Oh Im sorry...you expected going to the finals coming into last year? Bynum, Farmar, and Sasha had breakout/career years so far. Obviously they have to put in their own work but a coach molds their mentality. Last year was an awesome coaching job by Phil...maybe his best.
Phil has purpose in everything he does...excuse me if I choose his opinion of substitution patterns over yours. YOU want substitution patterns to win one game. PHIL wants substitution patterns to better serve the entire year. Dont worry man...what you see now isnt gonna be the end product. The "idiotic shit" torch has been passed back to you
I always expect a championship, even if we are average. Phil didn't play for Bynum or Sasha and Farmar was trash towards the end of the year. Phil is a good coach, don't try to make it look like I'm saying he isn't, but he is an idiot for not playing Bynum down the stretch when we're giving up offensive boards and easy drive-ins.
Phil never practices defense in practice either, or at least barely. Don't believe me? Ask Gary Payton. Phil is far from a perfect coach. Is he good? Yes, but he isn't perfect. He deserves blame just like everyone else on the team does when they play like shit. Sometimes, Phil Jackson coaches like shit.
I'm glad you can be civil in a debate. I forgot to delete some stuff, thank you. Mamba and Brian tag-teaming in a debate! Who says we hate each other?
Good discussion. I think Bynum should be in at the end of games absolutely. Everything Phil is doing now is to shape the team to play the right way. Even if we lose to a non playoff team in December, it is all part of Phil's plan. You have to trust that. One thing I want to say is that Farmar cant be in at the end of games. Your pt guard has to shoot better than 65% from the free throw line if he wants to close out games.
Your point guard needs to know how to play a lick of defense if he wants to be into the game at the end. I'd much rather have Fisher out there closing games with Kobe, Ariza, Gasol, and Drew.
It's frustrating, but the Lakers coaching staff is monitoring Bynum's health, conditioning, and his overall timing on the court. He looked confused in the first 5 or 6 games trying to play with Gasol on the court, but the past few games you can see Bynum moving with more certainty and aggression. I really like the high-low chemistry he's developed with Gasol. It's virtually unstoppable, but it takes time to develop and the guards need to keep active on the perimeter to draw their defender out of the paint to avoid weakside help, or a blindside strip once Pau makes an entry pass into Bynum. One area I think Bynum can really help himself is slashing to the hoop when Gasol is posting up. Right now he's lingering just outside his range and he doesn't have the face-up game yet to take his defender off the dribble when he's 10 to 12 feet away from the basket. He'd be better off making a quick cut to the rim when Gasol starts his offensive move to get the pass or to position himself for a possible offensive rebound. A little bit of a setback tonight due to early foul trouble, but Drew is starting to show signs of what he was doing last year before his injury. If you look at his Game Log from last season, Bynum really got it going near the end of December and carried that outbreak into January.
