Lakers

[#41 Shoot Em Up]

Saw this thread on real gm

2010 8:32 pm
The Lakers are the defending champs and have such an edge over teams w/ Kobe Bryant(best player in the nba), and the massive size of the frontcourt with Gasol,Bynum,and Odom. So I wanna pose the question, which team just in the Western Conference Matches up the best w/ the Lakers?

In my mind in order to match up well w/ the Lakers and have a shot to beat em come playoff time you need two main things.
1. You need to have a team that is capable of throwing multiple good defenders at Kobe Bryant. Not just one good defender or even two, i'm guessing you need 3-4 solid to good defenders that you can throw at Kobe, give him different looks and keep him off balance. Odds are Kobe will get his anyway but make it as hard as possible.
2. You need to match the size up front. We saw Phil Jackson during the Thunder series throw out a frontline of Bynum,Gasol,Odom at the SAME time. How many teams can really match that??? Which is why I feel you need two 7 foot centers, moblie, and who play good D. I feel like you also need a PF who can make Gasol work on defense and wear him down a bit, so he isn't as effective on offense. And that PF being 7 foot wouldn't hurt either.

Those are just my thoughts I'd thought i'd see what you guys thought, who out of ONLY the West teams fit that criteria?

Portalnd
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Oklahoma City
Denver
Utah
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LAC
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NBA 4 LIFE Veteran Posts: 577 Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2010 4:28 am
what do you guys think? who matches up the best

[Nathan89]

These are the four teams that have a slim chance at beating the lakers.

List of teams with a slim chance(no order):

Houston-If Yao was 100% would have the best chance but that is not likely.
Portland-Has great size inside if healthy which is semi-likely.
Oklahoma City- Was a handful for them last year and they added a little size. Plus they are a year older which is good for a young team.
Spurs-Added more size and youth. Still need a backup sf that can shoot and defend which is unlikely to come.

After weighing the injury concerns of all the teams plus the talent of the teams two teams stand out. The two teams with the best chance of beating the lakers are the Spurs and Thunder.

Reasons:

Houston-Yao is unlikely to be 100%
Portland-Even if healthy their strengths and weaknesses are the same as the lakers but the lakers strengths are better.
Spurs/Thunder-Both have a major advantage at the pg pos ion. Both teams got a little bigger over the off-season. Both teams have a strong focus on defense and the inability of the lakers to shoot the three(sf position) allows them to help on defense.

[#41 Shoot Em Up]

U really are a homer. U can really say the Spurs, the F'N spurs have a shot? mad props, u must have spurs blood pumping in ur veins

[Nathan89]

U really are a homer. U can really say the Spurs, the F'N spurs have a shot? mad props, u must have spurs blood pumping in ur veins

I said they had a slim chance. At the same time the spurs have either the best or second best chance in the west. No homer.

[LkrFan]

I don't think it will be a cake walk for the Lakers although I do expect them to come out of the West. Here are the teams that have a slight chance to dethrone them and why:

1. Dallas. They have the size up front to match up with Bynum (Brenda), Gasol (Dirk) and the athleticism to somewhat matchup with Kobe (Butler, Matrix). They also have scoring off the bench in JT plus a quarterback that can control the game in their favor in J Kidd. They have more experience than they did last year when they added their new pieces. They have a defensive minded coach in Rick Carlisle. I expect them to be #2 in the West this year.
2. Portland. If Oden comes back, they have the team that can be better than Dallas IMO. Oden (Bynum), LMA (Gasol), B Roy (Kobe) - all are somewhat comparable talent. Then they have a defensive minded coach in Nate.
3. Houston. If Yao comes back, they also have a dangerous lineup. Yao (Bynum), Scola (Gasol), Battier (Artest), Martin (Kobe), and we have no one to keep up with the blur (aka Brooks). Problem for them though is Adelman can't coach out of a shoe box.
4. OKC. They are a center away from doing major damage. If I were Shaq, I would have gone to their team. If he did that, the Lakers would have some problems with them. Shaq (Bynum), Ibaka (should start BTW - to match with Gasol), KD (Artest), and Westbrook would round out a solid solid starting lineup. But since they have a donut in the middle - they have no chance.

