Remember, Bynum loses seasons to injuries. He'll be soon forgotten, like Norm Nixon was after the Lakers traded him for Byron Scott. Nixon was vastly better than the disappointing Scott, but Nixon's career soon ended due to surprising injuries, so history records that the Lakers made out like bandits by design, God being a Laker and all.
The only thing I can think is that they wanted the drama to be over. Edit: except Houston still put together a better deal I think
I love how ESPN has already anointed the Lakers as champions, the only question to them is "how many". How about this number: 0. There's no way the Los Angeles Elders will be able to keep with OKC or Miami in the playoffs. I'd be stunned if they could get past either team, even if they are completely healthy (which, given the age/injury history of their big 3, is a BIG if). Dwight is not that much of an upgrade over Bynum, and Nash couldn't defend my grandma.
The Lakers have also done nice work shoring up their bench as well. Don't underestimate the Jodie Meeks signing. They're starting to really fill out that depth chart, with Jamison, Meeks, Duhon, and Blake, four players with a lot of starting experience. Jordan Hill could also develop with these kind of veteran players around him. The guy's a legit 6'10" and only 25. I've never been a big fan of his, but he changed my opinion in the Denver series last season. With that said, Oklahoma City should still be the favorite in the West. You also have to wonder how San Antonio will fare next season. Yeah, they're ancient, but they were ancient this season too, and they had more wins than anyone out West. From watching Ginobili in the Olympics, he hasn't slowed a bit. He's 35 but still plays like he's 25. Parker's also only 30 and is coming off maybe the best year in his career. You also have to consider that outside of their big three, they're a relatively young team. They have a very strong supporting group, and it's full of younger guys like Leonard, Blair, Neal, Green, Diaw, and Splitter. The Clippers have also made a lot of big time moves this offseason. Who knows if Odom can rebound, but if he does, that's a huge pickup. Jamal Crawford does what Nick Young did but better. Chauncey Billups will finally be healthy, and Grant Hill may be old, but started pretty much all of Phoenix's games last season and will only be asked to play limited minutes off the bench. The point is, it should be a lot more competitive out West than most of the analysts are predicting. It'll be a top-heavy competition, but it should be close and entertaining none the less.
i'm not pissed LA got Howard. I think everyone could see the writing on the wall. What i'm annoyed at is that Orlando pretty much got fucked. They are the only team giving up a HoF player and they get back the least. Just doesn't make sense. Orlando didn't even get ride of all there bad contracts, what the hell is there GM thinking?
Perkins is still a really good defender of Howard, and with Ibaka still improving on offense, OKC will be tough agaisnt LA. Westbrook vs. Nash will be cool, very different players matching up. OKC will be better than La if Durant has a better season than last year.
That's been the general sentiment, and I'll echo it. The thing that makes it worse is how they could have gotten better offers from Brooklyn and Houston. I thought that surely they were waiting out for a better offer. This just seems like they conceded that Andrew Bynum was critical to getting any deal done, and his trade approval mattered just as much as Dwight's. The only thing I can't figure out is how they couldn't have gotten more unprotected picks, or as you alluded to, unloaded Turkoglu's contract. Maybe that's their strategy though. As a small market team, you can really only build your team through very flawless trading and drafting. Most free agents don't want to play for small market teams, so you have to make the most of what you have. Think about how Orlando arrived at both of their NBA Finals appearances. First, a #1 pick got them Shaq, who led them to their first Finals, and then, a #1 pick got them Dwight, who led them to their most recent. Sure, both left town, but at least they got them that far. The Magic's roster headed into next season rivals that of the Bobcats' from this season. I know that historically, the worst teams actually don't get the #1 pick since the lottery has been in place, but it's not a bad strategy to put yourself in that position. Let's say the Magic get Nerlens Noel or Shabazz Muhammad. Both could be franchise changers. We'll be sitting here three years from now talking about how Shabazz could lead the Magic to the Finals instead of sitting here talking about how Brook Lopez and (insert middle-of-the-road player) are going to get knocked out in the first round. I've been really impressed with Ibaka's offensive improvement. Do you remember that San Antonio game where he went 11 for 11? I think it might have tied a playoff record. He has more basketball accumen than most African prospects and sort of defies stereotypes in that way. When you think of tall, long African prospects who are brought into the game because of their size, you think of guys like DeSagana Diop, Saer Sene, and Hasheem Thabeet; guys who had all the physical tools in the world but could never put it together for various reasons. Ibaka has improved at a rate that is exponential compared to his African center counterparts.
