I like the roster right now. If I had one wish though, it would be that either Lamar, Luke, or Vladrad get traded. The three stooges get on my nerves a lot.
Well Bynum plays tough most of the time. However during the Finals Kobe was soft just dancing around the perimeter, Gasol should have demanded the ball more, same with Odom and attacked the rim when guarded by smaller guys. Radman is a softy, Walton can bring some grit sometimes, Ariza was actually a surprizingly effective and brought energy to the Lakers on both ends. I think with Gasol at PF and Bynum at center they will be fine.
I liked Shape's thoughts on the Finals, he doesn't oversimplify things like ESPN and the rest of the media.
I think it was more so the lack of experience and the shell shock of not even being able to advance past the first round, to making it to the biggest stage of NBA basketball. Nobody was questioning this team's toughness or mental capacity when we came back from a 20 point deficit in the second half against the defending champs. But I'm not saying toughness wasn't a factor though, obviously everyone on the team pretty much went into their own little shell, especially in Game 4 and 6
To be honest I felt those quotes quite biased. Basically saying that none of it was Kobe's fault and it was everyone else's fault. Pierce and Allen did a good job defensively, and sometimes double teamed, Kobe got frustated and wasn`t aggressive. I remember counting one game Kobe driving to the hoop just a few times the entire game. Overall, Kobe settled for jumpers and shot 40.5%. However yes others are at fault, Pau and Odom should have demanded the ball more, they hit 53% and 52% of their shots, which are respectable %s. Especially when Perkins went out, Posey is tough but shouldn't be able to defend Odom driving or down low.
Well that was at least just one mediocre series for Kobe this year. Lamar had two respectable games in spite of his "FG%" (don't care what your percentage is if you are inefficient pace-wise). Pau was decent in 3 out of 6 contests, but he underperformed as well. Pau lost a step in those last three series, Kobe got to the Finals without a real All-Star on his team.
Well I think both players should have demanded a greater role in the offense, because they are capable creators. Just they let Kobe sit back and shoot Js a bit too much.
They get too complacent on offense and Kobe has to end up taking the shots, and people just watch like you said. We need to change that.
Odom has been inconsistent throughout his entire career with the Lakers so that shouldn't surprise anyone. Gasol was out of his league in the Spurs and Celtics series.
Well I mean KG and TD (played center though) are considered the top PFs in the league. I think that Gasol when he tried to get it done in the Finals did it well (53%), just needs to be more aggressive:
What does that mean when he "tried to get it done"? He's not some lazy player, and one simplistic stat doesn't tell the entire story. Yes he'll play better at his natural position, but the Lakers did not have that luxury and he was mediocre. He couldn't take the pounding of an entire season.
He should have demanded more touches, and get more involved offensively. It's a waste if Kobe isn't effective and is taking shots, and he just stands around. Both parties are at fault.
Gasol did pretty much the best he could against the Celtics, he's just not a center. Kobe could have been more intelligent on his part, but Gasol isn't a superstar.
I think he should have demanded more touches. He didn't do his best, he could have helped the team by taking more shots like he did during the regular season.
Every month of the regular season with the Lakers his stats generally went down. He was at 17.0 PER for the entire playoffs, it wasn't just bad luck that he sucked against the Celtics.
Like I said, demand more shots, it's too bad PER doesn't take into account his defense on KG, if he took a bigger role in the Laker's offense his PER would have been better. what was Kobe's PER for the Finals? I also think that Odom should have demanded the ball more too. I mean if Kobe isn't getting it done, then run the ball through Gasol and Odom who are shooting considerably better (53 and 51% vs. 40%)
No, Kobe needs to be savvier next time, Gasol cannot play much better than that and he proved it with that slow downward fall.
Gasol and Odom aren't at the tier, or have the ball handling skills that Kobe has. You can't just project stats with the same FG% either. And Kobe's True Shooting percentage was 50.5% at least, FG% is a novice stat. I know Bryant can do better next time, but let's not overrate his cast.
