Mike Brown (this season)

[BballTechnique]

Morrow on the Lakers would = championship. The floor spacing between Nash, Kobe, and Morrow would be insane. No one can defend that AND two 7 footers.

[tsherkin]

That's what I was getting at, yeah; Artest is frustratingly mediocre and inconsistent on offense. I never really supported that move in the first place, though he did a magnificent job of disrupting Durant a few years back.

[Kilroy]

MWP found a way to basically shut Pierce down in the finals, and has had some success against LeBron and Durant... In the PAST... But last season LeBron, Durant, Harden, etc, eventually found a way to deal with him and he was largely uneffective on them. He was more effective on bigger-slower guys.

But recent video of him shows him thinner and possibly quicker, so who knows...

Basically, I'm in the "MWP Lakers Era is over" camp... I wanted him amnestied last season.

We need an improvement at SF badly.

And I'm not sure we should roll the dice on another old-timer like Hill... I think we should keep that experiment limited to Nash.

Big trades aside, it's time for the Mitch to work his magic and bring in a solid entering-prime SF, perimeter threat and Defensive specialist.

[Edrees]

None of you have any memory of Metta's three point shooting the final 3 weeks of season and playoffs? It improved drastically. Now that he's back into shape his shot is fine

[BballTechnique]

That's what I was getting at, yeah; Artest is frustratingly mediocre and inconsistent on offense. I never really supported that move in the first place, though he did a magnificent job of disrupting Durant a few years back.

Artest was amazing in his first season. He erased Durant, Melo, and Pierce whenever we played them.

But now he needs to go. Iggy, Morrow, or any SF with range and athleticism would be lights out for the rest of the league.

[nbaintel1]

None of you have any memory of Metta's three point shooting the final 3 weeks of season and playoffs? It improved drastically. Now that he's back into shape his shot is fine

Yea but the layoff is 4-5 months. Who knows how he'll look next season.

A lot of players have good playoff runs and then fall back to earth the next season. I wouldn't put any weight on his playoff performance. Oh yea, he was also piss poor in the OKC series. Him and Sessions couldn't hit anything.

[tsherkin]

Artest CAN be very good.

And true enough, the last 5 years, he's shot 35% or better from downtown. The lockout hurt him just like it did so many other players.

But he is MADDENINGLY inconsistent and it drives me bonkers. The Lakers would do better taking a hit on their perimeter defense in order to improve their offense with a better shooter and bringing Metta off of the bench, IMO.

Having said that, the Nash effect will hopefully shut me up. More practices, training camp, better shape and a sick PG should do wonders for Artest on offense. *positive vibes, positive vibes*

[tsherkin]

Iggy, Morrow, or any SF with range and athleticism would be lights out for the rest of the league.

Iggy doesn't have range, why'd you add him in there? He's a mediocre shooter. Had a great year this past season, but I'll pass unless the deal is nice.

[AdonisDeMarion]

I think Mike Brown should be given another chance even when I wanted us to bring in Rick Adleman or Jerry Sloan over him, but lets have Nash run the offense and Brown handle the defense.

[crazy8ights]

there was a point last season where both our SF's were producing greatly before an incident. Matt Barnes before the ankle was on fire, Metta before the elbow was ripping teams. That being said we need to replace at least one of them.

[tsherkin]

I think Mike Brown should be given another chance even when I wanted us to bring in Rick Adleman or Jerry Sloan over him, but lets have Nash run the offense and Brown handle the defense.

Brown's under contract, he's not going any where. Last season was also a bad example, given how few practices they had and the compressed season, etc. It screwed EVERYONE. League-average scoring efficiency was down to a level we hadn't seen since prior to the rules changes. 03-04, lgav TS of 51.6% compared to 52.7% this year and no year in between under 53%. Also, the last five years were 54%+. So yeah, the lockout OWNED scoring efficiency throughout the league.

So I'd expect a bounce-back. I'm interested to see if the team can improve defensively, as well. They were 6th in the league on D in Phil's last season, then 13th this past season under Brown. Minding that Kobe was going bananas on shooting volume and missed 8 games, playing Troy Murphy and Steve Blake a lot of the season, etc, etc, that's not so bad and a foundation on which to build but there was clearly a move backwards relative to league average.

I think that a whole conventional off-season and training camp coupled with better schedule spacing and more practices throughout the season will do a lot to help, though, since the Lakers certainly have the pieces.

We'll see what happens, but it is an exciting proposition.

[AdonisDeMarion]

I wanted to see him work with Odom. I wanted the ball in Odom's hands like how James had the ball in his hands in Cleveland. That was shot down with a trade. What I'm wondering is if Brown is smart enough to let Nash and Bryant handle the offense while he handles defense. I watched Bryant coach this team while he was out and he did a wonderful job. I think him and Nash both with very high basketball could make something very beautiful with this big 4.