what in the world is wrong with the Lakes

tjmakz wrote:bob,

Why wouldn't the Knicks try to get Carmelo? It will make them a much better team, especially if they don't have to give up much. That doesn't solve the problem that they don't have an NBA-capable center, but they will have to address that problem another time. NY also is starting a rookie 2nd round draft pick at SG. It will take years to rebuild the disaster that Isiah Thomas and James Dolan built, but getting Amare, Felton and Carmelo in the same year would be a great start to rebuilding the Knicks franchise.

TJ,

At least they're not irrelevant anymore and that's a HUGE upgrade. Who will the Knicks have to give up to get Carmelo? As you pointed out, they can't give up their center, they haven't got one. Carlmelo makes $17M this year. To make the numbers work, the Knicks would have to give up Curry (do you really think Denver would take him?) and a few other pieces. Curry's in his last contract year (and probably last year in the NBA), so that might have value.

bob

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Whoever said the the Lakers are going to pull a Boston of last year and get a high position but necessarily number one...got it right. They seem content to go in as a number 2 or 3 or maybe even top 4. I guess they plan on doing their damage in the post season.

Lakers are 25-16 their last 41 games after getting blown out by 20 tonight by Charlotte (think MJ enjoyed that?). That's half a season playing like a 50 win team. Which is what the Celtics were last season, and we saw them get to the Finals and almost win a title (which they probably would have if Perk had not gone down in game 6).

So the message in this post is it's not how you play in January, February or March. It's how healthy and focused you are once the games that really matter begin. I don't think we'll see the Lakers playing this bad come mid-April.

sweet. means we pick up another game in the loss column

jeb wrote:
sweet. means we pick up another game in the loss column

The only teams I'm watching, in this respect, are Miami (1 back), Chicago (2 back) and Dallas (2 back).

SA are 5 games up on us and the Lakers are 4 back. The Spurs would have to take a big fall for us to catch them and the same is true for the Lakers to catch us (they'd have to start playing well too).

bob

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Bob,
I agree... I think the Lakers will show up when it counts.
Damn them!

LACELTFAN wrote:Bob,
I agree... I think the Lakers will show up when it counts.
Damn them!

I wouldn't bet against LA but their poor play seems to be more then just taking their foot off of the pedal.
Even for many of the games that they have won, a big reason was that the other team missed many make-able shots, including in the Boston game.
Other then Kobe, their outside shooting is very inconsistent.
They also need to get Bynum more involved and Bynum needs to feel comfortable to shoot the ball from 8-12 feet which he can do.
When Bynum is determined to get to the rim, he gets double teamed or frequently travels or gets called for 3 seconds.
Not much they can do with Artest offensively other then cross their fingers and hope he is hot that game. When he is healthy it would not surprise me to see Barnes taking many more of Artests minutes.
A significant trade to help their outside shooting would not surprise me.
For a team that does not utilize their pg's to penetrate through the lane, outside shooting is critical.

Everybodys comparing them to us,but we had alot more injuries,KG went down for a stretch,when he came back he wasn't the same until certain playoff games and this year ofcourse hes alot closer to 08.Pierce had numerous injuries,a swollen knee,and Baby missed the first half of season and never had his game going like this season.....so we had alot of disconuity,is that Sams word?Lakers have their TEAM pretty much,unless missing Sasha and Farmer is affecting them,I wouldn't mind getting a whiff of Maria.

A whiff? Is that what they call it in the City these days ?

Last year, we also had the 'negotiations' still going on about how to advance the ball and work the point guard into the offense.

In 07/'08 Rondo, on those occasions when he brought the ball up the court, he would just toss it off to one of the Big 3, and go hide in the corner. That offense was built around getting the ball to KG in the low post. The running game, when there was one, was accidental.

In '08/'09 Rondo asserted himself more and more as the season went on, culminating in the amazing playoff series he had against Chicago.

In '09/'10, it seemed that Paul Pierce finally understood the magical difference it makes in the game to have a speed demon like Rondo constantly pressuring and pushing the opposing team to get back.

From the beginning of Doc's tenure, Paul struggled against Danny's vision of a running game. Paul thrives in the half-court and likes to take his time attacking on offense.

IMHO, it took all this time for Paul to become the complete player. Even last season, he was taking the ball up the court too often and settling for isolations instead of working to find the open man. Now, he still controls the game, but not by dominating the ball, instead, he does it by hustling to positions on defense, keeping his head up and watching the play develop, anticipating the movements of all ten men on the floor. Sometimes he even blocks out his man (lol).

You see the consummate team player in his attitude as well. He has real affection his teammates. When do you see him arguing calls anymore? He wills the team to win, has that same we-are-not-going-to-lose frame of mind no matter what the score or how much time is left in the game.

After watching all these years, and knowing this is what Paul was capable of, it's great to see it happen.