alamo50
03-15-2005, 07:43 AM
Schedule among key factors that will break decade-long postseason streak
COMMENTARY
By Matt Guokas
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 5:04 p.m. ET March 11, 2005
All season long the Lakers have shown who they are, which is basically a .500 team. That's left them in a tight race with Denver and Minnesota for the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference, but for the first time in 11 years I don't see the Lakers making the postseason.
Hitting the road
The Lakers' schedule is the biggest factor working against them making the playoffs.
On March 10 the Lakers began a 23-game stretch to close out the regular season, and 15 of those games are on the road.
In contrast Minnesota plays 11 of its final 20 games on the road, while Denver is away from its homecourt for only nine of its last 22 games.
Denver is tough at home and playing very well under George Karl who took over as coach in late January, so it looks like the Nuggets have a leg up on the Lakers and Timberwolves.
The Lakers have struggled on the road, not playing particularly good basketball away from the Staples Center.
Some of the reasons for these struggles are they are not a good defensive team, and they are not big or strong upfront so they can't grind it out in the trenches.
Also, they pretty much rely on one guy -- Kobe Bryant -- to do whatever needs to be done, and they don't have the quality players around Bryant that they need to be a tough road team.
Playoff struggle no surprise
In the offseason when the Lakers kept Bryant, signing him to a seven-year, $136-million contract, and traded Shaquille O'Neal to the Heat, they knew that splitting up a championship-caliber combination would severly lower expectations for this season.
Even before the team played its first game, Bryant admitted it would be a challenge to make the playoffs in the competitive Western Conference.
Add in that Rudy Tomjanovich, hired in the summer to replace Phil Jackson as Lakers coach, resigned unexpectedly in January, and the task certainly didn't get any easier.
I don't think the Lakers are surprised that they are in a dogfight to make the postseason.
I think when they realistically look at their personnel they know they are team that's going to battle to finish .500 or a bit over that mark.
The Lakers are really hurting for muscle inside, they just haven't been able to find that.
Chris Mihm is doing a reasonably good job at center, but he can't do it all alone.
But most of all when it comes to the Lakers winning games, it's pretty much all on Kobe.
Whatever's needed in a particular game, he's got to give them.
If it's a night where the Lakers need scoring, that's what Kobe must supply.
On another night, when he needs to get his teammates involved, he must accomplish that.
If there are times when he must shut down opponents defensively, he must take on that challenge.
Kobe's experienced and talented enough to know he has to read the situation and give the Lakers different things on different nights.
Other obstacles
The schedule favored the Lakers earlier in the season, but capitalizing on that was a problem for the team.
They probably didn't win enough games in that stretch, and part of the reason was having to go without Bryant for 14 games because of an ankle injury.
Another factor has been forward Lamar Odom's attempt to adapt to his new team.
Odom was one of the players acquired from Miami in the O'Neal trade, and the Lakers haven't yet found out how he seems to best fit in with the way they are playing.
That's hurt them as Odom last year with the Heat showed he had matured and he played like one of the top players in the league.
For one thing Odom is more of a perimeter player, and he needs to get the ball more.
Adding to the Lakers' woes has been the unavailability of Vlade Divac.
The Lakers signed the veteran center as a free agent in the offseason, but he's played in only eight games do to a back injury that put him on the injured list.
I think the Lakers felt Divac had a little bit more left in the tank, even after 15 years in the league.
Future fortunes
Making the playoffs I'm sure is a pride thing as far as Bryant is concerned as he's now playing the starring role on Hollywood's team, and while I don't see it happening this season, what about next season?
The team's moves this summer could go a long way to answering that question.
There was a lot of talk leading up to the Feb. 24 trade deadline that the Lakers were going to deal Odom to Utah for Carlos Boozer.
Caron Butler's name also came up in rumored deals.
Odom and Butler are two valuable chips the Lakers have if they decide to make some deals in the offseason.
The Lakers will obviously be looking to upgrade at center, and anywhere they can along the front line where they need some more size, toughness, muscle and rebounding.
They need somebody to get in the trenches and do some dirty work as they really don't have that kind of player this season.
But any moves the Lakers make will have to fit financially with the team's plans for getting back to being a championship-caliber club.
The Lakers don't want to take on long-term contracts in any trades since come the summer of 2006 a lot of their current player contracts will be up and they will free up a lot of money.
That will put them in a position to get the type of players they need to surround Bryant.
So in the short-term what the Lakers can do to improve may not be a whole lot, but two summers from now they'll be in a good salary-cap position to make some bold strokes.
But Lakers fans are hoping to see their team in the playoffs before then.