Teams that want to dethrone the champs have to have good scoring from multiple sources, size so that they can box out to rebound, and be able to play good defense. Then they have to have a strong bench. The Lakers have improved their bench ten fold by re-signing Shannon Brown, then adding players like Barnes, Blake, and Ratliff. That is a of a nine-man rotation without the contributions of Lamar Odom - who could start for a few teams - yet he comes off of our bench.

This team is stacked. We have some body that could matchup very well defensively with the new look Heat - for an example - since we know nobody is stopping us from coming out of the West. At any given play, we have someone defensively that we can throw at them starting with their primary defender:

Chalmers - Fish, Blake, Kobe, Artest
Wade - Kobe, Brown, Artest, Barnes, Blake, Fish
LBJ - Artest, Barnes, Kobe, LO
Bosh - Gasol, LO, Rat, Artest
Big Z - Bynum, Rat, LO

We can literally switch everything on this perimeter oriented Heat team. They have no inside game whatsoever. Despite being 7'3", they have no size outside of big Z. The playoffs are won in the paint. The Lakers dominate there in that we have 5 quality players we can put on the block: Bynum, Gasol, Kobe, LO, and Artest (now that he knows the offense).

We can score with the best of them because we got the 2nd best scorer in league history. But as an 83-79 victory over the Celtic bums have shown, we can win ugly as well. Then MK went out and solidified our bench. This means our starters don't have to play big minutes all year. We'll be fresh and waiting for who comes out of the compe ive east.

[milkshakeballa]

The two teams with the best chance of beating the lakers are the Spurs and Thunder.

[#41 Shoot Em Up]

LOL. oh he's serious

[DeadlyDynasty]

WC teams with the best chance at dethroning LA:

4. Houston: I love their lineup and depth, but their roster has one glaring weakness, even if everyone stays healthy: They have no definitive go-to-guy in the clutch. Kevin Martin is damn good, but as a Laker fan I would LOVE our chances with Kobe defending him at the end. There's no one-person that strikes fear into the opposing team in a 4th quarter situation (like Kobe, Wade, Melo, Durant, etc). I still like this team, and if healthy they'll be a handful for anybody out there.

3. San Antonio: They've made good strides in injecting some talent and youth in this team, but their heaviest guns are clearly on the downsides of their careers, injury-prone, or both. Jefferson is a poor fit and they need more reliable outside shooting.

2. Portland: Health and experience. This team has an abundance of size but a slew of injury questions. Not only that, they still haven't gotten out of the first round in 2 seasons (that's not valuable playoff experience). This team is still a year or two away from true le contention imo.

1. Dallas: If they can make it out of the first round, then they will be very dangerous. Dirk would have to completely and utterly outplay Gasol for the Mavs to have a chance though. Old-age is creeping up on this team as well (Kidd, Terry, and even Marion and Dirk). Still, this team has a lot of pieces.

[djohn2oo8]

1) Dallas - Just need to make it past the first round, and I think they can be a handful for LA. Dirk has to bring it every game, as does Kidd, and hopefully Beaubois is healthy

2) Portland - Health

3) Rockets - Health, again, Yao MUST be fresh for the playoffs. If he is, then they could be very dangerous.

Brooks/Lowry
Martin/Lee
Battier/Budinger
Scola/Hill/Patterson
Yao/Miller/Hayes

But we need one more defensive stopper

[SpursDynasty]

Just give the Lakers a Game 7 with the opposing team's big injured and they'll win

[Giuseppe]

Just give the Lakers a Game 7 with the opposing team's big injured and they'll win

Having Bynum lean on said "big" early in Game 6 didn't hurt either.

tee, hee.