Rate all of the usual starters on their performances so far through the season, simple. Chucky Atkins: I really like how he has stepped up since Kobe went down, I just really wish he could play more like a point when Kobe is in the lineup, take a lot of stress off of Kobe. I Grade him a B- Kobe Bryant: He has been our heart and soul all year. His shooting % may be down, but he is doing a lot more ball handling. A lot of people say he doesn't share the ball enough...BALONEY. He is averaging 6 assists and only about 2 more shots than last year. If Atkins can play like a point when Kobe comes back his FG% will go up. I grade him an obvious A Caron Butler: You know, he has been better than Lamar IMO. He may be inconsistent, but he is becoming more and more consistent. Kobe has taken him under his wing and is teaching him the game, Caron has been solid in Kobe's absence. If he can continue his 15 ppg and play consistent when Bryant is back, that will be a huge lift for the Lakers. B+ Lamar Odom: I am dissapointed in his play, he has been inconsistent, he just isn't the same player as last year. Granted, he isn't the #1 option this year, but I still expected 17+ from him. He has gotten into foul trouble early and often, the only thing saving him from a D grade is his rebounding, he is getting us 10.2 boards a game. C Chris Mihm: You know, I really thought he would be our wild card. Would he be a flop, or would he produce? So far, he has produced. I would love to see him produce more on a consistent basis, but he is having a good year for the Lakers. He has been solid for us down low and hopefully he will continue to be solid for us. B
Good job man....I like the analysis If the grading was scaled to each players "expectations," I would have it rated this way thus far. Atkins: B- Kobe: B+ Butler: B+ Odom: C Mihm: C+ Bench play: C (Jumaine Jones being the bright spot)
Atkins: C Atkins wasnt doing so great but just the last couple of games he stepped up. Kobe: A- Less turnover would have gotten him that A. Butler: B+ He is amazing, Just the kind of leadership he is showing the past couple of games without Kobe shows me that this man is a great player Odom: C Well there isnt much to say here. I wish i could have given him a better grade but he is not showing it like he did last year Mihm: C+ I didnt thought that Mihm can play this good.
Here's my overview of the starters and the bench. Chucky Atkins: You cannot complain about Chucky's offense and leadership. He's been a solid contributor every night and the Laker's most consistent player this season. The only problem I have with Chucky is the amount of 3's he takes in a game and also his horrendous defense. He's at his best when he's driving to the hoop, scoring and drawing fouls, or setting up teammates. It allows him to get a better rhythm going, and helps set himself up for better looks behind the arc. GRADE: B Kobe Bryant: He is the superstar on this team, so Kobe has to be judged at a higher standard. As the leader, I think Kobe over-estimated his role, and under-estimated his teammates. His shooting %, his FT% is down, and he's not as good on defense as he was last season. He's had a lot of defensive highlights, but he hasn't been as solid on defense throughout 4 quarters of a game. I would give Kobe a B grade so far, but I added a '+' for recognizing Lamar Odom should be the creator on the team, while he's been injured. GRADE: B+ Caron Butler: He's turning out to be a steal for the Lakers in the Shaq trade. He's fit it well with his teammates, and he hasn't complained. Butler is a gamer, and he tries his best to bring it every night. With Kobe injured, he's elevated his game and is becoming the emotional floor leader for the Lakers. GRADE: A Lamar Odom: I was willing to give Odom the benefit of the doubt early in the season. He wasn't being used properly and his game suffered from the way he was playing last year. However, I expected him to be a force when Kobe was injured, but he's been inconsistent and is constantly in foul trouble. I'm losing confidence in Odom because of his lack of desire with the Lakers. GRADE: C- Chris Mihm: He's average, one game he looks promising, the next game he gets in foul trouble and plays 15mins. There's not much more you can say about Mihm. GRADE: C Brian Cook: Cook has made his mark on this team, and has been a nice surpise off the bench for the Lakers. He's perfected his outside shooting, and is getting better at drawing charges. As good as Cook has been, I think Rudy T used him, too much and I'd rather see our big men banging inside than chucking up 3pts. GRADE: B- Jumaine Jones: JJ has been impressive and the perfect role player for the Lakers. I didn't have any expectations for him, and figured he would be the odd man out once George returned. He's taken advantage of the Laker injuries, and has been great as a starter and off the bench. He's willing to do the little things for the team, and doesn't need his number called to score. GRADE: A Luke Walton: Luke gets a D for DNPs. He's been lost in the rotation. I'm not sure what the reasoning was for him to lose his minutes, maybe he wasn't earning it in practice? GRADE: D Sasha Vujacic: Potential is there, but Sasha hasn't been able to defend against the backdoor cuts, and gets eaten alive on screen and rolls. He also settles for the long ball a little too, much. He has room for improvement, but he was a solid draft pick for the Lakers.GRADE: C+ Brian Grant: I'd actually like to see Grant more PT. He can give the Lakers some toughness inside and allow Odom to play the 3, when Butler gets a rest. When he's in the game Grant hits the open 16 footers, and works hard on the glass. GRADE: B- Tierre Brown: He SHOULD NOT BE IN THE LEAGUE GRADE F Divac, George, Slava, and Bobbitt get and 'I' for incomplete.