© 2005 MSNBC Interactive
COMMENTARY
By Matt Guokas
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 5:04 p.m. ET March 11, 2005
All season long the Lakers have shown who they are, which is basically a .500 team. That's left them in a tight race with Denver and Minnesota for the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference, but for the first time in 11 years I don't see the Lakers making the postseason.
Hitting the road
The Lakers' schedule is the biggest factor working against them making the playoffs.
On March 10 the Lakers began a 23-game stretch to close out the regular season, and 15 of those games are on the road.
In contrast Minnesota plays 11 of its final 20 games on the road, while Denver is away from its homecourt for only nine of its last 22 games.
Denver is tough at home and playing very well under George Karl who took over as coach in late January, so it looks like the Nuggets have a leg up on the Lakers and Timberwolves.
The Lakers have struggled on the road, not playing particularly good basketball away from the Staples Center.
Some of the reasons for these struggles are they are not a good defensive team, and they are not big or strong upfront so they can't grind it out in the trenches.
Also, they pretty much rely on one guy -- Kobe Bryant -- to do whatever needs to be done, and they don't have the quality players around Bryant that they need to be a tough road team.
Playoff struggle no surprise
In the offseason when the Lakers kept Bryant, signing him to a seven-year, $136-million contract, and traded Shaquille O'Neal to the Heat, they knew that splitting up a championship-caliber combination would severly lower expectations for this season.
Even before the team played its first game, Bryant admitted it would be a challenge to make the playoffs in the competitive Western Conference.
Add in that Rudy Tomjanovich, hired in the summer to replace Phil Jackson as Lakers coach, resigned unexpectedly in January, and the task certainly didn't get any easier.
I don't think the Lakers are surprised that they are in a dogfight to make the postseason.
I think when they realistically look at their personnel they know they are team that's going to battle to finish .500 or a bit over that mark.
The Lakers are really hurting for muscle inside, they just haven't been able to find that.
Chris Mihm is doing a reasonably good job at center, but he can't do it all alone.
But most of all when it comes to the Lakers winning games, it's pretty much all on Kobe.
Whatever's needed in a particular game, he's got to give them.
If it's a night where the Lakers need scoring, that's what Kobe must supply.
On another night, when he needs to get his teammates involved, he must accomplish that.
If there are times when he must shut down opponents defensively, he must take on that challenge.
Kobe's experienced and talented enough to know he has to read the situation and give the Lakers different things on different nights.
Other obstacles
The schedule favored the Lakers earlier in the season, but capitalizing on that was a problem for the team.
They probably didn't win enough games in that stretch, and part of the reason was having to go without Bryant for 14 games because of an ankle injury.
Another factor has been forward Lamar Odom's attempt to adapt to his new team.
Odom was one of the players acquired from Miami in the O'Neal trade, and the Lakers haven't yet found out how he seems to best fit in with the way they are playing.
That's hurt them as Odom last year with the Heat showed he had matured and he played like one of the top players in the league.
For one thing Odom is more of a perimeter player, and he needs to get the ball more.
Adding to the Lakers' woes has been the unavailability of Vlade Divac.
The Lakers signed the veteran center as a free agent in the offseason, but he's played in only eight games do to a back injury that put him on the injured list.
I think the Lakers felt Divac had a little bit more left in the tank, even after 15 years in the league.
Future fortunes
Making the playoffs I'm sure is a pride thing as far as Bryant is concerned as he's now playing the starring role on Hollywood's team, and while I don't see it happening this season, what about next season?
The team's moves this summer could go a long way to answering that question.
There was a lot of talk leading up to the Feb. 24 trade deadline that the Lakers were going to deal Odom to Utah for Carlos Boozer.
Caron Butler's name also came up in rumored deals.
Odom and Butler are two valuable chips the Lakers have if they decide to make some deals in the offseason.
The Lakers will obviously be looking to upgrade at center, and anywhere they can along the front line where they need some more size, toughness, muscle and rebounding.
They need somebody to get in the trenches and do some dirty work as they really don't have that kind of player this season.
But any moves the Lakers make will have to fit financially with the team's plans for getting back to being a championship-caliber club.
The Lakers don't want to take on long-term contracts in any trades since come the summer of 2006 a lot of their current player contracts will be up and they will free up a lot of money.
That will put them in a position to get the type of players they need to surround Bryant.
So in the short-term what the Lakers can do to improve may not be a whole lot, but two summers from now they'll be in a good salary-cap position to make some bold strokes.
But Lakers fans are hoping to see their team in the playoffs before then.
© 2005 MSNBC Interactive