Divacs to Lakers, COOOOL!!

[Yuma]

Everyone around the league is moaning about the Lakers snaring Divacs. I say this is COOL! It helps the Lakers, but more importantly, it WEAKENS Sac Town!! Sac Town was one of the top teams in the west, and now they have taken a major hit! Vlade was a big reason for their success. He went beyond the stats listed the last few seasons. He was touted by almost every player on the team as their heart and soul. This will help the Suns, who have always played Sac Town hard, but Divacs always lit us up. Sac Town is coming back to the pack with their free agent loses the last two seasons, imo.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Lakers:

PG: Payton
SG: Kobe
SF: Butler
PF: Odom
C: Flope

Wow this team sucks.

Old, slow, and undersized.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Lakers:

PG: Payton
SG: Kobe
SF: Butler
PF: Odom
C: Flope

Wow this team sucks.

Old, slow, and undersized.

are you kidding Chris - like Odom's gonna play PF when they have Brian Grant? No - this is just Suns Myopia talking here. Bottom line is this - the Lakers are better than us at two different positions - SG and C - and could be argued have the advantage at SF with Odom as well. Rip on them all you want - but unless JJ blossoms into an every-day consistent stud and Shawn Marion gets his head out of his ass - the Lakers once again are freaking better than we are and that just flat out sucks.

Tell me how undersized this team is that goes - 6'4, 6'6', 6'10, 6'9, 7'0 versus our OVER POWERING squad of 6'3, 6'8, 6'7, 6'10, 6'11?

Not only that but that team has one inate ability that only one person on our entire squad has - the ability to pass the ball - Vlade, Kobe, Payton and especially Odom are all gifted passers - all we have in that category is Nash.

Then - if you look at their bench - they're even more solid than we are there as well - especially if reports coming out LA are true that Malone is gonna resign for little money again. That means off the bench, they can bring Rush (a decent player who has very good potential), Butler - who is a decent player and either Malone or Grant (whichever one of them doesn't start).

That team is bigger than us, they have more experience than us - youth is good - but too much youth is another thing - they have a decent balance up there - defintely not title worthy - but at least on the same level as our boys - if not better.

I'd say at this point - the Lakers and us will be battling for second - with the Lakes - unfortunately beating us.

 

[Yuma]

I heard a report today that said Malone is looking at Miami.

 

[Dave64]

Payton, Kobe, Odom, Grant, and Divac, with Butler off the bench!

 

[F-Dog]

Everyone around the league is moaning about the Lakers snaring Divacs. I say this is COOL! It helps the Lakers, but more importantly, it WEAKENS Sac Town!! Sac Town was one of the top teams in the west, and now they have taken a major hit! Vlade was a big reason for their success. He went beyond the stats listed the last few seasons. He was touted by almost every player on the team as their heart and soul. This will help the Suns, who have always played Sac Town hard, but Divacs always lit us up. Sac Town is coming back to the pack with their free agent loses the last two seasons, imo.

You haven't been paying attention.


The Kings were never going to re-sign Divac. The team that the Lakers were competing against was the Suns.

Now the Suns will have to sign Greg Ostertag instead.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Thanks for being the voice of reason 'beef. People around here seem to forget how good a healthy Caron Butler is and how Lamar Odom is a constant triple-double threat. Grant's contract sucks but you know you're going to get a big, physical inside presence who is going to work his ass off. Adding Vlade has only made the Lakers one of the most versatile teams in the West. Vlade, Odom, Malone, and Walton are probably some of the best frontcourt passers in the NBA, a good thing if you have a player of Kobe's ability in the backcourt. If Rudy T instills any sort of unselfish attitude to this team (not an easy task with Kobe), the West should watch out.

 

[Cheesebeef]

You haven't been paying attention.


The Kings were never going to re-sign Divac. The team that the Lakers were competing against was the Suns.

Now the Suns will have to sign Greg Ostertag instead.

Personally I'd rather have Q - somewhat sacrifice the season and then try and swing a deal for big man next summer with either Shawn and a pick - or just pick up a servicable one for the mid-level. If we don't get Q and all we do this offseason is sign Nash and Osterag to long term contracts, I fear I will have to see this big bonanza period as a complete bust. Except for the Lakers and Mavs - it seems like every playoff team in front of us made significant positive changes to their team - meaning we still might be on the outside looking in - even with Nash - that sucks.

 

[slinslin]

Tell me how undersized this team is that goes - 6'4, 6'6', 6'10, 6'9, 7'0 versus our OVER POWERING squad of 6'3, 6'8, 6'7, 6'10, 6'11?

