We'll see how good the Lakers are without Phil, and without Odom and Brown, leaving them looking pretty bad from a depth standpoint.
Not sure if you are serious. The Laker trade was handing over to NOLA, 30 mil in salary and NOTHING to build on. This is a better trade for a rebuilding team. and this trade gives you a Lottery pick. Eric Gordon is better than any player NOLA was getting in the Laker deal. it's not close at all.
Yeah, I'd forgotten Jackson left and Brown was hired. This could get ugly in LaLa land as Brown is a defensive guy, this is an old team that they tried to get younger by turning over Gasol/Odom and Co.
Ah yes, you wouldn't want Mike Brown to win in LA because hey, if he couldn't win with Lebron then obviously something must be wrong with him. But if he does win the Lakers thenwhat does that say about Lebron?
Wow... I think the Hornets got a fantastic deal here. Unbelievable... Gordon is a baller. Not surprised they included him in the trade though. I don't know if LA would be able to afford CP3, Gordon, and Griffin in time.
I'm more of an old school Laker fan... 80's (well not that old...) I don't follow them like I used to. But never had a Lakers flag/jersey... likely never will. The NBA these days is more of a joke. Good entertainment.
It would tell me that in Cleveland, LeBron was good enough to hide the deficiencies of Mike Brown and the rest of the team. If he wins in LA, it would reaffirm to me that Kobe, one of the GOATs, is also able to hide Mike Browns deficiencies. Players like Kobe and LeBron can make chicken sh*t into chicken salad.
Which Kobe shows up this yr? The Title winning Black Mamba Kobe? Or the Kobe who threw a tantrum in the playoffs vs the Suns and let his team lose as a "get me some help" move?
That he didn't have Gasol or Bynum??? I don't think Brown is a bad coach necessarily. Closer to average IMO. It will be interesting to see how the Lakers offense turns out this season though.
Yeah, it is, the NBA used to be a tough tough place, stuff like "no dunking zones" were common, bring that ball in the lane you were going to get blowed up. Now they have a "no charge line"..and Danny Ainge is a respected GM after being the most hated man in the league!
For the Lakers, making the playoffs means absolutely nothing. If Kobe and Brown don't mesh, Brown will have as short a coaching tenure in LA as Rudy Tomjonavich.
More like Bynum was last seen showing his *** on tv as he left the court after being ejected from a playoff game, Gasol was crying in his wine over his super model GF dumping him Tough guys those, sure to mesh well in Brown's new systems...
Nothing. Players win in the NBA. Not coaches. Sometimes, coaches help you lose. Is it a coincidence that LBJ left that ****hole in Cleveland and he makes the finals in his first year in Miami? Mike Brown is a terrible coach. You will see soon enough. Your luck is that Kobe will be coaching by game 3, so it won't really matter.
I'll agree to most of your point(if given). But I see him unimaginative on the offensive side of the court. Though I'll give him some credits on how he made bunch of scrubs into good team defenders. Heck, he had Drew Gooden as a starter on that Cavaliers squad that made the Finals.
Eh, that was the exception not the rule. Good coaches can make a difference just as a bad coach can make a difference. For the most part thought its a players league. Rare are your Jerry Sloans, Phil Jacksons and Pat Rileys who can really help less talented teams overachieve. Carlisle did do an excellent job though. He made every right adjustment, made every correct play call, maximized his players talent.
True, typically in the NBA when the well coached team meets the more physically talented team, they tend to lose close series. Jerry Sloan is as fine a X and O's BBall man as you could think of, his teams just did not have enough to overcome more talent.
Mavs just executed what they had to do in order to win close games, that was not on Spo, hats off to the Mavs.
there are metrics to suggest who coached "better". Carlisle did play his better players, based on WP, MORE minutes than Spo did. So advanced stats suggest that Carlisle did a better job. and none of that matters if the Heat hold onto a 15 point 4th quarter lead in game 2.
This isnt about the Heat although the fact is they didnt hang on to said lead so none of that matters either. The discussion was that few coaches can actually make a difference for the better in the NBA. Carlisle in last years NBA's Finals was just one example not a shot at Miami. For the record I think Spo is a pretty good coach but more to the point I was actually in agreement with your post (#422).
So which of you hoopfans wants to join fantasy basketball: http://www.thephins.com/forums/show...2011-Fantasy-Basketball&p=1650590#post1650590 Now we can see who is living in fantasy and reality....
padre, you really have to stop embracing flukes as evidence of something significant and commonplace. They’re flukes for a reason.
I don't believe "flukes" exist Des, as in there is no purely random events that dictate outcomes. For example, it is not as if the Mavs players were throwing the ball at Heat players, and having the ball go into the hoop, they were taking shots, and they made them.
Mavs had one fluke game, and then followed it by a near fluke game. But that doesn't matter. Heat lost game 2 and 6 at home. They deserved to lose. Mavs deserved the win, no matter the flukes. Flukes happen.