[NBAblogjobParticipant]

full article here: http://nbablogjob.blogspot.com/

Nobody is enjoying the current wave of attention flowing from South Beach all the way to Bristol, Connecticut more than Kobe Bryant. Two rings without Shaq, five in total, yet he is getting as much attention this summer post NBA finals as DJ Mbenga. During the hoopla surrounding the recruiting visits, the summit in Miami, and the endless coverage on “The Decision,” you know Kobe was viewing from the side with a smug grin on his face, as he found more and more motivation to refine his game and to tweak his rat-like scowl to produce a maximum under bite. Finally, he is getting time to heal his knee and finger, and will be fully healthy come late October, a scary prospect for the rest of the NBA. Let’s look at the upper seeds in each conference to see who has a shot at challenging the Lakers:

[Mr.Knick 32Participant]

If that’s the startling lineups- I agree.

But I think not only will the Heat added a buyout guy this season but I think we will see alot of

James-Wade-Miller-Haslem-Bosh to put the nail in the coffin on teams.

[NBAblogjobParticipant]

yeah, thats a pretty mean line-up. Rumor has it, Star-bury is heading to south beach..interesting i guess

[BasketBalAllanParticipant]

You cannot just break it down by whose starting on the different teams and try to match them up and then say who has the edge. You will just have to wait and see what happens, chances are that we will not have a good idea of what to expect until the playoffs start.

[omphalosParticipant]

You’d have to give the Lakers more than a slight edge in the PF position. Gasol is far superior to Bosh on both ends of the court.

[BasketBalAllanParticipant]

You must not watch Bosh a whole lot if you think Gasol is far superior, even Lakers fans admit that if Gasol is better that it is not by all that much.

[omphalosParticipant]

Ok, I’ll qualify that statement, even if Gasol has only a slight advantage offensively, Bosh isn’t even close defensively and I can see Gasol eating him alive with his superior passing and length.

Also, I disagree that Bynum isn’t athletic, he is just too plagued by injury to showcase it much.

Oh, and I’m a Celtics fan.

[Mr.Knick 32Participant]

Bosh is a below average defender. Gasol will be able to attack him on defense.

[BasketBalAllanParticipant]

I never said you were a Lakers fan, I simply said “even Lakers fans admit that if Gasol is better that it is not by all that much”, that was not meant to allude to you being a fan of the Lakers, but rather that even really big fans of Gasol can see that “far superior” is not the correct description to use when comparing the two players. I do not think there is a huge difference in their defensive games other then the fact that Gasol is playing in a great system with a huge center and SF that make him look better on defense than he would if he was playing PF in Toronto with no true center and a weak coach and supporting cast, do you honestly think that if you put Bosh in Gasols spot that he would not thrive just like Gasol has?

[NBAblogjobParticipant]

They are close in comparison..Bosh is obviously not a slouch, considerinf that the Lakers were rumored in being involved as a sign an trade scenario. But yes Gasol is better than Bosh

[BasketBalAllanParticipant]

I’m not arguing that Gasol is not better than Bosh, simply that you cannot say he is far superior. I would not use that unless I was comparing Gasol to someone like Horford or Aldridge, both good players but I would be comfortable in saying that Gasol is far superior to them.

[gregoden08Participant]

I’ve always thought that Bosh was better than Pau. Pau is the better defender obviously, but Bosh is much more athletic and quick. It’s close, but I’d give the edge to Bosh.

[Mr.Knick 32Participant]

Bosh is a terrible defender. He’s more finesse then anything. I cannot see Bosh beating Gasol IMO. Gasol could honestly dominate Bosh in the paint. Bosh is solid from 10 ft out.

[gregoden08Participant]

Can’t guard Bosh either…And Bosh isn’t a TERRIBLE defender.

[Mr.Knick 32Participant]

Gasol is a way better defender then Bosh.

Bosh is a terrible defender. In terms of starting big men in the NBA? He’s probably one of the worst defensive big men. He’s a good offensive big man but he not good on defense. Everyone knows this. Anyone who seen him play could tell you: He was never good defensively. If the Heat-Lakers play: I can almost assure you Gasol would have a 25-18 game vs Bosh.

[llperez]

ill take gasol, but it isnt a landslide. Both can gets stats and be go to players. BUt gasol just has an overall better impact in just about every phase of the game. Defense, rebounding, passing, being a more reliable and higher percentage shooter in the low box. Bosh didnt have much to work with in toronto, but didnt he only get the raptors to the playoffs once? And in an east where a .500 record gets you in.

[sheltwon3Participant]

Gasol is more versatile and better at everything over Bosh. It may not be by much looking at one attribute but if you look at them all, that makes a sizeable advantage. Do not underestimate Gasol’s passing and immense basketball IQ. His passing is on par with point guards and Bosh passing is on par with most power forward which is not bad but not really good either. Bosh is not really a shot blocker but I doubt Gasol has ever average below 1.5 blocks a game. His length even cause problems when he does not make a block.

I see Miami using this line up

pg Wade
sg Miller
sf Lebron( will be a point forward but he is almost as big as a power forward so you would not want him exclusively doing all the point guard stuff and would want to use him closer to the basket if you could)
pf Bosh
C Anthony/Z/Pittman

[llperez]

the one area the lakers will give miami real fits is length. After bosh, they got pittman, anthony, ilgauskas, juwan howard and haslem playing down low. Lakers have 3 7 footers and a guy in lamar who rebounds and uses his lenght as well as most 7 footers. Lakers are gonna be contasting everything around the rim and getting plenty of clean up baskets.

[btown gmParticipant]

almost everyone atoumatically assumes that heat and lakers is a finals lock but im not one of those people heres a breakdown of the macth regular or post season (assuimng everyones healty).

miami starters: chalmers, wade, lebron, bosh, haslem
lakers starters: fisher, kobe, artest, gasol, bynum

pg: derek fisher was torched by oppsoing point gaurds westbrook, d-will, nash, rondo in last years playoffs but miami doesnt have any one that explosive and his exerince will give hime the advantage in against any miami pgs on the roster.

sg: this is a match up of the best to 2 gaurds in the leauge and as much as people say one is better than another there both great on both ends and each can score 30 with ease.

sf: lbj is cleary the best sf in the leauge but ron artest is that one guy who can body up with him and macth his strenght hell have the toughest job to slow down lebron.

pf: gasol is great ofensivly but i dont know if he can handle bosh`s quickness. im from t-dot and i seen bosh hiz whole carrer and if gaslo had problems handeling garnets speed ( after saying he had lost a step) hell hav a big problem trying to contset his jumper and staying in front

c: haslem is a solid role player, can down the jumper, rebonds, defends but bynum is just to big, storng and long this will be a mis macth on the low post look 4 lakers 2 attack this

bench: lakers have been critized 4 there bench but there are defintley more talented while miamis bench is a bunch of vete minimu guyz. odam, blake,barnes there are solid players of the bench

PREDICTION: lakers will win becuz there more versatile. they can go big with there starting linup or go small and quick with odom. yes d-wade, lebron are tough but i trust kobe, artest, barnes to handle thier own. lakers are also much bigger up front and lenght bothers bosh as iv seen first hand

just my opionon

[OhCanada-Participant]

All I’m going to say is it depends on the mentality implied from day one of training camp. 1 litttle slip up and Miami wont even beat Boston.

[Mr.Knick 32Participant]

LeBron killed Artest last season when they played. I’m not buying that anymore.

[dipt1982Participant]

Kobe defending Wade will be fun to watch…

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