Comments on: Welcome Back Fluidity. We Missed You.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:47:19 +0000

Mr. STD,
Nice wordplay but only so-so logic. Although it is true Bynum was playing at 50% he was still out there playing and starting at Center. If he didn’t drag himself on the court and limit Gasol’s minutes at Center the Lakers don’t win the championship last year. Gasol is a change of pace Center. Like a speedy RB who breaks big plays only getting 10 carries a game. If you make that speedy RB make 30 carries there is a point of diminishing returns, Which is why Gasol is a nice change of pace to have play Center on occasion.

By: Ghetro

Ghetro — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:14:49 +0000

Gasodomy made me laugh and cringe at the same time. Nice one.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:08:41 +0000

Thunder preview up

By: TheSTD

TheSTD — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:04:14 +0000

Aaron, the Gasodomy front court isn’t just a “nice change of pace” it is the front court of pretty much all our best line ups

I don’t buy much into +/- or adjusted +/- or anything like that, but the Lakers won a championship with pretty much only Gasol, Odom, Ariza, and Kobe playing well with contibutions from WOW and a couple shots from Fish and a couple fouls from Bynum.

The best we’ve done with Bynum is get to the #1 seed without Gasol two years ago.

By: wondahbap

wondahbap — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:06:37 +0000

Kurt,

I was going crazy on Twitter regarding ‘Sheed during the Orlando game. It’s ALL he’s looking for. It’s a main part of the reason that Detroit declined. Low post ‘Sheed was a beast. Now? He’s shoots it every time he gets it out there.

His game doesn’t present any match-up problems for us. At all. Especially since the Celtics have no real low post presence. KG plays 12-18 ft. out. There should be no reason for someone like Lamar to have brain cramps and cheat in to double, and get burned by an open 3. No matter what the personnel is, we should have major front court advantages defensively. KG and ‘Sheed play far out, Perk, Davis, and Shelden Williams should have problems with our length. Be it LO or Drew (Andrew’s crunch time minutes probably depend on Perk being the game.) They aren’t good enough offensively to overcome that. Ron will have Pierce, Kobe can sag off Rondo and help. Fish can chase Ray. I think we’ll beat Boston again in both games this year. Won’t be blowouts, but I think it’ll be handily.

By: Zephid

Zephid — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:18:47 +0000

76, kinda curious how you can extrapolate performance in June 2008 to performance in November 2009. Does this mean I’m allowed to extrapolate Derek Fisher’s 2008 stats to this year? Cause that means he’s going to revert to 11.7 pts, 2.9 assists, 40% from three, and 43% from the field. That’s pretty exciting.

And Sheed is important to the Celtics because he’s a 7 foot body. Their backup frontline last year consisted of Mikki Moore, Leon Powe and Glen “Cry Baby” Davis. Even if he’s not the all-star that all of Boston touted him to be, he’s still an upgrade over all three of those guys. Same way Ron Artest isn’t going to be an all-star; he’s just an upgrade over Trevor Ariza/Luke Walton.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:33:36 +0000

79,
Wallace is not capable of doing any of those things at this stage of his career but spot up and shoot… and he isn’t even doing that well this season. So no… he can’t put them over the top. If he was the player he was 5 years ago he would be great for them. When Robert Horry was on the Lakers he could play team defense, pass, and spot up. He was a great role player to go along with 2 of the best players in the NBA (Shaq and Kobe). Sheed is not playing with any of the top players in the NBA (sorry KG… you are not healthy) and he isn’t even a good role player anymore. Wallace was great at one point in his career… but that was a few seasons ago. But if this was a few seasons ago the Celtics and the Mavs would be in the Finals… wait… I guess it would still be the Lakers but you know what I mean. A Boston/Lakers Final would be great for the NBA for the 4 games it woud take the Lakers to win the series but they will have to settle for a Magic/Lakers rematch. And that 7 game series won’t be too bad of a conciliation prize.

By: Barath

Barath — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:42:15 +0000

@aaron, l&d fan. : Rasheed doesn’t necessarily have to be an all-star in boston for them to succeed.
Even if he was only a better grade of Horry (skilled interior defense, solid 3s, spell starters, step up in big moments, team guy), he could well be the piece that puts them over the top. Plus he would bring in leadership, emotion, and spell KG & Perkins if in foul trouble. And I suggest that like Horry, his value or otherwise would be primarily evaluated based on the postseason.

Boston’s interior play could be restricted to Rondo penetration (which the Lakers historically have trouble stopping), offensive rebounding (another weakness), the occasional Perkins point blank shot, KG, Pierce on the block and then anything inside from Sheed or Big Baby would be gravy.

A fantastic defensive team, penetration, leadership, solid outside, – if boston & la make it to the finals, it will be a good one. And a chance to shape the incomplete story of the last two years.

By: Snoopy2006

Snoopy2006 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:44:05 +0000

Horribly low blow from Adande:

All Knicks Fans (NY, NY): How did we miss this Jennings kid in the draft? Can we ever catch a break!?!
J.A. Adande: Isiah would’ve drafted him.

Zephid – I’m with you 100%. That Nets team already all the pieces except the superstar, kind of the opposite of the old KG Wolves teams. Lopez is a stud, him and Harris are close (or will be close to) All-Star level. I love the versatility of this Williams kid. Can guard and play 3 positions, when Harris was out he was a huge PG. He just needs to work on his efficiency, but he’s shown glimpses of that all-around game that Clark was supposed to have. Then again those pre-Rose Bulls teams seemed similarly built. If the Nets can’t get the superstar, they might fizzle out.

76 – I think it’s true that Gasol and Odom are more fluid offensively. And by that, I only mean there’s more ball movement and less of Black Hole Bynum. But I definitely agree, Drew’s presence (esp defensively) is crucial, we don’t want him out of the lineup, and he’s one of the most efficient offensive players we have. Besides his own impact, he strengthens our bench by moving LO down there (and often playing with the bench himself). So yeah, we need Drew back ASAP.

By: The Dude Abides

The Dude Abides — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:24:34 +0000

Coaching FAIL: Marc Gasol played the first 15 minutes tonight against the Bucks and dominated their crappy backup centers with 8 pts on 4-5 shooting and 9 rebs. He had a +10 in those 15 minutes. So Skiles went small with Ilyasova at center and four little guards around him, and Hollins panicked and went small too, with Z-Bo at center, Rudy Gay at PF, and Gasol on the bench with zero fouls for the rest of the half. Result? The Bucks cut the lead to five at halftime.

Can you imagine Phil reacting to the opposing coach’s desperate adjustments and going small in the second quarter after dominating with his bigger lineup in the first quarter?