Comments on: Lakers problems: It’s all about the defense

By: magicbucs

magicbucs — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 08:27:51 +0000

@ Kevin s
Exactly those magic teams that were in top 3 on defense every year had sub-par perimeter defense but SVG had them rotating on D. Dwight would step up then the next man had to rotate, If you missed your rotation you’d be benched. Ask Brandon bass.
Right now just like phil, SVG is also smiling in Seminole county Florida :^{D

By: badintent

badintent — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 08:19:36 +0000

So is Mike Brown.

But you gotta love Howard for being honest,”We have to be like each other on the court Even if we aren’t friends off the court ”
Wonder who Dwight is talking about. Could it be the same guy that didn’t invite his Laker team mates to his wedding ? His Royal Hynea, Kobe ?

By: mazblast

mazblast — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 05:22:25 +0000

I don’t think Jim Buss has a clue about how to build a Winning Team (Kupchak, despite his GM title, is essentially irrelevant except that he’ll be the fall guy soon). However, before you Laker fans completely eviscerate Short Buss, keep in mind that Phil, for all his Zen Genius BS, had his teams get eliminated from the playoffs rather abruptly his last couple of years, had shown no willingness to adjust, was unwilling to travel, was increasingly cranky about some writers challenging His All-Knowingness, and probably wanted more money than God has in order to coach again.

The way Short Buss handled the Phil situation–indeed, the whole coaching situation–was a mess. He should have stayed with Brown, OR let Bernie Bickerstaff and his “go out and play” way continue (small sample size, but it seemed to work), OR given Phil time to sort out his ego/Zen issues and accept or reject a reasonable offer.

By: somekat

somekat — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:06:53 +0000

It’s going to be tough to fix the defense. Team defense is at an automatic, and major, disadvantage when the opposing PG can do whatever he wants. Nash was a liability on defense in his prime. Now he’s a step or two slower. Almost impossible to have good team D when the PG can go nuts night after night

By: johnnyd1956

johnnyd1956 — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:44:22 +0000

Bad defense coached by D’Antoni…what a shock

By: pricejustin24

pricejustin24 — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 19:53:24 +0000

Another gem, Kurt. Oh my god you are a disgrace to keyboards everywhere. Moron

By: 777cockymoney

777cockymoney — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 19:12:44 +0000

this proves kobe bryant is overrated.lebron is better .more statistical.lebron doesnt have this crappy start lebron better passer,defender,more efficient shooter.heat have better record.this proves lebron brtter.kobe doesnt pass at all unlike lebron kobe gets noone involved.kobe is selfish,ballhog who shoots lakers outta games.i saw kobe takes foir times as many shots as pau,dwight which means he only cares for himself instead of gettin others involved.
his team record proves he is overrated and lebron miles better.

By: 00maltliquor

00maltliquor — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 18:36:23 +0000

There seems to be a “once Dwight Howard gets healthy everything will be just fine” feeling around the Lakers and their fans.
________________________________________________________________________________

STOP SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF LAKER FANS KUUUURRRRRT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAHHHH YOU’RE DRIVING ME CRAZYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

By: chargerdillon

chargerdillon — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 18:35:22 +0000

Lets be fair and look at the list of excuses used thus far….. Dwights not healthy, Dwight cant shoot free throws, Nash isnt healthy, Nasy doesn’t know the system yet, Kobe is shooting too many 3′s, Kobe isnt playing defense, Mike Brown is a bad coach, D’Antoni is not a defensive coach, Pau Gasol can’t play in this system, Pau Gasol is old, Pau is injured……..

After awhile the list of various excuses becomes too long you forget where this all goes back to.

Blame anybody you want, this starts and ends with Jim Buss. While I don’t for a minute think this team is going to win a championship, i do 100% believe if they had hired Phil Jackson, they’d have lost half as many games as they did when they were chasing Jackson/D’antoni. Jackson has made very similar pieces in his system work to the tune of championships.

We are watching a team with the identity of their owner, somebody who really doesnt know what they want. He doesn’t know what style his team should run, thus why you have Mike Brown and D’antoni 2 very different minded coaches who both couldn’t make this roster have a positive record.

This is all about Jim Buss running the organization and having NO REAL CLUE HOW.

Phil Jackson would not have made this a championship team, but he wouldve knew how and he would’ve known where to start. D’Antoni does not and never will. Mike Brown does not and never will.

The Lakers were a championship team when they followed one mans vision, Phil’s vision.

By: 00maltliquor

00maltliquor — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 18:27:25 +0000

I can’t believe my Lakers are 17th in the L on defense!! No way!! There are 13 other teams out there who suck worse!!?? I can’t imagine it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a swiss cheesier D in all my life…but there’s at least 13 others who are worse? This year!?

