backup for D-will)

[Verbal]

Hinrich, Kobe, AK47, Gasol, Bynum?