Before we "get rid" of Lamar Odom

[Jajwanda]

Garnett solved that to some degree when he let Lamar shoot at will from deep however from time to time it does work and brings Kobe into the paint where he's best.

[Jajwanda]

I still think that relying on Odom all in all is a major mistake and we'd be better served trading for a player like a Richard Jefferson who while not perfect is a great all-around player. He has range up to the three point line, he can play defense, pass fairly well, ball handling has improved, and he's just overall a very good complimentary player who can also do well on the fast break. He's also has a good BBall IQ. That kind of player would effectively negate the major advantages the Celtics enjoyed against our SFs last year. it would effectively force Pierce to play a very tiring game of defense against Kobe or Jefferson all game long. No more would he enjoy a break against Radmanovic, Walton, or even Ariza. It would be strictly work for him, possibly forcing him (in June for crying out loud) to play major minutes tired and unable to carry the Celtics as well as drive as forcefully as before.

Sure we'd have to pay extra cash but Buss needs to be willing to do so in order to win a Championship. Anything else would be just silly. After that a trade for a Joe Smith might be an astute move (might ask the Bucs for Lue as well). Point is, gaining depth (guys who play 12 mpg in the finals basically) should not come at the cost of having an absolutely glaring black hole that makes Kobe work just that much harder.

I don't remember the last time Kobe even had a wing man to take the pressure off of him defensively and offensively. Caron was poor on defense in 2004 and before that Kobe had defensive players surrounding him. Eddie Jones in Kobe's second year? The thought that Kobe could play aggressively and not ever worry about guarding Pierce is tantalizing.

The opportunity is available and it must be taken. It's far better than re-signing Odom or for that matter Ariza even, in the off-season.

[semi-sentient]

Just for the hell of it, I went ahead and did the same for game 6. As I suspected, it was ugly for everyone.

LAL: 45 PTS, 13-35 FG, 14-17 FT, 18 REB, 8 AST, 12 TOV
BOS: 69 PTS, 19-46 FG, 24-25 FT, 31 REB, 15 AST, 4 TOV

BTW, this game was 29-32 with 6:59 left in the 2nd quarter. Posey and House made back to back 3's to stretch the lead to 9 and we never recovered (Turiaf and Sasha were in at this point). The score at the half was 35-58, so they basically went on a 26-6 run to completely blow the game open. Not surprisingly, Walton came in for Radmanovic for the final 3:47 of the half and we were outscored 13-1 in that stretch. Anyway, the big 3, along with everyone else, pretty much stunk it up regardless. Rondo and Posey were instrumental because they were not only scoring (or dishing the ball), but they were wreaking havoc defensively by forcing lots of turnovers.

The more I think about it, the less confident I feel that we have the right pieces to beat the Celtics no matter how well we start playing (and I don't think we'll reach the same level that we were at in the first few weeks of the season). Rondo is going to be a major problem for us if we face them again. The guy is putting up 11.3 PTS (54% FG), 5.0 REB, 7.5 AST, and 2.4 STL... in only 31.6 MPG. He's going to kill Fisher and Farmar, or whoever else we decide to put on him. Unless we figure out how to contain him with good help defense he's going to easily break the defense down and get great looks for guys like Pierce and Allen.

Bynum is not going to do anything against Perkins. I can already see it. I can't stand Perkins and that stupid fake tough guy act that he puts on, but I guarantee you it will work against a young and immature (not to mention emotional) Bynum. I would love to be proven wrong this Thursday though, and if Bynum does nothing else bunch punch him in the mouth I'd probably chalk that up as a satisfactory performance.

Seriously though, I think in hindsight we completely blew it this past offseason by not going after Posey (who is kicking ass in NO) and at least entertaining the idea of bringing Kwame back (I know, not the most popular of choices). We're talking a combined, what, $7 million per year for 2 proven defensive specialists that actually understand their roles? Anyway, I suppose it's pointless to cry over spilled milk, so we'll just have to figure out a) if there are any players that we can get for Odom/Ariza/Farmar which will actually help us or b) what is our optimal rotation because what we have out there isn't going to get it done.

[Jajwanda]

The best option defensively against Rondo is Kobe playing off of him. That's all there is to is, we simply can't do anything but that. Vujajic is decent against Allen although nothing special to be sure.

We can scheme against Allen and Rondo to some degree. How the heck do we stop Pierce with our terrible rotations?

[hermes]

do we need to shut everyone down? why not just limit everyone and just let pierce go, he can't score all the points can he?

[Jajwanda]

You don't need to shut him down. Just make him work so that he can't guard Kobe.

[Mamba Venom]

LO IS A TEAM PLAYER, HE DOES WHAT THE TEAM NEEDS AS LONG AS HE SHOOTS 9 TIMES OR LESS PER GAME, LET HIM PLAY SF. HE HAS THE HIGHEST SHOOTING % ON THE TEAM!

[DEEP3CL]

Here's LO's greatest hits mix..........................pertaining to the bone headed stuff only he has in his arsenal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T83wyYFI ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGTkRERx ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb37X-qT ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQtRXQpZHHg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpE3K4GnmZ8