By: mazblast

mazblast — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 17:03:48 +0000

Kobe will have another of his “I’m so great that I can play through ALL these injuries that would each end the season of a mere mortal” episodes, involving phantom maladies.

By: mazblast

mazblast — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 16:59:49 +0000

When Howard was with Orlando, it became the meme to say that he was The Guy. Rather than actually, you know, uh, what’s the phrase, oh yeah, WATCH THE GAMES, it was far easier for the media hacks, especially the national ones, to say Dwight had no help and that this was why the Magic didn’t do better.

Now, there was some truth in this–the talent level wasn’t the best there. However, it wasn’t Dwight and the Dwarfs as it’s been portrayed.

If he’s still hurting, he should take time off and work at healing and rehabbing. He doesn’t seem to be helping matters right now. What we are seeing now is that DH isn’t the Superman he’s been portrayed as being.

By: themagicfanguy

themagicfanguy — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 16:48:10 +0000

@Kevin Exactly. Though Dwight does a great job, people don’t give SVG enough credit. Although, you underestimate Lewis, Redick, and Anderson’s defensive abilities. Yes, Turk is horrible lol.

By: timb12

timb12 — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:52:21 +0000

I’m not trying to bash Laker fans, but it’s always something. Or maybe it’s just in these articles. First it was once they learn D’Antoni’s system, then once they get Nash back, and now it’s once Howard is healthy. I don’t know what the excuse is going to be next, but I’m looking forward to it.

By: davidly

davidly — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:36:18 +0000

Some have said that Bryant never earned his reputation as a defender in the first place. At any rate, nobody should have expected him to be his dominant self on offense whilst helping to chase point guards around.

By: manchestermiracle

manchestermiracle — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:35:35 +0000

So this is, what, the 14th or 15th article about the woeful Laker defense? I lost count several dead-horse-beating “analyses” ago.

“It’s a slow Sunday morning. Whatever will we post?”
“I know, run another crappy-Lakers-defense article. The haters love those. Lots of hits. Get Kurt to write it, I think he has the original set up as a short cut on his desktop.”

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:25:54 +0000

Well, probably because Kobe and MWP’s defensive reputations exceed their abilities these days, but I’d say it’s primarily because those Orlando teams with sieves like Reddick, Turkoglu, Lewis and Anderson were still among the best in the league defensively, and that had a hell of a lot to do with Dwight Howard. The question now is how much of that performance also had to do with SVG?

By: yourfutureanalyst1

yourfutureanalyst1 — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:17:40 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. I meant to think that they passed on a guy who has proven to win Championships on 11 different occasions, for a guy who has yet to Prove. I particularly NEVER agree with Magic Johnson but he was right about Mike Brown, and he’s right about ‘Antoni, they’re not the right coaches for the Lakers.

By: BigBeachBall

BigBeachBall — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:11:13 +0000

phil jackson is sitting in an armchair somewhere laughing his ass off…

By: jmclarkent

jmclarkent — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:11:00 +0000

I believe that what you see now was the common expectation when the Lakers went with Mike D.

- He doesn’t have the kind of players that are needed to run his offensive system.
- His defensive system had always been “score more points”.

If they planned to have this team to win NOW (which is not an unreasonable request), they picked the wrong guy to coach it, frankly.

By: davidly

davidly — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:05:14 +0000

Until it does, it doesn’t really matter what happens with the Lakers offense, they are not going to get near the level they expected before this season.

Why were they expected to get to level? I still can’t figure that out. Not to toot my own horn, but I knew that their defense was going to be dismal well before the season started. There was no reason to believe otherwise, unless you can enlighten me, Kurt…?

By: infectorman

infectorman — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:01:56 +0000

There’s that phrase again
“Old n slow”

so nice…

By: yourfutureanalyst1

yourfutureanalyst1 — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 14:54:38 +0000

It was said before Dwight Howard got traded that he made any team he was traded to better. The Lakers took the gamble on trading for him in hopes that they can keep him there long term, but with a team that lacks chemistry (on offense and defense) and Kobe jacking up close to 22 shots a game, that’s not exactly the formula for long term tenure for Howard. Whether Howard is healthy or “80%” he can’t fix the Lakers, and I don’t know what they were thinking hiring ‘Antoni. His style is up tempo and running, but with the Lakers that style doesn’t work. It’s like trying to turn a minivan into a race car.. Not Cool!! It’s not too late for the Lakers to save the season, but I seriously doubt that they will do anything should they make it to the playoffs.

By: rjlink1

rjlink1 — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 14:46:39 +0000

Yep, the defense is not great, and needs to improve. But in a D’Antoni system, the offense needs to be #1, not #6.