Their best shotblocker can't even get 1 block per game. They are not going to survive defensively and Vlade and Grant is one of the worst frontcourts in the West still.
How are they better than us? We have the better bench, the better PG, SF and PF.

And they might have experience. But they have no experience playing together at all and Rudy T hasn't been in the playoffs in 7 years or so.

 

[F-Dog]

Personally I'd rather have Q...

Everybody would rather have Q. But we're not getting Q either.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Thanks for being the voice of reason 'beef. People around here seem to forget how good a healthy Caron Butler is and how Lamar Odom is a constant triple-double threat. Grant's contract sucks but you know you're going to get a big, physical inside presence who is going to work his ass off. Adding Vlade has only made the Lakers one of the most versatile teams in the West. Vlade, Odom, Malone, and Walton are probably some of the best frontcourt passers in the NBA, a good thing if you have a player of Kobe's ability in the backcourt. If Rudy T instills any sort of unselfish attitude to this team (not an easy task with Kobe), the West should watch out.

i know - all of the above completely sucks - especially living in LA - hell - they completely demolished their championship club - had ZERO cap room and still will likely come out of the offseason better than us - do you know the crap I'm gonna have to take living here with my ex-roomates and friends? UGH!

 

[slinslin]

Besides that Malone is not coming back to the Lakers.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Their best shotblocker can't even get 1 block per game. They are not going to survive defensively and Vlade and Grant is one of the worst frontcourts in the West still.
How are they better than us? We have the better bench, the better PG, SF and PF.

And they might have experience. But they have no experience playing together at all and Rudy T hasn't been in the playoffs in 7 years or so.

Ask any GM in the entire league who they would rather have - Odom or Marion - hell - ask anyone outside of this board who they would rather have - and they will all say Odom - so now we are better than them at 2 positions - and last time I checked - when Payton and Nash went head to head last year, especially early in the year before Payton got lost in me land - it was an even match-up - with Payton even getting the better of him. People have written Payton off WAYYYY too early. Anyone remember the first 21 games for the Lakes when they were running and Payton was tearing up the court with Kobe on one side and either Malone or George on the other - hes not as done as looked in the Finals - granted he's not great or even very good anymore - but any advantage Nash has over Payton ain't that extreme.

And yes we have an advantage at PF - a big - probably as big as their advantage at SG - so that's a wash.

And shot-blocking isn't everything slin. You keep pointing to that stat, but considering the only person who draws fouls on this team or will go inside with reckless abandon is Amare - that's not much of a concern.

As far as their bench versus ours - if we get Q - then it'll be even - but Butler and Rush and - ugh - I hate to even say this - Walton - are already better than any of the unproven talent we have on our squad. I mean what is our bench right now? Casey? Take Butler and Rush in a heartbeat over him. Zarko? Hasn't proved a damn thing except that he couldn't get over the Forston incident (let's hope that changes because he showed flashes of being something special), Lampe - please, Barbosa - what has he proved? who else? Vroman - the sausage king of chicago 2nd round pick? I mean WHAT do we have that's proven they can legitamately contribute on a winning team at the NBA level?

I see coaching, experience, more size and first and foremost Kobe being the main difference - Amare hasn't reached the level Kobe has and until he does - I fear that will be the key difference between the two clubs.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Besides that Malone is not coming back to the Lakers.

I hope not - but there are reports in LA saying the contrary.

 

[slinslin]

Ask any GM in the entire league who they would rather have - Odom or Marion - hell - ask anyone outside of this board who they would rather have - and they will all say Odom -

No they won't.

but Butler and Rush and - ugh - I hate to even say this - Walton - are already better than any of the unproven talent we have on our squad.

You gotta be kidding. Rush is not better than Jacobsen not even as good. And I take Barbosa over Butler any day. Butler is nothing special.

And shotblocking does matter. If you are as bad as that Lakers team you will be exposed by teams going to the basket much more than they usually do.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Their best shotblocker can't even get 1 block per game. They are not going to survive defensively and Vlade and Grant is one of the worst frontcourts in the West still.
How are they better than us? We have the better bench, the better PG, SF and PF.

And they might have experience. But they have no experience playing together at all and Rudy T hasn't been in the playoffs in 7 years or so.

Rudy T hasn't gotten to the playoffs in 7 years - let;'s take a look at that - I think everyone is pretty much in agreement that we were all scared sh*tless of losing that lead over the Rockets coming down the stretch in 2003 - but then Rudy T had to leave and the Rocks went into a tailspin - and we still only got in by a game lead.

