Comments on: The Starters Are Good, Too

By: Cary D

Cary D — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:55:55 +0000

I agree, Lamar Odom is now our X-Factor as opposed to our 2nd best player. Kobe and Bynum are our stars who the defense will collapse around. Fisher is the leader who our stars trust. The rest are key role players that i trust Phil will properly utilize as the season continues.

Teams won’t sleep on Lamar. I love having his length on the court. He’s a match-up nightmare when he has got it going for him. I love our 3 headed monster of Kobe, Bynum, and Lamar.

By: jt

jt — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:32:39 +0000

Along the lines of Kwame convos i see LO getting thrown in there and it pains me to see people expecting more from lamar, although i can understand the frustrations.

And here is why I no longer cringe at LO play. 2 words: Larry Hughes.

Jokes aside i think if LO produces 15-10-X(assist) (or close to it) along with a few superb games then im all for it. I think Kurt mentioned a few post ago LO is what he is, and its hard to find someone like him in this league. And he seems to bring it during Playoffs, with what we’ve seen at least.

By: Goo

Goo — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:05:47 +0000

Off-topic but..Coby Karl wasn’t waived and his contract was guaranteed for the rest of the season

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:52:05 +0000

Re Kwame,
It seems most of the criticism is for his laughably bad offensive skills. However…I remember Phil winning several rings in Chicago w/a player who refused to shoot. I’m not sayiing Kwame is anywhere close to Rodman as a player,but having his size to use against Duncan,Yao,Boozer,West,etc is not the worst thing in the world.

By: exhelodrvr

exhelodrvr — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:41:35 +0000

45) Had someone stated that Crit had contributed noticeably to the Lakers win, I would have responded to that. Crit is still in his first year; the team is not depending on him to produce yet. That is not the case with Kwame. In addition, while Crit makes plenty of mistakes, he does not exhibit a lackadaisical attitude like Kwame does. kwame traveled because “no one was cutting”? That is not why the turnovers happened.

Kwame IS supposed to score when he is left unattended and someone passes him the ball. He is also supposed to put himself into position for rebounds, and then try to get said rebounds. Something else he doesn’t do.

44) Phil doesn’t have any other options to playing Kwame at this point. Mihm is not healthy, Turiaf is too small (unless they want to go small). Remember that, before the ankle injuries, when both Mihm and Kwame were healthy, Mihm was starting.

48) “Have we forgotten how well he played in the 7 game series against PHX a few years ago?”

He played well the first four games, not the last three.

By: exhelodrvr

exhelodrvr — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:32:36 +0000

43) Small hands do NOT keep someone from being able to catch a ball. It might make it slightly more difficult, but that is not the main reason for Kwame’s problem.

His problem is that he is consistently not ready for passes.

By: Bobby Smith

Bobby Smith — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:26:32 +0000

“What happened to all that Kwame love that was going on here while he was injured?”

Good question. I was talking about how much more effective Bynum was by starting and logging more minutes than Kwame from day one and nearly everyone on this website disagreed with me. Not it seems nearly everyone agrees with my assessment (there are still some loony holdouts that actually think Kwame should start LOL).

Hopefully Kwame will work on his game, get in shape, and become a forceable back up big man. He does lots of thing wrong on the court, but he is also capable to helping this team. Soon enough we will know if we are stuck with Kwame for the rest of the season.

Either way, it was a clear mistake to pay him so much.

By: Darius

Darius — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:25:27 +0000

#45
Worrying about Critt right now is not a top priority. If we ever have to depend on a rookie who should be a sophmore in college, we are in a position where we either have injuries or are just a bad team and want to see what a young player can accomplish. I know that Phil is high on Critt and has been giving him minutes (in Sasha’s absence), but I’ll start to criticize him when he’s a veteran and not just a rookie learning the league. However, I do see your points on Critt, and I wish he would play better when given the chance.

Although I see Kwame’s usefullness (#12 above), he is a veteran and he should show an understanding of how to play the game. We have all seen Kwame step up his game and have a real impact on the outcome in some good wins. Once a player shows that potential, we as fans will always know it’s there and want more. But, as Kurt has pointed out, we do need to get to the point that Kwame is accepted for who and what he is and set our expectations in reality.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:12:51 +0000

46-
Everyone had forgotten what he looked like on the court, and expectations were WAY higher then they should have been.

By: Craig W.

Craig W. — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:44:59 +0000

Here is a review of great slashers…take look at the last video of a 3yr old..I didn’t believe it, but I saw it.

http://thestartingfive.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/from-elgin-baylor-to-lebron-james-the-evolution-of-the-slasher-past-and-present/#more-1883

Just fun stuff.