Well, here's my take: Chucky Atkins: C- As well as Chucky has been playing on offense, he has been terrible on defense. He can't stay in front of people, but he's also to small to stay one step further away, they'd just shoot over him then. Also he's not handling the playmaking enough with Kobe on the court. He has to take that load off Kobe, that should be one of his main targets. His offense is nice, but I'd take a creator and good defender over Atkins anyday a week and twice on sundays. Kobe Bryant: C+ Kobe has shouldered too much of the burden to carry this team. He doesn't need to do everything, yet he tries to do so. He also tends to rest on defense which results into loads of open shots. Don't let yourselves get fooled by two great defensive games against Michael Redd. Rudy T abused Kobe on offense, isolation plays nearly all the time. That decreases Kobes efficiency, creates too many turnovers. Not all of that is Kobe's fault, but he should let other people handle things other guys could do as well as he can do them. Caron Butler: B A little inconsistent and he's also not that a great defender. Has been playing well on offense, he seems to have found a nice understanding with Kobe. Caron is actually one of the few players on that team who looks to drive into the lane first instead of racking up a perimeter shot. Very good free throw shooter, he should handle all technical shots, not Kobe. At least not if Kobe keeps on shooting like he does right now. Lamar Odom: C- Foulprone, maybe even lazy? Lamar seems uninterested at times. He's a great player, no doubt about that. But he also has to play out of position with the Lakers and hasn't been used the right way all season. Also he has to stop shooting so much from outside, he's not good at that. Drive Lamar, drive! No one of the Western Conference power forwards can stop you, you're too fast. Realize that god damn it Chris Mihm: B He's been doing more than I expected him to do. Chris suffers from his team members bad defense, other teams are also not respecting his shot blocking abilities, so they keep driving against him. If he learns to stay out of foul trouble then he'll be a great asset to this team. I'd like some more plays for him on offense though, he too often has to settle for the junk the others leave to him, integration into the system has been a problem. Bench: Cook: D Opponents have figured him out by now and he tends to shoot to soon. Terrible defender and rebounder too. Nice to have a big shooter, but that's about it. Jones: B+ Has been a great energy spark off the bench, does the things he is expected to do, also one of the better defenders on this team due to his activity on the court, good rebounder. Brown: D+ Drives a lot - when he has a good day that results into some easy baskets, if he hasn't into turnovers or wild missed layups. Even worse on defense than Atkins Grant: B- I don't know why he plays less than Cook, he gives the Lakers a much needed physical player off the bench. I'll never understand Rudys faible for big guys who can shoot. Well, but I'll don't need to anymore, thank god. Walton: not judgeable I don't get it why he doesn't play more. It's a shame... the best passer on this team nearly doesn't play at all. Medvedenko: not judgeable Doesn't play and I'm not too sad about it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting kb14:</div><div class="quote_post">atkins:c kobe:b butler:b odom:d mihm:a</div> Can you explain why you gave them those grades?
yea,butler has play'd good,odom has done nothing but pull down boards,atkins dont pass the ball enuff, and kobe has been great but he hasnt played all season,and mihm has been great to me i didnt know he had talent but then again i didnt watch boston's games last year
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting kb14:</div><div class="quote_post">yea,butler has play'd good,odom has done nothing but pull down boards,atkins dont pass the ball enuff, and kobe has been great but he hasnt played all season,and mihm has been great to me i didnt know he had talent but then again i didnt watch boston's games last year</div> Ahh, thanks..and I agree for the most part except..Kobe has missed what? about 6 games...I know it seems like all season though
yea, but kobe missed 10 i think n 11 will b sunday unless he play....but how u git my post in yo post?