Then there were two years previous when Rudy T led a team basically consisting of Franics and Mobley to 45 wins, but the west was so tough that that didn't even qualify for an 8 seed. That was an impressive coaching job. And throwing in the 7th year is kind of a joke considering he was out of basketball last year, don't you think?

And you can't take away the fact that he coached a mediocre Rockets team to two titles - once as a SIX seed - constantly out-coaching every other team on his way - inlcuding Jerry Sloan. I mean are you really saying that D'Antoni, whose only stints as HC have ended with the Nuggets in LAST PLACE and with us ending a game out of LAST PLACE is anywhere on par with Rudy T as a coach? You're reaching Slin and you know it.

 

[F-Dog]

I see coaching, experience, more size and first and foremost Kobe being the main difference - Amare hasn't reached the level Kobe has and until he does - I fear that will be the key difference between the two clubs.

Sorry, but Rudy T is not that great a coach. His teams have a pattern of underachieving during the regular season.

Odom isn't really a SF (he's a tweener), and I would think long and hard before giving up Marion for him. Marion is a player you can count on, for one thing, and there's no way I would say the same about Odom.


That said, I think Vlade pushes the Lakers ahead of the Suns for now. That doesn't mean that either team will make the playoffs, of course.

 

[Cheesebeef]

No they won't.

but Butler and Rush and - ugh - I hate to even say this - Walton - are already better than any of the unproven talent we have on our squad.

You gotta be kidding. Rush is not better than Jacobsen not even as good. And I take Barbosa over Butler any day. Butler is nothing special.

once again - I think if you ask anyone outside of this board and and anyone in the NBA who would you rather have - Casey or Rush - it would be Rush hands down and Barbosa over Butler - based on WHAT?!

I really think you have a bad case of Myopia, which surprises me because you seemed to have been one of the more level headed people on this baord over the last couple years.

Again - I questioned you on this earlier - but you refrained - let's make a wager - proceeds going to the site - who will be better - Lakers or Suns - 20 bucks - taking it?

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

GMs may take Odom's last season over Marion's last season. However, for their respective careers, Marion is a no brainer.

With that said, if Odom can keep his head straight, he is a top10 - top 15 player.



Nash is better than Payton at this point. Payton's defense is pretty much gone now, so he lost that edge.

And shot-blocking isn't everything slin. You keep pointing to that stat, but considering the only person who draws fouls on this team or will go inside with reckless abandon is Amare - that's not much of a concern.

I am kind of lost on what that has to do with defense......

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

No they won't.

And I take Barbosa over Butler any day. Butler is nothing special.

This is probably the worst thing ever stated on this board, other than maybe your opinion that Joe Johnson is better than Dwyane Wade.

 

[slinslin]

once again - I think if you ask anyone outside of this board and and anyone in the NBA who would you rather have - Casey or Rush - it would be Rush hands down and Barbosa over Butler - based on WHAT?!

I really think you have a bad case of Myopia, which surprises me because you seemed to have been one of the more level headed people on this baord over the last couple years.

Again - I questioned you on this earlier - but you refrained - let's make a wager - proceeds going to the site - who will be better - Lakers or Suns - 20 bucks - taking it?

No I am not and I think you have depressions or something real bad.

Maybe you should go here www.lakersground.net

 

[slinslin]

Rudy T hasn't gotten to the playoffs in 7 years - let;'s take a look at that - I think everyone is pretty much in agreement that we were all scared sh*tless of losing that lead over the Rockets coming down the stretch in 2003 - but then Rudy T had to leave and the Rocks went into a tailspin - and we still only got in by a game lead.

That's just too funny considering that we had locked up the 8th spot at least 3 games before the season was over and that the Rockets got one game for free when the refs called Andre Miller for a lane violation on the Clippers game winning freethrow.

 

[slinslin]

This is probably the worst thing ever stated on this board, other than maybe your opinion that Joe Johnson is better than Dwyane Wade.

Butler 9ppg 38%FG 30mpg
Barbosa 8ppg 44.7%FG 40.5%3s 21mpg

And don't make excuses for Butler being injured. We are comparing him to a 21yr old foreign rookie PG who couldn't speak or understand english much at all.

In the playoffs Butler averaged 12.8ppg 38.6%FG in 39mpg..

 

[SirStefan32]

No they won't.

You gotta be kidding. Rush is not better than Jacobsen not even as good. And I take Barbosa over Butler any day. Butler is nothing special.

Please tell me you are joking.

 

[Cheesebeef]

This is probably the worst thing ever stated on this board, other than maybe your opinion that Joe Johnson is better than Dwyane Wade.

someone didn't really say this, did they?