[bobbybParticipant]

Lakers…Their length dismantled the Heat. Why would someone want to trade Gasol?( ok. maybe to get D12,  but that is it) Their problem is that they should have never gotten rid of Lamar Odom. Their bench is too weak.

 

Celtics..RONDO!!!( C-Webb) numbers speak for themselves. I like Garnett at the 5 and Bass starting at the 4 , It is a much better flow on offense and defense.

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

I said it last week,it would be no surprise if 1 of these teams are in the finals..Both teams have some straight up warriors….

[Anton123Participant]

 The Heat really lack big men without Bosh, I mean they basically only have Haslem-Joel Anthony-Juwan Howard. That’s just sad

The Heat are extremely not deep, to win everything they have to be 100% healthy

The Lakers have a similar problem (depth-wise, they have great big men) so their lack of depth isn’t as evident against the super-not-deep Miami

[bobbybParticipant]

i guess you cant have your cake and eat it>>>>  IF you have big money starters, it doesnt leave much for the bench

[Chilbert arenasParticipant]

I thought the Heat were going to get either Kenyon or Pryzbilla.  Their lack of front court depth could hurt them come playoff time.   

[Ghost01Participant]

There is a major difference between what the Lakers and Celtics did yesterday.

The Lakers dismantled the best team in the league, The Celtics squeaked by a mediocre Knicks team off of Rondo’s monthly great game.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

If the Heat would have gotten Pryzbilla, he would have been HUGE help and probably could have been a two-year answer for the hole at center.  

As for the Lakers and Celtics, like they say, never underestimate the heart of a champion.  Those two teams know how to win, I just don’t think they can win it all.  Atleast not the Celtics.  The Lakers beat an undersized Heat team without their best big-man.  The Lakers’ length doesn’t exactly bother anybody in the West anymore.  Any team that’s in the playoff-race has two or three good bigmen.

Thunder (Perkins-Ibaka-Collison)
Clippers (Jordan-Griffin-Martin)
Spurs (Duncan-Splitter)
Grizzlies (Gasol-Randolph-Speights)
Mavericks (Haywood-Nowitzki-Odom-Mahinmi)
Blazers (Camby-Aldridge-Pryzbilla)

The Lakers’ length doesn’t intimidate anybody anymore.  Every team got bigger to match-up to the Lakers over the years.  If anything, the Lakers should be intimidated by every other team’s backcourt and bench.  The Lakers are still starting MWP and Fisher.  Two of the most inconsistent starters in the league.  They can either give you 0 points on 0-10 shooting combined or 20 points on 7-10 shooting with some threes and free-throws.

[Ghost01Participant]

Good point, the West is filled with teams that are loaded up front. Not to mention with Portland, they also have Kurt Thomas and Craig Smith.

[db24kb24Participant]

 Lakers are never dead, management/core is too good. They are a pg away from being serious championship contenders. I believe they’ll pick up a few low cost, high value pieces(pg &bench depth) to complete the puzzle before the deadline. 

And as a LAL fan i’m happy but not too impressed by yesterday. Clearly Bosh was missed and the Refs took Dwade out of the game w/ 5mins to go. Yes some were fouls, and others weren’t but regardless if your a ref you don’t take one of the best players out of such a big game. Good win tho. Leeegggoooo!

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

The Lakers have two great low post all-stars plus Kobe on the perimeter. All three can post up, Kobe can
score from anywhere, Pau can hit the mid-range shot, and Bynum has a nice shooting touch. The Lakers have a very
good Big Three with all-around scoring, post ups, length, and experience. In my last Basketball Report I had the Lakers as my sleeper team.

A key for them is Ron Artest. He played well yesterday, and when he is on his game he is a good fourth man. He can defend, score some, and rebound some. He is versatile, experienced, and tough.

After that they aren’t that deep but the Heat, Thunder, and Bulls aren’t that deep after their top 3 and 4 guys. Fisher is halfway decent when he is on his game and basically an older version of Mario Chalmers. Goudelocke can score and he looks strong even though he is short for a shooting guard. He is basically a combination of Byron Scott and Shannon Brown.

Steve Blake is a decent backup point guard. Troy Murphy and Josh McRoberts give the Lakers size, rebounding, and fouls off the bench with McRoberts being more athletic and Murphy being the better shooter. Their two backup reserves are not vastly inferior to what the Heat, Thunder, and Bulls trot out as their reserve bigs. Gibson and Asik are solid for the Bulls but they usually won’t combine for more than 10 points a game. Haslem can get 8-10 himself but Juwan Howard and Pittman don’t score much. I like Nick Collison for his toughness and hustle but he and Nazr Mohammed won’t give them more than a few buckets a night.

Matt Barnes is an ideal guy to round out the rotation. He is versatile, athletic, good on defense with 3 point range. More importantly he is a fierce competitor.

The Lakers are contenders since they have one of the best players and closets in the game in Kobe, two all-star big men (Bynum this year and Pau a frequent all star until this year), with a good defensive fourth option (Artest) to go along with a slid core with depth at point guard, small forward, and up front.

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

The only other Western Conference team with two all-star caliber bigs is the Memphis Grizzlies with Marc Gasol and Z-Bo.  Throw in Mo Speights (can score, rebound) and Dante Cunningham (hustle, energy, blocks, jumpers) and the Grizzlies are very tough up front.

The Thunder’s bigs are very tough on defense (throwing in Collison and Mohammed off the bench) but no big man on OKC can get you 20 points a night like either Bynum or Pau can (or Z Bo and Marc for the Grizzlies).  Also, the Thunder’s reserve front court guys don’t score much more than the Lakers bigs do.  

The Clippers have the best overall balance with scoring and rebounding machine Blake Griffin to go along with the dunking, shot blocking DeAndre Jordan and Kenyon Martin off the bench.

The Mavs and Blazers each have a great go to big man but the rest of the cast is solid at best (Camby and others vs. Haywood and LO).

The Spurs have TD still who should be good in the playoffs but can he get you 20 and 10 each night in the playoffs?  Splitter is ok.  Actually, I like Blair for them (a load inside with rebounds and points) and Matt Bonner’s 3 pointers.  The Spurs have an odd but effective collection of big men.  Diverse and underrated.

The Nuggets are a wild card up front.  If Nene comes back he is a good low post guy who can score and board.  The Birdman can block shots and defend with some put-backs.  Faried is a good, young big man with great size, length, and a quick jump.  He can really rebound and is active around the basket.  Plus, Al Harrington can play some stretch four.  That front line core could give the Lakers some trouble with their activity, hustle, and rebounding/inside scoring.  The Nuggets get something of everything out of their low post players which will give the other Western teams fits if they are able to make the playoffs.

 

[aamir543Participant]

But the Heat were without Bosh, nonetheless, with their length and physicality up front, it’ll be hard to beat them in a 7 game sieres. But the problem is that in this compresed season, I’d take younger and faster paced teams over the Lakers, and the Spurs no longer count as a neccesarily old team. But if the Lakers can get a better point and are able to control the tempo in the playoffs, than there is a possibilty they might be alive in June.

[Author]

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