The Laker players enjoy as much exposure as any other market, and that means more endorsement money for their top players to pocket. Dwight in Sac or Portland doesn't pull in those extra millions every year he'd get in LA. Combined with the extra dollars they can offer as the team with his Bird Rights, potentially he'd be looking at leaving 20M+ on the table to sign elsewhere following a successful upcoming season. If Dwight leaves, LA still has the allure of extra millions each year in endorsements for the next wave of FAs. so yeah, other teams weren't willing to gamble on Dwight, but it's not like their situation is the same as LA's. It will be interesting to see this list next year... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/specials/fortunate50-2011/index.html STOMP
I disagree on several points. Nash is not clearly better than Payton yet. Nash looks good when the system is D'Antoni's. Nash looks bad when it isn't, as in the disastrous Terry Porter experiment, which made Nash look old five years ago. Will Mike Brown play a system that suits Nash? It would be a first for him. He's brought in somebody to install the Princeton offense, which is closer to SSOL than anything he's done before, but not the same. I think Lakers fans would take the "Kobe in court" over the "Kobe in Depends" that they have now. Yes, Howard is better than Malone. Duh. But he has to be better than Shaq. Which he'll never be, on offense, at least. What he has to agree to be is a glorified Tyson Chandler. Anything else would be a waste of Pau Gasol. (Who is better than Malone was.) On paper this team certainly looks better than "Lakers Reloaded". But there are similar "fit" issues. I think if you replaced Kobe with someone like a younger Ray Allen, the team would actually work a lot better. A lot depends on Kobe being prepared to be a role player and shoot a lot of spot up threes. But you've got to think he'll see a lot fewer of the post-ups that have become his bread and butter as his knees have gotten creaky.
I would say that Miami are clearly superior to the Lakers (just because they've had time to work out how to play together, and because of how much better than any other player LeBron currently is) but I think Wade is breaking down fast. Last season was subpar and we don't know what he'll be like post-surgery. Of course, we don't know what Howard will be like post-surgery either, and back surgery is no joke.
ALSO: what's the Lakers' bench like? They just signed Jodie Meeks, and there's talk of Barbosa. They'll probably load up on old guys looking for rings (please not someone half-decent like Delfino) but if it's as crappy as it has been, then one of the old guys will have to play major minutes. Remind me, who's their backup PG now?
Steve Blake, their 6th man, does all the things that are visible only to the coach, perfectly. He's still cookin'. They don't have much after the first 6. The Lakers have historically not had depth. Somehow they always get the depth to become effort players to make up for it.
Crap, you're right. And you didn't even mention Duhon, who is a very good defender. I'm back to hoping for injuries.
Miami? How big of a market is Miami? If we had been the team that cleared enough cap room for all three, they would've probably come to Portland. They didn't care where they played. They just wanted to play together. Miami had the cap room to make it possible. Miami? To be fair, the league blocked the Chris Paul trade to the Lakers. I don't feel screwed at all. We're rebuilding. We have some very good young talent and could contend by the time, Kobe and Nash are gone and the Lakers become what the Magic were. The Lakers weren't handed the coming-off-back-surgery-and-not-resigned Dwight Howard. They gave up a taller-better-free-throw-shooter-with-better-offensive-game Andrew Bynum, the second best, maybe best according to some, center in the league. It's not like they got him for Troy Murphy and a second round pick.
Miami is #16 market in NBA. Behind Minnesota and only barely ahead of Cleveland. http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2011/03/nba-market-size-numbers-game/
Per Wikipedia: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Miami's metro area is the seventh most populous and fifth-largest urban area in the United States, with a population of around 5.5 million. Try again.