<font color="blue">Chucky: C-</font> shoots 3pters but is invisible on defense. Needs to be more of a PG than a SG. <font color="Red">Kobe: F-</font> Needs to learn to share the ball and stop trying to win a scoring title. Also needs to let the team BE A TEAM. I'm one of the few true Laker fans out there that really loved last year's team but saw it crumbling to the tyrany that is Kobe Bryant. I like this year's team too but now that Kobe got Rudy T on medication and got him fired (suprise), it's really evident that this guy is crap and never gonna lead us to the title. His contract is absolutely horrible for someone who pads his stats, doesn't win, and is gonna hurt our cap space in the future. If you can't see this you need to question whether you're a fan of the Lakers or a fan of Kobe Bryant. A Lakers fan wants to win and not see some guy pad his stats just to make himself look great. <font color="blue">Butler: C-</font> Everybody hypes this guy up. It's been 3 years of hyping him up, give it a rest, he's never gonna be a great player, but atleast he's not jacking up shots like you-know-who. Other than that he does a good job on D and gets some fast breaks. <font color="YellowGreen">Odom: B-</font> Good job but needs to stop shooting 3s. He should also be a facilitator of offense. <font color="Green">Mihm: A+</font> would be great on offense if Kobe would ever share the ball with him (which is not going to happen). Does his best to protect the paint. The only bright spot in losing Shaq is that we are not hurting as bad we thought we would in the paint.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Mihm4MVP:</div><div class="quote_post"><font color="blue">Chucky: C-</font> shoots 3pters but is invisible on defense. Needs to be more of a PG than a SG. <font color="Red">Kobe: F-</font> Needs to learn to share the ball and stop trying to win a scoring title. Also needs to let the team BE A TEAM. I'm one of the few true Laker fans out there that really loved last year's team but saw it crumbling to the tyrany that is Kobe Bryant. I like this year's team too but now that Kobe got Rudy T on medication and got him fired (suprise), it's really evident that this guy is crap and never gonna lead us to the title. His contract is absolutely horrible for someone who pads his stats, doesn't win, and is gonna hurt our cap space in the future. If you can't see this you need to question whether you're a fan of the Lakers or a fan of Kobe Bryant. A Lakers fan wants to win and not see some guy pad his stats just to make himself look great. <font color="blue">Butler: C-</font> Everybody hypes this guy up. It's been 3 years of hyping him up, give it a rest, he's never gonna be a great player, but atleast he's not jacking up shots like you-know-who. Other than that he does a good job on D and gets some fast breaks. <font color="YellowGreen">Odom: B-</font> Good job but needs to stop shooting 3s. He should also be a facilitator of offense. <font color="Green">Mihm: A+</font> would be great on offense if Kobe would ever share the ball with him (which is not going to happen). Does his best to protect the paint. The only bright spot in losing Shaq is that we are not hurting as bad we thought we would in the paint.</div> Are you blind or just ignorant? Kobe is a team player. He is averaging almost 7 assists, and is only taking 2 more shots a game than last year, maybe if..I dunno..MIHM would step up and be more consistent he wouldn't have to shoot as much as he does...grow up and watch some games.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kobe 8 Ball:</div><div class="quote_post">Are you blind or just ignorant?</div> Are you a Kobe Bryant fan or a Lakers fan (pretty obvious, isn't it KOBE 8 Ball). <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kobe 8 Ball:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe is a team player. He is averaging almost 7 assists, and is only taking 2 more shots a game than last year</div>Oh WoW Assists mean everything. Allen Iverson is averagin 7 dimes and he still doesn't make his team better. Nash is averaging 11 dimes and doesn't even need to score cuz he means the world to his team. Unlike Kobe Bryant, he actually makes everyone on his team better and he gets everyone involved and that's why his team is da sh*t when he's playing and they're nothing without him. Atleast the Lakers can win without Kobe. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kobe 8 Ball:</div><div class="quote_post">maybe if..I dunno..MIHM would step up and be more consistent he wouldn't have to shoot as much as he does...</div>Atleast Mihm doesn't need the ball in his hands to have an impact on the game. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kobe 8 Ball:</div><div class="quote_post">grow up and watch some games.</div>Grow some pubes and learn how basketball games are won. If you don't like my opinion you know what you can do right?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Mihm4MVP:</div><div class="quote_post">Are you a Kobe Bryant fan or a Lakers fan (pretty obvious, isn't it KOBE 8 Ball).</div> Haha do you know me? No..this username is so old, I can't change it..tried..and for your info...Laker fan <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Oh WoW Assists mean everything. Allen Iverson is averagin 7 dimes and he still doesn't make his team better. Nash is averaging 11 dimes and doesn't even need to score cuz he means the world to his team. Unlike Kobe Bryant, he actually makes everyone on his team better and he gets everyone involved and that's why his team is da sh*t when he's playing and they're nothing without him. </div> You said Kobe isn't sharing the ball yet he is averaging almost 7 assists...and how does Kobe not make his team better? You do realize without Kobe the Lakers are a lottery team. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Atleast the Lakers can win without Kobe. </div> That is hilarious, you really think they would be a playoff team without Kobe..right.. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Atleast Mihm doesn't need the ball in his hands to have an impact on the game. </div> How about trying Mihm isn't always a factor, he disappears in road games and is very inconsistent... <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Grow some pubes and learn how basketball games are won. If you don't like my opinion you know what you can do right? Shove it!</div> We are cool..e-thugging gets you far in life buddy, I suggest you learn the JBB Guidelines or your stay here will be really short. And one more thing, Kobe passes more than he shoots, if his teammates were to actually hit half of the passes they receive from him, he would easily be averaging 10 assists...its not my fault or his that Mihm has the worst hands you can possibly ask for, or that Atkins can't hit every shot, that Lamar settles for too many jumpers..Kobe's best teammate is easily Caron Butler...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Mihm4MVP:</div><div class="quote_post">Are you a Kobe Bryant fan or a Lakers fan (pretty obvious, isn't it KOBE 8 Ball).</div> Are you a Chris Mihm fan or a Laker fan? (pretty obvious, isn't it MIHM4MVP?).
