missing Vlad?

[acion]

With the second unit struggling and A Morrison coming too late to be of any help (if ever), do the Lakers miss Vlad. He is doing a good job with the Bobcats had 19 pts on 4-7 3-pt shooting. Would it be nice to have Vlad for 15 minutes to help with the 2nd unit?

[Sedale Threatt]

Does he improve our defense? No.

Does he improve our execution and overall IQ? No.

Does his trade give us just a little bit better chance of bringing back Odom and/or Ariza? Yes.

So no, I don't miss him. At all.

[vinnycorleone]

i agree with mr. threattt

[crazyeights]

Unanswerable right now.

The real question: Will Pau/Lamar/Kobe/Fish be fresh for the playoffs?

If any one of them is injured. If we lose home court advantage by a game or two. Then I'd say in the short term, yes, we could miss Vlad.

But we can only answer that at the end of the playoffs...and even then who really knows.

However considering our bench struggles and the fact we're trying to have the best overall record, thinning our talent might not have been the best thing...especially if PJ is never going to use Shannon Brown.

Sorry to everyone who hates Vlad, but it's the truth.

[DEEP3CL]

Does he improve our defense? No.

Does he improve our execution and overall IQ? No.

Does his trade give us just a little bit better chance of bringing back Odom and/or Ariza? Yes.

So no, I don't miss him. At all.

Yep this sums it up, well said Sedale.

[semi-sentient]

We got rid of Vlad out of necessity since we need to bring back Odom and Ariza. Having said that, we would have been much better served getting rid of Vujacic and letting Radman play SF while moving Walton over to backup SG.

There is no question that we are hurting badly when it comes to floor spacing/shooting with the second unit, but there's not much we can do about it at this point.

[Danny Darko]

Hmm I think we are missing:

Sasha's accuracy from last year
A third small forward who can play some minor minutes and hit shots-

The second one is sort of like missing Vlad, but more to me is missing Adams recovered knee. I don't expect much out of him, but a guy who can play limited minutes spreading the floor, or more likely- a guy who will get ignored by the defense and find himself wide open for a shot he can hit.

Considering we are still a very good team and we will have more financial flexibility to turn ourselves into a dynasty by resigning Trevor and LO... NOPE don't miss Vlad.

[Slava]

Not missing the attitude and sulkiness on defense but definitely missing that guy who can make 44.1% of his 3 pt attempts. Vlad was garbage but he used to have 2 good games out of seven which seems like a pretty good ratio considering how Sasha and Farmar have been playing off late.

[TonyMontana]

Vlad WHO??? Space Cadet?

[Sedale Threatt]

Not missing the attitude and sulkiness on defense but definitely missing that guy who can make 44.1% of his 3 pt attempts. Vlad was garbage but he used to have 2 good games out of seven which seems like a pretty good ratio considering how Sasha and Farmar have been playing off late.

I honestly don't think I could handle watching those three on the same court right now. I honestly might hurl myself out of a tall building. Either that, or their combined lack of IQ might cause Staples Center to implode. I think we traded Vlade just in time.

[TylersLakers]

GET OVER VLAD ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My god. He was going to be an attitude problem. He NEVER played defense. He was inconsistent with his "best attribute." He would just as easily go 1/6 from three as he could go 4/6.

[microfib4thewin]

The thing here is Vlad doesn't bring anything on the table that is missing on this Laker team. 3 point shooting isn't an issue even with Sasha playing awful. He doesn't help run the offense like Luke, and his defense is nothing to be proud of. If he's cold he doesn't help on the court, and his lackadaisical attitude is why I'd prefer to have Walton on the court because at least he tries to do more than just shoot.

[Boognish]

good riddance.

[hermes]

Not missing the attitude and sulkiness on defense but definitely missing that guy who can make 44.1% of his 3 pt attempts. Vlad was garbage but he used to have 2 good games out of seven which seems like a pretty good ratio considering how Sasha and Farmar have been playing off late.

but with him barely playing before getting moved, those 2 out of 7 games would take place over a month

[triplethreatt]

Not missing Vlad in the slightest. The bench used to have Odom, Ariza, and either Bynum or Gasol, depending on who was resting at the time. Instead, we have Powell and Mbenga getting more time, along with more attention paid to Farmar and Sasha, who won't get as good of looks without the inside threats on the court.

If Bynum can recover and regain his starting spot, this team improves by leaps and bounds just by lessening the burden on the bench.

[what would jack bauer do?]

There was one time I missed vlad since he was traded and that was when we lost to Portland. I really felt we were missing size and shooting at sf that game. But other than that... no. The dude just wasn't the answer, if I'm missing something it's something we never had which is a sf that can defend, shoot, and has a high bball iq. Battier, Prince, Garcia... there are probably a bunch of other guys we can get.

[microfib4thewin]

There was one time I missed vlad since he was traded and that was when we lost to Portland. I really felt we were missing size and shooting at sf that game. But other than that... no. The dude just wasn't the answer, if I'm missing something it's something we never had which is a sf that can defend, shoot, and has a high bball iq. Battier, Prince, Garcia... there are probably a bunch of other guys we can get.

Are you the guy who keeps saying the Lakers should get Garcia? He's a natural SG first off, and second, if he can't even be a legit starter on the Kings team he sure as hell wouldn't do much for us. I have watched Kings play from time to time, and even when K-Mart was injured he wasn't entirely impressive on the games he did started. He's more suitable for a team that needs a 2 who can help the bench score and make hustle plays. He's not going to play at a high level for over 30 minutes.

[what would jack bauer do?]

Yep, I'm the guy who keeps saying bring over Garcia and a bunch of other wing defenders that are pretty much guys that play 2/3. I don't really care if they're natural shooting guards or not cause with Kobe our 2 and 3 positions are interchangeable. Garcia may not be great, but he's perfect for the triangle and for our team. He's a high IQ player that can shoot, defend, handle pg duties, and plays with toughness. The beauty of the triangle and playing with Kobe/Pau/Bynum is it makes players even better than they are. Dfish has his niche as a good kick out shooter and defender, outside of LA he had little success except for with the Jazz. Garcia would gain the same type of benefit that Fisher does and he doesn't have a weakness that needs to be covered up like fish.

And by the way Garcia plays PF (6%) more than he does SG (2%) for the Kings; and he's always played more sf than sg since he's been in league. He takes up 36% of their sf minutes. Not that his stats are impressive since they're such a bad team, but he has been in all 10 of their top 5 man units since his rookie year (even the years artest was there). I think what he brings every game doesn't show up on the stat sheet. I'm not saying he'd become anywhere near an all-star with us, but his consistency would be great as a role player at the end of games.

[That Nicka]

Hell no

[Dexmor]

I think if Bynum comes back it won't matter. Unfortunately I have no faith he is coming back.